Travel: Ethiopia- only a vacation spot if you have experienced Africa already. So beautiful but a little rugged.

Posted 5 posts today- so scroll down to see our last two months if you have time. Peace and happy holidays. Lots of internet connectivity today so I had to just keep going.

We did 10 days in Ethiopia to see the beauty, the history, the religion, and the baboons. It was a lot of driving in a mini van, lots of little planes, lots of walking, but lots of really cool stuff you could never see unless you agreed to the above.

We started in Lalibela. The churches are rock hewn which meant they are dug out of the ground not built up. 12th century stuff. A guy walks around with you as you go in all the churches to be in charge of your shoes as you go in the church. We could market for Keen I think.

At night we would look over amazing horizons and watch the sun set. We would talk about saints, god, and as Cole said the holy and the holy and the holy ghost- he knew there were three of something somewhere. Cole would paint pics and add “ god “ to the top of them. He was a little overwhelmed by all the god talk. He even has us cheer to God at dinner one night. The views did make you believe in a higher power of some sort.

As we travelled the country side we saw women and girls doing back breaking work. So many people and so much more poverty than Tanzania. But people were so welcoming and everyone smiled. Our guide Kora helped with all the stories, translation, and child control. He was very passionate about his Ethiopian Orthodox religion, country, and people.

Van rides were long. 5 hours for 110 km. Kids crashed well during these times. I never thought I would love an Ipod so much. Only one broken tire!!!!!! Yes we are terrible parents- we take them to places with no car seats or seat belts even available.

We did a traditional coffee ceremony. Even Cole tried some ( with 5 spoons of sugar). We were all really tired by the end of the day so we begged for only one cup each- tradition says you take three cups at least to not offend your hostess, but that much caffeine late can be kind of scary- especially if your 6 yo is taking it also.

Next we went to Gondar. Great castles. I got deathly ill with stomach cramps so I missed this day. It wouldn’t be a vacation in Africa unless someone got a stomach disease at least once. David said the kids loved the trees that seemed to be eating them. Funny thing at this tourist spot a group of Ethiopian tourists took pictures of our kids with their yellow hair. We could hardly say no since we take pictures of them as we drive by in our van all the time.

Lastly we went to the Simien Mts to see the canyons, the Gelada baboons ( only there) and the Walia Ibex ( decided not worth seeing if meant 5 more hours in the van). Breathtaking like Grand Canyon style views. Tons of new birds for the big and little birder in my family. Those baboons mate a lot, so we had a whole set of other talks besides religion talks this trip.

Ended our trip at fancy hotel in Addis. Swimming pool and a barber shop for the kids- can’t beat that. Ate traditional Njera- but had our fill for a while I think. We were really excited to get Pizza back in Arusha.

Ethiopia is so big, wondrous, and amazing. My few pictures can’t begin to show you what we saw and experienced. Christmas today……. Blog again soon. Peace and Love joey

Adventure: Happy Birthday Cole

I always felt sorry for Dec babies since Xmas was so close by, but Cole didn’t seem to mind. He loved turning 6. I am amazed in Arusha these expat moms really get into bdays. Pool parties, theme cakes, party bags- not quite to America standards but enough to scare me off hosting big kid parties. I will however, have a fun party for adults that the kids enjoy too- with good food. So Cole agreed to “ the girls” coming- which means our compound gang and a couple of others. Last minute decision to make it knights and princesses. Luckily Cole was up to the task of hand-making a crown for everyone. I had enough energy for organizing a treasure hunt. Lisa gave me the idea of adding ice-cream cones (miracle I had) to the cake to make a castle. Overall a success for the night… not a party bag needed.

Lesson: Send your children to the wild to survive and they ……will.

Hadza culture info

So David took Birch to camp for three days with the Hadza. The Hadza do not farm. They use bow and arrow to hunt. We have friends that have a good relationship with some of them and offered visits overnight while David was working. So Birch went with David for three days to eat meat, hunt, hike ( 10 km/day), and get dirty. No shower for three days. Only water to drink. Not one veggie in site. David said he did great. Friends were amazed that he was only 7. David was proud. Best of all, Birch did not ask for the Ipod or Movies for at least 15 hours when he got home. Kids are amazing.

Scary that they saw a 14 foot boa constrictor python type snake while hunting. Birch thought it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. It beat seeing lions by a mile.

Adventure: Thanksgiving and a Christmas fair.

Arusha had a Christmas Craft fair. Artists from Kenya and Tanzania showing off their crafts. It was a club near our house. The Santa was skinny and wearing flip-flops and came in on a tractor- but the kids liked it. David liked the beer garden. Very expat experience, but fun still.

We had turkey day festivities at a Lara and Charles house. We sat outside by candlelight and ate turkey. We put up our be thankful tree and Birch and Cole both added their thanks to the tree.

At school I gave a talk about Thanksgiving and Native Americans. Not sure if I did my heritage proud, but the worldly classmates are from real India, Netherlands, Israel, Africa, Europe, and Asia so I had to stick to the basics. You can’t beat making feather headdresses, can you???

Lesson: Two weeks is too long for daddy to be away, but you/we/I can survive.

 

No worries.  I can take them to the pool all the time.  Who cares if they get skin cancer.

Or not if the rains come for the first time in three months. But we need the rain or they ration the electricity more.

Don’t leave them alone too long while you are on the internet or they find ways to stay active.

Or give them USA projects- this is digging for gems.  It lasted 15 minutes of play and one hour of clean up.

 

Don’t have the fight with Birch for the 100 time that the flip flops are dead- until dad comes home  with new ones.

Dad finally home and football outside in the lawn.

 

And then when mom making dinner dad…. looking at the birds he missed while he was in the USA.