Christmas

Hi
Wrote the blog below on Saturday last but due to internet problems wasn't able to post it. Ethiopian Christmas consisted of much meat eating and beer drinking, so was very enjoyable.
Take care
Orla



Hi, I haven’t written anything here in a while as was very busy with Christmas, much the same as everyone at home I imagine!
Today is my second Christmas this year as it is Ethiopian Christmas today. So when it was our Christmas there were no trees or decorations to be seen but now the town is looking really festive and everybody has been running around over the last few days getting ready. Getting ready here means buying a cow, goat or sheep and sharpening your knives! Its mad everyone is walking around with an animal or has one tied up outside their house and on every street corner there are knife sharpeners and every man is carrying a scarily big knife.

Today we are going to Aregash’s, one of our colleagues house for Christmas lunch and tomorrow to Shimelis’ house – another colleague. So this year I will have celebrated two Christmases.

Our own Christmas was lovely, really nice which was great as we were all a little apprehensive being so far from home, but James a friend of mine from home came over and Susan another Irish volunteer in Dilla came to Dessie to stay and Gill my colleague was here too and we had a lovely day. We managed to get rashers and sausages in Addis Ababa and take them on the ten hour bus journey back to Dessie, so we had a real fry on Christmas morning along with Ethiopian Shampagne and orange juice – very nice and a far cry from the bread and tea we usually have for breakfast. James was like Fr. Christmas with all the presents he brought from home and we decorated the house with balloons and handmade decorations.

Later in the day we had a party which our colleagues and friends attended, it was a good evening although we had bought 100 bottles of beer and we were left with 70 after the party!!

On the Tuesday after Christmas, myself, James and Susan headed for Lalibella where legend has it 11 rock hewn churches were built in 23 days. Lalibella was amazing really spectacular. It is incredible that they built it at all. The stone masonry is amazing. However Lalibella may possibly be one of the poorest places on the planet, the people were so poor even in comparison to Dessie. Usually when I say I am Irish here, people say “Roy Keane” but in Lalibella they said “Bob Geldof”. There are no banks or pharmacies or anything in Lalibella. In fact a man there asked me to bring some money from him to his brother in Dessie, I thought it was a bit odd that he would trust me a totally stranger with the money but with no banks there is no other way to transfer money but to give it to someone on the bus and well a ferenji is a good bet! So we had two lovely days in Lalibella and then headed back to Dessie

On New Years eve, we had another party this time a bit smaller where the aim was to finish the beer. It was a really good night we drank and danced Ethiopian and Irish dancing and a mixture of the two! And we learnt to play an Ethiopian Christmas game as well. By 2am there were only 7 bottles of beer left so we allowed people to go home.

So since then it has been back to work, observing teachers in preparatory and primary schools, making resources, teaching in the kindergarten and drinking many cups of coffee. Next week we will be in Kombolcha training for one day and then we are going to Addis Ababa for a workshop on HIV & AIDS. So it will be on the bus again. Travelling over here is hard going as the roads are so bumpy and the buses very old and crowded.

So Happy Ethiopian Christmas to all,

Ciao

Orla