Let it rain!

Things have slowed down a bit, which is why I'm writing again so soon. Kim and I gave our last exam on Wednesday. They're all collected and ready to hand back on Saturday. Then we'll have the week off until various school ceremonies begin.

It was a very nice week. Several VSO friends were up for their last visit to Keren and it was good to see them. We were also kept busy over the weekend with a coffee ceremony at some friends' house on Saturday and a lunch at school on Sunday. The women teachers prepared a great multi-dish meal for us. First, Kim and our school principal were served in a separate room. Then, when they'd had all they could eat, the women ate. After this, we all had coffee together. I guess eating together with the opposite sex isn't good but luckily having coffee together is, as it turned out to be a four hour event. They are lovely people though and it was a really nice afternoon.

On Saturday, my VSO friend Rachel and I finally decided to investigate the drumming that had been going on outside our compound for the last few days. Simon had told us it was women doing a rain dance, but this seemed a bit farfetched. It turned out that he was right. A group of neighbourhood women had set up their coffee ceremony equipment under a tree and were drumming, singing, dancing and eating together for the yearly ceremony to thank God for the rains. We were welcomed with ululations and offered food and tea. It's nice visiting with older women as their English is pretty limited so we have to try and get by with our Tigrinya. We managed to communicate the basics and had a nice visit with them. Hopefully their celebration will work as there hasn't been much rain at all so far this year.

Simon was witness to another interesting and somewhat unbelievable cultural experience. He was playing in the yard with some neighbourhood boys yesterday. They've rigged up a rope swing in the biggest tree and spend hours playing in it these days. Kim noticed that they'd lit a fire and went to investigate. It turned out that the boys had killed several lizards and were cooking them up to eat. Simon decided to pass on the barbecued lizard.
We've all been enjoying the mangoes though. It's mango season finally so for the next month we'll be able to get them for fairly cheap. Maya, the chef, baked up a mango pie this afternoon, and it was really good. Some of the snack bars are selling fresh mango juice. After two years of nothing much but "maygaz" (fizzy water) for us non-beer drinkers, a nice, cold mango juice really hits the spot! Last year, we had a bit of a break from maygaz when the Coke company in Asmara finally reopened and started selling Coke, Sprite and Fanta. This lasted about three months last year but this year, we had soft drinks for a total of 2 days! I guess there were a few bottles that the government had saved from last year for Eritreans to enjoy during the Independence Day celebrations on May 24. When we saw the bottles in cafes and restaurants, we were quite excited. The boys and Yasmine drank 3 pops in one sitting, and one more later that night. Now, there is no pop to be found except for the expensive bottles imported from Saudie Arabia.

So much for my fixations on food. In three weeks time, we'll start having access to unlimited food again. We'll see how long it takes for my clothes to fit me again.

That's all for now.

Take care,

Barb