Only in Mauritius...

This weekend I had several experiences that left me shaking my head and smiling. After all, what else can you do?

First, I joined my wonderful husband on a night out with his work colleagues. We went to a restaurant in the town of Flacq called, "Chez Manuel". Judging by the name, you would perhaps guess that this would be European cuisine... more specifically French, right? Not a chance. Only in Mauritius will you find a restaurant called Chez Manuel, where the cuisine is actually Chinese... Now, not only is this a Chinese restaurant with an odd name, it is also not completely traditional. It's kind of a Creole/Chinese. I must say it is quite tasty... Especially the house specialty, curried octopus. Yum!

My next experience was on Saturday at the town center. My husband and I were out looking for a much needed umbrella for myself as well as a water purifier to have in our home. While we were shopping we heard really loud popping sounds... My husband didn't react at all. I, however, was ready to take cover. Turns out, Chinese New Year celebrations were in continuation... Now, I am not naive enough to believe this is only in Mauritius, so I'll exclude this one, but there in the middle of city center, there was a group of young people performing with a Chinese Dragon. They were going from one Chinese business to the next doing the dragon dance along with the drums and cymbals. But don't forget the fireworks. They were lighting live fireworks both inside and outside the business to blow away the devils and bring prosperity and blessings for the new year. I wish I had my camera for this. It was really intriguing for me to watch. My husband wasn't as enthralled as I was, but this wasn't his first Chinese Dragon spotting. :-)

The next, and possibly most head shaking event took place on Sunday. Now, the following is downright Mauritian to it's core and it still brings a chuckle to me... My husband and I were invited to an engagement party to take place in Sunday afternoon. The invitation said the party would be from 1630-2100. (4:30 pm - 9:00 pm) The location was a beach house in the town of Flic and Flacq, not to be confused with just Flacq. They are on opposite coasts. Anyway... My husband called and asked about the dress code for this occasion. Being that the event was at a beach house, I would think, casual attire is okay. You maybe went down to the beach and had a swim before coming, etc. Not so. This was a "smart" party. Ladies in dresses, men in button up shirts and trousers. Okay, fair enough. So we get to this party at 5:00 and we are feeling a little bad for being late. But what were we thinking? This is Mauritius right? When we arrived we were told to stay in the cars with the air conditioners on because we were still waiting for the girls family to arrive. (And it was HOT) We obligingly stayed in the car until it became clear that nearly everyone had arrived. Everyone except the pastor and uncle of the young man to be engaged. Because he was performing the engagement, we had to wait for him... Finally, he arrived and the party was ready to start. We all went into the house (which was about 150 degrees) and witnessed the engagement of this young couple, and then quickly made our way outside to wait for dinner. We all took our places at our tables of choice and they began serving appetizers. So far, things were looking good. That is, until the rain. That's right. In the middle of the party, it started to rain. So, we all scrambled back to the house for cover. Never the less, the party must go on. So, the quick thinking caterer had his people carry the tables into the house and he left the chairs to sit in the rain. About 15 minutes later, the chair throwing began. I wish I had my camera for this too, it was quite entertaining. The waiters on the ground began throwing chairs up to the second floor balcony so that we could be seated upstairs and wait for dinner. The chair throwing was done with great skill and nobody got hurt. Excellent. Time passed by and so did trays of appetizers. Everything from little chicken bites to fish bites to hunks of beef cut up and served on a platter. There we sat, hot, wet and waiting. Now, don't get me wrong, we weren't really in bad spirits about this. It's Mauritius and this sort of thing is to be expected... Eventually, it stopped raining and my husband and I decided to take a walk to the car just to get some fresh air. When we came back the chair throwing began in reverse. This time, they were dropping chairs from upstairs back downstairs to reset the tables. I have to give it to the caterers and staff. They kept the ball rolling and everything went well considering the circumstances. In the end, we all did eat a nice dinner and I think everyone had a reasonably good time. But I couldn't help thinking to myself... Only in Mauritius. :-)

It seems that the longer I live here the more I become familiar with the quirky things that take place. I recognize that comfort isn't always at the top of the list. Sometimes this means sweating your butt off while wearing a dress and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Sometimes this means walking in the rain all the way too and from the grocery store so that you can have bacon for your Valentine's breakfast. Sometimes this means getting to said grocery store only to find out that they are completely out of the ingredients you were hoping to buy. But all of these things just make you smile and shake your head... Feels like home.