As I hung out doing some reading before bed this evening, I heard singing in the other room. Convinced that my ears were deceiving me... that there was no possible way that this was real life... I put my book down and listened carefully. And you know what? My ears were doing their job, this wasn't a joke ... Tongan TV was actually playing "O Holy Night". I nearly sprinted out of bed and dashed into the living room, perched myself "criss-cross-apple-sauce" style in front of the TV. The TV that - only occasionally - gets a signal and watched as Mariah Carey and a lively church choir belted out one of my favorite yuletide tunes. Thinking that maybe this was just a fluke - I am aware that late night TV programming is unique, I waited. The next song was the "12 Days of Christmas". I'm not sure if you know it or not, but IT'S OCTOBER 16TH. No where in my Peace Corps application was there a box to check "enjoys prematurely celebrating holidays involving a baby lying in a manger, decorating trees and listening to old men sing about natural weather occurrences involving frost", but if there was I would have put a big 'ole "x" in it. And yet somehow they got it right. Thank you, Peace Corps. Every day I love Tonga more. It's like I am meant to be here. I've never met anyone who celebrates Christmas this early and now I have found an entire country that does. FIST PUMP. This must be another reason why Tongans are all so happy. They spend nearly 25 percent of every year celebrating Christmas. And I'm totally going to join them. I may not be walking in a "winter wonderland" in December, but I'll be celebrating big time. Tomorrow I may even attempt to make a Christmas wreath out of coconut leaves. Too early? Nah. Now if only I had some Christmas lights...Hint. Hint.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Stars Are Brightly Shining
As I hung out doing some reading before bed this evening, I heard singing in the other room. Convinced that my ears were deceiving me... that there was no possible way that this was real life... I put my book down and listened carefully. And you know what? My ears were doing their job, this wasn't a joke ... Tongan TV was actually playing "O Holy Night". I nearly sprinted out of bed and dashed into the living room, perched myself "criss-cross-apple-sauce" style in front of the TV. The TV that - only occasionally - gets a signal and watched as Mariah Carey and a lively church choir belted out one of my favorite yuletide tunes. Thinking that maybe this was just a fluke - I am aware that late night TV programming is unique, I waited. The next song was the "12 Days of Christmas". I'm not sure if you know it or not, but IT'S OCTOBER 16TH. No where in my Peace Corps application was there a box to check "enjoys prematurely celebrating holidays involving a baby lying in a manger, decorating trees and listening to old men sing about natural weather occurrences involving frost", but if there was I would have put a big 'ole "x" in it. And yet somehow they got it right. Thank you, Peace Corps. Every day I love Tonga more. It's like I am meant to be here. I've never met anyone who celebrates Christmas this early and now I have found an entire country that does. FIST PUMP. This must be another reason why Tongans are all so happy. They spend nearly 25 percent of every year celebrating Christmas. And I'm totally going to join them. I may not be walking in a "winter wonderland" in December, but I'll be celebrating big time. Tomorrow I may even attempt to make a Christmas wreath out of coconut leaves. Too early? Nah. Now if only I had some Christmas lights...Hint. Hint.
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Send me an address (e-mail, Facebook message, whatever)....I'll find you Christmas lights :)
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