It is the last day of the month and the last opportunity to get two blog posts in. I am reviewing posts from 12 months ago, and it could not be a more stark contrast to the way life is going this year. Last November and December, we were looking forward to spending our first holiday season in Ethiopia... that is until we began hearing about the relentless march south of the TPLF toward Addis. It was during this week a year ago that we left the country and spent 4 weeks back in Tanzania.
While the current peace treaty is tenuous, we are extremely grateful to be able to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas here for the first time, and I think we are making up for the year missed, with the current festivities.
One of the things that we appreciate about this season is the preparation, which can be as good as some of the events. November can be a busy month for work and kids as well are deep into the second term, preparing for tests.
Oren has had the added burden of college applications, and he has managed to get two of about seven he intends to send, in already. In fact, he received his first acceptance letter to Messiah University in Pennsylvania. I think a decision about where to go is still several months off.
David has been diligent in school, and with his Saturday morning guitar lessons, but has also added drama to his extracurricular life. He auditioned for the school Christmas play, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and is playing the lead role of Charlie Brown!
He has also half-heartedly joined Rebecca and I in a Christmas choir led by our friend Lori K. Rebecca and I have been part of choirs, for years, and in the past 4 years in Tanzania, we enjoyed being part of a Christmas program. Being part of a choir here for the first time makes us feel 'at home' and less like newcomers. We do now have several vibrant communities that we participate in, and it is good that one of them includes singing. There are actually quite a few excellent voices and musicians among the mission community in Addis, and I think we will sound quite good when we present at the Anglican church in a few weeks.
Our staff has been extremely busy with field visits, but we did manage to all be together in the office last week for a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner last Thursday. We enjoy very good fellowship with our professional staff and there are usually 4-6 of us around the compound at lunchtime during the work week. Our cook prepares food for all of us. Several weeks ago, we all had a discussion about American Thanksgiving, and they were very keen on taking part.
Rebecca took on the task of preparing a number of traditional dishes, including sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. Our cook Yeshi bought two large chickens and with the help of our accountant Eyerus and bookkeeper Hannah, a veritable feast was prepared for lunch that day. All of the office staff were in attendance and we had a good time explaining the mythology around the first Thanksgiving, and how it was declared a national holiday during the American Civil War.
Ethiopians really like the idea of the holiday as they do observe days of Thanksgiving for religious rituals around receiving a blessing, and even have a Thanksgiving day song that they shared with us--another chance to practice our Amharic.
Speaking of Amharic, we still go about once per week, and we have become fairly descent at reading, but fluent conversation is still not easy even after more than a year of study. I am not sure how far past December we are going to be able to go.
I should mention a second 'feast' the Sunday before our office Thanksgiving. This was actually a potluck that happened after Sunday service at our house. This was the weekend of The Great Ethiopian Run, an annual event that closes many roads in the city including the one in front of our church. We have hosted our congregation at our house twice before, as we do have a fairly big back yard. Rebecca and I got up early and set up chairs and an altar and we had a fairly large gathering of about 70. People brought food, and we shared a potluck afterward. It was a nice change from the normal church routine, and a good way to end the church year. (the next Sunday was Advent.)
The following Sunday (after our office Thanksgiving) we actually had a third feast! This time with our small group which has a mixture of American, as well as various European and African members, all familiar with American Thanksgiving. This was quite an impressive event with several families contributing haute cuisine versions of real turkey, sweet potatoes, a cranberry salad, a lentil stuffed pumpkin, stuffing, multiple other sides featuring various vegetables, and pies, pumpkin, apple, lemon tarts, all with artistically rendered crusts.
We sang some Thanksgiving songs and Christmas carols. It was a memorable dinner and really authentically in the American tradition, but made richer by sharing with such an international group of friends that have been with us through the last 18 months and helped us pray through some of the worst times in the past year.
In some ways the number of feasts might have seemed excesssive, but as I said at the beginning, given the place were were exactly 12 months ago, it is good to have the chance to be thankful with a number of friends, Ethiopian, American, and even others.
Our tradition, after Thanksgiving day, we put up our Christmas decorations. We have a suitcase that we have taken from country to country with our essential cresche sets and ornaments. We also found that former MCC Reps left a really nice tree and quite a few Christmas lights. On Saturday evening we put up decorations with the help of Bereket, Oren's friend who lives in the neighborhood. It was good to share the event with him, Bereket,along with a friend of David's had a sleepover, so we had quite an event-filled weekend.
Rebecca and I did get a bit of respite on the Friday before all the activities by taking a half day off and going up to Entoto park and walking the full 14 kilometer path that goes through it. It is about 10,000 feet above sea level so it is quite a workout. It also has some very nice vistas that overlook the city where we rested and took some pictures. No dogs allowed, so we weren't able to take the them with us. But it was nice that the kids were in school and we could enjoy a walk alone as a couple.
Work in the office has been very busy, but Rebecca and I have had at least a few weeks with out extensive travel. Next week, I will be out on the road again with Mesfin to see some projects in formerly occupied territories of Amhara. We are also in the midst of budgeting for the next fiscal year. Life is busy, and all of us feel under the pressure of deadlines, but it was good to have some opportunities for reflections and thanks.
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