Christmas at Home!

It’s been a while since I’ve written because I went HOME for Christmas! Unfortunately, I got really sick the day before I left to travel to Cajamarca. I had diarrhea and was throwing up all night. I felt horrible and couldn’t believe my bad luck after I had been looking forward to the delicious food at home for months. When I was sick, the thought of food (even a bagel and cream cheese) made me feel nauseous! I didn’t have an appetite for three days, which for me is unheard of. So after all of these months of dreaming of American food, I was living off of baby food and bread in the days leading up to my trip. Luckily I was feeling fine by the time I arrived on American soil and was able to fulfill my dream of having a bagel with cream cheese as my first meal in the States. I was in heaven!

My flight home was fine, but seemed to take forever – especially knowing that I would finally get to see Giff when I arrived. I was at the airport in Cajamarca at 2:30 pm and didn’t arrive in the States until 9:00 am! I had a 6 hour layover in Lima and just had to sit there with all of my luggage for four hours until the counter for Delta opened. As you can imagine, I drove myself crazy waiting, but luckily while I was in line to finally check my bags, I saw another Peace Corps volunteer, Katie, and was able to spend the last hour with her. My flight was supposed to leave at 1:20 am, but of course was delayed until 2:30 am. I promised Giff I would try to sleep as much as possible on the plane so I wouldn’t fall asleep at 8 pm our first night together, but they turned the lights on at 7 am so that plan didn’t go so well. Luckily my adrenaline was running so high from finally seeing him that we were fine.

As some of you already know, Giff and I both flew into Atlanta and spent the night there before driving to his parent’s house in Charlotte, NC the next day. I arrived first and must have peed about 14 times in the hour and a half I waited for him because I was so excited. Seeing him for the first time in almost 7 months was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had! I wish I could relive that first day together over and over because it felt so great to be together again. After seeing Giff almost everyday for the past 5 years, I felt like we had been away for an eternity. I can’t even describe how amazing it felt to finally be with him again. As cliché as it sounds, it felt like a fairy tale being able to spend 10 straight days together. It felt like I had never left. It was better than I ever imagined.

We went to a delicious Italian restaurant for dinner. It was really small and romantic. They make their own pasta in house so you can imagine how good it was (especially to me who has been living off of rice and potatoes). After dinner Giff surprised me by driving me to Ben & Jerry’s and getting us a pint of my favorite ice cream – Oatmeal Cookie Crunch – yum! He’s the best! We spent the evening at the hotel just enjoying being together again and catching up. It felt so comfortable to be together again. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

After spending our first 24 hours together alone, we drove to his parent’s house on Christmas Eve. It was really great to see his family and they all welcomed me with open arms. I really felt like I had come home. All day I was anticipating the arrival of my parents, but spending time catching up with Carol (Giff’s mom) and soaking up everything I had missed for the past 6 months helped passed the time. After a delicious dinner, Giff and I left to go pick my parents up at the airport and you can imagine what an exciting reunion that was for all three of us. I was definitely on cloud nine.

My only request while I was home was to go to church on Christmas Eve. I didn’t want to have a full schedule while I was home because I wanted to just be able to enjoy everyone’s company. Going to church on Christmas Eve is one of my favorite traditions so I was really looking forward to be able to share that with Giff for the first time. During the service I found myself getting very emotional. I wasn’t quite sure why, but I think everything was finally sinking in. I thought about my family in Peru and how they were spending their Christmas Eve compared to me. I started to feel really badly thinking about how much more we have as Americans compared to them. I wish I could take them home with me just to give them a glimpse of our lives, but at the same time, the humbleness that results from poverty is endearing and something I have grown to love about the Peruvian culture. I was crying for them and crying because I felt so lucky to be at home with my family and have the opportunity to spend Christmas with all of my loved ones, while most of my friends were spending Christmas in a foreign country with different traditions. It’s hard to put my thoughts and emotions into words other than to say they were very powerful.

Unfortunately I was somehow able to pass the virus I had in Peru along to Giff and he got really sick on Christmas Eve. Here he paid all of this money for me to come home and I made him sick. I felt so bad. He was up all night throwing up and I was up all night worrying about him. It was definitely a Christmas to remember. Luckily for him it only lasted about 24 hours, but since his stomach was still feeling so weak, he was only able to eat 2 rolls for Christmas dinner! I felt horrible, but I must admit, better him than me since I had been dreaming about that delicious food since September when we bought my ticket to go home!

Christmas day was really fun – opening presents, eating good food, and watching the Eagles beat the Cowboys!!! The festivities continued the next day with Amanda’s arrival! Of course we were ecstatic to see each other and jumped right into cooking and baking – our favorite thing to do together. The next days were spent running errands buying presents for my Peruvian friends and family, my fellow volunteers who of course deserve a few of their favorite things from home, and of course a few things for myself to take back with me. We also watched a bunch of good movies so that was exciting for me. Carol was nice enough to let my mom, Amanda, and I take over the kitchen and make some of my favorite dinners, and of course desserts, while I was there so I could get my fill of American food. There wasn’t really anything too out of the ordinary, but it was definitely one of my favorite Christmas’. To be able to go home and spend the holidays with the people I love most was really special and something I will never forget. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful boyfriend and loving family (including the Blooms and Amanda)!

Our New Year’s Eve was a little non-traditional as we usually spend it with our friends from college, however, we both had a great time and I’d say it was definitely one of our best nights together. We went out to a late dinner (had to watch the Eagles beat the Falcons first) at a new restaurant in Charlotte. The food was delicious and the company perfect. It was a very romantic evening. I didn’t want to leave because I wanted the evening to last forever. We returned to Giff’s house to watch the ball drop and ring in the New Year with our families. We were laughing that we were at a party where almost everyone was our parents’ age, but we ended up having a great time and a really fun night together.

As great as the night was, it was also sad because it was our last one together for another six months. We got up around 9 the next morning because we had to drive back to Atlanta to catch our flights. Saying goodbye to our families was sad, but nothing compared to what was to come later at the airport. The ride back to the airport went really smoothly. We talked about everything as we tried not to think about the inevitable goodbye. How could 10 days possibly be over already?

Arriving at the airport was kind of hectic as we couldn’t figure out where to return our rental car and then had to check into our flights at two different terminals (not to mention rearranging the weight in my suitcases so we only had to pay $25 in excess baggage fees instead of $100). Giff’s flight was supposed to leave 20 minutes after mine, but luckily it was delayed so he was able to walk me to my gate. That’s when it hit me for real. This was it for the next six months. My dream was ending and pretty soon it was back to reality. We reached my gate and just sat together and cried until it was time for me to leave. I wanted to look at him as much as I could in the last 20 minutes we had together, but I couldn’t because it just made me cry harder. Instead I just latched on to him and let him hold me. I sat there as long as possible because I didn’t want to board the plane. I couldn’t even entertain the idea of spending another six months apart let alone a year and a half. But when they made the final boarding call announcements, I decided it was time. I couldn’t delay any more. We kissed each other goodbye and I cried as I stood in line watching him disappear down the long hallway. Here I just had the best 10 days of my life and all I could think was, what am I doing? But I reminded myself that Peace Corps is something I’ve always wanted to do and I have to finish it.

So here I am, for better or worse, back in Peru.