Christmas Eve!

Porch Kitty came to visit today...

I've spotted her sleeping on my patio chair a couple of times before, but this is the first time that she didn't run away as soon as I opened the blinds.  In fact, she stayed curled up on the chair asleep for a good half hour or so before she suddenly vanished.  Just call it a Christmas miracle :)

I spent the day lounging about as usual, until I went to work in the evening.  It was sort of bittersweet.  Obviously, I'd prefer to be with my family on Christmas Eve instead of eating a frozen dinner and watching A Christmas Story on TV, but at the same time I realized and appreciated that I was getting to be a part of something special by staying in Dallas for my internship.  Every other Christmas Eve of my life has been spent in a white suburban church...this year I spent it with about 200 Filipino people.  Between a little girl running up and excitedly telling me that this is her first Christmas in America, and singing a verse of Silent Night in Tagalog, I realized what a truly unique and wonderful situation I have found myself in.  I could have wound up in any number of white suburban churches in Dallas similar to my home congregation for my internship...but I ended up working closely with a people group that I had no prior experience with, but which I have come to love.  This time last year, I never would have pictured my Christmas Eve looking like this.  But if I can't be with my family, I'm glad to have been able to spend it like this.  

Merry Christmas, everyone!  (Or, Maligayang Pasko, I should say)

Christmas Eve photo
(carrying on the family tradition even
without the family)

Natanaw na, sa silangan
Ang talang patnubay
Ng gabing katahimikan
Nang ang Sanggol sa lupa'y isinilang
Ng Birheng matimtiman
Sa hamak na sabsaban.


O Liniwag, o tanglaw
Ng gabing kay inam
tulog na o, Sanggol na hirang
Hilig ng sa sutlang kandungan
Ng Birheng matimtiman
Ikaw ay aawitan.

Masarap.

Well today was rough, but I survived.  Let me walk you through it.

I woke up just as stressed out as I was when I went to bed, but lacking the ability to use sleep as a means of escapism from said stress  So instead I curled up on the couch and stared forlornly at my computer screen, took a shower, and watched some TV, before catching my friend Katrina on Facebook chat, and discovered that she was having a similar experience.  We decided that we both needed some moral support and to get out of our respective apartments, and formulated plans to go to White Rock Coffee (my I-need-to-study coffee shop of choice) and work on things together.  This was possibly the best idea we could have had.  I actually managed to finish my internship midpoint self-evaluation paper, which ultimately reached 16 mostly single-spaced pages for a grand total of 6,500 words (that's a lot, people).  It took a good 5 hours of work today to finish it, and another hour to proofread it.  It was a very draining essay to write because it involved a great deal of self-criticism and more reflection than any normal person likes to engage in.  In fact, the hour of proofreading effectively killed the happiness and relief that I felt upon finishing the actual writing of the paper, and when we left the coffee shop around 5:15 I was completely exhausted despite the Peppermint Mocha that had been consumed some three hours earlier.

Although I would have liked to spend the night curled up under a blanket watching mindless television, I fought my way through the rain to my mentor pastor's house for the church staff Christmas party that he and his wife were hosting tonight.  It was a stressful drive because the rain made the roads slick and the lanes nearly invisible, and there were massive puddles everywhere.  But finally I got to the house, offered my gift of a Christmas poinsettia to my mentor pastor and his wife, and settled in for a party.  Even though I was kind of out of it at first, this was actually very good medicine for my overwhelmed and stressed-out demeanor.  It turns out that a good recipe for stress relief is a mixture of Christmas carols, Filipino food, cute children, and general Christian community.  A couple of the women also taught me to speak some Tagalog, much to the delight of everyone who crossed my path throughout the night.  I learned four words in total: "masarap" (good/delicious), "maganda" (beautiful), "opo" (yes), and "bapo" (takeout/leftovers).  The spelling on that last one is questionable, but my knowledge of Tagalog quadrupled in this one evening.  I got sent home with a great deal of "bapo" (spring rolls, ham, fried chicken, black rice, sticky rice, and fruit salad), a big box of peanut butter M&Ms, and a pretty glass angel ornament.  It was a very re-energizing evening after a long day of studying.

So now I'm down to preparing for just two finals, one of which I'm not concerned about at all and one of which scares the bejeebers out of me.  But it will all be over come Thursday, and that is my shining ray of hope.

Also, last night I made "Ratatouille"'s ratatouille (as in, ratatouille based on the version created by the rat in the Disney movie), but was too stressed out to write about it.  Eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper atop a bed of tomato paste with chopped onions, garlic, and olive oil, cooked in an oven and topped with goat cheese.  It was all delicious.  Here's a picture of it.  It's pretty masarap, and a bit maganda as well.

And, for fun, here's a song that I have been playing on repeat for most of the day.  Even though it has nothing to do with anything else in this post...