Christmas photos

 
 
 
 

Plans

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. It's great to be home...though I complain about the cold, it feels more like Christmas here as compared to 80 degrees and palm trees in Florida.
Well, I have plans! For the next 2 years of my life! I've recently been accepted to Fuller Seminary's MA program in cross-cultural studies. In a month or so, I'll be heading to the west coast. I have to admit that I'm a bit intimidated about reentering the world of academia, as well as adjusting to California life. I'm pretty sure I fit in better in Africa. However, there is a small Ethiopian community in LA, so I'll hopefully be frequenting that area to keep up my Amharic. An added blessing is that my dear friend, Daphne, with whom I have gallivanted all over the globe, is there. She's gettin hitched in April (they probably don't use such terminology in LA), so I'm looking forward to being in closer proximity to help her with wedding stuff.
Just to explain my decision to go with this program...I've been looking into various grad programs for some time. Initially I thought I wanted to do an agricultural development program. But after visiting UC Davis and reading about several other programs, I realized it was more science/research based than I was interested in. So my search shifted to international development programs with a mixture of anthropology, international policy, sociology, etc. It was soon after I started researching this type of program that I attended a conference hosted by Food for the Hungry. Bryant Myers, author of "Walking with the Poor" and a Fuller prof, was a plenary speaker. In his address, he stressed the importance of development workers being well-rounded in both theology and cultural understanding/sensitivity. I long to know the Bible better and believe that grad school will provide a challenging environment to understand the Kingdom of God through different cultural contexts. I then became set on Fuller because of their partnerships with other universities to receive business administration training. My ultimate goal is to gain skills in business to assist subsistence farmers in starting income generating activities.
So that's the path I'm on. Two years feels like long-term planning for me. I already want to start a countdown until I can get to Africa again! Still not sure exactly what part of the continent...it's a big place...and every experience so far has been amazing.

NASCAR

Many people think that I’m an unlikely Nascar fan…people who don’t know my background. “How can you like Nascar? Didn’t you major in environmental science? Don’t you realize all the tires and fuel that are wasted? How can you find a bunch of cars driving in a circle a few hundred times entertaining? “ Well, my answer is this: I grew up with it. Sunday afternoons in my house were made for napping. And if the race was on a major network, they were made for napping with the race on in the background. I never took naps, so I eventually got hooked on racing. And when I was nearly finished with high school, we got a satellite primarily so that Dad could see the race every weekend, rather than just when it aired on network TV. Also, we have a “Miniature Nascar” track in our back field. We might live in the sticks, but there is weekend entertainment in our own backyard. Every Saturday night, a group of 100 or so come out to race go-carts for points. This is a serious competition, and many a lip have been busted over it.

So this racing gene is bred into me. I understand some of the strategy of it and can relate to the culture. So this past weekend, I was graciously offered pit passes to see the series finale for the Nationwide Series in Homestead, FL. And when I say “pit passes”, I mean we were right there in the pits. The car pulls in for fuel and tire changes, and we were right across the wall with the pit crew, but out of their way. Phoebe, a friend from ECHO, came with me. It was her first Nascar experience; she had never seen a race on TV or anything. Well, she got the most intimate introduction to it outside of driving one of the cars herself! At the conclusion of the race, we were directly in front of Victory Lane to watch my favorite driver, Carl Edwards, pull in to receive his trophy. It was all a dream to me, as you can see from the pictures!

Choices

Long overdue, I know...just haven't searched for inspiration to post. But as the election draws to a close (don't worry, I'm not going to get political), I was pondering this whole concept of choices. We are given so many options, from clothing to transportation to entertainment to education and career. We're so overwhelmed with options that we get annoyed when we have too many. Some of us are just really indecisive people.
About 2 months ago, a girl from Haiti named Rose spent 6 weeks studying at ECHO. She was one of the privileged few who was able to complete high school and further her education at a university there. And beyond that, she was awarded a scholarship to be able to fly to the US to spend time as a student at ECHO. She was hesitant upon arrival to use her broken English, though I could tell that she understood nearly everything spoken to her. I tried to assuage her intimidation by attempting to speak to her in French. You could see the tension ease in her face when she could express herself in a more familiar tongue...just wish I could have understood everything she was saying to me!
About halfway through her stay, I accompanied her to the grocery store. She had already been once before with someone else, and someone in Haiti apparently made sure she was financially prepared to pay for food and other incidentals. I stayed with her in the store in case she had any questions. Now picture it: you're from the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. You may have seen movies of American affluence, but standing in the midst of it is another story. We walked up and down the aisles and I just subtly watched her facial expressions. Her eyes went up and down the shelves, but she had no idea what she was looking at. Even the simple task of reading a pricetag is pretty complicated when you're not accustomed to it. Is the price marked for what's below or above? This tag says "buy one, get one free" - does that mean any of them or just this one kind? She shopped at an outdoor market most of her life, where there are no price tags, or package labels, or packaging. I could tell that she was yearning for something familiar. So we found beans, and then we found rice. And then I discovered something else about my new friend - she had a sweet tooth. She stopped at the candy aisle and browsed for a while. I thought that would be an ok area to leave to her peruse the options. I went and flipped through a magazine. Came back a while later, and she was right where I left her.
So after about 45 minutes of grocery shopping, I was fairly confient that she had enough to keep her through at least the next week. I could tell that she was in sensory overload and ready to be done.
At the end of her time, we took her to the bus station to catch a Greyhound from Fort Myers to Miami. That's pretty intimidating...personally, I wouldn't know where to go or what to do in a bus station. My roommates and I took her to the station, helped her get her luggage tagged, and then walked her to her bus. We were a little late, so the gruff busdriver gave her a hard time and said that they throw the latecomers out for the alligators to eat. Poor Rose looked back at us with such distress and fear. Then the busdriver softened and asked where she was from. When she told him she was from Haiti, he said that he would take good care of her and see to it that she made her connection in Fort Lauderdale. She then relaxed, gave us each a kiss and boarded the bus.
If only I could be a fly on the wall to hear the stories she told to her friends and family about her adventure in the States!
Just something to ponder the next time you can't decide between crunchy or smooth peanut butter.

Andrea, I fulfilled my promise! :)

Fun in Portland

Uncle Steven, Aunt Marilyn and me along the Columbia River


ECHO Buds...Daphne, Andrea and Carol


Multnomah Falls


Zipline in Andrea's backyard

Menus

Here are a few shots of some interesting discriptions of food we found in some menus in Ethiopia. This is in honor of Andrea and her many funny signs from China - wanderlife.typepad.com
(the last one is my personal favorite!)

I’ve been home 8 days now. It’s been a whirlwind week of visiting family and friends and new babies – 7 of them! Tomorrow I leave again…this time in the same time zone. I’m heading south to work at ECHO again in Fort Myers. I’ll be working in their seedbank to harvest, package and ship seeds to people all over the world.

There’s still much more of Ethiopia to process and share. I hope you’ll continue to check this and learn more about my experience in such a fascinating part of the world.

coming home

Two hundred twenty fruit trees have been planted; Many farewells have been said.  Lord willing, I'll be back in America Sunday morning.  Thanks for your prayers...one would think the transitions would get easier after you've done so many...but they only get more difficult.

Weddings

I've attended 2 weddings since coming to Ethiopia; both were Protestant ceremonies. Wedding traditions vary greatly between the 3 main religions in Ethiopia. I don't know much about the Muslim traditions. Orthodox weddings often last several days (depending on when the $$ runs out!). They involve lots of dancing and drinking "Tech", a honey wine made locally. Protestant weddings are somewhat similar to what we are accustomed to in the States, with a few twists:

· festivities begin at bride's home in the morning, with close friends and family gathering. The groom comes in with his groomsmen to see his bride for the first time, but the bridesmaids block his view of the bride until the awaited moment… then a short ceremony, followed by some food.

· A car caravan (sometimes a limo, sometimes white Mercedes, and sometimes just a couple Toyotas) parades through the city with video camera leading the procession, filming the ENTIRE TIME! (Really now, who wants to sit and watch a bunch of cars driving through town for 20-30 minutes??)

· Guests welcome the couple outside the church when they arrive, and sing them into the church.

· Joyful worship – very lively gospel choir

· Wedding party sits down during a rather lengthy sermon

· While the couple recites their vows, beat box music is playing in the background.

· Four witnesses, usually elders in the family or church, go forward during the ceremony to sign wedding certificate…then bride and groom display the certificate for the guests to see…and the beat box music is still playing…

· After church program is photo program (similar to American tradition – sit and wait for an hour or 2)

· At reception, difficult to keep out "crashers" who come for free food, so you're supposed to present your invitation card

· Another "sermonette" is delivered before they serve the food at the reception

· Couple feeds one another the cake, and then the bride and groom feed each member of their bridal party

· Cake disappears in 4.2 minutes as everyone rushes the cake server with their plates

· The crowd disperses after the food…no dancing or drinking at a protestant service.

Wildlife

We've seen a lot of African wildlife in recent weeks. Over a week ago, a large herd of camels passed through Yetebon. They were with a nomadic group of people from about 50 kilometers east of us, moving west in search of water. It was so surreal to be standing amongst a herd of the enormous creatures.

Then a week later, my good friends from ECHO days, Tom and Betsy, came to visit for a week before heading to Kenya to do graduate research. We took a road trip to Awassa, 300 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, where we saw lots of birds, a monitor lizard, and monkeys stole our breakfast!

On our way home, we stopped at a lake to scout out some hippos. Only saw one or 2 shy ones in the water, but still a uniquely African experience, being out in a row boat on a lake only about 40 feet from a hippo!

Only a month left in Ethiopia!! And then the dreaded farewells…Still lots of work to be done, though.

Fasika

Fasika is the Amharic word for Easter, and was just celebrated this past weekend. I had been told early in my stay that Easter was a bigger deal than Christmas here. That proved true…Christmas was recognized and celebrated, but not with the extravagance that we put into it in the west. Primarily for the Orthodox believers, Fasika is not only a huge deal because of the true meaning of the holiday – Christ's resurrection – but it also brings an end to their Lenten fast of no animal products. Therefore, the tradition is to buy an animal (the type depends on one's income level) and eat it on Easter. For the wealthier folks, several families may go together and buy a cow…average cost here is 4000 birr (app $400). The middle class will get a sheep, ranging from 600-800 birr; and the lower income bracket will at least get a chicken and make "doro wat." Chicken prices were inflated to 50 birr for the Fasika weekend…usually they're around 30 birr. Animals lined the streets of Addis Ababa…I am pretty sure the domestic animal population in the country drops by about 20% after Fasika! While I would certainly much rather have a chocolate Easter bunny, eating meat is a big deal here. For the majority of the population, it's reserved for only special occasions.

Our Easter consisted of church in the morning (about 3 hours long), lunch with the housekids (lamb stew, complete with pieces of tongue!), giving the kids candy that had been sent from friends in the US (thanks Mom and Kathy!), back to church for a drama performed by the youth (another 3 hours in church), and then to some teachers' house for doro wat and a coffee ceremony.

The last photo is of the "ferengis" currently living at Project Mercy: me, Dr. Roy and Nancy - couple from Indiana working on the dairy project; Dr. Roy is a retired veterinarian, and Scott - English teacher from Sanibel Island, FL.

Trip, Part 3

Our last leg of the journey went through Gonder and the Simien Mountains. We spent one night camping in the mountains. In Ethiopian national parks, you're required to have a "guide" and "scout" accompany you during your entire stay in the park. The guide arranges the campsite and takes you on hikes, explaining the flora and fauna along the way. The scout is a schmugly (a PC Amharic term for an old man) who follows us around with an gun that looks like it's from WW1 slung over his shoulder. He also stood guard while we slept in our tents, though we think a little local boy came to help keep our poor schmugly scout awake through the night.

The scenery in the Simien mountains was breathtaking. We were at about 3,200 meters; the tallest moutain in Ethiopia, Ras Dashen is found in the park and reaches 4,543 meters. We also got up close and personal with some baboons. The Gelada baboons are indigenous to Ethiopia and heavily populate the Simien Mountains. They're very docile creatures, allowing us to get within 4 feet before fleeing in fear. Four feet was a little too close to comfort for me, too!

The last stop was Gonder, the former capital of Ethiopia. The city is often referred as "Africa's Camelot" due to the Royal Enclosure housing 17th century castles. It was fun to explore these ancient castles at our leisure, without ropes or barricades like we're accustomed to in the States.

The next morning we began the long drive back to Addis…left at 6:30am and arrived in Addis Ababa at 9pm, thankful for safe travels and the great experiences and eager for a hot shower!!

Trip, Part 2

From Bahir Dar, we drove east on a terribly dusty, bumpy dirt road (currently being reconstructed by the Japanese) to Lalibela. Lalibela is a tiny town isolated in the mountains at about 8,600 feet in elevation, renowned for its rock-hewn churches carved out of red volcanic rock in the 12^th century.

The priests there today say that it took thousands of workmen about 40 years to chisel out the churches; and while they slept at night, angels would come to continue the work, digging three times the amount of the men.

There are 12 churches present there today, the largest 63 feet high, 45 feet wide and 24 feet deep. I was amazed at how well-preserved these churches have remained after 800 years. There's so much detail present in the carving, as you can see in the photos.

Each church possesses its own cross, uniquely designed with religious symbolism, along with other ancient paraphernalia such as Bibles made of animal skin and prayer sticks that King Lalibela and other priests used to prop themselves on as they prayed through the night.

Lalibela was my favorite stop on our trip. It really felt like going back to Biblical times, as we walked by donkey carts on the road and people carrying their market goods. It's a very picturesque location nestled in the highlands, the terrain reminiscent of the Badlands in South Dakota.

The Lalibela locals were also some of the friendliest people we encountered on our journey. Someone before me made the name "Sara" famous somehow because when we arrived at our hotel, people were calling my name before our vehicle even stopped (the hotel reservation was in my name). Even as we walked throughout the town, I'd randomly hear people say my name. So this was my day to feel famous. Lalibela also has the best macchiatos in Ethiopia…maybe the world…but I wasn't a coffee drinker before coming here, so I can't say for sure.