Chance of a White Christmas: Nil

This morning I got an email from my dad with a picture of my parents' house in the newly-fallen snow of last night's flurries. A quick check of the weather back in Washington shows lows in the teens and highs in the 20s and 30s for the next few days. A white Christmas looks like a real possibility.

And here in Quy Nhon? Well, we've got lows in the teens and highs in the 30s too. Just look:

Oh, wait. That would be 30 degrees Celsius. Yeah, sunny and upper 80s for the highs most days in these parts. Last year at this time we were smack in the middle of the rainy season, but there's nary a drop to be seen for the next week here at least.

That hasn't prevented us from getting in the holiday spirit, though. Thanksgiving/Christmas is a great time of year not just because of good food, packages from home, nice music and the presence of minty things in the house. It's also a great time to share with students.

This year, for instance, we celebrated as close to a "real" Thanksgiving as we could with several of our close student friends. Joelle made a ton of food, we read the Thanksgiving story, played some games and had a generally great time.

Then, two days later, we did it all over again, this time with our teammates Jill and Jason and some other foreign friends. Watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles while eating homemade pumpkin cheesecake and apple pie brought a fitting and familiar end to the Thanksgiving festivities.

After Thanksgiving, of course, it's time to get ready for Christmas. Though we settled for a miniature fake tree last year, we went all the way and opted for a real, live one this year. And when I say "tree," I mean, of course, "small ornamental shrub." That's right--for about $1.75 we went out and purchased one of those 70s-era evergreen shrubs that take over people's flowerbeds and are all prickly and usually give you rash if you brush against them. Nothing says Christmas like a 70s-era prickly rash-inducing ornamental shrub, right? Most people in the States who had those particular shrubs came to their senses in the early 90s and tore them out, but in Vietnam there still seems to be a market for them. In any case, it works fine and it's about as close as we're gonna get to the real thing. One nice, familiar holiday surprise was the poinsettia we were able to purchase at the same time.

Thus, with some rearranging of our room, the addition of some lights to the windows and a few other decorations here and there, we've got a room outfitted for Christmas. And if we turn both of our AC units on, you just might be able to close your eyes and imagine Jack Frost himself nipping at your nose.

Of course, one thing we'll never be able to replicate here are all the friends and family we've left back in the chilly, dark US of A. So, while we love Quy Nhon and are looking forward to sharing Christmas with our Vietnamese friends, we will be missing all of you and thinking about you lots.