With a Salone family….Christmas morning starts like any other morning, at 6am with cooking, fetching water and cleaning…. Although I sorted out a small tree and some tiny gifts from PZ (an area of Freetown you can buy second hand stuff cheaply) so that everyone had something to open on the 25th. It was wonderful to see even tiny gifts costing a few pence really appreciated by kids who don’t often get very much, that was my Christmas present. OK, so I got another gift.. an African dress which I wore later to church after it had been ironed with a big metal iron heated by the glowing embers. When I say church I mean a hut with an altar and plastic chairs and an amazingly loud sound system for lots of shouting out of the gospel and singing to be spread all over the immediate area, but it’s a church in the eyes of God and the congregation! Dinner was couscous and cow meat(!) kebab, tasty but nothing like turkey with all the trimmings, no starter (scallops at home), no pud with brandy butter but some kind of tapioca apple thing which looked like space goo but actually tasted quite nice if you dared risk it. No need to rest on the sofa groaning due to excessive food, even had space to have packet noodles for supper! I tried and failed to learn some Krio carols.
The most bizarre thing? The climate, it can’t possibly be Christmas at 30 degrees! Here’s a few photos including me cooling down with a sprite after Church and a couple from Boxing Day on Hamilton beach.
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