Meskel

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Happy finding of the true cross(Meskel). Last Wednesday was the biggest holiday in Ethiopia, where people from all around go to Meskel Square in Addis Ababa to celebrate. If any of you would like to know more details about it check out this Wikipedia description http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meskel.
I went into the city early with my new Swedish friend Georg to get ourselves a coffee pot and some machiattos from Tomoca( the most famous coffee place in the capital). On our way there we met 3 nice local guys around our age who were getting ready to celebrate Meskel and offered to show us how to get to Tomoca as well as help find us a coffee pot. It was nice to talk to some locals who were not looking to get money from us(or so we thought). We had to check a few different stores before finding our pot. After they offered to walk with us to Meskel Square where we were planning on meeting some of the other volunteers. On our way they said that they had to stop somewhere first to relax, as the "true Ethiopians would do before going to celebrate in Meskel." Walking into this little shack Georg was feeling a bit uneasy as he had both read about scams similar to this, but I was too excited about potentially seeing how real people celebrate that I talked him into it. Once in the shack we were greeted by a few other men chewing chat(which they told me Americans call funny leaves) and drinking coca cola. We sat down and each had a coke and the men offered us some chat. As I was feeling adventurous that day I decided to try some of the chat. They told us it would relax us, yet they followed that up by describing it more as a stimulant. After chewing numerous leaves I felt as if I had drank 5 cups of coffee, not at all relaxed. My new found energy as well as many phone calls from the other volunteers increased my anxiety about the situation quite a bit. We tried telling the guys that we had to go meet our friends but they told us to relax and that they would show us the way. Eventually I couldn't wait any longer so I got up and said we were leaving. Of course we wanted to pay a bit for the cokes, but when the bill came they expected Georg and I to pay all 480 birr on the bill! Knowing that we had gotten ourselves into a bit of a predicament, I told them all we had was 180 birr and that the rest of our money was with the other volunteers so we would meet up with them later at Meskel to pay them the rest. I was hoping they would not find us in the chaos of Meskel, and luckily I was right. We got out of the situation paying less than half the bill, and I got to say I tried chat. I need to point out here that chat is legal and chewed very frequently by locals here, and there are places in America(particularly D.C. that import it).
We finally got to Meskel after walking a mile through the rain to find that the square was a sea of people. We tried to get ourselves in a position to get a better look at the ceremony but after walking through a lot of mud and not being able to find a good vantage point we decided we should just get some dinner and watch the rest of the ceremony on t.v.
After we had dinner we got back to Mother Theresa's in time for the bonfire, where the children danced, set off fireworks and had a great time. I used the opportunity to snap as many photos of the kids as a could. I have yet to find a way to upload photos on here but when I do it you will have less of my ramblings to endure.
Other than that school is going great, I am teaching 3rd grade grammar and vocabulary. My classes are a bit crazy but I am starting to get the hang of it. The weather has finally changed from daily rain to abundant sunshine! I will try to update this more as I get the opportunities, thanks for listening!

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