So the other day I realized that not only will I be missing out on spending Thanksgiving with my hubby - which should be our first Thanksgiving as a married couple - I'm going to miss all the holiday craziness, good and bad. If you don't already know, Christmas is indeed one of my favorite times of the year. I wonder if Christmas happens in Ethiopia? "Do they know it's Christmas time at all?" comes to mind for some reason. Thank goodness for Google. Looks like the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates Ganna (celebration of Christ's birth) on January 7th. And they play a stick & ball game, also called ganna, that is somewhat like hockey (without the ice) - I'll probably feel right at home! Hopefully we'll get to see some of the buildup to the local customs and celebrations before we leave.
I'm seriously thinking of taking all my Christmas cards with the envelopes pre-addressed and sending them from Ethiopia pretty much the first day I get there! Or more likely, the first day I find somewhere to buy stamps. That means I better start working on that ASAP. Hmmm... curriculum or Christmas cards?
I'll also miss the company party (a sacrifice I can handle!), but I'm trying to convince Elliott he really should go without me - after all, his best friend will be there. My colleagues were very considerate and they are waiting until the day after I get back to hold the annual dept. party.
Unless Elliott decides to put up the tree while I'm gone, I'm guessing this might be a tree-less year, but we'll see how energetic I feel when I get back. I hear there is a great silver market in Addis, so the fam better be OK with lots of gifts - that will arrive late in Canada, of course - of the silver variety!
All in all, I think it'll be a pretty fair trade-off - discover a new culture and miss out on some of the traditions of home. And be doing a little something to help improve the quality of the health care systems while I'm at it.
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