It has taken some time to see, or maybe just to accept: holidays look different here. So many holidays and traditions are based around family, and we just don’t have that.
So many others can be replicated, but should they? And are they worth it? Take for instance EVERY TRADITIONAL HOLIDAY FOOD FOR EVERY HOLIDAY. I could spend the entire month of December trying to recreate flavors from scratch, that in the end taste vaguely “different” and you aren’t sure why. And rather than cherishing traditions, you’ve really just sweat your way through the month in the kitchen.
And Easter, too—it just looks different. And each year I accept that a little bit more, and I’ve even begun to love it. It makes me laugh, at how we’re just so close and yet. so. far.
{I’ll tell you, those Instagram posts of cute families in front of clean front doors with their hair blowing in the spring breeze: we’re so very, very far from that.}
So this, THIS was our 2019 Easter. In all it’s chaos and glory.
I left at 7am to pick up Thida to go to the market, because we usually go early on Sunday morning, and we couldn’t do last week because of the nationwide water flight. And next week I’ll be away. So Easter it is! I went ahead and just wore my Easter dress to the market, and walked right on through who-knows-what. And then we went to our version of Costco or Sams, which is also my least favorite place in Mae Sot. Really, my LEAST favorite.
Also at 7am, Stephen met with the two Reinforcers. (Yes, two! We hired another Reinforcer, and Easter was his first week because…I’m not sure why.) They worked together to make PowerPoint slides for church, and then we had a quick meeting with them at 8:30, as we unloaded the car of community groceries and reloaded it with the community!
Stephen left for church with the Reinforcers and the first load of attendees. I finished gathering things for Sunday school.
By 10am, we were all gathered in church for the service. It was just crossing over 100 degrees Farenheit outside, and we were inside, with doors closed to not upset the neighbors with the loud music. It was indescribably hot. I have only two ways to describe it to you: I stood there in my Easter dress, which has been my Easter dress for three years running because that isn’t really a thing here, and sweat is running down…everything. Quite literally every person in the church had sweat spots on their shirts, and we’re all wiping our brows. It was unbelievably and indescribably hot.
Halfway through the singing, one of the toddlers fell out of his chair. He had fallen asleep sitting up and just tipped over. Whoops. I picked him up and tried to get him back to sleep on my shoulder, at which point our two combined body heats were about to put me over the top. I stepped outside, and responded with relief.
Let me just tell you, when temperatures over 100 degrees and a blaring sun feel like a cool relief to you, you might be on the verge of dying.
After singing, I slipped out with the kids and Pwin Pyu Hey, who I’d ask to come help me with reading the verses. We did a life-size gift-wrapped version of Resurrection Eggs, including an attempted crown of thorns I’d made that morning & left me with a lovely little jar of roses.
And then we made tombs.
We built tombs out of chocolate wafers and rolled a chocolate Oreo in front of it. Then we looked in and said, “Is Jesus in there?”…”NOPE! He’s not here!” 😂
After the service, they handed out hard-boiled eggs.
(It’s the beginning of American traditions making their way here, but just not quite arriving yet. So we just eat hard-boiled eggs together.)
And then we ate lunch together, and I can honestly say I have no idea what it was. It had coagulated blood in it, some sort of fish flubber that translates literally to “fish oil,” and what Stephen & I both thought were noodles but turned out to be bamboo shoot.
And then we had ice cream for an Easter special! Strawberry, lime sherbet, and rainbow. We still live in Asia!
We made it home with everyone dropped off by about 1:30pm, and showered before the kids arrived at 2pm to play.
We played with trains and the new dollhouse; we played CandyLand and Monopoly Junior. And we made Easter bunnies.
And then Stephen and I went for dinner when everything finally wrapped up for the day. We finished the day working on our current puzzle and sharing some seashell-shaped chocolate, because egg-shaped chocolate didn’t make these shelves.
That’s Easter, folks. We didn’t embrace traditions; but we did love embracing this community and our church home. And we still hold the same truth of the Resurrection, the same hope of new life; and we just often find ourselves on the untraditional side of those truths!