Christmas in Nairobi

A lot of people have asked me if we are getting any Christmas here in Nairobi at all. In fact, there is Christmas everywhere here and it feels like the school has been focused on it since mid October. Nairobi and the western part of Kenya are predominantly Christian. People cook big meals of vegetables and meat (mainly chicken and goat) and go to church. Present giving is not as big a thing since most people have little money to spare. But, just about everyone goes up-country to visit family over the holidays. It sounds like Nairobi will empty out over the next week.

The big news is that St. Nicolaus came to the school in person :).  Improvised Christmas trees have ornamented the grounds for a while. Most are artificial - there are no pine trees to speak of here. I've been told that you can get a real one a few days before Christmas, but I think we'll pass on that. I'm collecting pictures of the christmas spirit here and will keep adding as they come in......

Diamond Plaza, which feels like a quick trip to India, is actually always like this. We go to eat Indian food here sometimes and it's the place to buy electronics.

Mobil Plaza in its Christmas shell. Just down the street from us. We suspect that this might be the reason our electricity has been going at half power or not at all for the past weeks

Sascha and I were invited to join for a Christmas sing-along and this is what we found. As you can see, the Western Xmas is everywhere. But, this was definitely geared for a Christian Kenyan audience.

This woman, who had organized the whole thing, had an extraordinary voice. She sang an aria from Handel's Messiah absolutely beautifully, as well as a more popular song.

Everyone took part somehow.

Christmas baking at home

Even Mimi gets a Christmas card from Sascha this year!

A sampling of typical homemade toys here in Kenya, as seen in the National Museum.

 These are soccer balls and slingshots (a necessity to keep the monkeys away!)