Ruthie's Blog

December 24th and 25th

ruthie — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:54:59 +0000

This is what my new nativity set looks like. I like it a lot!!

Christmas Eve started with a church service that had a loss of power, which was quite fitting in some ways because this being a Christmas Eve service, we all had candles. So we lit them early, listened to the Christmas story by candlelight and sang Christmas carols acoustically. I was surprised at how much this service reminded me of something in the states and how much I’m just not used to this style of doing church anymore. I like swaying and clapping my hands more than sitting so solemnly. Then I had pizza with my friends and opened an unexpected gift from a friend of mine.

In general, Ethiopians have been really sweet about helping me celebrate my Christmas since theirs isn’t until January 7th (Orthodox Christmas). I have received many text messages wishing me a Merry Christmas and questions of “How was your Christmas??” over and over again. I really appreciate the value of kindness in this culture! It is wonderful!!

I had a really great Christmas, better than I was expecting. C. and I started off the day opening our few gifts from Santa by the tree and having my traditional Christmas breakfast of rice pudding. Then we had some coffee and hot chocolate and did some last minute shopping and headed to our friend’s house for lunch. Once there we did a white elephant gift exchange, had some delicious food, chatted with our friends and played with the cute kids there. One of the kids even made up a song for us and somehow put the whole gospel into it. It was just what we all needed to hear!

In the evening I went to yet another friend’s and to my surprise I got to play the piano with a violist and a violinist. What a treat! The music was beautiful, the company was great and so was the food!

I never expected Christmas away from home and family to be this good. Thanks for your prayers!!

Christmastime Is Here??

ruthie — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:12:11 +0000

This is our cheesy Christmas tree! (much better than nothing)

So right now our days are filled with sunny 70-80 degree weather and stores are putting up their Christmas trees and other decorations. It feels kind of strange for me. There aren’t any Christmas songs playing in the stores, but Christmastime is here and Cindy and I are trying to make the most of it without our families. So, on Saturday we went Christmas shopping, mostly for ourselves since our Christmas packages for our families won’t get here in time. We bought Ethiopian nativity sets, baskets, makeup, etc. etc. We spent way too much on a fake Christmas tree and cheesy lights and decorations. I made my favorite Christmas cookies and went to church on Sunday to a wonderful Christmas presentation. It made me fall in love with God more to realize just how far He reached for me in bringing His one and only Son to this crazy, harsh world. So, tis the season to be jolly. It’s not the usual Christmas season for me, but it has many fun unexpected twists and turns in it. And to top it off, I was given more offers of places to spend Christmas with than I could accept.

Everyone’s Fine All The Time

ruthie — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:07:15 +0000

When you ask someone in Ethiopia how they are, most people say, “I’m fine,” and it’s starting to drive me CRAZY. I’ve been here for four months and I really want to know how people are really doing. What does “fine” mean anyway?? I want to know when someone’s had a good day or a bad day and why. I want to be a part of their lives and I can’t do that very easily when they don’t tell me what’s going on.

Okay, enough venting…I know this is just part of moving to a new place. It takes time to make real friends. And this is partly a cultural thing. My Amharic teacher told me that people only tell their really good friends how they’re really doing. So, I guess I need to become that really good friend to somebody and earn their trust.

Thanksgiving (sorry, no pictures because my camera ran out of batteries)

ruthie — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:53:13 +0000

For Thanksgiving, our boss invited Cindy, Matt and I to join their family and friends at the most luxurious hotel in Addis. They had a Thanksgiving buffet—complete with all foods Ethiopian and Indian, but without key Thanksgiving foods like cranberry sauce, stuffing, and pumpkin pie with real spices. So, it was a mixed blessing, although I felt like such a snob complaining about the lack of Thanksgiving food at a 5 Star hotel. But as an American I just can’t help but have certain expectations for Thanksgiving.

It was a nice time to be spoiled by a nice meal and beautiful hotel, but it felt very strange to go by a neighborhood full of shacks and then walk into such a fancy hotel. The richest of the rich in Addis and the poorest of the poor sleep right next to each other and something about that seems wrong. As I tried to speak in a little Amharic with the hotel staff they looked at me surprised and some of them smiled. I don’t think they hear Amharic from a forengee (the common word for foreigners, aka my new name) in this place.

As Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas is approaching, I realize that these holidays just won’t quite feel the same without my family. That’s just life here far away from home. Nonetheless, I have to enjoy them for what they are. I have never gotten to go out to eat for Thanksgiving. My family always slaves away in the kitchen the whole day. And I’ve never celebrated Christmas in Ethiopia and here I’ll probably get to celebrate it twice since Ethiopian Christmas is in January.

An Unexpected Visit to Harar (I Missed My Flight!)

ruthie — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 10:16:55 +0000

View of Harar

Dawit @ his university

Me, Cindy, and Matt

a classic house in Harar

gateway to the old city in Harar

As I stared at the clock at the airport at 3:45 a.m. and wondered what to do since I missed my flight, I decided to go with my friends Matt and Cindy to Harar.

So, I took a taxi in the middle of the night across town, met up with my friends and at 5:30 in the morning we began the long journey to Harar in Eastern Ethiopia. We didn’t arrive until 6:00 p.m. that night and we were greeted by Matt’s friend Dawit who lives and teaches at a university in Harar.

Dawit showed us everything there is to see in Harar–the old part of town surrounded by a wall, the fancy home of a French writer, great food, and of course the tourist attraction of feeding hyenas. Then we went to Dire Dawa (about 30-40 minutes away) on a mountain road at night (Yeah, I was definitely praying). The following day was a Muslim holiday and since this area is mostly Muslim it was nice to visit it then, although the holiday is mostly spent at home with family.

Altogether it was a nice trip, in spite of the 10-12 hour bus ride each way. I’m glad I got to take this unexpected trip with my friends. Probably the best part was just being together and getting to talk about life and experience a new place! So, that was Harar!

Listening to Chris Tomlin and Reading a Book On Sexual Abuse (AT THE SAME TIME)!

ruthie — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:18:36 +0000

“He was her uncle, an adult, a man authority and power…the setup was in place.”

“How Great is our God, sing with me how Great is our God.”

“Sexual abuse occurs in a context of emptiness, confusion, and loneliness, a context that sets up the victim for a baffling interplay of betrayal, ambivalence, and powerlessness, as the adult moves the victim from one stage of abuse to the next.”

“Your GRACE is enough. Your GRACE is enough. Your GRACE is enough for me.”

“To add to the complexity, there are times when the child literally will feel betrayed by his own body, because he is powerless to stop the abuse or even his psychological response to it.”

“Nothing and NO ONE is beyond your love.”

“The silence is rarely broken. Few children or adolescents tell a parents, friend, or teacher about the abuse. It remains a dark secret for years, if not forever.”

“Everything YOU hold in your hands..Praise you God of earth and sky. How beautiful is your unfailing love”

As I put the truths of these songs and this book side by side, it sometimes seems crazy to think that both are true. But of course they are. And honestly, I can only believe these things are true because of my own experiences with Amazing God, what it says in the Word, and the many stories I’ve heard from ex-prostitutes/ex-strippers/sexual abuse survivors. Even lately, I’ve heard about the beautiful way that the women at the Center for Women are worshipping God because He has reached the depths of their souls. They have realized that He is their real Savior and Redeember. It’s amazing and amazingly TRUE. That’s all I have to say about that.

An Afternoon Party With My Co-Workers

ruthie — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:07:51 +0000

It’s a tradition of mine to always have an English Tea every year-either by making if myself or going to a tea house. So, this year I decided to have my co-workers over for one. I made chicken cranberry sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, and cranberry orange scones. Cindy helped me and bought some cookies too. The only problem was the power went out just before everyone came so we had to settle for fruit juice instead of tea. We had about twenty of the ladies over in the afternoon. It was nice to spend some time together away from school, but as we sat in our living room I realized that we had very little to talk about. This was partly because my co-workers don’t speak English all htat well, I don’t speak Amharic well, and some of my co-workers can be very shy. Nonetheless, we did havea good time and I’m glad that Cindy and I were able to open our home to them.

Being in Africa When Obama Won

ruthie — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:02:51 +0000

Now I must confess that it was a bit fun to be here in Ethiopia, East Africa when the first African American won the presidency. I didn’t find out the results of the election until early that Wednesday morning because of the time change. As I turned on the TV at 6:30 a.m. and found out that Obama won, I could hear my neighbors next door shouting for joy.

Never has anyone of African blood had the powerful position of American President and that means a lot to the people of Africa who have such a history of racial oppression. It is a huge sign of change for them that Obama has been elected and they are excited. People wear Obama T-Shirts, they put Obama bumper stickers on their cars, and there’s even an Obama Cafe here in Addis.

To top it off, I went to Bible Study that Wednesday night to find that one of the members from Kenya had brought an Obama cake. I couldn’t help smiling because I don’t think we would ever do this in the states. I think this man brought the cake because he happens to be from the same tribe in Kenya as Obama’s father was, so technically he’s related to Obama.

That’s been my Obama experience in Africa!

Psalm 45—An Answer to Homesickness

ruthie — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:54:17 +0000

I was listening to a sermon from my church in SD on marriage (really really good sermon on Ephesians 5) and in that sermon the pastor mentioned Psalm 45. I looked it up and started to read verses that God seemed to be saying just to me….

“Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father’s family. The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor Him, for He is your Lord.”

Now at first when I read the word “forget” I was a bit astounded. I don’t think God is calling me to literally forget everyone back home. But I think He is calling me to let go of them a bit more and be totally in the moment here. I am here to honor and worship God by serving Him. He loves me and I love Him and that has a lot to do with my being here.

P.S. As I read the part that says “enthralled by your beauty,” I have a hard time believing it. Is that really possible?? But sometimes when I feel the most broken and empty, that is when God reminds me of His Love the most. He must see something in me that I don’t always see.

Halloween Ethiopian Style

ruthie — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:53:17 +0000

No matter where I go, I will always be an American and this is definitely true when it comes to holidays. So, since October 31^st was on a Friday, Cindy and I decided to have some friends over and celebrate Halloween. We bought a pumpkin and Cindy did the honors of carving it into a pumpkin. This was her first time doing this in her life and she did quite a good job, considering that our knives weren’t all that sharp. Then I made Mexican food from scratch (which takes forever, but it sure is tasty : ) and we had a few friends over, mostly from work. After dinner we did some ‘reverse trick or treating’ and started handing out candy to the beggars on the street. We wished them a “Happy Halloween.” I’m sure they had no idea what that meant but they were grateful just the same.