Rescued by Wyclef Jean

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post... internet in Ethiopia can be hard to come by. Wednesday was Ethiopian Christmas here and it was a fun day for us. We purchased a hot plate and a pot and made a "Christmas Feast." Our feast consisted of potatoes, canned corn, and sweet chili sauce. Not a really grand feast, but shared with good company.
It has been really interesting watching the city prepare for the holiday. For two days prior to Christmas we watched people bring in truckloads of chickens, herding goats and sheep down the sidewalks, and watching men guide bulls through the busy city streets relying only on a rope halter. Definately a little different addition to rush hour traffic. Demeke explained that each family would butcher at least one of these animals to enjoy for their feast.
After our feast we took a taxi around for a tour of areas of the city we hadn't seen (and some areas that we had... the driver's English was limited and my Amharic vocab is limited to about 8 words...) It was really cool to see people decked out in their Christmas dressed with the men sharply dressed in suit coats and the women wearing beautiful dresses in traditional Ethiopic styles. It was a lot of fun to just people watch and take in a foreign place and unfamiliar culture.
On Sunday we did go up to Entoto. It is one of the old capitals of Ethiopia and was home to Emperor Menelik. There is a few amazing churches at Entoto as well as the old palace. However, the city is built on top of the mountains (which is saying something in Ethiopia), so the palace was moved down into the valley, Addis Ababa, at the request of the Queen because of how cold it could get on top of the mountains. There is a wonderful view and was a great time. The most fun was coming into the palace when we got mobbed by a group of school kids on field trip. Apparently tall white guys were a rarity for them ;) so they came over to play. They wanted us to take their pictures and then show them the shots on the view finder on our digital cameras. It was a lot of fun, although their method of getting my attention was pulling on my goatee when I wasn't looking at them, which was a bit startling at first... We all had a lot of fun and the kids got a kick out of it :)
As for the work part of the project, we are doing great!!! We hit 350 manuscripts today with 11 work days left... we promised to have at least 400 shot by the end of our time here. We are doing pretty good!! Also, I reclaimed the shots per day record for those keeping score at home. I set the first record with 2000, which stood for 24 hours when Erik took it down with 2024. However, on Monday I stole it back with 2410 shots in an 8 hour day!! The record has lasted so far, but it is only a matter of time until Erik makes his move to steal it back... These little records have been a lot of fun, plus if you have four guys in the same room doing the same thing it takes about 8 seconds until it is a competition.
I hope that you are all well, we are doing just fine although prayers for good health are still much appreciated because we are all feeling a bit rundown and Erik is pretty sick... Thanks :) Until next time.