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| Brownies and ice cream with Pam and Shauntea |
Typically the week(ish) of December 24th-January 1st is my
absolute favorite time of the year.
During what other time can 3 awesome holidays be celebrated in just one
week? Christmas, my birthday (yes, I am
referring to my birthday as a holiday), and New Year’s- 3 great holidays- 3
great parties! This year, however, my
favorite week of the year filled me with dread for most of December. I knew coming into this whole Peace Corps gig
that this week would be extremely difficult for me. I originally considered going home for a vacation
during this time, but eventually decided against it figuring that if I can only
afford to come home once during these 27 months, I would much rather it be at
the half-way point than so early on.
If you follow my blog
regularly and commit my every word to memory, as I’m sure you do, you will
recall that Ethiopia runs on a different calendar than most of the rest of the
world. We are about 7 years and 8 months
behind the ferengi (foreign) calendar.
So December 25th is not Christmas in Ethiopia, and January 1st is not
the New Year. Ethiopian Christmas falls
on January 7th, and we rang in 2005 back in September. Being away from family and friends during the
holiday season is hard enough, but being away in a strange land where there are
no familiar, comforting holiday traditions and nobody even knows that it’s
Christmas basically blows! I do have to
say that there were a few things that I did NOT miss this Christmas. I didn’t miss the stress of trying to find
the perfect gift for everyone on my list.
(Simple- no gifts for anyone from me this year!) I didn’t miss the traffic and the lines at
the mall. (My biggest traffic issues are
crazy bajaj drivers, herds of sheep, and stampeding donkeys.) I didn’t miss being completely broke come
Christmas Eve. (Ha! I’m completely broke
all the time.) I didn’t miss the
incessant and annoying Christmas music that is inescapable in every public
place. (I chose to listen to the 1
Christmas album on my iPod when I wanted to
hear it.) I did however miss many other
Christmas traditions. I missed my annual
family Christmas Eve celebration. I
missed my mom’s sour cream coffee cake on Christmas morning. I missed the lights, trees, snow, and
stockings hung by the chimney with care.
I missed the overall spirit of Christmas. Those are just the things I missed, and
that’s nothing compared to missing family and friends!
Fortunately I have 2 lovely new Peace Corps site mates who
moved to my town just in time for Christmas.
They are a married couple from Minnesota, and I’ve really enjoyed
getting to know them over the past few weeks.
We decided to celebrate Christmas together by cooking some great food
and delivering some Christmas gifts to our workplaces and to some of the people
we know around town. The Christmas gift
thing was not my idea, and the Scrooge inside me didn’t really want to do it (my
original plan for Christmas was to stay in bed and cry all day), but I went
along with it anyway. I am so, so glad
that my site mates had this great idea and that they were kind enough to
include me in it. We walked all over
Ambo bringing little packages of kolo (a local snack of roasted grains and
peanuts), gum, and candy canes tied together with a cute, hand-made Christmas
cards. After we abated the looks of
confusion on the faces of our co-workers and friends by explaining that the day
was ferengi Christmas, they all seemed very happy and pleased to receive our
gifts. We ended the day with the most
delicious meal that I have ever consumed in Ambo- tacos with made-from-scratch
tortillas, guacamole, sangria and real taco seasoning on the meat! So, I have to say that I learned my Christmas
lesson- if you spend your day sulking over something you think you’re missing,
you’re bound to miss something amazing.
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| Don't worry, I gave her a big tip for being a good sport! |
In case you don’t already know, I am a birthday brat! I LOVE my birthday. I mean, really, what’s not to love about a
day that’s all about me? You would think
that my enthusiasm for my birthday would wane as the years go on, but that’s
not the case. It only grows stronger
with every passing year, and this year, the birthday of all birthdays- my
golden birthday! I turned 30 on December
30! A few years ago, I could never have
imagined that I’d be celebrating the big 3-0 in Ethiopia. I’d been secretly planning my 30th birthday
for at least the past 5 years, and let’s just say that Ethiopia was not a
factor in this particular equation.
While my birthday wasn’t quite like the one I’d planned in my mind, it
was a really fantastic time. I met two
of my Peace Corps friends in Addis Ababa for the weekend. We filled up on ferengi food- pizza,
cheeseburgers, ice cream, cupcakes, oh my!
We also enjoyed hot showers, clean toilets, free wi-fi, television, and
a trip to the spa. Yes, that’s right I
said spa! There is a wonderful oasis in
Addis called Boston Day Spa. This spa is
absolutely gorgeous, and I almost forgot that I was even in Ethiopia that is
until the power went out during my pedicure.
Not to worry, the power returned after a few minutes, and I was able to
continue enjoying getting my hair done, eyebrows waxed, manicure, and
pedicure. It was a truly wonderful
weekend spent with my friends- probably pretty close to how I would have
celebrated my birthday at home actually.
It’s easy to forget how nice it is to feel like a girl again, to wear
make-up, have clean feet and pretty toenails, and wear clothes that don’t make
me look like an Amish grandma , even if it’s just for a little while.
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| Yay for birthday cupcakes! |
In terms of great parties, New Year’s Eve is usually at the
top of my list. I’ve thrown and attended
some wicked fun ones, but there have also been a few duds (not thrown by me,
obviously!). I think I can safely say
that this New Year’s Eve will be a dud.
I am pretty tired from my birthday weekend, and am planning to go bed
early tonight. I don’t really feel like
I’m missing much on this holiday, especially since it’s currently the 4th month
of 2005 here. I can’t say that I’ll miss
the anti-climatic ball drop in Times Square.
I do love the New Year for the possibility it brings- a chance to
reflect back on the past year and the hope and optimism of a new year. I feel like I was in a bit of a slump for
most of December. I had Peace Corps
In-Service Training mid-November, and I found it difficult to get back into the
swing of things when I returned to my school afterwards. Plus I let my negative attitude about being
away from home during the holiday season get the better of me. I have never been so happy to see December
go! Now that ChristmasBirthdayNewYear is
behind me, I feel excited and invigorated to begin new programs for students in
a few of my schools and to continue with the work that I have already begun.
May you all have a happy and healthy New Year!
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| Yummy drinks |
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