Xmas on the beach

Christmas was a low-key affair for me this year. On the 23rd, we took the bus to Mombasa, the second-largest city in Kenya. As with all the coastal towns in East Africa, the original Bantu people had traded and intermarried with mostly Omani traders, and also with early Portuguese colonialists, forming the unique Swahili culture which still remains strong today. Though not as business-oriented as Nairobi, Mombasa is still a hectic place, filled with the usual mix of hawkers, matatu touts and con artists, with a seemingly huge homeless population. But it's a beautiful city. As the population is mostly Muslim, huge white mosques dominate every few blocks or so. The city looks old, its white and pastel buildings falling into disrepair, but still retaining their old charm. And it's hot -- I'd guess that the temperatures go above thirty every day at this time of year, especially with the heavy press of humidity.

Our hotel was right in the centre of town, a relatively cheap place (though they had raised their rates for the holidays, of course) with simple but large and clean rooms. I was surprised at the number of foreigners I saw there, and indeed all over Mombasa. I guess I just don't usually think of traveling over the holidays to somewhere so far from home. It was nice, though -- this is definitely the first time I've been swimming on Christmas Eve! From town it takes about half an hour to reach the various beaches, with their clear water and white sand. The scene is somewhat marred by the various tourist traps, like camel rides and kite boarding, but once you're in the warm embrace of the Indian ocean, that's easily ignored.

On the night of Christmas Eve, we went dancing at a place called Bob's (for Bob Marley) -- a parking lot during the day which is converted to a dance floor at night. The DJ was fantastic and the place was packed. Georgie and I had fun speculating about where people were from based on the way they were dressed. Mombasa women, we noted, are a bit more feminine and classy, while Nairobi women go all-out for trends and skimpiness. The table of women dressed in stiletto boots, hot pants and backless shirts were definitely Nairobians! This being the coast, there was also some evidence of sex tourism. The tables with one older white person (just as frequently a woman as a man), and one younger Kenyan, not speaking to each other, were pretty sad. I particularly felt sorry for the young man at the table next to us, who sat watching other people dancing all night, and looked like he would have joined them had he not been with what looked like a client -- a middle-aged white woman who sat staring straight ahead and chain-smoking the entire evening. I can't imagine how sad it must be for both of them, to spend Christmas Eve with a stranger who doesn't say a word, or with someone you are essentially paying to make you feel less alone. I'd think it would just make you feel even more lonely. I had a fantastic evening, though, dancing the night away with good friends!

On Christmas itself, some businesses closed and some remained open, but the informal businesses were booming. The hawkers were setting up in the morning, adding gaudy Christmas garlands to their usual wares of clothing, accessories and counterfeit DVDs. The restaurants were also doing great business. Families with young kids especially were taking the opportunity in what is probably a rare treat of eating out. We didn't do a lot during the day -- mostly poked around a bookshop and relaxed in the afternoon. In the evening, it seemed like all of Mombasa was heading to the beach -- traffic was completely jammed up in the direction of the public beach, and masses of people were walking along the side of the road. We hired a tuk-tuk -- a little three-wheeled vehicle which I think is made out of a modified motorcycle -- and headed off into the crowd. We went to a nicebeach side hotel and had Christmas dinner down by the ocean. While the others had steak, I opted for chicken -- the closest I could get to turkey! There was even carrots and zucchini, which was exciting. The dinner was complemented by delicious fresh mango juice. Though it wasn't anything like Christmas at home, it felt good to be with friends, surrounded by palm trees and the sounds of waves crashing in the warm night air.

On the next day, we left for Lamu -- but I'll have to save the details of that trip for another entry. For now, I'll wish you all a happy New Year. It's been a crazy year here in Kenya, and an amazing and challenging year for me personally. I hope that next year is just as boundary-pushing and fulfilling. Here's to friendship, happiness and good health in 2009! Be well, everyone.

Happy Holidays, everyone

So I've been hearing stories from my friends and family back home about the huge amount of snow you've been getting. I guess it's really starting to look like Christmas over there! Here it's looking a lot like... well, like a very hot summer with Christmas lights. There haven't been too many of the traditions that normally signal "Christmas" to me. No house parties, none of the holiday food I'm used to, few Christmas movies or music, and obviously no snow. Here it seems like the holidays aren't so much a family affair as an excuse to go out and party (at least, for people my age it's okay to hang out with your friends and go off on vacation -- older people are expected to visit their families back in "shags", the countryside). Which is also fun... just not really what I'm used to.

The gift-giving tradition hasn't caught on much either. It's a bit odd because on the radio and in the newspaper, we're getting all the gift guides and such as we would back home. But absolutely nobody that I know, even the middle-class people, are buying presents. So I wonder who all these ads and articles are targeting. It must be exclusively for the upper class/Westernized families. There have been quite a few Santa Clauses around town (black Santa, woo!), but no kids lining up to sit on his lap, not even at the mall. I guess if you don't get presents, you wouldn't really believe in Santa. And there's not too much incentive to sit in a strange man's lap if you don't think you're going to get a shiny new toy out of it. There are some lights and other decorations around town, but without the snow they just look odd. The holly and ivy, reindeer and snow-covered pine trees painted in store windows look particularly out of place alongside the hawkers, bustle, dust and heat of downtown Nairobi.

I hear there is a lot of good food around Christmas, though not of the turkey and stuffing variety. I've told my co-workers, with much nostalgia over Christmas dinners past, about the food we traditionally eat at this time. They thought that eggnog sounded disgusting (fair enough, lots of Westerners do too), and cranberry sauce strange. Here the more common foods are those that you find at other celebratory occasions, like weddings -- pilau, chicken, roast meat (roast beast!), chapati, etc.

Today was my last day of work at IIN, which was a bit bittersweet -- it will be nice not to have to come into the office anymore, but I'll be sad to go and leave my coworkers. It's been fun working in an office composed almost exclusively of young women. And of course I've had a lot of amazing experiences while working here. But I'll still be doing some work for my boss here and there, so I won't be completely out of touch. It will be really nice to take a break for awhile, this year has been a lot of hard work!

My Christmas plans have been shaping up well. Tomorrow I leave to the coast with three companions -- Georgie, Jennie (a Canadian friend who was working in Elangata Wuas for the past few months), and Konzo (another Kenyan friend from Elangata Wuas). We'll spend Christmas in Mombasa, Kenya's major coastal city. So many Nairobians are heading out there for Christmas to go to the beach, so I'm sure it's going to be crazy, and I hope a lot of fun. On Boxing Day, we're going to Lamu, a small island off the coast which is much like Zanzibar in its preservation of Swahili culture. Lamu is even smaller, though -- the only vehicles on the island are the ambulance and the police car, and donkeys are the main means of transportation. They have fantastic fruit juices and seafood, and it's a great place to just chill, go sailing on a dhow, go swimming and relax. I'm looking forward to that. For New Year's, I'll either be heading back to Mombasa or going to Diani Beach on the south coast.

I hope that all of you have safe and happy holidays. I'll certainly be missing family and home, but I'll make the best of being here. So while you're sitting around the tree or slogging through the snow, just think of me, dancing on the beach. Merry Christmas!

The rest of my whirlwind stay in Cape Town passed much too quickly. After the conference, I was there for four days, and it wasn’t nearly enough neither to visit all of my family there, nor to see much of the city itself. Ah, Cape Town. What can I tell you about this place? It’s the city of my father’s childhood, and one of the most beautiful cities in the world! It has everything – mountains, including the famous Table Mountain; ocean, with both rocky and sandy beaches nearby; friendly people; fabulous restaurants and shopping. I was staying with my cousin Heidi, her husband Francois and their two daughters, Katje and Tiero, aged three and five. It was so great to stay with them and to get to know a side of the family that I haven’t had the opportunity to know well before. It’s kind of difficult when you live across an ocean from each other!

Heidi and Francois are very social people despite their hectic schedules and young kids, so with them I got a good dose of Cape Town hospitality, family and friends. One of the gatherings we attended was a birthday party for Francois’ sister-in-law, and it reminded me so much of the barbecues and picnics that Grandma and Grandpa used to have (and that Grandma still has when us kids are around). All the lovely food: the briyani, chicken curry, samosas, chicken wings, fish cakes and salads. The family and friends all gathered together in one place. There’s a way of relating to others, of speaking and cooking that is so unique to the Cape Town Coloured community, which I never recognized as being part of a distinct culture when I was younger. It’s amazing to see where your own family fits into this group that I hardly knew anything about until a few years ago.

I spent a day at the beach in Simon’s Town with my aunt Catherine, cousins Greg and Carol, and Carol’s two daughters, Yusrah and Annika (someone please correct me if I’ve spelled their names wrong), who I think are also three and five. That side of the family had visited Canada occasionally when I was growing up, but I hadn’t seen any of them in a few years, so it was wonderful to catch up over fish and chips. Later we met up with Carol’s husband Nazeem and her son Mujaheed, who was only four the last time I met him (and is now nine). The kid actually remembered me – his first words to me were, “Auntie Kaitlin, you look different!” So cute. I also had a lovely lunch followed by a drive to Hout Bay with another cousin, Thelma. All in all it was a very successful visit, though I didn’t have time to see half the people I had wanted to see.

What with all the visiting and running around there wasn’t a lot of time to see Cape Town, but I saw enough to know that I will definitely visit again. Next time I’m around, I’ll make a point of blocking off at least a couple of weeks for South Africa. I did have an odd feeling while in Cape Town, though. My first impressions were that the city centre was so clean and organized and empty – it made me feel as though I were in North America again. I felt a little “homesick” for Nairobi, so I don’t know what it will be like when I’m actually back in North America. Of course, that’s just the shiny, tourist-friendly city centre. I know that other parts of the city aren’t so glossy and safe.

My travels have come to an end, for the time being. While my trip was fantastic, I must say that I’m thrilled to be back in Nairobi after about a month and a half. It is so nice to have a home base and a little stability again. But beyond that, I’ve missed the noise, the colour and the chaos. There’s just so much attitude, humour and swagger in Nairobi. There’s nowhere else quite like it.