The Three Niles

When writing my previous post on Egypt, I came to realize the significance of the Great River Nile, and how lucky I am for living in or near its watershed for the last few years. The Nile is the longest river in the world, and carries paramount importance both in history and presence for much […]

Epiphany in Ethiopia, Year II

Yesterday was the eve before Orthodox Church’s Epiphany, or Timket Katera, as known here in Ethiopia. I went to the Timket celebration in Jan Meda in Addis Ababa last year, and it was amazing. This time, I went to the evening ceremony.

Fire meets gasoline

In my first week in Addis Ababa, I visited the Itegue Taitu Hotel in Piazza District. It is the first hotel in Ethiopia, built by Ethiopian Emperor Menelek II and named after his queen, Taitu Betul. The emperor and queen spent their honeymoon there together. It was a truly lovely place, old but only increased […]

Epiphany in Ethiopia

On January 19 Ethiopia is lit up by Epiphany, or Timkat in Amharic, meaning “the baptism”. Timkat celebrates the baptism of Jesus, and is one of the holiest festivals of the year. Starting from around 4 PM on Sunday, the holiday goes on until Tuesday. Since I almost missed Christmas entirely about two weeks ago, […]

Christmas

Today is Christmas Day in old Julian Calendar, which the Ethiopian Orthodox Church follows. The praying songs lasted the entire night last night. People went from church to church and paraded the streets. On Christmas Day, the tradition is to stay at home and eat with family. Most of the roads is empty, stores are […]

probabilities and prose

Xuan's story in some parts of the world

Addis Ababa