First of all, I hope that everyone back home had a wonderful Christmas holiday and was able to spend it with family. Unfortunately, because I am so far away, this was my first Christmas away from home. It was definitely different, but I got to facetime with everyone back home so I got the best of both worlds: family and the warmth of island life. It was definitely weird for me to be hot on Christmas, but in a way it also made it easier to be away from home since it doesn't feel like Christmas and it doesn't remind me of home at all. I spent the week getting certified to SCUBA dive, so it has been a really fun week for me! We learned a few things then jumped in the water and got to do four dives, two of them on Christmas Eve. I can't complain about that! We saw some pretty awesome stuff! Throughout the four dives, I saw two schools of barracuda, two sea turtles, two eagle rays, got in the middle of a huge school of rainbow runners, and saw tons of other tropical fish and beautiful coral. I can't wait to go again! A huge thank you goes out to my wonderful grandparents who funded my certification. I am so lucky to have great family that is so generous. Even though I wasn't home to celebrate Christmas with them, I have received tons of packages full of my favorite goodies and I still have more coming! My parents even sent me a miniature Christmas tree with real lights that I kept in my classroom, and the students loved it! We listened to Christmas music while we reviewed and I even taught some of the students how to make paper snowflakes. One particular student was especially excited about it and proceeded to make snowflakes for all his teachers and reported to me every day on his progress. He is one of my attention-seeking students who always wants to look like the cool guy, so I loved that he was so into making snowflakes, as it isn't exactly something a manly man would want everyone to see him doing. The rest of the students loved the snowflakes on my door and the paper chains hung around the chalkboard. Their faces all seemed to light up when they walked in my classroom the last week of school. All in all, I had a wonderful holiday and I feel so loved. Though my parents consistently send great packages, I have to give Ray Phelan a shoutout here for the absolute best package to date. It was filled with huge bags of all the best chocolate: ferrero rocher, dove, ghiradelli, and some classic hersheys to round it out. I cannot contain my excitement, and my roommates are happy you sent the giant bags so that I share with them too. Thanks for the wonderful package Ray! And as always, thank you mom and dad for the weekly packages. I don't know how I would survive without your constant supply of goodies from home. To grandma and grandpa Cole, thanks for all your wonderful packages! Your homemade goodies are not only delicious, but I know they've got love baked in and they always make me smile thinking of you. To grandpa Turkey Tom and Joyce, thank you for the great packages! You filled them with so many awesome goodies of every kind that are going to last a long time, so really I owe you a three-month thank you because that's how long it will take me to get through all the goodies! I got all of these packages today, and it was a great Christmas present to receive so much love from home. I can't wait to see what's coming from Eleva! It was so great to talk to everyone Christmas Eve! I miss you all and I wish I could have been there.
I'll wish everyone a Merry Christmas one last time, and say a thank you to everyone who sent packages or just sent their love. I love and miss you all and I hope you have a great start to the New Year!
I'm sending my love from Kosrae!
