Life in a different culture
In Argentina, it is the night before Christmas that is celebrated. Everybody gets together to enjoy the night with a large meal and times of reflection until midnight when we all take hold of our glass and toast to Christmas and celebrate this day. When the next day comes, most are either sleeping, or spend the day at the beach. Our Christmas celebrations in the YWAM Base in Puerto Madryn followed this pattern exactly.
Everybody outside at the tables, ready for Christmas dinner.
Christmas was celebrated on the night of the 24th, starting dinner at 11pm with toasts and lots of fireworks at midnight. We also had our share in the noise and lights of the fireworks although I have never seen such craziness as our neighbours were doing… throwing huge fireworks balls onto the street when they were designed to be launched in a tube to great heights. Needless to say, their explosion on the street was massive and caused all of us considerable ringing in our ears.
Here are some photos to share our Christmas with you.
Every home needs a Christmas tree.
The whole family gathered to celebrate Christmas at midnight.
Making Christmas phone calls to everyone (oops. Where is Paul’s face?).
Playing with roman candles on the street.
It was hot, so we all hung out on the street until late.
This current school of Discipleship is comprised of mainly foreign students, so as Christmas gets closer they are missing the feeling of Christmas from back home where there are lots of decorations and other signs of Christmas around them.
Katy and Nicole preparing their decorations.
Not happy to let things lie, two or three students set out to make a difference and surprise the rest of their class. So they set to work, using the Prayer House as their base, making up a whole range of creative decorations.
Then, on the night of the 7th after everyone had gone to bed, they set to work decorating the classroom with everything that they had made. The next morning as each student woke up and made their way through the room to the bathroom they were presented with an amazing surprise.
Feliz Navidad is Spanish for Merry Christmas.
The whole room is now colourful and Christmassy with lots of creativity, a fireplace, Christmas tree, and plenty of decorations. Thanks Katy and Nicole – you guys did a great job.
The newly decorated classroom during breakfast.
Our very own Christmas tree.
Even a fireplace to warm ourselves by.
Baby Jesus in a manger.
A baby Chinese Jesus – adds to the multicultural feel.
Cute sheep and two angels also adorn our walls.
The girls even found an origami book to make some flowers.
I am angry, annoyed, and frustrated. If I could be more things then I would be too. It is not as if I didn’t know… nor that I shouldn’t have been aware of what was going to happen. Still, each time it drives me crazy. Archaic laws from a controlling dictatorship that no longer exists. A law that forces every person in Argentina to pay 50% of the value of every single item they receive by mail or courier just to be able to walk out with it.
Now add to this crazy law, one super legalistic letter-of-the-law customs lady, and you get this very situation in which I found myself. Christmas in customs.
Opening my Christmas gifts in the customs office.
You see, in order to charge you the 50% of everything that comes into the country, the customs officer needs to see absolutely every single item that arrives. They then put whatever price they consider reasonable, based on Argentine prices if there is no price placed on the package customs slip and charge you accordingly.
So when I went in to pick up my box of Christmas gifts, there was no way that I was going to be able to walk out without opening every one of them. At first the lady wanted to open each one herself but I told her that since they were my presents, that I should be the one opening them. And that is just what I did. Christmas in customs.
Instead of sitting down the in comfortable privacy of my room – well, if you call a room shared with four other guys private that is – to open each present and think about each person that had sent it to me, I found myself in a cold and basic customs office with an impatient customs officer leaning over me to find out what was in each packet.
One by one I pulled out my presents, reading the cards and tearing open the wrapping. The joy tempered by a resentment of the control exercised by this law, and the legalistic nature in which it was enforced. Once everything had been checked, I signed the legal document that both charged me the tax fees and allowed me to leave with my gifts.
This time however I did not pay. The first $25 USD received each year is free. It takes very little to reach that amount however, so the next package won’t be free.
Each year, while I remain in Argentina and until this law is changed, my experience is the frustration of having Christmas in a customs office cubicle.
UPDATE 30 Nov: They were not in a huge box so I guess they did not attract that much attention. That is why on November the 30th I received two large envelopes with Christmas pressies in them. One had some yummy chocolate (all gone now), and the other had some book-style presents from my bro Joseph and his wife. Thanks heaps guys.
The presents that made it.
So I guess the moral to this story is to try and send things a little less conspicuously than a huge box where this is possible.