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Published: December 31st 2006
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Christmas in Addis was very different to my usual cheese and tomato sandwiches on a walk with Martin, but it was good - made by being with some good friends from VSO. We even bought, and decorated, a (very small) Christmas tree. Four of us stayed together in David and Nadia’s house, and often stayed up late talking. I had a nightly argument with Teresa, but won the right to sleep in the lounge (which made sense as I was usually awake first). On Saturday night, we invited Nigel to dinner and had a Christmas celebration meal (pasta and tomato sauce by Mary, fruit salad by Teresa) complete with crackers and paper hats.
Sunday was Christmas Eve. The four of us went for a leisurely walk along Bole Road, looking for places to have Christmas Dinner, and stopping off for drinks and lunch. This is a very smart part of Addis Ababa - and could be in a city anywhere in the world. Addis is very developed, with huge new glass-dominated blocks nestling against corrugated iron shacks. I got badly sunburnt on my face and hands (which started in Sodore, but was made worse in the altitude of Addis, despite
sun cream and hat wearing). That evening, Teresa applied natural yoghurt to take the sting out of the burn (it works!) - Mary and Grace kindly decided not to take photos, despite what must have been a huge temptation! In the evening, Teresa and Grace went to Mass, while Mary and I drank wine.
On Christmas Day, I was supposed to have a meeting at the Road Transport Authority, but asked for it to be rearranged, as I had not realised that it was Christmas Day! Instead, we swapped presents (I received 3 scarves, but all very different and beautiful, and a necklace), had a festive Christmas breakfast of eggs and bread then checked emails before going out for lunch.
We had, at one point, considered splashing out 165 birr each for lunch at the Sheraton - this seems an expensive meal when our monthly allowance is just over 1000 birr, but it works out to around £11 each. However, when I phoned to enquire about “traditional Christmas lunch and the vegetarian option” I was asked if I wanted the Italian or Indian restaurant! When I finally spoke to someone to ask what the menu was, I was
Saturday Night
Christmas meal, complete with hats! told it was a buffet of “Christmas meats, pumpkin, lobster and pasta dishes”. Not the traditional lunch we were after then! Instead, we had lunch at a suitably bizarre restaurant, in a converted aeroplane on Bole Road. The waitresses even wore air stewardess uniforms. It was a great meal - gin and tonic, followed by a cheese pasta dish for me (this is exotic as I cannot buy cheese in Robe) and chicken for the others, accompanied by a bottle of local wine - we had looked at the wine list and decided to treat ourselves to a bottle of imported wine, but they didn’t have most wines on the list.
Christmas was slightly marred, but not really affected, by talk of the war that had been announced between Ethiopia and Somalia. Nobody seemed particularly worried in Addis although VSO did ensure that volunteers in the regions have an emergency fund. They telephoned during our Christmas meal!
In the afternoon/evening, unfortunately Grace was ill, so Teresa stayed to look after her, while Mary and I went to a party at Anna, Sara and Liza’s house - complete with mulled wine and an open fire. We left before the
charade games started - aware of the fact that we are from the regions and VSO advise volunteers to walk around late at night. What a good excuse!
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