Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Melkam Addis Amet! [Happy New Year!]

Happy New Year!  That's right, today, Sept 11 marks the new year on the Ethiopian calendar and it is officially 2006!  [read more here about why its 2006].  This is a big deal here in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia and all business is closed for celebrations.  It is traditional for Ethiopian children to sing and dance in the streets and for people to celebrate with close friends and family and share meals together.  So we did the same! :)  What a great day!





We started the day with good friends taking a walk to a nearby hotel which had a nice park, eating ice cream (a rare treat) and playing.  We then came back to our apartment and Charlotte decided to ride one of our three resident giant tortoises (see video).  Then she was off to play with other friends painting ‘pet rocks’ while we stayed home to continue to unpack boxes into our new home.  We finished up the day celebrating over dinner with our 2 neighbor families. In true Ethiopian style we learned a few new Amharic language songs and sang some old favorites with guitar around a roaring fire.  Melkam Addis Amet!

Also finished today was setting up one room of our apartment as a homeschooling room.  Tomorrow after the holiday is Charlotte’s first day of 1st grade!  She is so excited.  She has been asking to start her school since the last day of Kindergarten in June!  

We’ll post pictures of our new home and Charlotte’s first day of 1st grade soon so stay tuned!

Sorry if the formatting looks crazy on the photos or video.  It wasn't for lack of trying, but sometimes the internet here is slower than a giant tortoise! 

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