Happy New Year. Last week I spoke to a certain friend back home on chat. He was surprised when I told him we will be celebrating new year over the weekend. Yes we celebrated Ethiopian new year on Sunday 11 September can you dig it? We are now in 1998. Maybe it's time to upgrade my windoze 95 OS to windoze 98.
In Ethiopia I did not see much of the hype that makes New Year's eve a night to remember back home. Okay its true drinking places were over subscribed by patrons but not drinking as deadly as our museve boys back home. On Friday people did not go to kumusha/ekhaya (rural homes) like they do in Zimbabwe. I am sure they killed a lot of sheep here, since the guys who had a lot of these animals were fat pocketed on Sunday morning and, off course drinking a few St. George beer. Back home if Sunday is a holiday then we know that our precious holiday giving government was surely going to declare Monday a public holiday, not in Ethiopia.
The highlight of the night or should I say rich people's highlight was a live perfomance by Wyclef Jean in the poshy Sheraton Addis Hotel. The show was very dear and to be honest US$132 is just too much money considering that many Habeshas/Abeshas are getting less than US$100 a month. That aside I still commend Ethiopians for having special nights for the ordinary people like me all over the city. I enjoyed my St. George beer all night off course after a long day in office on Sunday.
The beauties of the night plying the roads after 2100hrs were missing that night and were seriously under threat from the male population which was walking on every road. What a peaceful Ethiopia? I went to many places on this night but Addis flowers were all a happy family. Imagine I did not here any incidence of any fight that busy night.
What a New Year experince I had.