Belated Holiday Greetings

Belated holiday greetings to all! I’ve been quite busy celebrating twice and then some more. Ethiopia uses its own Ethiopian Calendar. As a result, after celebrating Christmas and New Years, we end up celebrating it again a few weeks later.

This year was my second Holiday Season on the African continent. Contrary to last year, I was hit severely with a case of homesickness. I missed it all: the crisp refreshing air on cold Canadian winter mornings, the fresh white blankets of fluffy snowflakes, the painful feeling from getting smacked with a snowball, the popular ski and snowboarding hills, a steamy hot cup of cinnamon apple cider, the creative applications of Christmas lights on everyone’s home and buildings, watching the lighting ceremony and fireworks at Nathan Philips Square, Christmas carols, “Midnight Madness” – the mad dash to malls for gifts, embracing familiar faces….and Santa and his reindeers in the star-filled sky of Canada.  Anyhow, I managed to throw a last minute Christmas Eve feast with friends at my place…but it just wasn’t the same. Actually, I was wondering when and if ever I would get homesick. Almost 2 years later, a happy belated homesickness to me!

For Ethiopian Christmas, I joined a couple of friends to the South (Arba Minch) to visit my Ethiopian family and their orphanage. Besides the dreadful roads that nearly broke my tailbone and the maddening insect bites, the trip was incredibly rejuvenating. Fresh tilapia grilled to perfection, beautiful and inspiring panoramas, mouth-watering fruits, Africa’s largest crocodiles, thousands of pelicans, grumpy hippos, kilometers and kilometers of golden fields of wild grass, entrancing sunsets on the lakes, and many genuine new friendships later…I was back to my peaceful self.

Expanding myself into business has been a very trying experience, but nonetheless rewarding. As an entrepreneur in a foreign country with an emerging market, the potential is absolutely limitless. However, to harvest the fruit it has proven to take a longer period of nurturing, and extensive perseverance and will power. After a while, you only end up eating and sleeping business – scary. You slowly forget everyone around you and you drown in your own worry. A dark and deep black hole. What’s to worry? I have said it many times and I will say it again, I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason and depending on your perspective, you may frown or you may rejoice. Deep down I believe we are all capitalists, it’s just a matter of where you stand on the scale. I only hope that I will maintain development and social aspects to all of my endeavors.

Anyhow, while in Dorze, a few kilometers outside of Arba Minch perched on a mountain that overlooked the grand Lakes separated by a low plateau suitably named “The Bridge of God”, in a dingy local Tej Pub (Honey Wine bar), I was surrounded my seemingly euphoric people who knew nothing but happiness. Perhaps it was the alcohol content of the Tej, a bright orange colored liquid served in a chemistry flask, but in the high sun of a weekday I didn’t feel like they were simply just a bunch of drunks. There was just something about these happy people.

There was one middle-aged woman that absolutely glowed of happiness and joy. Her eyes danced in the light and her gaze was so soft and genuine that you couldn’t help but to engage in a conversation with her. Nevertheless, language barriers and all, she managed to teach me the proper way to hold a Tej bottle and how to drink this honey fermented beverage. After flicking the first mouthfuls of Tej out of the bottle, we gulped down the sweetest and tastiest Honey Wine I had ever tasted (the Tej at weddings are revolting sometimes). Bottoms up!

I can’t wait to go back to the colorful South!