Christmas in Mozambique

This is the first year that I wasn't able to make it home for Christmas. I knew that I would feel pretty homesick being away from my family because for me, Christmas is one of the best times of the year. My family is fairly low-key when it comes to gifts and all the hoopla that surrounds the season but we always have a really great time. Although the gifts are always good, it's more about spending time together, eating a lot, playing board games, and generally just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. This year, my family planned a trip to Big White, which is a ski resort near Kelowna, B.C., and the first thing my sister said to me when I told her in July that I was moving to Mozambique was "You're going to miss Christmas!!"

I decided that even though I'm in Mozambique and away from my family, I have to make the best of it. After all, how often do you get to spend a christmas holiday in a beautiful, tropical country? Unfortunately, my stomach felt differently and I ended up getting sick the whole week leading up to Christmas. Somehow I had managed to drink some bad water which left quite an impression on my intestines. I had planned to buy a christmas tree and decorate the apartment a bit but spent most of the week running to the bathroom so when Christmas Eve came, there wasn't a decoration in sight around our apartment. On the streets of Maputo, there was a bit of display here and there (like the Christmas elephant/festive safari scene in the Polana Shopping Center) but in general, you wouldn't know by looking that it was Christmas. Here in Mozambique, although there are a lot of christians and Christmas is celebrated by many, there just isn't money for the massive displays of consumerism that you see in North America. My parents told me they had seen on the news it was estimated that Canadians were going to spend about 14 billion dollars this Christmas season. I'm pretty sure that's bigger than the budget for the entire Mozambican government!!

Thankfully my stomach started to feel better by Christmas Eve so Jared and I decided to have a small Christmas dinner. We headed to Shoprite, which is one of the S. African grocery chains here in Maputo, but were downright shocked at the huge lineups and people trying to push their way around the packed store. I thought, aaahhh, finally the sounds of Christmas. Since at that time we had not discovered yet how to turn on our oven, (it's a gas oven and a bit tricky, the landlady just showed us how it worked last week...) I had to think of something that could be cooked on the stove that we could also find the ingredients for at the last minute. I decided on a Middle Eastern theme, well, sort of Middle Eastern. I made butter chicken, a lebanese beef dish, taboulee salad, cous cous, garlic pita, and for desert, I splurged and bought a giant chocolate cake at the super-expensive ex-pat grocery store down near the beach. We invited Josie, a friend of Jared's who is travelling around Mozambique, my friend Paulo (who is absent in the picture because he often runs on Mozambican time...), and the guard for our aparment, Alexis.

In order to celebrate the season, Jared, Paulo, and I decided to go to the huge Catholic Cathedral in Maputo on Christmas Eve. I was in the mood for some caroling and was also curious about the type of service that would be held here in Mozambique. The cathedral was full of people and I think Jared and I were the only molungos in the whole place. It was really hot so we sweated through the service. Thank goodness for the fans placed throughout the church!! The service was a mix of portuguese and shangana, which is one of the local Mozambican dialects. We heard some classics, including Hark the Harold Angels Sing and Angels We Have Heard on High, as well as a lot songs in shangana. Although I didn't really understand the service, it was still a really nice way to spend Christmas Eve.

I was also invited to a Christmas lunch at Paulo's house. His mom was hosting a lunch and she made tons of food, mostly traditional Mozambican cuisine. We had salads, some fish dishes, Mathapa, and a bunch of different stews. There were lots of people there but the conversation was mostly in portuguese so I tried my best to follow. The food was delicious and I appreciated being included in the celebration.

I have to admit, on Christmas Day I was a bit of a sorry sight and when someone put on the cd White Christmas, I got a bit teary-eyed. Jared and I were both feeling a bit sorry for ourselves but tried our best to be cheery. We were practically dumbfounded when we found out that Paulo has never heard Jingle Bells!! We were both like What! You've NEVER heard Jingle Bells!! So of course we had to sing it for him, really loudly, in our kitchen. All-in-all, we had a nice Christmas but I think we were both thinking about our families and Christmas in Canada. It just didn't feel the same without snow and cheesy remakes of christmas classics by pop stars playing on the radio. I think that next year, no matter where I am in the world, I'm going to try my hardest to make it home for Christmas!!