The Kindness of Christmas

As I sit under a fuzzy blanket drinking a Starbucks peppermint mocha (it’s not the real thing, but it will do for over here) I am still nursing a pretty full stomach from yesterday’s Ethiopian Christmas festivities. I was expecting my year to be like last year, starting with sewa and dulat (intestines) at 8am. I was pleasantly surprised however, when that was not the case. I had a relaxing morning alone in my room and was beginning to worry that I would not in fact be fed at all (something that just doesn’t happen here). Alas though, my worry was premature, as around 9:30 I was called out of my room by the familiar “Kelsey, migbee mees buna” (Kelsey, food and coffee) voice of my landladies.

As I walked into their living room I was greeted by my landladies in all their smiles and kindness and my landladies son, visiting from a near by town in his surfboard style shorts, slogan style t-shirt, and flip flops. He looked like he could have walked off a California beach, and that made me smile for a reason I couldn’t explain to the Ethiopians around me. I was handed a plate of meat for breakfast and then quickly handed popcorn when my plate was clean. This year my land family put in more burbery (the seasoning most common here—not the high retail clothing brand). In case you were wondering, there is nothing more effective to clearing sinuses than a plate with a lot of burbery. Of course, breakfast was followed by a buna ceremony of 3 cups of coffee, however that is the norm for every day, not just holidays.

We talked for awhile about my teaching and students, how I am going to pay a compound girl to clean my house and laundry this weekend (this is only my 2^nd time in country to do this, but I’m getting desperate), but mainly about the wedding coming up. My landladies’ daughter, who I consider my sister, is getting married in 2 weekends and preparations have been happening in my compound for a month already. My land family has invited basically every PCV who has come by my compound and Jessie and I are planning to buy new traditional dresses for it. I was informed yesterday that I would be getting my hair done “special”… So I have a suspicion I might actually be in the wedding and just not know it yet. That conversation was halted however when neighbors started to knock on the gate to greet my family and wish them a “Sibuk Lidet” or a “Merry Christmas”.

I spent much of the day in my room, reading. I am currently reading my 118^th book in country, and decided to depress myself by reading “Angela’s Ashes”, a book that my dad recommended to me but I have always procrastinated because he told me how sad it was. I agree, it is sad, but also very good. If nothing else, it really makes me grateful for my own childhood. I was then inspired to write some letters home, so I listened to music while writing words of gratitude and love to family and friends back home. It was getting into afternoon and my friends were on their 2^nd or 3^rd plate of food, I had only had one. I was beginning to think I would only be given breakfast, but like the morning I thought too soon. I was quickly invited out to eat more. This time my plate was handed to me with more kaya wat, as well as dulat, and handed a cup of sewa. Now this was a typical holiday.

After finishing off the plate and cup, I retired back to my room to color the “grown up” coloring books I received in my latest care package that have become all the rage back in America. Anyone who makes fun of adults coloring should really try it, it’s quite soothing. I got a text from Ally who told me that, “the Koreans are on TV dancing at a televised party in Adwa!” Adwa (my school specifically) just received 2 Korean teachers who will be teaching HPE and Biology starting next semester, from the Korean version of Peace Corps. That’s a whole other blog and topic though… Apparently there was a party in Adwa that they ended up at, and they were on National TV dancing.

At this point I was feeling a bit like a volunteer failure. I have been in Adwa from a year and a half, and I was in my pj’s in my room coloring, while they have been in Adwa for a week and are already on TV. At that moment though I received a call from an unknown number. I don’t normally answer them, but I’m glad I did. It was one of my students’ fathers inviting me for dinner at their house. It was one of the students I took to Camp GLOW with me this summer, so he had my contact information. I wasn’t sure how to proceed, but decided to go ahead and accept the invitation. I met my student at the school and we took a bajaj to his house. I was told he lived in the village, however his house is just a short walk outside of town. (I am very glad we bajajed though!)

I walked into his compound and was greeted by his father, mother, grandmother, a neighborhood kids. They asked me if I wanted bread or injira, and I said “injira of course!” I was then handed a plate with tibs and dulat, a cup of sewa, and both were refilled twice by the time I left. His father lived in South Africa for 12 years, and between his almost perfect English, Amharic, Tigrinya, Arabic, and 4 languages from South Africa, he speaks 8 languages. Although he was a typical Ethiopian and asked me my age, religion, whether I have a boyfriend, and told me I got fat (he saw pictures of me from America when I was showing the neighborhood girls my phone), he was a very gracious host.

I was also pleasantly surprised to hear my student speak so much English. It was still very broken and not grammatically correct, mostly just vocabulary words strung together, but he was trying really hard and it reminded me a lot of my own Tigrinya ability and confidence. In class he rarely speaks, although he is always taking notes, so to see him in a setting he was comfortable in was nice, and he had the biggest smile on his face the whole time. I was asked if I like coffee and when I told them I do, the father automatically commanded the daughter (Endrias’s sister) to make buna for me. I felt bad, because I was not expecting that, but I also know that’s the culture here. We had 3 rounds of buna, with me having an extra few glasses because the other guest at the house didn’t want his.

My students’ sister is also a 10^th grader at the school, although she is a year older than Endrias. Although I don’t know the circumstances, I can guess that she was probably kept a year more at home to take care of Endrias when they were both little. Some of their family came in and out of the compound, and the little girls I was playing and making faces at left to their house. I was worried about being rude and excusing myself to get home before it was too late, but they called a bajaj and paid him before I was even done with my coffee. I was grateful for that. I felt like I might have over stayed my welcome, but I didn’t quite know how to just say “good-bye”, I normally am at others houses with my land ladies and they do that for me. I bajajed home and was safe and sound in my bed by 7:30 (although it gets dark around 6:30, so it always feels much later). I left my door open though and was called for more food and sewa at 8:30, so I was stuffed and exhausted and finally in bed with my door locked at 9:30pm.

My final Christmas count: 2 houses, 5 plates of food (3 included dulat), 7 cups of coffee, and 5 cups of sewa. I know other volunteers probably had more, but that’s enough for me. This is crazy to me that this was my “last Christmas in Ethiopia”. Because of their calendar, we celebrate every holiday twice, first the “American way”, second the “Ethiopian way”. That being said, this was my 4^th Christmas here. I have been pleasantly surprised that even though the holidays here are always celebrated with meat, coffee, sewa, and lots of people I have spent my holidays a little differently every time.

This year I had the opportunity to spend it with my land family, who has become my surrogate family here. However, I also had the opportunity to spend it with an invitation to a students’ house. On Wednesday as I was leaving school with my all my students (who showed up) I was invited to many houses, but since I have no idea where any of them live, and I live in such a big town where I won’t just run into them, I was not able to actually attend their parties. I was feeling a bit of a “failure” compared to some of my other volunteers who live in small towns and were invited to many houses. However, I have come to appreciate my own version of holidays that have become more of the norm for me.

Like in my other holiday blogs, I talk about how different holidays here are from back home. But in many ways, they are similar as well. You eat and drink more than you should or think you can, you greet everyone with a smile and a holiday greeting, you sometimes stay at home and people come to you, or you might travel to other houses, and no matter what you remember why you are celebrating. I have 2 more big religious holidays while in Ethiopia (Timket and Fasika), as well as many smaller religious and non-religious holidays. They are the reasons 2^nd semester is so short, with many days off. However, for me, this second Christmas marks the end of the holidays here and back home that made being away from home so difficult. I am almost to the end of my service here (well, I have 7ish months) and even though some days are still really hard, and some days that feels like an eternity, this holiday has really made me realize how close I am to the end, and how much I am going to miss this country, these people, and this experience.