vanoce pod palmama / christmas under palmtrees

Sednul jsem si na travnik, dal ruce za hlavu, podival se na ciste modrou oblohu, trochu si zanadaval na Slunce prazici neutuchajici silou a na mem cele se zacinaly objevovat kapicky potu. Idylicke odpoledne. Tedy az do chvile nez me vyrusilo pobihani decek, ktere nejely na prazdniny domu, a ruch priprav Stedrovecerni vecere. Vitejte ve stredni Americe v case vanocnim.

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I sat down on a lawn, put my hands behind my head, looked at bright blue sky, said some bad words about the Sun shining with neverending power and on my forehead tiny drops of swaet started to appear. Almost fairy-tale afternoon. Well, only till the students that did not go home for vacations began to rush around and prepare the Christmas dinner. Welcome to central America in the Christmas time.

Uz kdyz jsem se premyslel o tom, ze bych jel do tehle casti sveta, byl jsem presvedcen o tom, ze tady chci stravit svatky Vanocni a konec roku, i za cenu toho, ze prijdu o rybu, bramborovy salat, zasnezeny Pustkovec a bujare silvestrovske veseli v Nizkych Tatrach 🙂 Na jedne strane se mi splnilo predsevzeti zazit svatecni atmosferu v uplne jinem prostredi, na druhe strane jsem byl trochu zklaman tim, ze jsem se o mistnim zpusobu slaveni Vanoc zas az tak moc nedozvedel.

Mozna to bylo dano tim, ze mi tady chybel ten snih (i kdyz doma taky neni..), ze jsou tady prazdniny, takze Vanoce decka berou jako kazdy jiny den, ktery tady musi stravit vsichni spolecne, daleko od domova, ze je nas tady asi 40 z mnoha ruznych zemi a kultur a tak dale.. Cekal jsem alespon nejake zvyky (jako je nase rozkrojeni jablek, pro devcata hazeni strevickem a podobne), ale nic se nedelo.. Takze vas musim zklamat, ale jedine, o co se s vama muzu podelit, je alespon ta samotna vecere 🙂 Meli jsme prichystany jeden velky stul v “amfitatru”, s vyhledem na travnik a stromy, temer pod otevrenym nebem. Tri druhy masa (kruta, hovezi, kure), k tomu trochu ryze tentokrate bez fazoli, testovinove a ovocne salaty, nejruznejsi zelenina jako okurky, rajcata, cukety (vsechny nazvy neznam snad ani cesky 🙂 a k tomu na zapiti sodovka a na pripitek neco na zpusob kakaoveho likeru (ronpope, moc dobre).. A ta zmrzlina nakonec..

Celkovy pocit byl takovy trochu rozpacity, ale prece jenom prijemny. Kdy se mi zase postesti na Vanoce veceret a pokecat si s Cinankou, Malajcem, Peruancem, Mexicanem, Lotysem, Palestinkou, Madarkou, Estonkou, Senegalcem, Kambodzankou, nekolika mistnima a mnoha dalsima, na ktere jsem v tomto kratkem seznamu zapomnel? Asi bych si na to musel jeste dlouho pockat..

From the very first day, when I found out the possibility to go to this far-away part of the world, I decided to stay here during Christmas and New Year’s Eve time, even though I knew I was going to miss the fish, potato salad, my home covered with snow and crazy celebrations in Slovakia with my friends 🙂 My plan succeeded and I was able to feel the festive atmosphere in a completely different environment, on the other hand I was a little disappointed because of not really seeing and getting to know any special, local way of celebrating this time of the year.

Maybe it was because of not having snow here (well, there’s no snow at home anyway..), maybe because of the fact, that there are school holidays here which means the students here perceive this day as every other day they have to spend together, maybe because we are 40 here, from different countries and cultures and so on.. I was expecting some habits (as in CZ cutting apples or girls’ throwing the shoe) but nothing occured.. So I have to disappoint you a little, but the only thing I can share is the dinner itself 🙂 We had one big table prepared, in the amphitheatre, with a view of lawn and trees, almost under the sky. Three kinds of meat (turkey, beef and chicken), a small amount of rice this time without beans, pasta and fruit salads, many kinds of vegetables as gherkin, tomatos (I can’t tell the names even in Czech :), lemonades to drink and a something like cocoa liquor for the toast (ronpope, very good).. And icecream as the final part..

The overall feeling was a little strange, but pleasant in the end. When will I have the opportunity to have dinner and talks with a Chinese, Malaysian, Peruvian, Mexican, latvian, Palestinian, Hungarian, Estonian, Senegali, Cambodian, several locals and many other I did not include in this short list? Probably I would have to wait quite a long time..