A good blogger posts regularly at consistent intervals, usually at least once a week. I haven’t posted in months….
A lot has happened since my last post in July, including a whirlwind tour of North America, lessons in global citizenship – most notably the hell of work permits and visas, and a large lesson in patience, because as an ex-pat things rarely work the way you’d like but the experience in the end is always worth it.
Aside from all of that and the fun political and financial madness of both the US and SA, there has one fairly benign thing that I can’t stop thinking about: the concept of Christmas in summertime!
Logically, I know that in California its hot during Christmas. Hell, growing up in Louisiana I didn’t even see snow until I was 17. But I was talking to my boyfriend the other day, who does store design for a major clothing retailer here, and he tells me that they’ve just finished implementing their summer store design and now they have to get busy on Christmas.
What!?
It feels like Christmas in July and I can’t wrap my head around it. So over the course of two weeks I asked everyone lots of incredibly ignorant questions that led to some pretty hysterical conversations. Here’s some of the color commentary:
* Do you have Santas running around in winter suits in the dead of summer?
Yes. Why is that odd?
* What about reindeer?
No we don’t have those. Impala probably carry Santa’s sleigh here.
* Where do you get your Christmas trees?
Out of a box.
* Do you put lights up on your house?
What’s the point – there’s a 14 foot wall outside my house, so no one is going to see the lights.
* Have you ever heard of Kwanza?
No.
* It’s derived from African traditions. Are there any African traditions similar to Christmas?
No, we do what the white people tell us to.
* How do you feel about Christmas carols that directly relate to winter, ie. “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”?
That one was great during apartheid.
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