YES WE CAN!! (1/22/2009)

So...this week...was crazy fun! A lot of stuff went down and I somehow still have a little energy left. On Saturday, another volunteer Mark, who is from Western Oregon University and I took over Addis the local way...by mini bus. We started out doing a little business at Kidane Mehret, another orphanage in town. We had to get weight and heights for some kids. Basically the place is run by two Italian nuns, who are the funniest people I have met in my life. Imagine this - two short pudgy ladies which the gray habits and velcro sandals, who had polka dot socks on. All while, they are shouting at the kids in Amharic out of love and discipline trying to get them in for lunch. They reminded me of the singing ladies of Sister Act or something out of a Hemingway novel for some bizarre reason. haha. Their names were sister Lugarta and Camilla...and they basically made my day. After that, I wanted to check out my playground...since it was my first actuall weekend in town. Mark, who is this super tall ferengi and me, this questionable habasha hit the local squares, which happen to be named after foreing nouns. Mexico square is where the mini bus central is, Pushkin square is the nearby mall which is names after a Russian poet whose father is supposedly from Addis, and Piatza - an Italian named circle area. We just traveled around, floating from one region to another via mini bus. In the mini bus, you are cramed up next to a local , who tries to communicate...but the lack of Amharic words or the mixing up of them causes utter failure in conversation. I once asked -how much is the fare ? instead of - what is your name? haha. Mark, who has been here since September thankfully has bigger vocabulary base...which is nice. Anyways, we got off at the wrong place, and had to hike about a mile to Edna Mall, where we decided to watch Bride Wars, since I had seen Transporter 3 and he had seen Yes Man. I felt bad, cause Bride Wars is definetly a chick flick...but Mark was a good sport and watched it with me. They movie had Amharic subtitles and the concession were the right size and price...not as ridiculous as the 3 galoon soda you get in the states for an overrated price. When we walked out, if felt unreal. I had just watched Kate Hudson and Anne Hathway fight over wedding planning on the big screen in Addis. Earth to Niha...it was just...different from the lifestyle here. That summed up most of the day!!!

On Sunday, is the biggest festival besides Easter.Tim Ket is what was being celebrated and that is the Baptisim of Jesus Christ. Basically, Allula and I hit the big celebration at this massive massive massive field, where everyone possible crammed into dancing and singing traditional songs. Priests from the orthodox christian chruch dressed in beautiful golden garbs lead the procession. We basically just soaked in the heat dancing and enjoyed the atmosphere.

The biggest day this week was Tuesday...which was OBAMA DAY!!!! YEAH! The day was normal...just everyone going about their own business. I went to work, hung out with the kids and just enjoyed the sun. There was excitment, every mini bus has a picture of Obama above the dashboard, and Obama T-shirst are everywhere. But at night, we got dressed up and went to this club to watch the inaguaration. It was 9pm here and a little past 12 pm when Obama was sworn in. The event was held at Juventus club, a local Italian joint, and all the ferengi's in the country attended. Most of them worked for different organization such as the UN, Peace Corp, Wildlife Conservation programs and so on. Somehow they all new each other, but it was nice to be there. I think I was the youngest person there. Anyways, we watched the inaguatation live on a huge screen and saw Aretha Fraklin belt it out. The best part of the whole night was when a group of us were dancing to the song Celebrate, and on the big screen Bush was getting on the flight saying goodbye...and all of us were dancing shouting good ridance...and CELEBRATING! It was a blast. In general, it was just amazing to be watching the US inguaration, in Ethiopia at an Italian club. who would have thought? YES WE CAN!

Within the past two days I have developed a light cough...but I hope it wont get to bad. Yesterday, I got to take the kids to visit their siblings at AHOPE(the HIV section) and play with kids there. It was fun...since we got to chat Bollywood...which I love. And later that night, a man named Daniel who is adopting 12 year old Melat came for a visit and is boarding with us. The cool thing is that he is from Salem, OR...so I get to visit Melat in the states too. She leaves before I get home, so when I do get home, she will be soaking in the American culture...and I'll be able to have a little piece of the Layla house tucked away in my very own city!!!! YEAH!

catch ya later...