Muy Estraño.

Let me begin by telling you all how strange it is to be here at Christmas time. There are Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Christmas stockings, Santas, Ornaments, Nativity scenes, and a whooole heap of fake flocked foliage on everything. One of my favorite places to eat has Christmas-themed tableclothes...and this is not the type of place you would expect to even have tableclothes...and the curtains...the curtains! They are also a lovely pine-forest green with candy canes, wreathes, and santas.
I...I just don't know how to handle this. I am a million miles away from familiar yet Christmas is still here. It's just different.

Por ejemplo: Last night I went to a community Christmas show with two other students from my school. We did not know what to expect. We were going because our latin dance instructor was a part of it and we wanted to see him do his stuff. However, we got something quite different than expected.
It was at a bar/hotel called the Roca Verde, a hot spot for locals who want to dance dirty on a Saturday night. However, it had been converted into a theater for tonight's review. We kind of thought that this was a community event, but we didn't know it was a gringo community event. I'm serious. This place was packed with white people. More than I had seen in a long time. And the little community review was really a showcase for local talent. I have no idea where these people came from, were kicked out of, or how they all managed to come together in such a festive way, but it was quite a show. There was a British guy who must have been on Broadway, a old chick in feathers who could have kicked young Glinda from Wicked little heiny, and even our bartender could have made me weep with the way he sang. My god, these people had pipes. Not to say that the performance was perfect...far from it. But there were some beautiful moments. A sanskrit song, bartender making me cry with O Holy Night, and realizing that I'm not just missing Christmas with my family this year, I'm missing Christmas entirely.

And then we got a ride home with a man who had won the Baja 500 four times.

Sometimes, this place makes me feel like I am dreaming.