It's beginning to feel not at all like christmas...
on Tara's Ethiopian Adventure (Ethiopia), 21/Dec/2009 14:10, 34 days ago
Four days until Christmas and I’ve never felt so unchristmassy. I spent most of last week in Addis where I was at least able to see a few Christmas trees in the shops but it really didn’t even feel Christmassy there. We celebrated a friend’s birthday on Saturday by climbing one of the hills surrounding Addis and sat at the top having a picnic in the blazing sun. Later that day I checked facebook to find loads of photos of people having fun in the snow back in England. On Sunday I decided to go to the Addis Anglican Church‘St Matthews’ hoping to sing some carols and get in a more festive spirit but they didn’t sing any carols! It was quite an interesting experience though as the church looks and feels exactly like a small village church in England... for a moment I felt I’d been transported to the Cotswolds.Today I am back at work... I don’t think I’ve ever done any work so close to Christmas (the joys of teaching) and it really doesn’t feel right. I was also disappointed to find no post waiting for me. Up to this point I had only had three letters since I arrived in Ethiopia and had received none of the promised Christmas post or copies of the guardian weekly. Most people have said that the Ethiopian postal system is pretty reliable so I’m not sure what is going on! I went to the university post room to investigate and was happily greeted with two Christmas cards and one copy of the guardian weekly. Here is hoping that the rest of the week is filled with similar happy surprises!With my two Christmas cards displayed proudly on my shelf and Christmas tunes playing on my laptop I am trying to get a bit more festive but instead I think it is just making me miss home. I am also frustrated by the fact that the internet isn’t working today. This is bad for two reasons. Firstly I cannot contact anyone from home and secondly I am limited in what work I can do and so have more time to sit and think about all the Christmassy things I am missing out on. What I would do for a mince pie right now! I really hope the internet picks up soon so I can get on with my jobs and stop fantasising about such things!Tomorrow should feel more festive as all the secretaries are coming to my house for a Christmas Party. Between now and then I need to clean my house and make lots of Christmas cards. I’ve bought some cheese and crackers and chocolate from Addis and am planning to make some mulled wine but I can’t think what else I can serve that will feel Christmassy. The secretaries have promised to bring some local bread and I’ll make some popcorn but I feel our festive feast will definitely be lacking the normal Christmas flavours. We will have plenty of Christmas music though and I am looking forward to hearing the two groups perform their carols. If my internet starts working before then I may even print off a few song lyrics so we can have a bit of Christmas Karaoke.