sometimes we don't know it's christmas (after all).

the major problem with blogging around christmas time is that you're afraid you'll blow your whole load and not have anything interesting or newsworthy to write in anyone's holiday cards. not that they'll be seasonally timely anyhow, if i know much about the kenyan postal system.

things here continue to go well. war's on in somalia so am spending quite a bit of time editing copy rife with grammatical errors and variant spellings of the name mohammed. boss is away on holiday and otto, bosire and i are trying to keep the english desk running but it's mostly bosire who manages this - he's got all the contacts and doesn't mind spending fourteen to sixteen hours a day perched at his computer terminal. when he's not running back and forth to the bar across the street.

it's hard to get much accomplished in december in kenya. public and religious holidays basically turn the whole month into thirty-one days of binge drinking. it's not an awful way to spend one's time, with parties at every turn and people in a generally merrier mood than otherwise.

christmas plans are up in the air. it's difficult to even imagine it's christmas time, what with the tropical weather and the flowers all abloom. if it weren't for the folks across the way that blast holiday tunes, reggae style, at six am, i wouldn't have a clue.

i originally intended to join my friend aileen for xmas festivities at her home in eldoret, a village in the kenyan highlands near the ugandan border. but we're still transportationless as all the busses have been booked solid and no one's got an extra car lying around. we're trying to rope one of our friends into driving us but i am getting ever more ready to go place an order for a turkey at the local chopping block.

otherwise, got to cover this really interesting conference on the great lakes region (rwanda, burundi, congo, uganda and tanzania - you know, all those places you read about with genocide, war and rebel factions to keep the central and east african bloodshed quota up to speed). six african presidents were there - including the newly elected joseph kabila and uganda's highly entertaining yoweri museveni. i had a face-to-face interview with the prime minister of somalia. it was pretty cool, high-level stuff. at least here, where it mattered although it didn't really resonate anywhere else.

that's the news for now, i suppose. nothing else striking to report right now.
be well and have a wonderful holiday!