Christmas day we woke up, went to work, and had lunch at noon. Business as usual. I went out with one of the plumbers to fix a water boiler. I was navigating and we got a little turned around. I am not a bad navigator, neither was the plumber a bad driver or even listener. Rather, he's Tanzanian and, well, it was a bit difficult communicating across cultures and across language barriers. His English is a little bit slow, my English is a little bit fast. It's the same problem that we have when we speak to a native spanish speaker. We need them to SLOW DOWN! The biggest frustration is Haifa, in this case. The roads are largely one way but are not marked on the map as one way. The result was, I knew exactly where we were at all times but was entirely unable to get us back to the main road! There were so many different one ways that took us in all the directions we didn't want to go. A ten minute trip took us forty-five!
In the afternoon, Kristen was getting a little anxious. No reason. Well, she was missing Christmas and it took her a little while to figure it out, Mara's surprise party had knocked her Christmas celebration sensors offline for a little bit. But she discovered that she needed to do something. I understand this feeling. We always celebrated Christmas with my grandparents and Mara's birthday at the same time. When I was in the Gambia we had a large party for Coriteh on the 24th and then everyone came and crashed at my house because it was very close the bus stop where everyone but me was going to catch a bus in the morning to go to senegal. That was not cool. I was all alone on Christmas. It was a little tough but I got through it; it was not a new pattern in Gambia, for me.
So, we walked down to a very cool church/monastery and Elijah's cave (which we didn't go down to). We also stopped at a grocery store and bought the Christmas essentials, grapefruit juice, halva, and Kinder Surprises (tm). For dinner we went to Tatami, the Japanese sushi restaurant. For those back home, I'd say that it's a little bit better than Sumo Boy. Mostly, I think that Sumo Boy doesn't have as good sides but their sushi is comparable. Then we came back and watched some Firefly
Yup, I'd say that it pretty much was a regular old Christmas. I just feel like we were forgetting one thing...
Oh well!
Two things:
1. I love Firefly. Best show that isn't on TV, they oughta make another show. It was a great show.
2. Being alone on Christmas sucks - just like being single on St. Valentine's Day. It's normal for me (us) but I don't think it'll ever feel good.
I sometimes miss being around people of deep, abiding religious faith - I don't miss having faith, mind you, just being around them. I know that sounds weird, but it's the same sort of feeling that you get when Christmas rolls around and you want to give Gramma a present. You've done it for so long it's comforting. So I tried going into a church with Bj and Meredith a few years ago.
Holy shit! I will never do that again, ever. Wow, was that a SERIOUSLY uncomfortable experience. I have never felt that out of place in my whole life. When I was fourteen and doing an independent investigation, I went to a synogogue, a Hindu temple, a Roman Catholic Church and a Byzantine Catholic Church and watched ceremonies. I also went to a Lutheran church with Gramma and Grampa.
This might sound weird, but the most comfortable was the Byzantine Catholic church. I recommend you catch a ceremony (what do they call it? A Mass or something.), just for the novelty value. It's nifty to watch.
I suppose watching Synogogue while in Israel would be cool, especially if you could film it.
Posted by: Nathan Dornbrook at December 27, 2005 6:42 AMNathan, you make me laugh. I've had similar experiences with going to church, and I've been a Christian for 20 years. One of the most uncomfortable experiences that I ever had was when I went to a Catholic mass with my roommate two years ago. I had convinced myself beforehand that all of my discomfort in the past had to do with my immaturity, etc, etc., so by the time I "hit the water," it was quite a remarkable smack. : ) The rituals of any religion while providing such comfort to its followers also ironically keep most everyone else away. But, for me, there's always been something extra-special about Catholic mass that has kept me far, far, far from it. : )
Posted by: Kristen at December 27, 2005 7:22 AMEnh. Actually, I discovered that it pretty much took one cold hard lonely family holiday alone, one after the other, to realize that I pretty much don't need them. Funnier, still, is that they've helped me to remember how bitchy we all get when we're actually together.
Posted by: Mendon at December 27, 2005 8:25 AMHey, Mensch! I actually think we get on much, much better as a family. I spent two months living with Maman and Papa and really enjoyed it. It was great.
Mara and I sniped at each other a bit, but I put this down to the fact that the two of us were absolutely stressed out to the maximum with Mommy being sick and the fact that somehow, miraculously, without even knowing how, I managed to press all of Mara's buttons. I'm sorry Mara! I love you! I didn't mean to do it!
Daddy is a lot mellower. I think that his success in respiratory therapy has made him feel much more in control of his own destiny.
Anyway, I think it'd be nice to be together more often, especially if we can find things we can all do together, like those games Rachael and Erik brought out.
Posted by: Nathan Dornbrook at December 28, 2005 8:16 AMDang - twice in a month . . . I agree with Nathan - again! :-)
Thanks for the apology, Nae. I think that it was a good opportunity for me to also look at how my 'family pattern' isn't necessarily how I treat others (ahem, I can be a lot meaner to Nathan than I am to most, ahem). So, Nae, I apologize to you, too.
Posted by: Mara at December 28, 2005 10:51 AMActually, I just ate at Sumo Boy and it's not that bad. Well worth the cash.
Posted by: Andrew at December 28, 2005 4:30 PMAmen brother. I really like sumo boy. It's high quality. It's just that Tatami is better.
Posted by: Mendon at December 29, 2005 11:35 AM