'Tis the Season (my December post)

It’s so crazy to think that one year ago, Terry and I hadn’t ever even heard of one another.  How much can happen in a year!

It was definitely not the holiday season I’m used to, but there’s no one I would’ve rather spent it with!

Christmas was an incredible day before it had barely begun.  We got to Google Hangout with la familia and be a part of their Christmas Eve.  This meant listening to my dad read Luke 2, listening to mom read The Polar Express, and reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas with the fam.  Of course, we lost our internet connection halfway through the last book, but it was just icing on the cake, really; the fact that I was able to listen to my mommy and daddy read, as though I was right there with them, was enough of Christmas miracle for me.

Then we set off to Canttoments (they pronounce it 'Kantomante').  This is a place where the streets are lined with vendors and they sell everything you could think of at incredible prices.  Of course, that also means that it’s super crowded and makes me very uncomfortable.  I dunno.  I’ve never been one to fear crowds, but still crowds are different than moving crowds.  It’s like you have to walk the way that people drive here – very aggressively or else you’ll never get anywhere.  There are obstacles on the ground, like the vendors’ goods, gaping holes (in the sidewalk, every couple of feet, are sewer grates – but many of the rectangular openings are missing their covers), and disgusting rubbish.  There are obstacles in the air, like the huge loads people are carrying on their heads that require ducking and dodging.  And there are obstacles in the sellers; talk about the hovering sales clerk.  They constantly call you to stop and look at their goods (especially if you’re “obroni”), hold their goods up in front of you to block your path, and some even grab you (thankfully, this didn’t happen to me).  And that’s not to mention what happens when you actually give their items a passing glance, or, if you’re really brave, stop to look at something.

So anyway, we had decided to go down there because there are a lot of homeless people around, and we wanted to spread some Christmas cheer.  And “what to our wondering eyes would appear”…it was virtually empty (okay, not really, but comparatively it was a ghost town).  It was so fun wandering through the stands rather casually.  We got Terry a belt and myself a few shirts, and we got to give a little here and there (there were also not as many homeless people as usual, but we were glad that everyone we helped was in real need – Terry doesn’t like to give to people who can work, and living in a place where most people don’t have extra even though they work like crazy, I have to agree.  We found a young girl to buy water from – it’s so sad to me that there are children here who have to walk around in the hot sun all day with heavy loads on their heads selling things, especially on Christmas – and told her to keep the change, a very old homeless woman, a man without a leg, a man without an arm – he told us it had been cut off by his brother, a man with no legs…the word “suffering” takes on a different meaning here.