I decided to do the sensible thing, and started my urban stint yesterday with a visit to the doctor at a good clinic. Still fighting a low-grade fever most days, and that makes it really hard to get out and cope with the midday heat of a typical sunny day. Not fun having my functional hours reduced to 2 or 3 in the morning, and 2 or 3 after dusk. Anyhow, happy to report that they tested my blood and I show no signs of malaria or the standard host of other usual suspects. Really glad to hear it's not malaria as that was what various village folk suspected, and quite happy to accept the good doctor's prognosis that it's probably a touch of the flu.
So here I am waiting out an afternoon rain in my room at the Lutheran Hostel, grateful for a rare, cool period. Humble digs...but for approximately $8 Cdn per night, it's more than adequate. Showers with hot water (most of the time), flush-toilets (of the sit-upon variety), electricity (again, most of the time) and a front door guard – what more could this mzungu ask for? Well, how's about a bathtub? I've got a craving for a bathtub, which is kind of silly since I've always been more of a shower person at home. Guess it's something to do with wanting what you know you can't have. I'd probably need to book into one of the really upscale hotels here to fulfill that wish, and it simply wouldn't be worth it. Somehow when you position a $100+ per night hotel room against new friends who have virtually zero income, it just isn't reconcilable.
So instead, I'm going to give myself a few days of small indulgences--lots of nutritionally balanced meals, no morning alarm clock, maybe a new novel or two from the bookstore. I enjoyed an amazing meal of Indian food last night, shared with good friends and a little wine. Perfect!
I was surprised (when will I learn to expect the unexpected?) to see the city restaurants and hotel lobbies filled with artificial Christmas trees, and hanging Santa decorations. As I collected my emails this morning at the internet cafe, I was suitably serenaded by the background strains of “I'll have a blue Christmas without you”. Somebody really likes that song...I think I heard it 3 times in the hour I was there! There is thankfully no sign of such Christmas commercialism in Longido. Everyone is very excited about the holiday coming. Lots of talk of buying new clothes and shoes for the event. I think the day itself is pretty well focused on church followed by a family gathering with lots of good food. I keep trying to get a clear handle on the concept of gift-giving so I don't find myself short of suitable things to give. However, as in most things, I don't seem to be able to get a clear answer. I think it's really quite arbitrary, but I expect that anyone I do buy a gift for will be more than happy to receive one.
I'm not sure how I'm going to approach the Christmas church attendance issue. Last Sunday I was invited by one friend to her daughter's confirmation ceremony at the Lutheran Church, and was also invited to another friend's son's baptism. Fortunately both were at the same church and the same service. Now I say fortunately, because otherwise I would have had to make a difficult choice and insult one or the other. The flip side is that by the time we got through both of those ceremonies, as well as communion for the confirmation candidates and the church elders, and not one but 3 different rounds of passing the collection plate, four hours had passed. The music was wonderful...a huge choir from the Secondary School, as well as a smaller women's choir. Singing along with Swahili hymns is do-able. The tunes are quite universal and since kiswahili is a phonetic language, even I could join in, at least while the unknown lady beside me was willing to share her hymn book. Perhaps I wasn't doing so well after all – halfway through the service she chose to start sharing the book with the man on the other side of her instead. The goats were a good diversion too. Someone donated them at collection time, to be auctioned off after the service for funds toward the church's new building fund. Similarly, someone donated a bag of eggs and a gallon jug of fresh milk for auction. But, the long sermon in Swahili was definitely a tough stretch for me, perched on a rough wooden bench. All this to say that whichever church I choose to attend on Christmas, I really must try to get an honest assessment of the probable duration of the service in advance, so I can at least arm myself properly with cool clothing and bottled water if necessary.
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