I’m never in Africa over the holidays. In fact I’ve only spent one Christmas outside the US in my entire life. Until this year.
The holidays are over as I write this and in retrospect, it hasn’t been all that bad. We had my sister-in-law visiting from Nepal and there are plenty of things to do in Kenya, so I shan’t complain. I also realize that so many people in the world are suffering terribly during this time so it seems a bit insensitive to go on about not being able to have a holiday in America with my family. Besides, people that are tired of the cold of the Northern Hemisphere would love to be in warm, sunny East Africa.
 |
| amazing how good you can sound with a mask |
The evening that we returned from Amboseli, we were invited to some friends’ house for a small, relatively pandemic-friendly carol performance by a women’s choir. It was part fundraiser for them and part entertainment for us. They’re quite talented and I do love supporting groups like this. These are hard times for people economically and many such groups are disappearing. We normally sing carols when we are in the US this time of year with my in-laws and, though this wasn’t the same, it was a very nice substitute.
 |
| chocolate fondant... |
Other than the safari, I worked up to Christmas day. Things are slow, obviously, with many of my colleagues in Europe and the US on holiday. However Somalia itself wasn’t taking much of a rest. The country is in the midst of a rather tense election season and terrorists apparently aren’t big on holidays. So in addition to cleaning out my email inbox, I would need to track events unfolding in the Horn of Africa.
 |
| Christmas Eve - our first Christmas ever in our own home |
Though Liz visited us when we lived in Bujumbura, this was her first time to visit us in Nairobi. In addition to a safari and a trip to the coast, we had brainstormed about how best to use our time in the capital. It’s not as easy as one might think given that there are loads of things to do. There are endless restaurants to sample with Covid-safe outdoor dining. There are a few options to even see wildlife within 45 minutes of home. In the end we honed in on a few particularly good restaurants and hung out at home chatting, doing puzzles, watching movies, etc.
 |
| a walk in the forest |
 |
| mask drop for the photo |
For New Year’s we didn’t really make any plans. None of us were really keen on staying up to bring in the new year so we thought we’d have a nice dinner, have a toast to then make our way to bed. Liz bought some small fireworks so we thought we’d go up on the roof and light those after dinner. In the end, however, we connected with some good friends in the building (part of our Covid bubble). They joined us with their kids for a New Year’s toast on the roof. It was actually a very nice evening, with a fantastic view of various fireworks displays around the city. By 9pm they seemed to be happening in different directions. We suspected they were early because of the 10pm Covid curfew. By the time we had returned to the apartment, cleaned up and went to bed, we heard people outside counting down, “10, 9, 8…” Another round of loud fireworks ensured for a few minutes. As much as we had not intended on bringing in the new year, here it arrived anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment