Eid Ul-Fitr

For hundreds of years, Christians and Muslims have been living side-by-side in Ethiopia - about half the population adheres to one of these two religions.

Today is Eid Ul-Fitr in Ethiopia, so on my way to work this morning I saw thousands of Muslims up early and walking in the streets toward the stadium here in Addis Ababa. It brought a different sort of controlled chaos to the streets here, but without much traffic I made it to work in 15 minutes.

Yesterday morning we went to the school so the girls could play on the playground and Patricia and I could run the track. We need to get in shape for the Great Ethiopian Race, a 10k on November 26. The embassy soccer team was playing there as well, so I joined in for about 20 minutes. I think I'll let myself get roped into playing a bit more frequently.

I definitely noticed the difference in the air when I was running - I certainly don't have the same stamina I did at sea level.

Afterwards we met Seifu, the cousin of a friend of a friend back in Washington. He took us out to lunch at an Italian joint - I paid 145 birr (about $15) for the five of us - and then gave us a tour of Addis and Mount Entoto, one of the several peaks (3200 m) which overlook Addis. We went home and enjoyed the cake he had brought, decorated with "Welcome to Ethiopia" with coffee.

Then the girls decorated the house with our Halloween decorations, which arrived on Friday with our air shipment.

I found out the problem with our car shipment - I need to get the name of the agent in Djibouti to the customs clerk here. Since the embassy is closed today, I cannot get things moving until tomorrow. The agent's office in Djibouti is likely also celebrating Eid anyway.