The African Expat

17 December 2009, a significant date for me simply because it is my first day off for the entire year after such an exhausting year. I had been really looking forward to it and as the day approached I could hardly wait. Nothing could dampen my spirits as the day approached, when you live and work as far away from your home country as I do, you learn to cherish your travels back home. As much as I love the Caribbean, particularly Cayman Islands, home is always home.

There were a few “incidents” at my work place during December which threatened to curb my enthusiasm for my fast approaching vacation, however I put up emotional walls in order to not let these “incidents” get me down. If you work in an environment that focuses on the “blame game”, it is bound to get to you at some point in time and you and your colleagues are perpetually demoralized, a long vacation is probably the best tonic. I had booked my flight out of Grand Cayman to London on British Airways for the evening of the 19th of December, which gave me 2 days to do my gift shopping in Grand Cayman for my family in the UK and back home.

Having lived in Cayman Islands for the past 2 years, I am ashamed to admit that I have never really shopped local except, of course for food and drink and therefore it was such a pleasure to be able to spend 2 days walking the streets of George Town shopping for Christmas gifts. I was pleasantly surprised that I could actually get a unique gift for each member of my family.