Rihus Lidet!

Christmas away from home is always hard for me. This was my third Christmas away from my family, and I think it was the hardest yet, even though the first was when I was 16. The main reason is that it just didn't feel like Christmas at all.

Oddly, it wasn't because I am in a country where Christmas is not celebrated. Although half the population is Muslim, most of the Muslims live in the low lands. So here in Asmara, at 7000 feet, the majority of the population is Christian. Of those, the majority are Orthodox, and therefore do no celebrate Christmas until January 7. However, the Catholics celebrate on December 25th, and it's a holiday for everyone. And either way, there are Christmas decorations all over Asmara, Christmas cards for sale, and even a store dedicated entirely to Christmas stuff. So I really don't know why it never felt like Christmas.

I would blame it on the sunny weather, but I'm from California, so Christmas doesn't mean snow to me anyway. And it's not like it doesn't get cold here. Although the sun might be out, it's pretty chilly, at least by California standards.



But although it never ever felt like Christmas, I probably celebrated more here than I have most years in the US. I guess it all started with the UN Mine Action Coordination Center's Christmas party at the beginning of the month and culminated with a four day weekend filled with debauchery.



In particular, on the 23rd of December, I went to President Isaias Afewerki's Christmas party here in Asmara. It was pretty crazy. It was catered by Gidey Restaurant, which makes the best Eritrean national food in the city. I ate a lot. We were also apparently entertained by some of the most famous singers in Eritrea. Unfortunately, I didn't know who any of them were.

I was forced to try out my Tigrinya shoulder dancing. It's hard to explain, but the Tigrinya people dance with their shoulders and have an amazing amount of control I don't have. I think I need to take a video of this some time. Anyway, we even danced with the president's chief of staff, Yemane Gebremeskel. (If you read news from Eritrea, you will often see him quoted.) It was pretty exciting. Of course, we had wanted to dance with President Isaias himself, but he didn't dance.

On the 24th, I celebrated with several of my closest friends here in Asmara. My friend Genet hosted all of us for dinner at her house. She and her mom prepared a lot of food. Anna and I contributed lasagna, cookies, and some flavorless brownies. The brownies turned out really strange because I used this cocoa that we had in our house which apparently has no flavor. I finally thought to test it after tasting the brownies and realizing how weird they were.

After dinner, we went to the English mass at the Catholic cathedral. It was very pretty. The choir sang a lot of Christmas carols, and they had a nice nativity scene set up. Unfortunately, there were several awkward moments.

First, we arrived late, so there was nowhere to sit. There were already a lot of people standing, but this guy Frank, who's an architect for the American embassy, suggested that we go sit on one of the kneelers at the front of the room. But the church clearly didn't want us there. So, some guys went an got us chairs from a back room. We moved into the chairs, already feeling bad. Then, the bishop and priests got up from the first pew and went to perform the mass. When they did so, they insisted that we move into their reserved pew. We were so embarrassed. I think I was particularly embarrassed because I rarely go to church, and I'm certainly not Catholic.

Then, I started to get dizzy during the mass and had to sit down when everyone else was standing. This was totally bizarre, because the one other time I went to services at the cathedral, I started to black out and came very close to passing out. The only thing that prevented me from actually passing out was Anna running out and getting me something to drink at just the right time. Well, this time wasn't anything close to that, but it scared me anyway. And some friends who were sitting a ways from me thought I was falling asleep. So, because we were in the front row, I am sure the priests saw us and probably also thought I was falling asleep during their mass.

After mass, we did something very Christmasy: we went drinking. I've never thought of Christmas as a drunk holiday. Halloween, yes; Fourth of July, sure; New Years, absolutely. But not Christmas. However, this year Christmas seemed to involve a lot of alcohol. And so Sunday night we went to a bar called Zara and then back to Jina's house for dancing. And of course we were out very, very late. I think I'll blame the fact that Santa didn't visit my house on the fact that I didn't make it home until 3 in the morning on Christmas Day.



Christmas Day brought yet another party and even more injera. I got up "early" in order to bake a pumpkin pie to contribute to the office Christmas party at Diane's house. She ordered Eritrean national food from a neighborhood restaurant, and we had a nice lunch at her house with several of our coworkers. The food was good. And Diane, who doesn't drink, apparently expected everyone else to get drunk because she ordered 2 cases of beer. But most of us stuck to Coke. Unfortunately, no one liked my pie. I think some of the Eritreans wouldn't even try it, and those who did took one bite and refused to eat anymore. I'm just glad Anna and Diane liked it. Otherwise I might have to rethink my belief that I know how to cook.



Christmas Day ended with a call to my family in California and a reminder of how much I miss all of them. It was particularly hard talking to my sister Rachael, because I literally haven't seen her since last Christmas.

But Christmas in Eritrea isn't over yet. We have through the Orthodox Christmas on January 7, when apparently there will be a lot more celebrating. So I guess I have until then to get in the Christmas spirit. So, "rihus lidet" (Merry Christmas)!