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I went up the hill to the restaurant the other day.  Hywät was not there, but the same little girl who waited on me the other evening was there.  She was the one who asked, “Where is my husband?”  This time she asked me, “Where is my wife?  Where is she?”  So, she got the husband/wife part correct this time, but didn’t catch the correct pronoun.  I wasn’t going to try to explain it to her, because I had a hard enough time just ordering.

One of the interesting things I’ve discovered in life is how fast kids learn.  Many of the children whose parents work overseas, have a local nanny who will teach them the local language.  One lady I spoke with the other day, said when they lived in Germany, their nanny taught their 3 year old German.  One day he kept saying something which neither parent knew.  Finally they had to call the nanny at home and find out what he’s saying.  She said the little one was hungry.  All this time the parents though he had to potty, so they kept putting him on his little commode when all he wanted was something to eat.  He kept saying, “Nein, Mama!  Nein!”

We visited with Hywät again the other night and she is still going strong with her medical learning stuff.  She told Terese the more she studies the maternity part, the more she loves her mother.  She also told Terese, that when she talks to me it’s a form of training for her.  I’m not sure how to take that.

The monkeys have raised their ugly tails a few times lately, and I’ve had a few battles with them.  This morning I’m off because it’s MLK day.  Enjoying the sun in the back yard, I heard branches snap and rattle causing the fat birds in the tree to flutter away in unison.  I quickly got my slingshot and collection of paintballs, and proceeded with a short battle.  I saw one critter in the tree, and drew back and hit the little sucker right in the butt!  Again, I heard the familiar “Holy Bananas!” as it dropped down out of sight.  So, as it stands now, the score is Dwaine 1 2, Monkeys 31.

We had a low key New Year celebration.  We went up to the pizza place on the hill for dinner, where Hywät works, then drove to the Embassy and spent New Year’s Eve with the Marines at their house.  After a subdued midnight “yippee” and a small glass of champagne, we headed home.

Every time we go to the hill and eat with Hywät, the first thing she does is greet Terese.  The two of them do the hug, hug, kiss, kiss routine, and inquire how things are.  I once asked Hywät, how come you never ask me how I’m doing?  She laughed and said, “If she is okay, then you are okay.”

Humph!

Once while we were eating, she came by and asked Terese if her food was okay.  “Yes, it is very good.”  I waited … and waited … then stated, You didn’t ask me!  She looked over at me and again laughed and said, “You always order same thing!”

Humph!   – even if she is right.

The other night I went there alone to get some pizzas to bring home and Hywät was not there, but another young girl served me.  She asked me, “Where is my husband?”  I looked at her and said, Excuse me?  “Where is my husband? Where is she?”  I realized she was asking where Terese was, but used the wrong word and wrong possessive pronoun.  I explained to her that Terese was not feeling well and stayed home.  Then explained that I am the husband and Terese is the wife.  I think it may have embarrassed her, so I then asked her the correct pronunciation for the Amharic phrase, Thank you.  It’s about a paragraph long and I always have trouble saying it.  Perhaps me asking her, made her understand I have trouble with languages too.  But I was surprised how well she said what she said, because I detected no accent.  That is what threw me when she asked where her husband was.  My first thought was, Well, first of all what does the ol’ boy look like?

Well, this is Christmas in Ethiopia and there is no snow for thousands of miles, except perhaps on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It was interesting watching people as Christmas got closer.  Yesterday I saw a boy carrying a goat on his back.  No doubt the animal is sitting on a table being devoured as I write this.  The other day we saw an old woman carrying a live chicken under her arm.  That’s something you don’t see every day in the States.  Not even in West Virginia.  I imagine the bird is also history now.

The Christmas celebration began very early yesterday morning.  I woke to what I thought was the dreaded call to prayer which is normally between 5am and 5:30, right before my alarm usually goes off.  I got up to pee and get a drink when I noticed it was 3am, so it was a nearby church starting up.  Couldn’t go back to sleep, with the constant wailing and chanting going on.  You would think it would be a comforting sound, but it’s not, as the sounds are distorted.  All the churches and mosques have outside sound systems, and recently, the mosque across the river evidently installed a new system.  About twice as loud but still distorted.

So as the first Mass took off, several others started within the hour, then at the usual time, the call to prayer went out.  Could not go back to sleep.  The wailing and chanting continued all through yesterday and into the night.  But lo and behold, there was silence when I woke early this morning … until the call to prayer raised its voice.

If I remember right, the Ethiopians start their Christmas morning with a 7am butchering of the animal they will be eating.  (refer to the above comments on the goat and chicken)  I believe they eat a portion of it then, and finish the critter off later in the day.  But the real celebration will be on the Ethiopian Epiphany which is a greater celebration than Christmas.  I was not in country last year, but Terese commented on the beautiful chanting and singing that took place in the streets.  Notice there was no distortion because it was from the populace themselves instead of multiple horns mounted on buildings.  Also there will be ceremonial fires throughout the city.  I should be here this year and will get to enjoy it with her.

In a week or so, I will be in Djibouti City, but at this time of the year, the temps will be in the upper 80’s.  A few months ago, it was consistently in the mid 100s to the lower 110s.  So it will be a good time to go there.  Afterwards, it’s back to Juba, South Sudan where the temps should be near 100 if not above.  The hottest place I have ever been is Kandahar, Afghanistan, where the first Summer I was there the direct-sunlight temp topped out in the 150s.  Unbelievably hot.  That is when the crews worked from 3am to 3pm.  Luckily for me, I secured an inside job as a Construction Coordinator by then.  Yeah, I know, I’m a wuss, but I will never forget the stifling heat during the late afternoon.  The AC units in the tents ran continuously but could only keep them in the 90’s.  By morning the tent would be in the 70’s.

We found out our next posting is Ankara, Turkey and we are excited.  I worked there for about 3 weeks a few years back and realized how much I wanted Terese to see it.  Now, she will be able to experience it.  For the first year, my boss will be a character I very much enjoyed working with in Moscow, although he is half a bubble off plumb.  I have great respect for the gentleman and look forward to working with him again.

As I work on this document, I am sitting out on one of our balconies watching the birds in the trees and yard.  If the damn cat was not asleep on one of my jackets upstairs, she would be itching to go play with them.  There are so many birds that come and go in the yard, I decided to set up a posting with pictures of them.  It will be boring for you youngsters, but old people like me and Mom will appreciate them.  I’ll let you know when it’s online.

I’ve been hearing thunder in the distance and it seems to be getting closer.  We have not had rain for quite some time and I hope it comes this way.  Besides, my rain gauge is getting lonesome.

More later.  Kick butt and don’t stop.   D.

Last year we invited the two gardeners and their families to a Christmas dinner, but this year, Christmas was a bit hectic and we didn’t get to offer the feast to them.  So, we had Michael and Shawn stay late last Friday so the four of us could eat together.  Here in Africa things are relatively cheap, but a few things are not.  As an example, last month we purchased a turkey for Thanksgiving but didn’t use it then, so we used it Friday.  The turkey was very small, probably 6-7 lbs and cost about $80.  So we don’t buy turkeys very often.

Below are pictures from last year.  First is Micheal’s mother and step father and Shawn’s wife.  Then Shawn and his little Daniel.  And a picture taken outside after dinner.

Needless to say, our Gardener, Michael was ecstatic as he very much enjoyed last year’s meal.  Especially the pumpkin pie.  Terese points out that in Ethiopia, pumpkin is merely a large gourd that is cut up and cooked like any other vegetable, like zucchini and squash.  To have the large vegetable cut into pieces with spices added and baked in a pie is a very unusual thing.  They were a bit baffled about the cranberry sauce, but they did try it and liked it enough to eat one serving.  So Friday night’s dinner was a small turkey, fried vegetables with dressing, and cranberry sauce on the side.

Now bear in mind, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas (and Easter) two weeks after the Christian Faith in the States, so their Christmas is on January 7th.  Many Ethiopian Christians are very religious and take their Faith very seriously, and Shawn is one such person.  These are the Christians who will stop and sign themselves as they walk in view of a church, even if it’s 5  blocks away.  They fast everyday for 40 days before Christmas.  When not in the Christmas season, they fast two days a week.  Fasting is basically a vegan diet.  No meat or anything that derives from meat.  This include eggs, so although Michael indulged in the pumpkin pie, two pieces at first until Terese pushed the pie closer to him, Shawn on the other hand was unable to eat any.  The only thing he ate was the vegetables and the dressing.  He didn’t know the dressing had bird juice in it, and I didn’t say.

So after the Ethiopian Christmas, we are planning to invite both young men and their families over again and serve several chickens with various pies and cookies.  Because after their Christmas, they do not fast at all for 40 days, so they can eat anything we serve.  Then it’s back to the two days a week.

Chickens are easy for us to get, although expensive.  About 10-15 dollars a bird.  We’ll get at least 3 and let the families take the rest home.  Michael likes to help Terese cook, even to the point he wants us to adopt him and take him with us when we leave for our next post.  So when he felt guilty for Terese cooking this big meal alone, I made him come in and cut the turkey.  He wasn’t expecting that, but didn’t complain.  I left for a few minutes and came back, and found him trying to dismember the turkey the way we would chicken, so I showed him how we just basically fillet the dead bird.Then our meal with the two gentlemen. When we have the next feast with them and their families, I will post it.  In the meantime, I hope all had a good Christmas and will enjoy a healthy and prosperous new year.    D.

In great anticipation for the end of the world, friends of ours had a “End of the World” party on Friday night, the 21^st, on our rooftop terrace.  As you may have noticed, the world did not end, but kept on going like it didn’t know anything was out of the ordinary.  In reality, nothing was.  There were many pictures taken, but I cannot show many of them since they include faces.  But I gave the camera to a young girl who took many pictures, but for some reason, either she didn’t know how to look through a viewfinder, or just had a fetish for feet, she took several pictures without the faces. And then, there were acrobats!Then it turned out to be a trick!!And then, last but not least, is the Gardener from next door.  Shawn.

Well, unfortunately, there probably will never be another End of the World party, so it was nice to attend at least one.   D.

With my brother visiting, we ventured out beyond our safety zone.  There are many one-day trips we can make beyond the city, yet we enjoy our backyard so much it’s hard to get us away.

Lake Tana in Northwestern Ethiopia, collects water from that area of the country and the Blue Nile drains it into the Nile (White Nile).  It is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile.  About an hour and a half drive from Addis, a section of it runs through a gorge, aptly called the Blue Nile Gorge.  My brother and I drove there and took a mess of pics along the way.  Below are a few.

Below is a picture of the gorge.

Along the road, we encountered many of these laborers.  Where they were taking their load, we do not know.

Another scene we saw everywhere outside the city, are the donkey drawn carts.

We stopped at one location and was surrounded by people selling.  Not begging, but selling.

The area has many of the Gelada baboons.  Unfortunately, we had a vehicle about to crawl up my bumper, so we were not able to stop and take better pictures of the little heathens.

It was amazing to see so many people walking along the roads so far away from the city.  Walking sticks and something on their backs, was the norm.   Many times we saw a small herd of animals, cattle & sheep, which had a lone individual watching them.  Most of the time it was young kids.  Male and female.

One day, Terese joined us for a trip to one of the nearby craters.  We did not have time to actually get to the site before we had to be back at the city before sundown.  But the drive was incredible.  I never realized how beautiful Ethiopia was.

On a Friday afternoon, several people from the Embassy decided to go to the top of Entoto mountain to watch the sunset.  My brother has two passions among many, sunrise and sunset.  We went with them and again, the beauty was priceless.  Addis is about 8000 feet.  The top of the mountain was 10,375.  It was a bit windy on top as you would imagine.  The pictures below are from the sunset side.

My brother and I ventured to the other side of the mountain and took these pictures.

Then the sun slithered down leaving a smear in the sky.

Then a quick picture of the city of Addis below before heading down.

And to keep you in love with Africa, nature gives us little critters that make you smile.  Here is a picture of a little bird in our backyard.

Okay.  Kick butt and don’t stop.  Until next time.  D.