(December 24th-30th)
Let me start this post off by saying that it is so weird for the first time in my entire 22 (almost 23!) years of living to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and soon my 23rd birthday in a foreign country without my friends and family! I missed out on all the fun of staying up until the early hours of the morning wrapping gifts, singing at 2-4 different masses, the annual race down the stairs (youngest to oldest) Christmas morning, playing video games and watching movies all Christmas Day, the hot dog Crescent rolls my Mom makes for New Years, the board game throwing while eating said hot dog rolls, the little Pepperidge Farm we split between 11people on birthdays...I could go on for daaaayyysss!!! Get my point?? Ok. Good!
MONDAY [[Christmas Eve!]]
Kate, Harris, and I went to morning and vigil mass. After vigil mass, the sisters had cookies, snacks, and drinks in the refectory Kate, Harris, and I hung out and made silly videos and took some pictures. Our friend Lucas (who had lived at the convent for a while when he broke his leg) was also around to hang out which was good to see him!
Kate, Harris, and I stayed up and watched "It's a Wonderful Life"...because it's a classic! Gotta love George Bailey! :)
TUESDAY [[CHRISTMAS!!]]
Christmas mass was nice! Not as nice as being at home. I really missed the usual Christmas music, but it was still fun celebrating Christmas is Kenya. The food was really good which is my favorite part of celebrating at the convent.
Harris gave Kate and me ice cream and wine for Christmas! Bonus Points for the ice cream being chocolate! :)
I also got to Skype my family which was really awesome! Not only did I get to see all of my siblings gifts, but also a performance of Christmas carols by the whole O'Malley Clan! :)
WEDNESDAY
The sisters decided to play Biblical charades and told Harris he had to stay to play. It was so much fun and everyone got really into it. I even learned a few passages that I wasn't familiar with!
THURSDAY
For the feast day of St. John, a bottle of wine was blessed during mass. I did not know this but apparently there is a story about how St. John once went to a feast and someone tried to poison his wine. He said a blessing over the wine and the glass broke, saving him from being poisoned. In honor of this occasion at dinner time Sr. Michael Marie poured a little wine for everyone and we toasted "To the love of St. John!". Personally, I thought it was a really cool celebration! I love interesting stories and traditions like that!
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
The entire week was one long celebration at the convent! It was great because that means lots of good food, ice cream, and Coca Cola and Fanta at dinner...but it did get pretty tiring!
On Saturday we celebrated the anniversary of Fr. Armhrein's death, the founder of the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing. Sr. Agnes (one of my table mates and in intensifier) did a great job organizing a day of activities. First, there were skits chronicling the life of Fr. Armhrein. In true Kenyan fashion, 20mins. skits took 45+mins. Following the skits, Sr. Michael Marie and Sr. Pia had prepared HAMBURGERS for lunch! (I was just a tad bit OVERJOYED at this feast of greatness!) After lunch the sisters danced around to some Kenyan music. It was quite amusing watching them bring their best moves to the dance floor! They are such a fun group! The day ended with a series of games. We split into two groups and competed in such activities as an egg race, needle threading race, soda chugging, water race, etc. By the end of the day, I was laughing and dancing along with everyone else. Such a good day!
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| Cookie Monsters- BFF pic ;) |
::FUNNY MOMENTS::
*Sr. Agnes reported to my table that the dogs had gotten into the rabbit cages over the weekend... "They heard we weren't invited to the party so they decided to celebrate without us!"
*Sr. Agnes and I had a lengthy discussion about animal mediums and people who can talk to animals...These are the things we discuss over lunch.
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