Christmas Day and My Office Christmas Party

Yelling.  That’s what I hear outside my windows.  Yelling and lots of it.  Christmas here is somewhat different than the rest of the places I have been.  In Canada, the streets are empty but the movie theatres and Chinese restaurants are full.  In Australia, the clubs are packed and the party is hard.  Here, in Liberia, people flood the streets after having whatever meal they can afford.  After the main meal eaten with their family, children come out to play on the streets.  After the kids, come the adults and many have been drinking.  I have been warned to keep off the streets and so, I spend this day at home. 

Christmas is not just a day off but a whole week off here.  Everything grinds to a halt as everyone, especially all the expats, take their holiday.  As luck would have it, my house is also finding ways to take a vacation.  The internet stopped, the TV subscription stopped and I have run out of cooking gas which is held in a tank next to my stove.  During the working hours of the week, there is no power in my house and so I find myself without TV, internet, power or the ability to cook.  All this will be returned to me when everyone comes back from holiday on Jan 4th.  This will be an interesting week.

I wasn’t planning to stay but there is a need for me to be here and so someone found some money for my salary in a budget line here or there.  I will be in Liberia until the end of February and then we will see if my contract gets renewed.    

And now here are some photos of my office Christmas party. The office sponsored a lunch with jollof rice, potato salad and fruits (and don’t forget the cola – lots and lots of cola all the time… )

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