Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A shock to the system


I have had many “shocks to my system” since I have been in Ethiopia; different ways of life that I’ve had to adapt to that have made me step into the uncomfortable but that have also brought much needed change to my life.

There is a term, mainly used in the youth culture in South Auckland that says “Changes” – like it’s a bad thing.  The thing is that, most of the time, change is a good thing – if it’s change for the better or change that comes with growth.  People use it because they are uncomfortable with other people changing, but people need to change in order to grow, to find their place in this world and to be able to move into their purpose in life.

Anyway, back to my point…I have had to change in many ways here.  One of the “shock to the systems” for me, was realizing that I had to cook three meals a day for my family.  This has come because of the lack of cereals available for breakfast (the only really affordable breakfast meal here is Oats-so porridge is our main breakfast), the culture of having cooked food for lunch (which means sandwiches and bread are usually exclusive as breakfast meals-and also lack of sandwich fillings available also) and cooking dinner probably became more intense when we had visitors stay with us for 6 weeks.
This has meant that my sleep in time while Asaua gets the kids ready for school (which I am ashamed to say has happened for quite some time) has slowly evaporated into thin air.  It took a while…I would ask Jamal to cook breakfast and I would get up in time to cook lunch…I would make the kids pack their own lunch and I think even for a period, Asaua was cooking breakfast because he was getting up early to go for runs – I mean, who does that??

Me.  I have started now getting up early to go for runs.  It was really hard at first and at the same time I was doing the Daniel fast so energy levels weren’t so good-especially when I cut out the coffee!  But now it’s become a habit, and it gives me time to compose myself in the morning so I’m not drooling over the breakfast pot or trying to see through my sleep as I cut onions. 

Food here is something you have to get used to.  A trip to Kenya to stock up on spices and dairy is not a bad idea either.  There are limits to what you can buy, but there is also an abundance of really good vegetables and now fruit!  Plums, mangoes, bananas and strawberries are now in season and  they are all so cheap and taste soooo good!
You can also get fresh juices, that at the moment are avocado (yes, avocado), pineapple, mango and guava all mixed together.  Oh, these are so good.  Fresh vegetables to make salads are also available.  I just finished a 21 day Daniel fast which eliminates sugar, yeast, meat, dairy, and processed foods from your diet.  I thought that doing the Daniel fast here would be so hard, but it was actually easier than I have found it in New Zealand.  There are so many natural foods here that are prepared, and fasting these types of foods are done by Orthodox Christians twice a week, so there are alternative options available at every cafĂ© and restaurant.  There are peanuts, fresh chickpeas, barley, injera (which is made from Tef), lentils and beans which are all locally grown and are so fresh.  I can see your mouth drooling right now lol. 

         See that Beet(root) ^ it's not out of a can- who knew!?



Another shock to the system I experienced here was more than literal.  Earlier here, I had eaten some Ethiopian food and immediately started feeling nauseous, which lead to sweaty, which lead to my head down the toilet numerous times in a period of 24 hours.  Not long after, I had the same experience and concluded that I was allergic to Ethiopian food.  I have since narrowed down exactly what I am allergic to and haven’t had any such bad experiences since. 

So I am back to eating Ethiopian food- loving it actually and thinking that if I keep the Ethiopian diet up, that maybe I will have an Ethiopian figure haha-or even just a healthy heart-as long as I limit the amount of oil that I use in the cooking. 

Other minor/non-food adjustments we have had to make are as follows:

Having a daily skin Vaseline bathing routine (to keep the kids skin from drying out due to the cold mornings and hot days)

Not having instant coffee, but rather having coffee that takes a good hour to prepare and consume.

Sporadic power and water outages =T.I.A

Squatting toilets at the most unconvenient times

Not having washing machine (for more info on this, check out my friend Jonnett's blog here

Shoes and clothes shops not having my size –more importantly in the shoes

Not driving myself or family around for the last 5 months (sometimes very frustrating)

But who said adjustments weren't part of moving to another country? No-one. It's all part and package of the life we signed up for and I love it!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Christmas in Ethiopia


It’s been a while since I have updated my blog…I’m not a blogger, really, I just want to share what’s going on here in our new home.

There have been so many things that have happened over the last month.  We celebrated Christmas and went all out with the locals to show them what our Christmas is like.  We made Roast Beef with some good salads, chicken, cheesecake, chocolate cake and plenty of punch made with homemade ginger beer.




There are many foods here that we need to make from scratch and although it’s time consuming, the product of our hard work is always worth it-especially knowing what the process of cooking has been. 

After celebrating a really dry New Year’s with our friend Jonnett and Mussie, we looked forward to celebrating Ethiopian Christmas.  There is no school Christmas holidays here which is very different from New Zealand where everyone enjoys about 6 weeks of holidays. Instead, we spent the week at school where the children passionately dressed their classrooms with Christmas decorations, made of the last of our art construction paper, balloons, and toilet paper – which actually looked amazing. 

There were also drama rehearsals happening and poem reciting that would be blurted our randomly in class to my surprise.  We had no idea how this would evolve but I jumped on the spirit of Christmas band wagon and helped to put together some props- only one which successfully made it to the stage, but that’s okay. 

So two days before Christmas here, on the 5th of January 2012, everybody came to school in their best dress - including the teachers.  We set up a stage in the library and after gathering everyone together, we sat around the library waiting for the MC to come out and welcome us.  Out came Kiara Tiatia, introducing each item in English.  We had newly arrived visitors from the States here so there was extra excitement in the room.  Kiara, with the help of the teachers, shyly introduced the students who were about to impress us all. 



Firstly came the choir who sang Joy to the world in Amharic and English, followed by four girls from Grade 3 who came out each holding a balloon and they recited a beautiful poem about balloons- in English!  There was a preacher who came and spoke about patience – something we all need encouragement in, and then the crowning glory of the whole day, the Christmas drama!

There were about 20 children who participated in this drama.  They spoke so clearly in English as their English grammar teacher had coached them through this process.  The whole thing was memorized so well, there was no need for prompting lines. 

I am always blown away with the children at our school.  Although not all of them are part of the BCI program, many of them suffer or have suffered with such difficult circumstances in their lives, but they still manage to smile and play and learn in a way that makes me happy I do what I do. 

After this production, the children went home and we got to celebrate Christmas with the staff at BCI.  There was firfir, drinks, great fellowship, and gift exchanging.  It was a great celebration time and it led us into the weekend where we celebrated Christmas three times over in three different homes.  This definitely left me feeling like I had an over-extended eating fest at the end of the day...We were so blessed and were so happy to finally be spending Christmas in Ethiopia after our failed attempt two years ago.  God is a God of second chances and this was so much better than spending it away from our kids.