Melkam Fasika!

Hi all!  I have safely arrived in Ethiopia and am adjusting to life here pretty well.  Solid nights of sleep (thanks Simply Sleep!) and yummy food helps.  Here's a brief rundown of my past few days:

All my travels went very smoothly and I even got to see my CT friends, Ryan and Becca Burns, on my layover in Frankfurt.  It was great catching up with them and hearing about their new German lives over coffee in the airport.  After arriving late Wednesday night with my four bags (just one zipper came undone but from what I can tell, all my belongings still intact!), I was met at the airport by fellow Americans, Anna and Adam, who both work for Beza Ministries.  Anna runs the Entoto education outreach and it is her position that I will be replacing when she starts grad school in the US this fall and Adam runs the Change for Change house for street boys.  It was great to be welcomed by familiar faces after traveling for 20+ hours.

On Thursday, Anna took me around to get a cell phone, internet card and basic orientation.  As I am quickly learning, there is not the same speed or efficiency here that I am used to in the US so four days later, we are still working on getting the communication devices up and ready.  It was a day full of mini buses (imagine 15 passenger vans filled with at least 15 people but usually more) and waiting in lines.  The day ended with a birthday dinner celebration for a friend of Anna's at her house.  She cooked eggplant parm, garlic bread, vegetable soup and apple pie.  It was great to help her to start figuring how to adjust to cooking here with different ingredients. less shortcuts and high altitude.  It was all delicious!

On Friday, Anna and I went to a local hotel to use their internet, ran into friends of hers at lunch (it's amazing how much you run into the other ferenji or white people here!) and then headed over to the Change house to spend time with the boys.  It was awesome to see the boys again, all with warm smiles and hugs.  We played some games, watched a movie and joined them for dinner.

On Saturday, my housemate Alli hosted a brunch for a few friends and we enjoyed muffins, eggs and my favorite - blue monkey pancakes!  We can get bananas here but someone's mom sent him dried blueberries which we hydrated and added to the bananas to make blue monkey pancakes.  Delicious!  I then accompanied Alli to the hair salon to help her with her two adopted Ethiopian children's get their hair cut.  They both got mohawks for Easter and are absolutely adorable.  I am enjoying spending time with the boys while at the house.  Anna and I then headed out later that evening to the Beer Garden for some chicken and local beer.

Then we celebrated Easter and on the streets we could hear "Melkam Fasika!" being told to everyone.  We went to the English service at Beza and then headed to Eden's house for Easter dinner where we had delicious food, including Doro Wat and I tried an Ethiopian speciality, Kifte, which is raw beef.  Eden is Anna's roommate and also works for Entoto ministries.  Eden's dad showed me some true Ethiopian hospitality by encouraging me to eat and when I say encouraging, I mean, every time he looked at my plate and something was finished, he insisted I had more.  Luckily Anna had warned me so I started with very little portions but I still left very full!  They also roasted coffee in their home and for dessert we had popcorn.  After dinner, we headed to the Change house for a bonfire where the boys cooked dinner, sang, danced and shared jokes around the fire.

It's been a full five days but I am enjoying it!  It was great to be here for Easter and see all the various preparations.  As Alli and I were driving on Saturday, we saw many goats and sheep in the road to be sold for Easter dinner.  As they day went on, I saw live goats on top of buses and taxis and even rode with one in a mini bus.  I didn't even realize it until after the goat (and its owner) got out! The typical traditional dress is beautiful white dresses for women and white suits for men.

The weather has been good but some of the summer rains have begun.  It is warm and sunny in the morning and then there has been an afternoon/evening storm which cools down the air greatly.

Something that I need your help with is picking a football team!  Everyone here is very in to football (soccer) and it has become evident that I need to choose a side.  I've narrowed it down to Arsenal or Liverpool.  Any opinions out there??  I can't believe I didn't choose a team during my summer in England but now is the time. :)

Thanks for reading - I'll try to post again once I have my internet up at home.  Enjoy the pics!
Love, Lisa