As June was coming to an end, it meant two things. One was that the school term was about over. The other was that we would be going on holiday for the first time in a year and a half. I’m generally enthusiastic about going on leave but this time I was a bit more excited than normal. Other than a day here and there, I haven’t really taken any leave during that time period. I think most people have a sense when it’s time to take a break and I’ve been feeling like I’m past due.
Travel is obviously more complicated than it used to be. Other than getting our vaccinations and booking the tickets, we were able to schedule a “home delivery” Covid test. We would have the results in less than 12 hours. Pretty efficient and even less expensive than the tests I was getting at another clinic with ten times the hassle.
We all received our negative results (though the thought did cross my mind that one of us could end up being positive while being asymptomatic). We were considering the options if in the odd chance we had a positive result which in the end was unnecessary.
As departure day arrived, the girls were naturally quite giddy. They like traveling and this was a treat since it has been a while. We planned ample time to get to the airport due to massive road construction in Nairobi. The airport was certainly less busy than pre-Covid times but it was still a bustle with travelers. We suspected that there were many like us taking advantage of being vaccinated, school breaks and some new-ish travel freedom.
Though there are a number of new hoops to jump through to get fully through the gauntlet and to the gate, I suppose it could have been worse. After years of taking travel for granted, I guess it makes me more tolerant of the hassles.
There was a real as well as mental exhale as I settled into my seat on the plane. I was so happy to get to that point after about three canceled flights to the US. It’s likely that I won’t take travel for granted again.
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| Amsterdam airport, a familiar place |
The girls need no instruction regarding what to do during travel. They’ve grown up with this lifestyle and jumped right back into it. Given that it was nearing midnight, I was debating sleeping and catching up on some movies. In the end I did neither. A full-length movie seemed too daunting for my attention span so I had “dinner”, powered through a few documentaries in between a few failed attempts to sleep.
The flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis was slightly better in that it was a little over half full. The row behind us was empty so I staked my claim on them and proceeded to stretch out and drift off to sleep. It makes a huge difference to get at least some sleep during thirty hours of travel, particularly when those hours begin late in the day. There are times when I’ve powered through the entire experience without any sleep. It’s brutal and it makes one understand how sleep deprivation is an effective form of torture.
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| St. Paul |
We arrived in Minneapolis in the afternoon of the next day (with eight hours added on due to time difference). I think all of us had had some sleep so we more alert than we normally are when we arrive. We would all be able to power through until our new time zone would allow us to go to bed. There’s always the issue of the late sunsets in the northern US summer (East Africa has little variation as to when the sun sets year round) but thankfully we were able to sufficiently darken the bedrooms at our friend Kathy’s house.
We saw Cathy on our last trip to the US a year and a half prior. It was winter, obviously, and we spent our time in the frigid temperatures enjoying the deep snow. While we expected hot and humid temperatures, we were in fact welcomed by perfect weather, even cool at times. As usual, we had a mix of new adventures and old. There is so much to enjoy in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. I sound like a representative from their tourist bureau but there really is. None of it is the kind of thing that blows you away like a high alpine trek or tropical beaches. It’s just a lot of varied and pleasurable activities, particularly if you’re at least a moderately active person.
The girls often take part in some sort of cooking activity with Kathy. In winter it’s Christmas cookies. This time, taking advantage of a couple of hyperactive cherry trees, they took part in the preparation of a cobbler. We had some cherry trees when I was growing up. Rather than baking and doing something constructive, I remember some friends and I getting into some trouble after launching some cherries at passing cars from the roof of our garage. I’m often thankful I’m not parenting myself as a child. My kids seem far more mature than I was at the same age.
During my last trip to Mogadishu prior to leaving on holiday, I met with my HR coordinator. He had told me that he had family in Minnesota and that it would be great if I could meet up with them. I generally like to have rather firm lines between my work and private lives but he seemed insistent that this was important to him. He had an ulterior motive in that he wanted me to pick up some books from them given that books are not easy to obtain in Somalia. Wanting to support his reading habit, I accepted to meet his sister, brother-in-law and mother for a coffee in downtown St. Paul. It turned out to be an enjoyable hour talking about their adapting to life in the US and my experiences in Somalia. The brother-in-law had been in the US much longer and he was rather comfortable in English. The sister less so. The mother, having arrived more recently, almost not at all. The Somali community in Minnesota is well known and well established. I imagine that his mother can get by okay but it still must be tough to adjust to her life in the States. It’s certainly much safer and more predictable. But Somali culture is deep and rich and I understand why many of the diaspora have returned to the homeland, in spite of the fact that life is so much more challenging. It’s something that most Americans would not understand well given that their roots tend to be shallower. It’s a long history of language, culture, food, geography, poetry, etc. It’s not necessarily better, just different. Some believe that those who are less attached to a distinct culture have an easier time immersing themselves in other cultures. I honestly don’t know if that’s true but it could very well be.
Another surprisingly interesting activity was a visit to the state capitol in St. Paul. I’m generally a fan of historical buildings so it might be less surprising that I would enjoy this one but even for those who are somewhat indifferent to such things, it’s still rather impressive. Construction on the building began in 1896 and it was restored between 2013 and 2017. It’s a mix of architectural styles, which can be off-putting, but for some reason it seems to work.
One thing that was interesting was a room housing a couple of controversial paintings. As the renovations were ongoing, some of the artwork came under question – particularly some paintings depicting native Americans in historically incorrect collegial gatherings. Some even depict native Americans looking on admiring at their settler counterparts as their land is being taken away from them.
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| the cathedral from the capitol |
It poses an interesting question as to what to do with this art. The fact that they are false depictions of history doesn’t necessarily they don’t have any historical value. The question is what to do with them. It seems to overlap with the debate regarding the controversial statues/monuments. Without wading into those waters, I would simply say that in this case I appreciate the fact that they were simply not relegated to the basement never to be seen again. They were, however, removed from the main halls and displayed in a meeting room alongside quotes of various individuals framing the controversy. In a way, it provides an opportunity to highlight the mistreatment of the native population in way that would be missed if they were warehoused.
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| Chinese pavilion in Phalen Park |
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The other highlight of the visit was an evening at a relatively small outdoor concert on the shores of a lake in Minneapolis. Generally when we are in the Twin Cities area, we spend most of our time on the St. Paul side and this gave us a chance to explore the other side. If you’re from there you probably sense more of a difference between the two. But as a casual observer, it seems pretty similar. But the area surrounding the lakes seems to be particularly rich.
After three nights, our time in the Twin Cities was done. We bid farewell to Kathy and soon we were off to Louisville. Stop number two.
