Hi friends!
We think of all of you as our friends, even though we are a long way away! I checked and we are almost 12,000 kilometres apart. That is really half a world away. It would be like travelling to Addis Ababa and back 12 times! But it’s so fun to be able to feel much closer through letters and emails and the magic of the internet. We love writing to you and seeing the updates about you from Tesfa and Shelley.
It’s Megan writing to you this month.
Guess what? We saw some video clips of your Team Tesfa Awards! We are so proud of every single one of you for your hard work and perseverance, whether you received an award or not. It gave us so much joy to watch you all celebrating and supporting your friends and teammates. Thanks for letting us share in the fun of the awards ceremony.
I love how much time and energy you put into your studies and keeping up at school. Your grades are very impressive. Your hard work is very inspiring, too. I was very serious about school when I was younger. I would be disappointed if I didn’t get top marks. But in my final years in university I got very tired and had to work very, very hard to stay focused and make sure I got all my work done. Sometimes it is hard to keep going when challenges are getting in your way. You are all very strong to keep going each and every day. You are investing in your future by dedicating yourselves to school. Good job!
Right now in Canada it is almost time for students to have a two-week break for Christmas. We know that Ethiopian Christmas doesn’t happen until January, but most people in our country who recognize this holiday celebrate on Dec. 25. Lots of people put bright colourful lights on the edge of their roofs and light them up at night. It is dark here for about 15 hours every day. How long does the darkness last where you are?
We also like to bring evergreen or pine trees inside our homes and decorate them with small bright lights and ornaments! We call them “Christmas trees.” A star or an angel goes on the very top. Does it seem silly to bring a tree indoors? Some people have very fancy Christmas trees but in my house, we use homemade crafts that we made as children for our ornaments, plus a few others we have collected over the years.
Many people have traditions, activities they do every year in December to celebrate the holiday season. Baking sweet treats is a popular one. Every family has their own kind of cookies they like to make for Christmas. My favourite are the ones with chocolate. We enjoy the goodies with warm drinks like coffee and tea and hot chocolate. (It is not as good as Ethiopian coffee or macchiatos, though. We love to taste those delicious drinks when we visit Ethiopia.)
I was lucky to come visit your home in 2019 and to bring home coffee from Dire Dawa. My friends and family said it was the most interesting coffee they had tried in their whole lives! My boyfriend Jake loves to drink coffee. Every morning he makes two biiiiig cups to take to work. Do you want to know a secret? I don’t really like coffee - unless it’s in Ethiopia!!
It is also getting very cold here, so a hot drink in the morning is very nice. We have to wear thick, warm coats, gloves on our hands and hats on our heads every time we go outside. If you don’t, you can get frostbite and hurt the parts of your body that weren’t covered up from the cold! We have to shovel the snow so that we can have clear paths to walk around and use our cars. There are huge machines the government uses to clear the snow from the road so cars and buses and taxis can get around.
But the snow also gives us a chance to have adventures! Some people like to strap on skis and snowboards - basically little and big sticks on their feet - and go sliding down big hills or mountains! We also make balls out of the snow to build snow art. Sometimes we are a little bit sneaky and throw those snowballs at each other.
Have you ever seen snow?
Thanks for listening to the updates from your Canadian friends. See you next month - we are sending big waves and big hugs from 12,000 kilometres away!