Just to fill you in on my silence…. It’s been a while since I’ve written and it’s simply because I’ve been pretty busy. My parents arrived on Friday, April 23 and it has been a whirlwind ever since. We spent Ethiopian Easter in Addis with my parents and my Ethiopian family. It was a great day full of good food and visits to the house by friends of the family. The night before my parents experienced their first round of Ethiopian food at a cultural restaurant that had cultural dancing from various parts of the country. That day we took Mimo & Tito (who you may remember from earlier) with us to visit Wenchi Crater Lake. It was a great day trip and a good introduction for my parents to Ethiopia. They got to experience the crazy roads and the people who seem to be everywhere even when you’re in the middle of nowhere.
Posing in front of Wenchi Crater Lake
After a long weekend in Addis we made the trek down to Zeway and promptly headed off to a lodge at Lake Langano. There we spent a three night retreat among the ancient woods of the area and the monkeys and warthogs of the forest. I thought it was a good idea to take a bit of a retreat from the world of Ethiopia so that my parents could catch their breath and be able to reflect on what they had seen and experienced in the previous days. It was a relaxing time where we were able to play catch up, swim in the lake and hike around.
Taking in the view at Bishangari Lodge at Lake Langano
When our vacation was over we returned to Zeway and really entered my world. Here they experienced the daily grind of getting water, using the shared toilet, constant noise of the streets and the heat of the season. I treated my parents to the chaos of the market where I had to replenish my stock of vegetables.
Shopping for vegetables at the market
Most of the time though was spent at my neighbors’ houses. There we experienced many coffee ceremonies, ate lots of popcorn and were even treated to some great meals of injera with traditional stews (wat).
After three nights in Zeway we returned safe and sound to Addis by public transportation (bus). There we did some shopping, I introduced them to the people at the head office then we said goodbye to my dad. Now my mom and I are back in Zeway for a week and a half—where I’ll catch up on work and she’ll spend some time with the kids who hang around the office compound.
