An Ethiopian Christmas
Week 16-17
Deneba, Ethiopia-January 4-17, 2015

I have now served 4 months in Deneba, lived 7 months in Ethiopia, and have 20 months of Peace Corps Service left!  Sometimes my time is snail paced and sometimes it seems to fly by. The past two weeks were slow but enjoyable. Ethiopian Christmas was on January 7^th. I did not have school and ended up scoring an invitation to my neighbor’s house for Christmas. They had a small tree, a tiny santa, and a few lights inside their lovely home. We enjoyed doro watt (chicken stew served on injera) and many other dishes. After lunch, we sat for hours enjoying buna (coffee) and popcorn sweetened with sugar, while watching Ethiopian Television (ETV).

My school doesn’t always tell me when we will be out of school. I assumed we wouldn’t have classes on Christmas Day. However, when I showed for classes on both Thursday and Friday, I found the compound deserted. Since I only have to walk across the street to school and I was on afternoon shift (classes start at 12:30), I wasn’t bothered by the nice surprise and made the best of my free days. I never have classes on Tuesday, so that week I only worked on Monday! Free time makes for long days sometimes. I ended up taking my first walk with my good camera here in Deneba. I can’t really pull it out in town around everyone or I would get bombarded with curious kids and unwanted attention. However, I walked to the outskirts of town on a glorious day and enjoyed my perfect Ethiopian weather while snapping a few photos along the way. The dry season is upon us and with that comes dry dead things. Nevertheless, the weather is absolutely perfect…EVERY DAY. I haven’t seen rain in quit some time but it is preferable to the rainy season and all the mud.

My parents recently sent me a thermometer that records the current temperature as well as the high and low for the day. One day in Deneba: High-75, Low- 51. In the sun that 75 feels AMAZING and at night that 51 is a little chilly, but I am definitely NOT complaining!

The photos show some typical Ethiopian country houses (mud huts) with cactus or stone fences. You can see all the farm land that has been harvested by hand. There are some beautiful red flowers in bloom right now, I have no idea what they are.

Until next time,

Peace