Week 16 and 17: Christmas and the Beach!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I had a wonderful holiday despite being far from home. It really did not feel like Christmas to me due to the VERY hot weather. To me it felt like more like the 4th of July. It was hot, there were mosquitoes, we had picnics outside and people shot off fireworks to celebrate Jesus' birth.

My pastor Angel and his wife Chabela were nice enough to invite me to spend Christmas eve and part of Christmas day with them. It was interesting to see how the people of Argentina celebrate Christmas.  It is not that much different than how we celebrate in the USA.  It is very much a holiday for spending time with family and friends and being thankful for Jesus' birth.

The Christmas tree in the chapel that I helped decorate.

Here is our dinner table for Christmas eve.  We had an asado (grilled meat) and lots of cold salads due to the hot weather.  The pastor had a great backyard where we could enjoy the weather.  Plus we got to eat ice cream!!  At midnight everyone set off fireworks.  The big fireworks are not illegal here so it was quite the show!  Like I said before, very 4th of July-like.

On the 26th I traveled to La Plata with another volunteer in my program and we joined Emily, her boyfriend who was visiting from the US (Moses), and Andrea to continue celebrating.  Andrea is the pastor at the Lutheran church in La Plata where Emily works and she took us out to a special bar that brews Argentine beer and got to taste real Argentine beer.  (Pictured L to R: Emily, Erin, Rachel, and Andrea).

On the 27th Emily, Moses, and I headed for a beach.  We went to Las Toninas and had a blast enjoying the warm weather and the ocean!  Basically all I did the few days was relax, read, take in the sun, walk on the beach collecting shells, and swim!  It was nice to get away for a few days. 

Me as a mermaid on the beach. 

We ended up renting the bottom half of this house in Las Toninas that was only 2 blocks away from the ocean!  We could hear it from our windows. (Pictured: Emily and Moses)

It had this really old school fridge inside!  We were shocked that it still worked!

This is the living room dinning area!  We had Direct TV satellite so we had fun at night watching TV (I do not have a TV in my apartment).  

On our last day we got up early to watch the sun rise over at the beach! So pretty!!

When we got back to Buenos Aires we hung out in the centro for a while before Moses had to leave to return to the US.  This is in one of the nice parks in the centro.

Emily and me in front of a clock tower. 

I had a great Christmas and New Year!  For New Year's Eve I was in Ballester with Emily.  We had fun drinking sparkling cider and listening to music.  About 3 minutes before midnight we listened to the *NSYNC song "Bye Bye Bye" to say goodbye to 2010.  At midnight we toasted our cider and joined my neighbors on the roof of the building to watch the fireworks.  

The fireworks were even crazier than Christmas eve.  I have never seen anything like it!  Huge fireworks were going off all around us!  The sky was filled with fireworks from every side.  It was beautiful and I felt so lucky to be in Buenos Aires experiencing how they celebrate the New Year.   

I hope everyone had a great holiday and are enjoying 2011!!  This next week I will be heading to a summer camp with the youth from my church.  It should be fun!!