Ethiopia's Christmas Eve falls on Epiphany in the Gregorian Calendar. Today was Christmas Day and the end to the 6 week fast of no meat, dairy or eggs. So Christmas dinner traditionally consists of meat, dairy and eggs. Zewdu and his family had me over to enjoy their Christmas feast. They have me over for lunch every week, so they know how I love duro wat (chicken and a hard boiled egg in a spicy red sauce with lots of dairy fat in it). Also beef tibs and of course coffee. Delicious. Then I went to Chez Meron for round two. I might eat tomorrow.

Ethiopia has a traditional Christmas Day game ye-gena chewata. We watched some of our aerobics friends play it today. It's like field hockey. It has been played for centuries. We are told only on Christmas Day though. The game is so old no one knows for sure how it originated. One story is the Shepards jumping for joy at the news of Jesus birth. The other story a non-believer was beheaded by the three kings (one from Ethiopia) on their way back from Bethlehem. See https://www.ethiosports.com/2011/01/08/ethiopia-cultural-sports-reviving-ye-gena-chewata/

New Year's Eve celebration at the Blue Nile Resort, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Good food, good company and a bonfire. The few tourists we saw at the bonfire out drank and out danced the expats. But then, they didn't have to go to work the next day.

Most people I see on a bicycle are riding to work. They seem to enjoy seeing a Ferengi (white foreigner) out there at sunrise who has the luxury of riding a new bike for fun exercise. The first time I passed a guy, he soon passed me back. I caught up with him and we paced each other for a kilometer. He yelled "Thank you!" when we finally went our separate ways. A bit of fun for both of us.
But these guys really are racing, right outside my residence. You can see how they block off the road here, more often for a football (soccer) match than a bike race. You can also see some of the different donkey carts I encounter on my own rides and the balcony I eat my breakfast of champions on.

Gaja's successful Indian dinner encouraged Meron to open Chez Meron's kitchen up for other experiments. While injera is a delicious and nutritious whole grain carb, the yeast bread here is all white flour. We convinced Meron to let me show her what a whole grain yeast alternative is like. 
I was disappointed in the final results. It certainly wasn't up to Gaja's curry chicken benchmark. But after 3 months of white bread we didn't care. The two loaves pretty much disappeared. I am hoping Meron will give me another chance to adjust for the pizza oven/altitude/kitchen and build a better loaf. And waffles some Saturday morning.

Meron, who owns Chez Meron, had asked Gaja to teach her how to make Indian Curry chicken. Jill seized the opportunity by suggesting they do it on Boxing Day, her birthday, and threw the party for us. So when Americans are taking back their unwanted or ill fitting gifts to scoop up all the after Christmas sale merchandise, we were at Chez Meron's enjoying a rare opportunity to have a delicious Indian dinner. 

Our Fila Hotel Family treated us to true Ethiopian hospitality today, gifts and a coffee ceremony. They knew it was Christmas on our Calendar. No one else here seemed to. I have only seen one Christmas decoration, a tree, in one resort here. I had only one conversation with someone here who knew it was Western Christmas, Dadimos who lived in the states several years.
Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas is not until January 7. The only sign of it is many Orthodox church members are fasting for 6 weeks (no food until noon and a vegan diet). But our Fila Family knew and put on a coffee ceremony for us to celebrate Christmas. They even presented us with these beautiful traditional shirts. Merouane and I had just moved out a week ago, but we are still welcome as family. Gaja has never even lived there, but as our friend is welcomed as well. 
Ethiopians are so welcoming. They will share what they have, even if they do not have much. I am very fortunate to have this opportunity to spend with them.

Connecting with colleagues and students, past and present, is my favorite thing to do at the GAJE Conference. That was especially true this year when I learned that Abhinov Mishra on my immediate right, who was on my first international research team as an undergraduate at Banaras Hindu University, was presenting at the conference. We ran into each other at the dinner the first night. Nirmal Upreti from Nepal was also there to co-present with me and his wife, Manju. They are on my left. I don't know the two women on the far left. Maybe future colleagues. The rest of the crowd are my Missouri Western students.
There is so much more to the GAJE Conference, and most good conferences, than the workshops, where we get to learn about legal clinic projects around the world. One of my favorite conference activities is the field trips, where we get to see what NGOs are doing in the host country. We visited a youth assistance and advocacy project at this conference.

My co-presenters and co-panels did an excellent job demonstrating our projects in Myanmar and Nepal. Our audience participated in our activities enthusiastically. Hopefully they took something home with them that they can use in their communities.

Bakso, the Indonesian meatball soup, is delicious. It's a common street food. The vendor looked skeptical when I said I wanted it spicy. I sat on a tiny plastic chair to enjoy this while one of his customers who could speak English talked to me. This was a great way to be welcomed to Indonesia. 

Ethiopia football fans all told me it didn't have a chance. It was coming off a loss to Madagascar, but it had to win its Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2021 qualifier against two-time African champions Côte d'Ivoire to have any hope of  advancing. But it was a beautiful day and I had never been to an international football game. After we met with the President of the University and a reviewer of our Ambassador's Program from Addis, my BDU colleague and friend Zewdu suggested we take this beautiful afternoon off with Jill and Merouane to watch the game.
It was a great game. You could feel the air go out of the stadium when Côte d'Ivoire scored the first goal just minutes into the game. But then something happened. But the despair only lasted about 10 minutes before Ethiopia tied the match, and another 10 minutes before it went ahead. The next hour of play was holding onto a slim lead. It was a great game.
https://www.cafonline.com/total-africa-cup-of-nations/news/ethiopia-shock-cote-d-ivoire-morocco-win-in-bujumbura

This Ethiopia Orthodox Medieval Church, Ura Kidane Mehret Church, is worth a second visit. These churches seem to have similar characteristics. They tell the stories of their religion in colorful murals so that the illiterate part of the population could be taught about the religion. The murals cover all the walls on the inner sanctum.  The guide on this, my second trip out to the trip, helped bring the murals and their stories to life. The violence of these stories is not censored. Above this first panel are some of the depictions of the apostles' deaths. 

Below you can see how illustrations also made it into the ancient texts for Ethiopia's Orthodox Church. The museum that holds these artifacts provides a modern glimpse into the ancient religion. 

The walk to Ura Kidane Mehret Church and museum includes a shopping mall of crafts and their creators. I missed getting a picture of this guy on my first trip. 

Chicken isn't neatly packaged in plastic in the refrigerator section of your supermarket in many developing countries. Chicken on a stick in Ethiopia is bought as fresh as can be. The consumer does the rest. In Ethiopia you are never far removed from the source of production. We took Sami and Kathleen to the big market in Bahir Dar. Then to our favorite fish restaurant right on Lake Tana where local fisherman come in to have their catch cleaned and sold. That's why you see all the pelicans hanging out by our lunch table. Kathleen's Kuriftu resort serves as a final, and greatest contrast between the real world and the one we often find ourselves isolated in. 

Sami Andrews is a fellow Ambassador's Distinguished Scholar who came from Gonder University to lecture on “Globalization, Sovereignty and Ethiopia in the Age of Creativity Jurisprudence”. This spurred a discussion on the Marrakesh Treaty, amongst other things. The Marrakesh Treaty is an international copyright treaty to create "limitations and exceptions for the benefit of the blind, visually impaired, and otherwise print disabled (VIPs)." For more information on this treaty go to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) site.
For more information on this creative clinic, or to get involved, contact David Tushaus at [email protected].

Faculty took me on a tour of a couple of Legal Aid Centers that Bahir Dar University operates. The 6 Centers depend on in-kind donations of office space and a small budget from the University. The goal is to expand the visibility of the centers and increase their outside funding so they can be a greater force for change in the community and education for the students. 
This is the Center in Bahir Dar close to the Court of Appeals and where I live. I was also able to visit the center in the prison. That was especially interesting and active. I sat in on a couple of interviews of prisoners by students, which was interesting, even if I could not understand a word of the Amharic spoken. The problems, summarized for me later by the faculty supervisor, included a prisoner who has merely been accused and has waited months for a trial. This is a critical issue in many countries, including the United States. BDU needs funding to be able to do more work at these Legal Aid Centers.

Visiting villages in Ethiopia is a real treat. The countryside around Bahir Dar is beautiful. I get to see what a cow shed looks like, how they dry crops and bricks in the sun, everyday life and best of all the children. This day trip was to see the last palace built by Haile Selassie, Ethiopia's 225th and last emperor, serving from 1930 until his overthrow by the Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1974. For more information on the Emperor see https://www.biography.com/political-figure/haile-selassie-i

There are no supermarkets here. Well, there are, but they are more the size of a very small grocery back home. Most people shop at smaller shops on the street or something like this large open market in Bahir Dar. You can get almost anything to be found in town here. The market is divided into large sections of various items, similar to a supermarket here. There's the poultry section (look closely for the chicken on a stick, spices, beans, vegetables, tef (the ancient grain unique to Ethiopia and injera) and even plastics. One vendor pointed out that his section was all Ethiopian goods, nothing from China, to try to sell us on his vendors.

I had an opportunity to tour the domestic violence shelter in Bahir Dar. One of my proposed projects is to conduct a Sex and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Clinic at Bahir Dar University Law School.  My hope is to have students study the international law Ethiopia has signed on to and make recommendations for changes to its present domestic law. It is my understanding Ethiopia has not criminalized marital rape and has no civil order of protection law. We can at least expose the students to these issues and get a conversation going on adopting these laws.
The shelter is in a nice new building. It has a lot of programs for the residents. Classes, art therapy, drama therapy, and group therapy. The staff was very nice and welcoming.

We stopped on an island on our way back to Bahir Dar from the Zege peninsula. As we inspected this building, a monk passing by informed us that it used to be a prison. There was probably no need for bars or fences. The nearest land would be too far for most people to swim to. The weather would make doing time here not as bad as Alcatraz, where it can be beautiful but also bone chilling cold. You also would not have to listen to the rich people partying at the nearby yacht club of an evening and be reminded of what you might be missing.
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A peaceful boat ride and walk through a forest of coffee trees and vendors selling crafts brings you to this 14th Century Church. It is said by some to be the most beautiful in the Lake Tana region, and for good reason. The contrasting colors set against the mud/straw walls feel symbolic of Ethiopia. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ura_Kidane_Mehret for more information. 
Below are photos from the museum next to Ura Kidane Mehret Church. One book dates back to 900 A.D. Our guide asked us if we wanted to go into it. When we said yes he summoned a monk who let us in. It was much more impressive than this afterthought would imply.

The catch is that the peaceful walk through the forest winds through a variety of shops selling local goods. There were some nice local crafts, from locally harvested incense to pictures on leather to jewelry fashioned out of old, obsolete coins. Frankincense is readily available in Ethiopia, unlike the U.S. It smells wonderful and is used in Ethiopian religious ceremonies, homes and coffee ceremonies on the street or in a restaurant. See https://fairtradefrankincense.com/tag/ethiopia/
It was easy for me to resist everything by the coffee. Jill could not resist buying a local craft from this girl, who drove a hard bargain to the amusement of even the locals who joined us while we had our coffee.
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The coffee here was delicious as most Ethiopian coffee is. These people are roasting the beans grown there on the peninsula, brewing the coffee while burning frankincense they harvested. They were not going to charge us for the coffee. They wanted to sell us some frankincense instead. I paid for the coffee.

It was a peaceful day in Bahir Dar on Wednesdays. It's a fasting day, and we could see the gathering of the mass believers to pray at church when we began our walk shortly after 6 a.m. This is a common site Fridays and Sundays as well. Fasting means nothing to eat until after 3 p.m. our time, that's 9 o'clock Ethiopian time (Sunrise starts the day at 0. Sunset starts the night at 0. Each occurs at what we call 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.).
Even when the fast is broken, no meat or dairy is eaten. There are 55 days of fasting right before the Ethiopian Easter, and I think almost as many before the Ethiopian Christmas. I try to observe vegetarian most days, but I don't fast. There isn't much dairy to be had here anyway, but I assume the restriction applies to eggs, which I count on every day.
For more information on religion see http://www.ethiopiantreasures.co.uk/pages/religion.htm.

It was not so peaceful in other parts of Ethiopia today. There were 200 arrested and 23 killed in and around Addis Ababa due to ethnic clashes. There is a real tension between tolerance of opposition groups and keeping things peaceful. That's the case anywhere. This continues to shape up as an interesting and important year for Ethiopia. I had a conference call cancelled because the internet may be down in parts of where one participant is. See ​https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/09/ethiopia-thousands-protest-ethnic-violence-killed-23-180917141138078.html

A herd of goats, their shepard Kaldi and a Monk play into the legend that places the discovery of coffee on the Ethiopian plateau. Ethiopia isn't the only one to claim this legend. See http://www.ncausa.org/About-Coffee/History-of-Coffee I saw a goat eating some coffee beans of a bush, so I am a believer. I would not challenge the legend in these parts.
Coffee has a big influence in this culture, and they brew it strong in Ethiopia. There are coffee stands like the one above all over Bahir Dar. For 5 Ethiopian Birr (less than 20 cents) you can get one of these small cups with as much sugar, or not, you desire. Delicious and motivating. On campus the price is subsidized and I can get a mid-morning fix for 3 Birr (10 cents). The traditional pot you see is a common fixture, rather than the Italian espresso pot above (though they did have their influence during their 5 years of occupation and cappucinoes are available in many places). So is the grass, which I see delivered all over town, to homes as well as cafes. I think it is for good mojo. 
Dademos, an Ethiopian who I am working with on a project, invited me to the cultural restaurant below on Friday night.  His mother is originally from here. He knew all the traditional dances and what region they were from. It was a great end to the day. Fortunately, I have no pictures of me trying to dance the local shake dance that night. 

The umbrellas you see on sidewalk below are shoe shining businesses. This is a serious business in Ethiopia. Whether you are wearing flip flops, sneakers or dress shoes, you may hire to at least have them cleaned. In the case of dress shoes, spit shined for 10 Birr. A 15 minute, enthusiastic clean and shine for less than 20 cents. This young woman was fine having her picture taken until I asked if I could take it with her sitting in her chair, her tools all around. Her friends talked her out of that picture.

There's something universal about a haircut. A good barber wants to figure out what kind of haircut you want. I always have trouble with this stage. How short/how long. Just make me look good, ha ha. You can see from the outside whites are not the target audience. No surprise there. There are few of us and most are just passing through.
As we started, another guy in the shop stepped in to serve as interpreter. So now the instructions are filtered. Not a recipe for confidence. While the cut is a bit shorter than I am used to, I thought he did an excellent job. And he was a good sport about getting his picture taken. I waited until the end to ask. Another universal truth - don't risk making the guy standing over you with sharp scissors unhappy.

I love these kids who sit ready to weigh you as you walk by. Is this a health initiative? Is the information confidential. At least in Bahir Dar the kids are often seen doing their homework while they wait for a willing customer.

On June 22, 2019, the president of the Amhara State and his advisor were assassinated in the president's office here in Bahir Dar. The Ethiopian government has characterized this assassination as a coup d'etat. A court hearing on October 8, where the Court denied the government's request for more time to investigate the case the government is trying to bring against Brigadier General Tefera Mamo, commander of the region's special forces, and Colonel Alebel Amare. This lead to peaceful protests on October 8. See the story at https://borkena.com/2019/10/08/ethiopia-brigadier-general-tefera-mamo-et-al-case/

On October 14, Brigadier General Tefera Mamo and Colonel Alebel Amare were released on a bail bond of 10,000 Ethiopian Birr. Less than $350. This lead to these protests in the street. For more information see https://borkena.com/2019/10/14/ethiopia-brig-general-tefera-mamo-el-at-on-bail-amid-mounting-protest-for-their-release/
Some have told us these protesters want the Amhara region to gain independence from Ethiopia. I have not seen that in print, though I have not looked for evidence of it extensively.