Christmas, and all that Jazz
Here as promised is my final post before Christmas sneaks up on us like a thief in the night. Or at least it’s snuck up on me. All the usual signposts and landmarks of Christmas have been absent this year so when I think that Christmas Day is just the other side of the weekend; it makes my brain a little numb. For example I think I have worn a jumper in the past month a grand total of twice. Wrapping up warm and turning the central heating up a notch seems like a farcical joke out here in the ‘Dry’ season. I say ‘Dry’ because this is still the wettest month of my stay so far. An African friend of mine remarked that this is the month the Muzungu’s usually start melting, but no such luck yet. There has not been any kind of run up to the big day either. No supermarkets racing to be the first to put up the tinsel the earliest in October, no awful Christmas music (and no good stuff either) and most importantly, no shopping!
Shopping is not what I would describe as a pet hate, but it’s certainly something I would rather avoid. Besides, Shopping defiantly falls into the realm of women’s work (I say that without fear of sexism because I'm pretty sure every female I know would be happy to agree with me). Anyway it managed to reach the 20th of December without buying so much as a bauble when all of a sudden, shopping hit me with a vengeance.
The Browns kindly agreed to take me along with them to go Christmas shopping early in the week. Before I continue one of my now world famous Uganda explanations is needed… In Kampala there are one or two pockets of large shops I like to call Muzungu Land. The Largest one is called Garden City which could quite easily fit in back home. At shopping centers you can buy nearly anything that you could get at home…at a price. The names Shoprite, Game and Uchumi will ring some bells with a few and fail to ring anything with others, they are though the names of the three biggest supermarket chains in Uganda at the moment. A supermarket out here is different in a few subtle ways to your average Tesco. Firstly there is less selection. In an average square meter in any British supermarket you might find anywhere between 10 and 20 products give or take. Down one isle in Uchumi I once counted a grand total of two products. Ketchup, and spicy Ketchup (all the same brand and the ends of the isle was also occupied by ketchup, only in larger or smaller bottles.) The other difference is pricing. In my limited experience the prices are either way cheaper then UK or miles more expensive and its sometimes hard to tell the difference when dividing each price by 3200 shillings to find one pound. One small bottle of shampoo I ended up buying cost something like, 14,620 UGSH. When met with so many numbers I wrongly assumed it was reasonable and couldn’t be bothered to divide the price roughly by the three and knock off some zeros. When I checked the price later and did the maths I was quite annoyed I paid so much for such a small bottle. I use the Shampoo little bit by very little bit.
During the Christmas season Uchumi imported some British Chocolate for all the homesick Muzungus. (you can buy Cadburys chocolate out here but it has wax in to stop it melting and tastes horrible) I was quite excited about visiting the chocolate isle until I got there and almost passed out. The isle was full to bursting and looked just like a British supermarket shelf. Far too much choice. The amount on offer was so difficult to take in I had to leave the isle and revisit it what must have been close to 20 times before finally leaving with a purchase. (I decided it would be a crime not to buy something so settles for an obscenely giant Yorkie bar and some Fruit Pastels, all horribly over-priced, otherwise I could have bought a whole lot more.)
The whole trip turned out to be a little stressful as I slowly worked my way though the seven members of the clay family trying to buy them all a gift. To my mind that had been out of normal action and in full on Africa mode for the last three and a half months or so, shopping was a challenge that gave me a headache. But all the presents are now bought and I am ready for the big day. I returned home yesterday to find someone had gone through my room and take a few things. Mostly it was chocolate sent out by my grandparents and friends but also a CD with films on was taken for some reason. I can’t think why they would take that and leave a laptop and I will try my hardest to find out who has been sneaking around the guest house after the door has been locked.
Tomorrow is Saturday and the day of the British Christmas dinner. All the Brits who haven’t flown home (as I would have loved to do) for the occasion are getting together to eat a Christmas dinner and do Christmassy things to make being away from home a little easier. I don’t think the event will do much to alleviate my homesickness because for me the food and the presents are great but what I will really miss is the family. This will be my first Christmas away from my Mum, Dad, Sisters and of course Dog not to mention Grandmas and Grandpa, Uncles, Aunties and Cousins. All in all I am not looking forward to Christmas for that very reason. I look forward though to speaking to a chunk of the Casebow family on Christmas day.
My battery is fast running out and I need to trek over to New Hope to post this so I will wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New year. A Very Big think you to those who sent presents, I wasn’t expecting any so those received where very welcome. God bless and stay in touch, Love
Dan
Shopping is not what I would describe as a pet hate, but it’s certainly something I would rather avoid. Besides, Shopping defiantly falls into the realm of women’s work (I say that without fear of sexism because I'm pretty sure every female I know would be happy to agree with me). Anyway it managed to reach the 20th of December without buying so much as a bauble when all of a sudden, shopping hit me with a vengeance.
The Browns kindly agreed to take me along with them to go Christmas shopping early in the week. Before I continue one of my now world famous Uganda explanations is needed… In Kampala there are one or two pockets of large shops I like to call Muzungu Land. The Largest one is called Garden City which could quite easily fit in back home. At shopping centers you can buy nearly anything that you could get at home…at a price. The names Shoprite, Game and Uchumi will ring some bells with a few and fail to ring anything with others, they are though the names of the three biggest supermarket chains in Uganda at the moment. A supermarket out here is different in a few subtle ways to your average Tesco. Firstly there is less selection. In an average square meter in any British supermarket you might find anywhere between 10 and 20 products give or take. Down one isle in Uchumi I once counted a grand total of two products. Ketchup, and spicy Ketchup (all the same brand and the ends of the isle was also occupied by ketchup, only in larger or smaller bottles.) The other difference is pricing. In my limited experience the prices are either way cheaper then UK or miles more expensive and its sometimes hard to tell the difference when dividing each price by 3200 shillings to find one pound. One small bottle of shampoo I ended up buying cost something like, 14,620 UGSH. When met with so many numbers I wrongly assumed it was reasonable and couldn’t be bothered to divide the price roughly by the three and knock off some zeros. When I checked the price later and did the maths I was quite annoyed I paid so much for such a small bottle. I use the Shampoo little bit by very little bit.
During the Christmas season Uchumi imported some British Chocolate for all the homesick Muzungus. (you can buy Cadburys chocolate out here but it has wax in to stop it melting and tastes horrible) I was quite excited about visiting the chocolate isle until I got there and almost passed out. The isle was full to bursting and looked just like a British supermarket shelf. Far too much choice. The amount on offer was so difficult to take in I had to leave the isle and revisit it what must have been close to 20 times before finally leaving with a purchase. (I decided it would be a crime not to buy something so settles for an obscenely giant Yorkie bar and some Fruit Pastels, all horribly over-priced, otherwise I could have bought a whole lot more.)
The whole trip turned out to be a little stressful as I slowly worked my way though the seven members of the clay family trying to buy them all a gift. To my mind that had been out of normal action and in full on Africa mode for the last three and a half months or so, shopping was a challenge that gave me a headache. But all the presents are now bought and I am ready for the big day. I returned home yesterday to find someone had gone through my room and take a few things. Mostly it was chocolate sent out by my grandparents and friends but also a CD with films on was taken for some reason. I can’t think why they would take that and leave a laptop and I will try my hardest to find out who has been sneaking around the guest house after the door has been locked.
Tomorrow is Saturday and the day of the British Christmas dinner. All the Brits who haven’t flown home (as I would have loved to do) for the occasion are getting together to eat a Christmas dinner and do Christmassy things to make being away from home a little easier. I don’t think the event will do much to alleviate my homesickness because for me the food and the presents are great but what I will really miss is the family. This will be my first Christmas away from my Mum, Dad, Sisters and of course Dog not to mention Grandmas and Grandpa, Uncles, Aunties and Cousins. All in all I am not looking forward to Christmas for that very reason. I look forward though to speaking to a chunk of the Casebow family on Christmas day.
My battery is fast running out and I need to trek over to New Hope to post this so I will wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New year. A Very Big think you to those who sent presents, I wasn’t expecting any so those received where very welcome. God bless and stay in touch, Love
Dan
posted by Daniel at 4:00 PM
4 Comments:
men and shopping-will it ever work?
also christmas in uganda-an experience of a lifetime, make the most of it and stay smiling :D
love you xx
don't worry you won't have to miss rufus for long muahahahahaha
Hoooray i finally found your blog, because i am part of the family mummy seems to think that i get ur family emails that u send including blog entrys, but obviously i dont cos i dont live at home duh! anyway i dont kno if u even read these comments but hey, at the moment im eating lunch which consists of many christmas leftovers, cold beef, pickled onions, a triple decker red lester sandwich which is quite nice - quite a random lunch overall! ill email u properly soon anyhoo, we'll ring u sometime so u can play cranium with us - its really fun! love ur most amazing big sister xx
also... i shall get you for using that male chauvanistic word. you mysoginist. i hope you realise men only don't like shopping because they don't have a large enough brain capacity to cope with the enjoyment.
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