and living in other countries is that it gives us an
opportunity to experience other peoples' holiday customs.
Though it is a few days before my first Romanian Christmas,
I regrettably can’t give any concrete details as to how it will be.
What I can say is that preparations are going
full blast and there is holiday spirit in the air.
Today I went to the grammar school to see some
Christmas spirit in action. What happened was
a simple, yet powerful activity. Simple by the
fact that it was children singing Christmas songs.
The powerful part in my opinion was that they sang
the songs in three different languages. Probably doesn’t
seem like much, but it was important.
The children sang the songs in Romanian,
Slovakian and for the first time ever in the
Rroma (Gypsy) language.
The older people mentioned that they had never
seen anything like it before. It could be one little step
towards equality for all.
Below is the picture of my new Christmas tree.
It was given to me by the kids you see in the picture.
They said that they hoped that it will help me
remember my family and friends in the U.S.
on the upcoming Christmas day.
This made me ponder, who is supposed to be
helping who? Aren’t I, a Peace Corps Volunteer,
supposed to be helping them? But you know the
truth of it is when a volunteer integrates in his/her
community, it becomes a symbiotic relationship.
In fact, I think that we get more than we give.
I do want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas
2006 and I also hope that you receive the precious
gifts of peace and happiness.
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