My African Debut and The Christmas Sprit

Ok let me set up this story. As you may know Ross (American) Eero and Juho (Finish) love to sit around and play guitar. They decided to put their efforts to good use. So, they started a little band with two Tanzanian guys, Steve and Andrew. They called themselves Simba Wapole (friendly lion) It was just for fun at first, but then they started to talk about playing at a bar in the area. They got a gig at Shooters, which used to be the bottoms up bar.
On a rare occasion I would sit there and sing with them. So, they asked me if I would sing with them at the gig. Of course I said yes…, Why not!
It was quite a night! The place was packed with a lot of Tanzanians and all the wazungu we had ever met. It was so much fun! They sang some covers and some original songs written by Andrew. The crowd loved them and then I got my chance to sing with them and they even wanted me to sing a song on my own. This was about three weeks ago and every time since when I see Andrew he tells me how much him and all his friends liked my singing. Andrew is friends with this guy named Bonnie that works at EBONY FM and he goes over there to record songs a lot. He asked me to record with him before I leave. I might have made my Tanzanian debut!! Lol It was a great night and a good way to have a going away party for Eero and Juho!
They have been gone for a week now and it has been really quite! Ross is also in Dar, so it’s just been the girls Annika, Inga, Chrissy, Sunna (from Finland, she moved in to Eero and Juho’s room) and me. We have been trying to cope without the guys. It’s amazing how close you can grow to someone in such a short time. I guess I’ll just have to go visit them in Finland.
Sally Harris, who is from MN and teaches at Tumnaini has left for a couple of weeks and she gave me her keys and I have been enjoying a hot shower everyday. She also has internet at her place so I go over there to Skype Linds and mom. Even better though she has a projector, so we can watch movies on a big screen!!
The girls and I decided that every Sunday until Christmas we should get together light our advent candle and make Christmas cookies. The first Sunday we rolled out dough and didn’t have any cookie cutters, so we had to just make things by hand. I was getting really good at making trees when we found a giraffe cut out and we decided that since we are spending Christmas in Tanzania that I giraffe would be perfectly acceptable for a Tanzanian Christmas. Then we started talking and we decided that in Africa, Santa does not have reindeer his sleigh is pulled by giraffes. This Sunday when I will be in Dar to meet up with Linds the girls are going to be making ginger bread. Instead of making a house they will make Santa’s sleigh and eight tiny giraffes pulling it.
Also I was amazed to hear that Sunna says that Santa is not from the North Pole. He is from Finland. She said he can’t be from the North Pole because they do not have Reindeer there, so he’s from Finland. They even have a Santa town that you can to talk to Santa at any time of the year. They take it very seriously! Don’t ever tell a Fin that Santa is from the North Pole or you might be stoned to death. Lol lol.
Ya, we are all starting to get in to the Christmas spirit. We made really yummy oatmeal cookies and some Finish cookies at Sally’s. We started to sing Christmas songs that we all know and then I started to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The girls had heard it but didn’t know the words. They made me sing it like 20 times. I like Rudolph but oh man! Lol

We have also had a lot of fun setting up the menu for Christmas. It should be really interesting. Not only are we having some what of a typical American Christmas feast, but we will be having some traditional Finish and German things too. We have been trying to get a handle on the Christmas tree situation, but I don’t thing that we will have a tree. We might have to either buy a plastic tree, which none of us are excited about, or decorate a baobob or coconut tree. Out side of our little DIRA community there is no sign of the Christmas season yet. It will be interesting to see if any pops up considering that there is a pretty big Muslim population here.
Oh, and I know that you all miss me so much that you will surely be getting me expensive and elaborate Christmas presents and I will be more than happy to accept them when I return home. Merry Christmas!