Happy Groundhog’s Day!

As you’re just finding out how many more days of winter you’ll have back home, we’ve noticed a sudden change in the temperature here indicating that our chilly winter days are over. For the last few months, I’ve been wearing a fleece sweater to work in the morning and for the last few weeks I’ve needed a heavy blanket on my bed at night to brave the cold (10 degrees or so) nights. But suddenly, a few days ago, the air felt different. It is definitely heating up around here. For the moment, I’m quite happy as my body has gotten used to the heat of Keren. But in March I’ll probably be complaining that it’s too hot.

Kim, Lukas and I all survived exam week. Our students did okay on the exam, though some had to be given a few extra points in order to pass. After correcting some of my weaker students’ papers, I was beginning to wonder whether I had failed miserably in my teaching, but then the papers started getting better. One student, who started last year with absolutely no English, actually finished the term with 100%, so I know that if the girls put in some effort, they can learn. There’s a small group though that’s convinced that they can’t do English. Instead of trying, they wait for their peers to do class work, then they copy it. So when it comes to writing the exam, they haven’t got a clue. I’ve decided there’s not much more I can do about this small group and to try and find pleasure in the success of my other students. As for Lukas, he did okay on his exams though he didn’t realize that he had to memorize the Ten Commandments in their correct order, so his Morals test wasn’t as good as he’d hoped.

We officially began our break on Sunday, and since then, we’ve had a pretty constant stream of visitors, all VSO volunteers heading off on holidays. It’s been nice as we’ve been able to see a lot of people without spending anything on travel costs. It’s also allowed us to take some time being tourists in our own city, and Keren really is a nice city to be a tourist in. I’ve now broken the record for the most frequent number of visits to the shrine at Miriam D’aret. I’ve taken three lots of visitors there in the past week, the same number of times that I went over the whole last year! It is a beautiful and peaceful place to go though. The shrine was made in a baobab tree on the edge of town after some Italian soldiers took refuge under the tree during the Second World War. They were saved though all of their fellow soldiers were killed. After that, I think someone saw the Virgin Mary there as well. Now, it is the site of an annual pilgrimage which brings in thousands of visitors from all over the country. Single women also go there regularly to do coffee ceremonies in hopes of finding a husband and newly married women go there for help in becoming pregnant (spiritual help that is). People also go there to cure illnesses. While I was there with some friends this week, we were invited to join a family for their coffee ceremony. One of the sons had just been married and his wife was preparing coffee so I guess they were ready to start a family.

Our friends also enjoyed viewing the city from the rickety spiral staircase on the top of the Keren hotel and wandering through the riverbed to see the various people selling bamboo, charcoal, chickens, eggs, spices and big bundles of wood carried on the backs of camels. They were also eager to visit our market, particularly the stalls selling colourful shawls and headscarves. We also found time in our wandering to go for fool (ground beans with tomatoes, onions, and hot peppers, which you scoop up with bread) or for mixed fruit juices, cappuccinos and pastries. Okay, that’s it…my last desperate attempt to convince you all that this really would be a nice place to visit.

A highlight of our week of visits was a few days ago when one of our favourite VSO volunteers, Phil, offered to prepare a traditional chicken meal for us. Kim helped out a bit (a lot! - note from Kim the editor) with the plucking and cleaning, but Phil had to do the most difficult task, while everyone looked on, everyone but me that is. I was hiding out in the house until the chicken was dead. Unlike Saba, Phil chose not to keep the stomach and intestine, and these parts, as well as all the feathers and bones had disappeared from our yard by the next morning. He made a delicious meal, though our one Eritrean guest couldn’t help pointing out that it needed more onions, garlic, hot peppers and tomatoes (these were the only ingredients besides chicken!). He also forgot the rancid butter. I thought it was delicious the way it was.

A few days ago I had another delicious meal. I had gone to our Egyptian friends’ house to teach their daughter French, and I ended up being convinced to stay for lunch. This time, Kim and the boys weren’t there, so for the first time I was able to help out with the cooking and the mom and daughters joined the dad and son and I as we ate lunch. They prepared an Egyptian version of cabbage rolls, made with seasoned rice and cooked lettuce leaves, which took us an hour to make into delicate little rolls before they were steamed together in a huge pot. It was really delicious and as usual, I had a wonderful time speaking pigeon Arabic with them. Today, the dad is coming over with a mint plant to plant beside the basil plant that he brought us a month ago. One of his daughters is coming as well for a bike riding lesson from Maya.

We have a few more days here then we’re off to Asmara to visit some friends in nearby villages and to get my tooth fixed again. The patch job on my front chipped tooth lasted just under a year but it came off a few days ago while I was eating an orange. I’m not looking forward to seeing the Indian dentist at the private hospital because she’s already told me off for chipping my teeth and made me promise not to do it again, so I’m sure she’s not going to be happy. She’s also not going to like the tea stains on a couple of my teeth that I just can’t seem to get rid of. If she tells me to start brushing my teeth like she did last year I think I’ll lose it. The 4 hour wait in the hospital room isn’t tempting me either. But after that, we’re off to the Dahluk Islands, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.

Oh yes, Kim will kill me if I forget to mention that he beat Haile at ping-pong yesterday and is now Keren’s unofficial table tennis champion (unofficial because no other contenders showed up for the competion as we neglected to tell them about it – another note from the editor).

Guess that’s it.

Take care,

Barb and editor