Merry Christmas!

Hello from Russia on Christmas day!

Its so strange being in a place where the 25th is just another day. All the foreign students got together last night, though, so we had something resembling Christmas! It was deifnitely one of the oddest Christmases I've ever had. Around 4 o'clock yesterday I found myself walking down the street through the snow carrying a little Christmas tree over my shoulder (about 4 feet tall), a small wooden stand for it, and a Christmas present. I must have looked like something out of a movie. We had a huge meal with a rather random assortment of strange and interesting foods. There were people from North and South American, Asia, Africa, and Europe. They were really good sports when we attempted to conduct them in a round of The Twelve Days of Christmas. We also went to a catholic mass (the only one in the city) - another international experience since the priest was from Argentina and conducted the mass in Latin and Russian. We did sing Silent Night, which was nice. Our tree didn't turn out too bad! A little Charlie Brownish, but oringinal. Buying it from the two babushkas at the market who were arguing about who's trees would last the longest was an interesting experience. The strangest part of the evening was when at four am on Christmas morning we found ourselves still talking with three Russian guys who just weren't quite ready to leave yet.

This morning we slept in, made breakfast, and decorated gingerbread cookies. It was cozy and relaxing, but I miss all of you! I hope you had a lovely Christmas!