Robert and I noticed that we have been showing ‘our country’ to Emmy and Joost . We have grown really fond of Ethiopia over the years, since we started working & living here in 1989 and are now back here again.
The first
day after Joost and Emmy’s arrival was for acclimatising. Of course we were
invited at Beletech’house for Indjera and the famous Doro Watt, with Gomen (a
dark green cabbage), a yellow lentil sauce
and fresh salty tomatoes. Beletech
still cannot believe that ‘her’ little boy Joost has become a man now.
We took Emmy
and Joost to some must-visit places, like the museum (with Lucy, the famous
oldest ever human skeleton), the Ghion hotel, where Hanna used to take Joost for a daily strawl, Piassa, the
Italian style old part of town, and the nursery at Selam, to buy some more
plants for our garden. From seeing the old earthenware pot (photo to the right): who were here first? The Templars? or the Jewish population influencing the Templars when they came here in the 11th century?
Both Emmy
and Joost were astonished by the shapes that life in Africa take: high piled mattresses
on a pickup, or even carried by one man; the incredible traffic where sheep, donkeys, road-cleaning women, beggars, taxi busses and
cars and trucks all try to make their way; the small shops that have their
products outside on the pavement; the
sheep for sale sitting patiently in the hot sun on the sidewalk; the colourful
dresses and, as Emmy remarked, everyone is smiling and looking relatively
happy.
The first outing was to Langano, in the rift
valley, where we rent a (shared) cottage. We celebrated new year’s eve with
appelbeignets and sharing our dreams for the new year. We lighted a Chinese
lantern which took our wishes up into the very dark air, to the stars. On the
morning of January first we had our dive into the – not so cold- see. 
The swallows are sitting here, waiting to go back to the Netherlands in April. 
And this is the view from the cottage.
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