the ball

well. the ball.

it was interesting. bad.

we all agree that it was probably the strangest gathering ever. the setting what as the local sports club, the people there were all the white land-owners from this area. there were probably about 100 people there, most of them were some how from england. at the beginning of the night everyone was all proper and stuck up. really cold and unwelcome to meeting new people. that lasted for about 20 minutes. Basically everyone got belligerently drunk. it seemed as tho they had been waiting ages to finally get the chance to let loose and go crazy. o well. we left at 11. but we heard the dancing didn't end til 6am... also realize these were not young people. they were middle aged to old. so that was interesting too.

there was also a terrible dj who played really astonishingly bad music. my favorites were during dinner a sappy version of celine dion's my heart will go on. and then later during the dancing part he played, get ready for this one all you hippies: a techno version of john denver's country roads. yea it was pretty great. and obviously by great, i mean not great.

at one point louisa turned to me and asked me what i thought all these people were thinking. i said that they were ecstatic that everyone around them was, for a change, white. there is obviously something about being in this country and being white that means a lot. for one, you are ALWAYS different. for another people look at you with huge dollar signs in their eyes: if you're white, then you're a billionaire. and technically, in comparison to most kenyans around here, we are filthy rich. but it means that every minute you are being watched and stared at. so when louisa asked that question i thought about how different it probably suddenly felt to NOT feel different. they must have felt relieved to once again not feel like the odd one out. it's just a reversal of what you hear about happening in the states. i think that is also why they were all so ready to let go of their stuffiness and get plastered.

anyway, today we celebrated louisa's 28th birthday (tho it was last monday). we had a fun party of local friends. great food provided of course, by the wonderful cook of the house, cecelia--who i will write about soon because she is a really fascinating and amazing woman who i am growing to like more every day.

till then, love to all
sb

ps peter, i happen to have a song on my ipid by santa esmeralda called "don't let me be misunderstood" which i listen to with great joy...how great is that!