Few Days Before Christmas Away from Home

Two days from now is Christmas Day and one night away is Christmas Eve. The occasion is eating me and my emotions, and as if not contented with my poignant feeling while writing this, I let Christmas songs play on my laptop. Being away from home at this time of the year I guess is the most difficult moment in my volunteer life. Today, I would have been busy preparing menu for the Christmas Eve, arranging wrapped gifts for distribution on Christmas Day, ensuring that house is ready to receive guests. I am trying to be happy and ignore feeling homesick but I can’t help it. I went to Shoprite to shop for food on Christmas Eve, and was excited unpacking the grocery bags. I rested for a while and decided to cook real food for dinner. I was happy with the food I prepared but again, while having dinner I was humming a Christmas song and when I realized what I was doing, I paused, cupped my head with my hands and tried to control my tears from falling. I felt alone again, I was thinking how I would cope with my feelings, it’s difficult, and really challenging. I miss mama, I miss my cousins, I miss my friends, I miss home, I miss my place, I miss everything. There’s no one near me to share with how I am feeling, long distance calls is expensive, besides, the more I will miss home if I talk to anyone from the Philippines. So I just succumbed to my feelings with a prayer that I’ll be strong enough to surpass this volunteer’s life complexity, convincing myself that everything’s going to be alright and Christmas day will pass by just like any ordinary day.