Feliz Navidad in Santiago
The first surprise we got Friday before Christmas. ETL Don Bosco, our coordinating organisation, gifted us with baskets filled with food and drinks and wished us Merry Christmas. It was really nice of the people we are working with and all of us were very thankful, especially to see how much they care about us and our happiness. As for the Christmas days some of the volunteers would leave Santiago to visit some friends in Spain, we decided to keep these baskets until the 27th and have a little after work Christmas dinner together. Furthermore we played the secret friend game, so every one took a name and had to get a small present for this person, but this also had to wait until everybody returned on the 27th.
For the 24th, we (the volunteers staying in Santiago) met in one of the apartments. For Ecem it was her very first Christmas, as they don't celebrate it in Turkey, so she was really exited about it, which led us to do our best to make it something special for her. We decorated our apartment and we planned a dinner, for which we went shopping together during the week. We prepared a lot of different appetizers , we enjoyed with a glass of Champagne, followed by delicious pasta with shells and some glasses of wine. As dessert we prepared a huge cake. After dinner we played some cards and enjoyed being together until we had to go to the Cathedral for the mess at midnight. It was a really nice evening all of us enjoyed a lot, especially Ecem, who started to get the impression that Christmas is only about eating and drinking.
On the 25th we met for lunch, we ate the leftovers from the night before and some risotto with shrimps. After cleaning the dishes we sat all together on the couches, watched some Christmas movies and ate cookies, Jakob's mother made for us. We wanted it to keep it as typical as possible for Ecem our Christmas newbie, which only strengthened her first impression.
In the evening of the 27th we were finally all together. We ate and drunk what we got from our center Don Bosco and we enjoyed being all together. After dinner it was time to get to know who was each others secret friend and to give the presents. It was really funny to get to know about your secret friend and see the different presents. Finally I can say that we spent a lot of time together during these days, which was the most fun for all of us. And in the end even Ecem learned that spending time with your dear ones is what Christmas is about.
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