Send Kisses

I’ve been talking with some other Americans who arrived in Bujumbura around the same time I did and we agree that we feel like we’re in a time warp. The weather hasn’t changed dramatically since we arrived and without that change of seasons it’s hard to remember that it’s Thanksgiving time. It’s too warm for roasting turkeys and baking pies. If any American football is aired, it will be on in the middle of the night. I certainly have no need for scarves and snow boots.

Without being bombarded by toy commercials and Christmas music, how am I supposed to know what time of year it is? Without those cues to remind me, I just know that I’ll totally forget I should have presents and cards in the mail on December 1 if I have any hope of them getting to their recipients by Christmas Day. Do you know how soon December 1 is? Thanksgiving is this week! My Christmas shopping season is miniscule.

I can’t say I miss the commercialism, but I’m starting to miss some of the coziness that comes with the holiday season. I should be drinking hot chocolate but I have no desire to. Christmas decorations? A tree? I guess I can deck the guava tree next to our terrace. I hope I don’t spill pineapple juice all over the envelopes when I address my holiday cards. That’s just not the way Christmas is supposed to be.

I haven’t felt particularly homesick yet but I think it will happen soon. Mike left for a work trip yesterday and he’ll out of town for a couple weeks. I am in desperate need of my alone-time comfort foods—Hershey’s Kisses and Lay’s Stax. Being home alone here is different than being home alone elsewhere.