I taught my first Christmas lesson today. I think I did it just to remind myself that Christmas is actually coming up soon. It's hard to imagine an American being able to forget that anytime after Thanksgiving (or is it Halloween?). In the local stores of Jalalabad city there are no carols to be heard; the radio is not inundated with jolly melodies; the halls have not been decked. The irony is that growing up in a desert I'm actually surrounded by snow this time for the holidays.
I discovered that I have virtually no Christmas music or films with me. I never appreciated not being able to escape its presence when turning on the TV or buying a Big Gulp, but the complete lack of the holiday is nearly as shocking. I think there must be a happy medium somewhere.
In my lesson I showed a couple scenes from Fred Claus. Kevin Spacey's character shut down the toy factory and told the elves to "go back to Elfastan or wherever" they came from. I think I enjoyed that line better than the writers could have imagined.
Winter break is coming soon as well. This means an entire semester will be complete. I think I'll celebrate by keeping my heater on whenever the power is on.
