Per usual at our Friday afternoon staff meeting, someone brought up to topic of ‘weekend plans’. Since life here in rural Ethiopia often takes on a slower pace, we are always looking for some excitement. This Friday, one of our teammates mentioned that one of the guards had mentioned that on Saturday there was going to be a game at the community field where people rode horses and hit balls with sticks. While this description sounded similar to polo, the details were sketchy to say the least. But nonetheless, come Saturday morning most of the compound was climbing in the camp boat and heading to the game. We docked our boat at a resort in the ‘neighborhood’, and began our search for the polo match. No more than 30 seconds after stepping onto the beach, we see a speed boat booking it across the lake and heading our general direction. Emotions of jealousy and wonder surged through our veins. You see, a few weeks ago we attempted tube behind our boat, and by boat I mean a 21-foot piece of steel. Lets just say that from the beach it was hard to tell if the person on the tube was actually moving :) Anyways, when the speedboat docked our entire entourage was waiting to greet them! We quickly learned that they were some of the athletes playing in the polo match. Apparently a polo club from Addis (made up of 12 members) was having a farewell tournament for one of their members, an Italian ambassador, who was being relocated. The group was very friendly and excited to have spectators, so we were invited to eat lunch with them and enjoy the day’s festivities as ‘guests of honor’. After further inquiries, we came to find out that the leader of the group, Omar, is actually the owner of the resort and that he is the second wealthiest man in Ethiopia! The whole day was so surreal. We left the compound to watch ‘a game where people rode horses and hit balls with sticks’ and we ended up dining with and cheering for some of the wealthiest men in Ethiopia. One of my favorite moments was when our teammate, Brian Hall, was asked to present the trophy to the winners. He awarded the trophy wearing an old t-shirt, swim trunks and no shoes!!! So funny.
Hip Hip Hooray!!! Ethiopia has finally made it to the year 2005!!! :) Yes you read that correctly – Ethiopia has finally made it to the year 2005. Most of the world, including the US, uses the Gregorian calendar, while Ethiopia marches to a beat of a different drum…err the tick of a different clock?!?! As of September 11th, 2012 (Gregorian calendar), Ethiopia officially entered the year 2005. I know, it is crazy. If I only to use the Ethiopian calendar, am I reliving those 7 years of my life? How will I distinguish between the “reoccurring” years in my records? Am I younger? So many questions… In juxtaposition to the Gregorian calendar, the Ethiopian calendar is made up of 12 months of 30 days each plus a thirteenth month with either five or six days, depending upon the leap year schedule.
Typically in America, we would celebrate the coming of the new year on New Year’s Eve. Here in Ethiopia, they like to celebrate on New Year’s Day. Across the country families and friends gather together to eat doro (chicken) wat (stew) and spend time together. Several of our Ethiopian neighbors invited us to come celebrate with them. We developed a quality party hopping plan. Over the span of 5 hours we each ate 3 full meals of doro wat, drank 3 huge glasses of a cultural barley drink, and drank countless cups of coffee. We finished the night with full stomachs and grateful hearts. The next morning when Bryan was talking with one of the guys he works with, Gunamo, about his New Year celebration, Gunamo said that it was good but that he spent most of the night in the “shintabait” (bathroom) because of all the spicy food he ate. So now we know – it is not just the “Ferenjis” (foreigners) who can’t handle the doro wat :)
As many of you may have heard, a couple weeks ago it was announced that the dear Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles, had passed away. The news hit all of the camp staff pretty hard. They respected him and were extremely sadden by his passing. Just this week, Bryan and I had the opportunity to attend a lixo (or wake) for the late PM in the community that we live in. The lixo was to be held just outside the local kebole (government) offices, about a 45-minute walk from our house - if you don’t stop to greet everyone you see! As we walked into the yard in front of the kebole offices, about 20 men separated from the main group of mourners. These men took off running in all directions yelling, jumping and thrusting their spears downward towards the ground. One took off running towards us, his erratic movements gave me no inclination as to where he was trying to run, so I just stood still. Before I knew it he had knocked shoulders with me and continued on his jumping, spear stabbing way. I glanced around to see if I was the only one slightly uncomfortable, and I found the two Ethiopian teachers we had been walking with eyeing these men with great concern and slipping away from the ‘action’. At that point I was thinking – “Oh man, even the Ethiopians are uncomfortable, what have we gotten ourselves into?!?!” Each community across the country has been holding lixos and mourning in accordance with their own cultural traditions. Once the crowd had been reigned in, we listened to a speech and then were invited to join in the ‘singing.’ The crowd of 250+ gathered and the men began banging the butt of their spears into the ground to create a rhythm and then various leaders led a series of call and response type of chants. Everyone was slowly hopping up and down to the rhythm and many mourners held handmade signs or photos of Meles. At one point someone repeatedly loped a horse around the entire group. When the people started to tire, the officials instructed everyone to sit down and the speeches began. One after another, leaders in the community would get up and speak about Meles in Oromyfia. After about 2 hours of listening to these speeches we began plotting our escape. It has been neat to experience this difficult time for the country alongside our Ethiopian brothers and sisters.
In an attempt to show our Ethiopian pride, we have purchased a poster of Meles and taped it in the window of our vehicle! Unlike the Ethiopian taxi, minibus, and large bus drivers, we opted to not put the poster right in front of the driver!!!! :)
