Being abroad for Christmas is a truly bizarre experience. For me, this was the first one that I’ve ever spent abroad. I can’t imagine being abroad without having a safe family unit around me. Whilst Christmas this year for me was different and at times I felt a little sad, I was surrounded by lovely people that I know and love and it was, of course lovely to be with Noly for our second Christmas together, this time in his culture rather than mine.
Before I describe the last couple of days, I’ll just write a little about the differences, so that I don’t keep going on about them for the rest of the post.
Here in Argentina, for me, there’s no real build-up to Christmas like there is at home. In truth, in England I think it’s gotten a little crazy and over-commercialised, but here, Argentina is the complete opposite! Usually at home I’m starting to think about Christmas from mid November and present buying is in full swing by the time December starts. Here, I did the majority of my Christmas shopping on Saturday 21st December which is unheard of in my family (well. Apart from maybe for you Auntie Ray!). There’s also the flurry of activity in the shops from mid November, maybe even earlier at home, though to be honest, I must say I didn’t miss that. Another difference is the houses, you might see the occasional light up here and there but by no means all over! Something I can’t get my head round at all is the lack of Christmas songs! I heard one, once, in a cafe. Similarly, in church in England there’s usually a bustle of Christmas activities going on – carol services and cristingles etc – but none of that here either! And not to mention, one of the main differences – the weather. I’m so used to cold, cosy Christmas’, I can’t get my head around the fact that it’s late twenties, sometimes early thirties and it’s Christmas!
The other main difference is that they celebrate Christmas in the evening before. I was thinking about why this could be and I think maybe it could be a cultural thing. Here, they’re all used to late nights and staying up until the early hours, at home they’re not! And are used to getting up early, cracking on and then going to bed early.
Before I talk about Christmas eve and Christmas, I haven’t mentioned in any of my blog posts, that we did do something that felt truly Christmassy to me! Noly and I instigated a group to sing two carols at church on the 23rd. This was a lot of work and if I’m honest, the first one had an interesting sound that I’m not sure was quite what we were going for, but the second one was cracking! It was a lot of fun and gave me a coupla mins of feeling Christmassy which was nice.
So, onto Christmas eve! In the afternoon, we hung around in the pool as the weather was just really lush. There was 10 of us, including some of Noly’s wider family, and it was a really lovely afternoon together.
Then for the Christmas eve meal itself, we went to Vivi & Billy’s house and all in all there was 16 of us for the meal and various other people popped in and out at different points. We arrived at around 10 and set to helping set everything up. The food was chicken and beef and a fair amount of salad and we all set to helping ourselves and sat at the table, eating and chatting. At 12, everyone went round and greeted each other exclaiming “Feliz navidad!” and sometimes “Dios te bendiga!” (God bless you). Noly had told me that at midnight everyone set off fireworks to celebrate. We could hear them but we could not see them anywhere! So off we went, wandering round the streets in search of the fireworks. We saw a few! But it was just bizarre to hear them all and not see them.
Then, when we got back to the house we exchanged our not so secret secret santa presents. Love a good secret santa! We then had pudding and champagne and again went round clinking glasses and wishing each other happy Christmas. Then Sofi instigated games which was a really lovely idea and something that I really would have enjoyed (as we do this in my family at home) if it wasn’t for the language. I went and sat inside for a bit with Noly and it was really sweet, his cousins kids (aged 9 and 12) came along and were trying to cheer me up, patting me on the shoulder and telling me stories about when they’d tried to use English and found it very difficult. Before we knew it, it was about 4am and so then everyone slowly started making their way back home. I got to bed at about 5.30 am – only a little while before my family started getting up to begin with Christmas!
Unfortunately it took me a while to get to sleep and then I woke up wide awake at 9 o’clock. Typical! At about 11 I went to go and have breakfast and exchanged presents with Noly, Monica and Javier. Then slowly got up, watched the Queen on youtube and then soon people were over for lunch! Most of the same crew as the night before, though a few less who joined us later on. After lunch, pudding and cider (a Christmassy drink here apparently!) I skyped my family and opened the few bits and bobs they’d given me to open before I came and then went to join the others in the pool. We didn’t last long! It started to rain/hail/thunderstorm and soon we were back inside. Since I’d had so little sleep I went to have a siesta (which, apparently is spelt with an S not a C! It’s only taken Noly 6 months to tell me this as I’ve been spelling it with a C all the time I’ve been here!) and a bit of time to try and recharge my batteries.
When I eventually immerged, I joined the others who were having interesting chats on Christianity etc, which I didn’t really contribute to but I could follow the conversation and it was interesting to talk about. We had some pizza and then Noly instigated us going for a (nearly) midnight walk, which was fun! Albeit a little chaotic with three dogs getting tangled up all the time! Twas nice, going for a walk in the eve with friends. For me, going for a walk on Christmas day is a classic thing to do, which Noly knows and is why he suggested it. I think it was quite a bemusing idea for them but they seemed to enjoy it which was nice.
So yeah, there we are! My first Christmas abroad. Very different from England and what I’m used to. We’re going to have a second Christmas in England with my family when I’m home, which I’m very looking forward to!
Anyways, merry Christmas to you all, whether in England or Argentina (or wherever else you’re reading from) and I hope you had a lovely Christmas this year.
Nadia's Adventures 