¨Family¨

Sometimes things fall so easily in place, and become so naturally comfortable, that you don’t recognize the dynamics that created the situation to begin with. It has taken me until now to realize that the other Peace Corp Volunteers have not only become intimate friends, but more importantly, a substitute family. Together we easily come in union to create the semblance of domestic grace and tranquility.

Spending the last few days with these people further emphasizes this to me. It is the little things I notice when we are together: Mike cooking meat, Hossam chopping onions, Meagan cutting tomatoes while commenting on our charisma in the kitchen, me adding spices and garlic, all to make pasta sauce. After dinner Meagan washes dishes, Hossam rinses, Mike dries while I clean the counter. I find this order and efficiency comforting. The hundred little things, all of us together and content: Hossam napping while Meagan, Mike, and I discuss the best way to hang Christmas decorations or all of us in the bathroom brushing out teeth together while killing cockroaches. Like any good family, we are all very different from each other, but we are all experiencing the same things together, which creates a deeper bond than what any personality differences could harm. If I need advice or comfort or just a good laugh these are the people I go to. They are the ones that complete the experience.

As a result, I am not depressed about spending the holiday season here. I actually am enjoying the combination of traditions that we bring from our former lives. One of the best days I have had here was making ginger bread house in honor of a tradition that Mike’s family celebrates each year. It was great to mix that with being in Africa: Mike made a hut (roundavel) with Santa in front cooking pap, Meagan made a taxi (coombie), Hossam made the ZCC church complete with pigeons and Santa using a pit toilet, and I made a bar (shabeen) complete with a pit toilet with a tin roof. Graham crackers and frosting have never been quite so entertaining before.

In the morning, as Hossam passes me milk to add to our tea, and we sit outside, sipping, talking, while Mike’s puppy jumps at our feet, I feel that I may have found a good “home” for myself for the next 22 months.