Archived Blog
Timkat 2015
Language school continues as usual, I'm still enjoying it which is a definite plus. I really enjoy practising with people as much as I can so I've made plans with a couple of Ethiopian friends who work at Bingham to meet up every week for lunch and chat in Amharic. Really looking forward to the opportunity to develop my Amharic further!
This weekend has been a busy one! The Ethiopian holiday of Timkat has been taking place, both yesterday and today. Timkat (the Amharic word for baptism) is the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of epiphany, and celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan river. More information on Wikipedia if anyone's interested! Essentially, it is a very colourful and vibrant celebration, with large parades involving many people dancing and singing in the streets. It is always an experience to see all of the processions, and the celebrations just look so joyful! All of the singing and dancing is infectious, it almost makes you want to join in! I was able to watch firstly from near Bingham on Sunday afternoon, and then near my accommodation today. Some pictures from all the excitement:
The priests carry the tablets, what the whole celebration is about.
Overhead view
Some more pics for anyone interested!
On Saturday night, I headed out for dinner with a few people from Bingham, a sort of birthday celebration! There have been a number of new arrivals at Bingham who are here to teach from January until the summer, so it was also a chance to meet them. We tried to go to the more modern area of the city. Our first choice of restaurant was absolutely packed, so we went to a Mexican restaurant nearby. I don't know what authentic Mexican food is supposed to taste like, so I enjoyed it!
This Sunday morning, one of the other guys here mentioned that he was playing piano in the worship service of the house church which was meeting at Bingham, so I volunteered to join him on guitar. We met before the service started to run through the songs. By the time the service started, a number of others had joined in with instruments from Bingham and we had a full worship group. Saxophone, drums, bass as well as piano and guitar. It was a wonderful worship time, a time of real blessing for all involved, being able to worship God together. I was also very excited to meet so many other musicians, it was one thing I was worried about missing from home, being able to get together and jam with people. We all agreed we should meet up again to play together; exciting!
One of my former students visited the city this weekend. He now loves in Canada, but was visiting Ethiopia on his way back from a wedding. He got in touch to try to catch up with me, but unfortunately I didn't manage to before he left. He told me something encouraging, though. Back when he was a student, I was one of the teachers on his 11th grade spiritual retreat at the school. During the time, he showed some interest in the guitar and I gave him some basic tips and did my best to encourage him to take it further. He told me that he took my advice and now plays guitar in his worship group in his church in Canada. I was so glad to hear my encouragement had made an impact on him! Wonderful to have that encouragement, and great to hear how God uses us in the lives of others.
Take care,
Niall
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