Lalibela - A City Carved from Legend

Last week Matt, Jamie, Margaret, & I jumped on plane and flew to Lalibela, and ancient city filled with legend, symbolism, and wonder. Matt & Jamie are a couple here who work with the Education Resource Center (ERC) which offers English classes as a door into people's lives. Margs is one of their friends from Florida who quickly became our friend, too!

The small town of Lalibela is home to one of the world's most astounding sacred sites: 11 rock-hewn churches, each carved entirely out of a single block of granite with its roof at ground level.

Were it not for these extraordinary churches, Lalibela would almost certainly be well off the tourist radar. A dusty rural town nestled into rolling countryside, Lalibela only recently got electricity. It has few motorized vehicles, no gas stations and no paved streets. Isolated from the modern world, the town goes about its business much as it has for several hundred years.

A little history: During the late 12th century, King Lalibela's goal was to create a New Jerusalem for those who could not make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. As such, many features have Biblical names - even the town's river is known as the River Jordan. Popular legend has it that angels came every night to pick up where the workmen had left off. So enough history... now some pictures!

The gang

The view surrounding Lalibela - breathtaking.

A few of the rock-hewn churches

The girls with Bet Giorgis in the background.

So my roommate, Jen's tagline is "Love you, love your hair." I think this picture exemplifies this quote!

We also took donkey / horse rides through the countryside. Here's Margs... this may be my favorite picture from the trip!

Our following of animals and sometimes small children. The joys of Africa! Love it.

Okay... the next series of pictures needs to be prefaced. So there is another church, Yimrehane Kristos, which is 43 km from Lalibela. To get there you take a beautiful drive throughout the countryside in a landcruiser and then climb this fairly steep and rocky path to get to the church. The church is in a cave with a small waterfall in front of it. As you walk into the cave you feel as though you have entered an Indiana Jones movie - you are in an ancient church in a cave with bats chirping and flying above your head. The only light is from the sun outside the cave and your small flashlight - or as they call it " your torch".

So as your walk towards the back of the church you stumble upon a mountain of bones, human bones. Thousands of mummies of holy people who have pilgrimaged to the city remain there. The Indiana Jones movie becomes more and more real.

Yes, this is our feet beside a skull that you might just happen to trip over... no biggie.

These are prayer sticks which the people lean upon during the service or while they are praying since they stand the entire time... kind of like an Aggie football game. Maybe we should market them in College Station.

So this my favorite picture, only next to the pic of Margs on the donkey... so each church has a priest who poses all day long with the processional cross for pictures... well the priests think that they will go blind from all the pictures so they sport the shades. Well this priest was especially legit with aviators, so we decided to join him.

The view from our boucany in our hotel room... To me personally, Father's beauty is always more evident in His creation than in buildings and things made by man... as rich in history and tradition as they may be, His creation will always be more ancient and glorious.

Friends and Fun And Food

Cultural dancing with some of the most fun people in the country! A few of the girls -


Karaoke night at Korean Restaurant to celebrate Mica's birthday!
The boys -


Roommate Song with honorary roomie, Cherish: "I Will Survive"


PARTNERS! holla.


My sweet teacher friends teaching me to make Shiro!


You know I love the feet! Can you guess which one's mine?


My Ethiopian family. I'm in denial about leaving them... I'm not really going to... it's not really happening...


More of the wonderful people who fill my life!

Teachers, Students, & Roomies

I decided to post some pictures of the people who fill my life here in Africa - day to day...

Below are the beautiful women that I teach with at our spa day!
So it's standard here for teachers to wear white lab coats... snazzy, aye?



Aren't my students beautiful? Simply put: they are loving and lovable.





The Roomies!!! Our normal attire... actually birthday hats and masks for Lex's birthday!
From L to R: Jen, me, Mica, Lexi.
A slightly more normal picture! (and I'm still wearing my maroon even though I hear the Aggies are stinkin' it up on the football field.)

So these are a few of the amazing people here who I love so much!

Countryside Beauty

Here are some of the pictures from our trip to Bahir Dar. The countryside is absolutely stunning... you can just sit and stare at it for hours.

Here's our group by the gorge!

Best pun of the trip: "Man, this is gorgeous!"

This is a sarbait - literal translation: grass house

The Blue Nile Falls - not so blue, aye?

Wading through the Nile River!

Thought that came to my mind as I walked through the countryside and waded across the Nile: "Now this is Africa"

Standing in the mist of the falls - one of the most invigorating experiences of my life.

Can anyone guess what story I'm telling?

"Zacchaeus, you come down! For I'm going to your house today..."

This is J-Russ and 2 of our boys!

Asmamo & me... his name means peace... thus the throwing of the deuce.

HIPPO!

And we finally saw some monkeys (tota in Amharic) after being in Africa for 2 months!

Yes, this monkey is smelling a flower... in case you were wondering.

feet

Last week at house group we studied John 13 where the Son washes His disciples' feet. I think in America we don't fully understand this story or grasp the significance of the act of washing one's feet. We get into our car, drive where we need to go & really the only walking outside that we do is from the parking lot to the building. Here in Ethiopia you walk everywhere and very rarely is it on a sidewalk. It is also rainy season right now where you get to walk through this cakey, tar-like mud (chika in Amharic) that sticks to your sandals & very often your feet. The task of washing feet was always reserved for the lowest servant because it was such a dirty and humbling act. And that's exactly what the Son did & calls us to do: Love people enough to get dirty - to serve them - to put their needs (even if it's not a life or death need) over our own comfort.

In Biblical times and in many other cultures across the world today, the feet are the most dishonored part of the body because they are so unclean. This explains why bowing at one's feet is such an act of honor for the one who is being bowed to & such an act of humility for the one who is bowing. The Father calls us to humble ourselves and bow at His feet - to bring all that we have: our treasures, our accomplishments, our failures, our strengths, our faults, our desires, our plans, our dreams & our fears - and to love, fear & trust Him enough to lay them all at His feet.

"And I will glorify the place of my feet." - Isaiah sixty:thirteen

some sights of the city

As my dear friends and family, I think it is only fair that I share some sights that I see: some daily, some weekly, and some only every once in a while.

This is ingera & wots. Ingera is the thin, sour, pancake like substance that you covers the plate. The concoctions on the ingera are different kinds of wots: some made of green beans & carrots (these are quite yummy... kinda taste like my g'mas!)... then there's some with cabbage & beats... Shiro which is a soupy bean substance... this is their staple wot - kind of like our peanut butter & jelly. There are also some that have strips of goat meat called tibs or doro wat which is spicy & is made with chicken and hard boiled eggs. Quite delightful.

This is our street! I walk up and down this street everyday and smile at the women who work in the shops... love it.
I don't think picture really requires a comment or explanation. It simply stands alone.
Bags of different grains at this little open air market in our neighborhood.


This kitty was also found... and for those of you who know me... I'm a sucker for kittens. (Note: the piece of lettuce on the kitty's back was not staged.)


And finally, my favorite boy in Africa. He teaches me Amharic... mainly the names of animals. Asa is fish. Ambassa is lion. Samae is sky. That's all I got.