Happy New Year 2004!!

Melkem Addis Amit is being heard around the city today as Ethiopians welcome 2004 tonight at midnight.  I've mentioned this before but Ethiopia is on a different calendar, causing tonight to be New Year's Eve 2003! Today is the last day of their 13th month; normally they have 12 30-month days and one month of five days, but this year it has six days because it is leap year.  Today, streets are crowded with people buying lambs, goats, and chickens for their traditional holiday meals.  It's a festive time of year here as it is truly a national holiday!  I am heading to the Change house tonight for dinner, songs and dancing and then to Eden's family's house for New Year's Day.  Injera anyone??

In the last few weeks, we've celebrated the end of summer (summer meaning cold, dreary, rainy season!) with a trip to the local amusement park with 40 of the younger kids of Entoto (age 3 - 10) where I doubted the safety regulations that were (not) in place, screaming from my chair on the swings.  Instead of telling kids they are too little for a ride, they just put them on our laps!  Trust me, I held tight! :)



Hold on tight!!

Then we took about 60 of the older kids (age 10 - 17) to Sodare, about a three hour drive from Addis, to go swimming in hot springs and a pool.  Most Ethiopians don't know how to swim so the shallow end gets quite crowded the kids had a great time and it was awesome to see them out of their normal element and have a ton of fun!



Can you guess which side is the shallow end??



Lots of fun in the swimming pool!

Overall it was a couple of really fun days, still with lots of learning on my behalf of cultural norms and how best to communicate to organize large groups of children across the city.  There were definitely points of frustration as I struggled to give instructions in Amharic and make sure everyone was on the same page.  But, like I said, the kids had an awesome time, as did I!

After enduring the rainy season (it's almost over is what I am told!), I am heading for a two week trip to enjoy the sun and beaches in Kenya and Tanzania!  I'll definitely post pictures and stories when I get home!

Happy New Year!
Love, Lisa

You can tell by the look on my face, I am not pleased with the giant, cold hail we received which resulting in piles of white stuff all over!