Monday, December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas from Ethiopia!

Merry Christmas from Ethiopia!  We’ve been here just a couple of days, but Christmas Eve is tomorrow.  Initial impressions of the capital, Addis Ababa, are that it’s a fairly peaceful capital, fairly clean, beautiful sunny, warm days, and cool nights, and has some western bonuses like a great hamburger shack, international cuisine like Greek, Armenian, and Italian, and lots of nice people.  We went to the National Museum which features Ethiopia’s contribution to the evolution progression, Lucy.  Actually what we saw was a copy of Lucy, but nonetheless it was interesting to see and learn about.  They recovered about 40% of her bones (shown in the dark brown in the pic) and they assembled a complete skeleton of an upright female that was pretty short. (compare the shortest member of our family, who is quite tall in comparison!)


















Besides Lucy, coffee is Ethiopia’s gift to the world, and even though I don’t enjoy dancing to the java jive, it’s enjoyable to smell and learn about.  Ethiopia is the origin of all Arabia coffee in the world, although it produces and exports far less than Brazil and some other nations.  Arabica is the best quality coffee bean, but it can only be grown is very specific climatic conditions, thus the high demand and somewhat limited availability of growing possibilities.
Last, there is a great affection here for the Lions of Judah, and we see lion symbols everywhere. We’re not sure who Judah was, but maybe someone can enlighten us.  Our taxi driver even told us a “story” of how the former Emperor, Haile Selassie, had pet lions that lived with him as friends and roamed the palace freely.  Not sure about that one, but he swore it was so.  Great story if you want to intimidate people, though.  Just invite your enemies over to your house for “supper”.



Kids at a Christmas Fair



4 comments:

  1. Love the shots of Lucy's skeleton. Her ribs are flared at the base and her arms look a bit longer than the modern day woman. Of course, I was interested in the coffee bean narrative. What is the report on the flavor of the coffee?
    The Lion of Judah is the symbol of the Israelite tribe of Judah. Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, is said to be the tribe's founder. The association between Judah and the lion can first be found in the blessing given by Jacob to Judah in the Book of Genesis. Both King David and Jesus hail from the tribe of Judah. The Lion of Judah is also a phrase used in the Book of Revelation to represent Jesus.

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  2. Great research Annette. Very interesting. I like that you had Anne stand there... Anne, you look wonderfully fashionable. That money with the Lion... get some, it's cool. I like that the coffee logo resembles Starbucks. All looks like fun so far. Abba , we must talk... I wanted to make that very swag this year... where and how... spill I love yours!! I would want to make it by hand... think I could? great post.. thanks for sharing. Enjoy everyone

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  3. I thought your swag was stitched but upon examination I see it isn't very cool

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  4. I meant wasn't stitched.. it is very cool... sounds like I said it wasn't very cool Sorry! It is really caught my eye when we skyped.

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