Hello everyone,

I hope you all are having or have had a great holiday season. It has been a bit difficult for me as this was my first Christmas away from my family. I do have friends here, but it is not the same. My family sent me some
packages earlier for my birthday and for Christmas. I recieved a Christmas card from the crew at Payless and it was nice to hear from them. A lot of my holiday hours were spent in that store with everyone and one does start to miss the tradition.

I went up to the hotel/resort on the north coast in Oracabessa where we had our training conference last month. It is actually very near James Bond Beach which is where Ian Fleming wrote all his books. You can read more about that here:
http://***link no longer available***
A volunteer friend of mine had her grandmother and mother visiting and they were staying there. I knew someone who lived nearby and was going to stay with them at night and hang out at the resort during the day. My friend's mom decided to rent another room for another volunteer and me for two nights which was very nice of her so I stayed for free. She also bought me a few meals which was very much appreciated. So Christmas eve entertainment was watching Karaoke and the entertainment guy decided that he needed to see who could hit the high note in "When a Man Loves a Woman" and shoved the mic in my face so eventually I did it. It wasn't great, but I was the closest out of the other men who tried it.

Christmas day was waking up and going out by the pool to relax and read in the sun. I played some beach volleyball with some other guests and it was good exercise, but hot in the sun. Feels wrong to not be cold and in front of a fire to warm up on Christmas. I got to talk to my family on the phone during the day and just relaxed the rest of it. I had KFC for dinner because they had a big special for the holidays. The Jamaican drink around Christmas is Sorrel, and then they have Christmas cake. Sorrel is a sweet juice mixed with some ginger. It's pretty good, but I don't care for the ginger too much. Sunday I got more good food as I was invited over to my Principal's house for dinner. He was out of town preaching at another church, but his wife and some of their family were there. I got filled up on good cooking and more sorrel, and then more cake after that!

So New Years, I have a plan to go to a reggae/dance hall performance up in the country where a couple volunteers live. It's supposed to be a big show, so I'll probably stay up all night. I haven't taken as many pictures lately. There are some, I'm sure that I'll get up sometime but there are not a lot. Just wanted to tell you all I am well and hopefully this new year will bring renewed energy!

I'd love to hear any updates on your lives. Whatever is new and exciting. Even if I can't always respond immediately, I do enjoy hearing it. Take care until next time,

-Oliver