So What if I Cried Quite a Bit When I Saw a Decorated Christmas Tree in Ethiopia?

Here are some photos from our two weeks in Ambo. We had a great time reuniting with friends, learning helpful stuff, participating in paper football tournaments, running into Christmas trees, hiking a crater lake, having tea with tortoises and hares, eating Cocoa Puffs, perusing stationery shops for the craziest English, and anxiously awaiting the arrival of Daniel’s mom. Now Debbie is here in Adwa with us; today I enjoyed hearing all the gasps, and seeing the smiles and hands thrown in the air, and hearing the “We are lucky”’s when I told my colleagues at school that, “Nay Daniel addo ab Adwa”—Daniel’s mother is in Adwa.

 This was a volcano. Now it's a lake.

A 9 mile hike around Lake Wenchi. There were four phases: 1. the downhill dustbowl (lots of bums hitting the ground), 2. swamp/lilly-pad jump (lots of muddy legs and faces), 3. boating the lake (lots of Ethiopians in matching T's singing at the lakeside for their family reunion), 4. the upward rocky climb through a secluded neighborhood (lots of "Give me pen!"s)

And a dus-ty hike it was.

Proof we participated in said hike.

 We found this Christmas tree in a hotel lobby in Ambo.

And I didn't expect it to be a bawl-fest. But it was our first tangible sign of Christmas here. (It feels like summer, Ethiopian Christmas is in January, and it's under-celebrated).

Paper football! A well-organized tournament with a 2-birr buy-in.

We had two tournaments in Ambo.

In tourney # 2, I came prepared, but only lasted a few games.

Thanksgiving with our great friends! At the French restaurant "Loti" in Addis. Our first time having pork in 6 months.

We made turkeys, writing our thanksgivings on the feathers. It was a lovely Thanksgiving.

Stay tuned for a blog post from Debbie Luttrull. Ethiopia seen through a new set of eyes.