There are only four of us in for Christmas so far. A few volunteers live in Niamey and there is one other coming in today, so it will be a total of eight or so for a Christmas dinner tomorrow. Last night was all the recuperating and morale building that I hoped. As volunteers tend to do, we mostly just sat around and discussed the frustrating things about being a volunteer, but there is a sense of cathartic release and a sense of being in it together, and that changes things. This morning I am sitting in the hostel looking forward to a day spent shopping (for dinner) and hanging out. There is Christmas coffee (Thanks Emily’s mom!), which I am drinking and enjoying and things are nice and cozy. We will probably watch a whole bunch of Christmas movies later, which I am less excited about and may skip out on, but the important thing is the feeling of contentedness that I have as I sit here drinking coffee and writing this post.

An aside, this is the first time I have drank a cup of coffee. I usually drink some Lipton tea with powdered milk and sugar, which is pretty tasty, but in Peace Corps I have been having cravings for coffee, which is odd since I never drank it. Maybe it has some kind of comfortable space association in my mind and that’s why I suddenly want coffee, but its strange. Anyway, its not bad. I don’t really like the taste in my mouth after drinking a cup, but the coffee itself (with plenty of milk and sugar, is pretty good).

I will probably be posting a few times over the next few days, since I have electricity and easy access to internet, but I wanted to get a Christmas Eve post out for all of you who are busy doing your own Christmas preparations. Happy Holidays.