¡Muchas Felicidades y todo lo mejor para todos!

So, the little Jesus got born…I mean…again. I don’t know how many times he had to be born up until now. 12am at every Christmas more than a billion of little Jesus is born in Bolivia. People kiss on his hands and cross themselves in front of him, ese chiquito.

When it was 10 min to 12, we turned on the radio to count down to Christmas. At 12am we made a circle holding each hand and then my host sister Karen said a grace with tears in her eyes. In actuality it was very emotional. Each one of us made speech for the New Year and each time we gave a toast with champagne. I said in Spanish something like “First of all, thank you very much. I am happy to live with you all here. I am the luckiest girl among all the JOCV people in Bolivia! Happy Merry Christmas!”

Then we talked for a while about what had happened this year, including the story that two 16 year-old boys at a pool in La Paz, who thought I was 15, asked me if I have a BF….I don’t know why, but whenever I am abroad people think I am way too young. While, in Japan I am classified as elderly like 30 years old.

My host sister Claudia kept asking me how Christmas is celebrated in Japan. I actually couldn’t remember how I spent Christmas in Japan. It is merely a commercial day for couples there, right? When Claudia asked all of us when is the most memorable Christmas, what struck me in fact was the Christmas I spent in Maryland, USA in 2004 with my BF’s family. His family is my happy thought. Makes me smile when I remember about them.

We ate 3 different meat; beef chicken, and rump. They are all boiled with a pressure cooker for hours. We ate it with potato, cheese, and choclo(white corn, really rich and tasty) in a sweet oily soup. We decided to exchange presents at 9am in front of the Christmas tree. At 3:30am I went to bed. It is going to be a long day, I believe.