A Very Merry Christmas Indeed

There's a cockroach living on the bar of soap in my shower! Welcome home, Me!

Yes, I'm back in Jamaica! And what a whirlwind week it's been. I was in Michigan from the 22nd until the 30th, but I feel as though I've been gone much longer. It was a jampacked week.

Highlights include:
-Getting a haircut
-First Annual Titus Family Unfortunate Sweater Party (the pictures are just as scary as the title)
-Snow! Cold weather! Getting to wear sweaters!
-Giving and receiving heartfelt presents like pajamas, diaries, massages, TGIF gift cards that apparently can't be used and very old Red Stripe Beer posters with bathing suit models on them (I should mention that some of these gifts were actually in the "White Elephant" gift exchange portion of Christmas)
-Long talks with the people I love and learning life lessons from them
-Hot showers, nice toiletpaper, and washing my clothes in a washing machine
-Plain old spending time with my loved ones (that's the best!)
Thank you to everyone who made my Christmas a memorable and heartwarming experience. It was great to see you and hard to leave you! Love you all.

Jamaica wasted no time getting me readjusted. The minute I got off the plane I was faced with multiple hilarious and frustrating examples of the culture. Examples: viciously arguing with a taxi driver about his ridiculous prices; hopping on a beyond full minibus which turned out to be a "Boom Boom" bus, where they blast reggae and dancehall music and people just go nuts dancing and singing the whole time (my ears are still bleeding probably); another catfight on the bus; and finally, coming home to my bug-infested room and then the bar of soap incident. Now, I don't mind beatles, spiders, or even mosquitoes... but cockroaches... no no no. I never have gotten use to them. And finding one under a bar of soap while taking a glorious cold shower after a long day of exhausting travel was the last place I'd expect one. Uhhhhggg. Gross. But the US has gross things too, like coleslaw, deer hunting, and obession with accquiring more and more useless material goods. So potato, potahto. Anyhooooo.

I will update something more detailed when I have the energy, but for now I'll just say...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Love you, guys and hope the new year brings peace and many blessings!