Christmas in Turkey!

Everyone was sad about being away at Christmas. But it all ended up fine. Let's see, Friday night (the 23rd) a few of us went to an English Club/internet café that's run by Christians. Originally we thought they wanted us to do some kind of Hawaiian Christmas thing. So, Chaz and I were trying to figure out a song to make a hgula to. Well, we finally found out that they wanted us to perform some kind of Christmas manger scene reinactment. So I was Mary, Nate was Joseph, Casey was the angel, and Chaz and Breanna were shepherds. It was a little weird, but it worked out, I think. And the power went out so we did it by candlelight. But that gave it a good effect.
So, the next day (Christmas Eve), a few of us went to a Russian church. They wanted two people to be clowns, two to watch kids, and two to help with hospitality (Me and Jessie). So we got there, not really knowing what was going on, as usual. Jessie and I had no clue what we were doing. Pretty much all she did was cut out some papers, and I cut up three loaves of bread. Yes, we felt useful. Apparently it was some kind of passing out presents from Santa for the kids. And in Russian tradition Santa has a granddaughter called the Snow Girl, who helps Santa. So, that was interesting. But it was a fun experience.
So after that we went home and cooked a yummy Christmas dinner. A turkey, that the store coked with rice instead of stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, bread, cranberry sauce, and Coke. It was great!!! We had drawn names earlier and so we had our gift exchange that night. Chaz had my name and gave me the coolest tea set ever! (Here they drink tea after every meal). Then Chaz made a yummy chocolate dessert. It was a great Christmas Eve.
We woke up Christmas morning with Chaz and Casey having filled our stockings and presents uder our Christmas tree from our families back home. It was such a great surprise! Chaz and Casey made us chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Then we opened our presents. Later, we went to Kipa, a mall close by, and ate McDonald's for lunch. Then we went bowling and had pizza and Coke for dinner.
It was sad being away for Christmas, but it was a great way to spent it. Chaz and Casey did a great job at making us feel like we were home!!!

Go to my flickr account to see a few Christmas pictures. I'll post more next month.