Joyeuses fêtes ... lakay mwen ...

My pretty card, signed by each student in one of my higher
classes.

Happy Holidays, whether you're caroling, reaching the end of your menorah, wondering when all the inflatable snowmen will go away, or going to a family-friendly pole-dance.
I'm heading out tomorrow to returns to the U.S. to visit friends and family for Christmas. As such, posts will not be at their normal, lackadaisical rigor but in fact even more sporadic.
I already dread putting myself on the plane to come back here. I'm not happy with the small-town life here, nor with the way I'm fitting in it - or rather, with the extent I'm not finding a niche. As a very independent person, I'm struggling with my inability to go out and enjoy what Martinique has to offer, and as a New Yorker I'm frustrated with how little it has to offer. While I love my job and the majority of teacher I work with, and I adore my students, work is, after all, not all there is to life.
That being said, I hardly fit in back home in Alabama. I'm not exactly looking forward to being interrogated and derided by my family for my choices and my failure to start my own family, and that will sting all the more when I know myself (and I'm sure my dad has told them) that I'm not happy. So, I don't idealize going home, but I do need a break to see my more intellectual friends, hold my cat, and be able to come and go as I please.
I'm hoping for renewal and peace this Christmas, and I wish the same to you.