Arrivals and Weddings!

I'm here, I arrived and I'm safe! It was touch and go whether we were actually going to be able to leave Heathrow due to the thunder and lightning but after a three hour delay, we eventually left. We landed in Addis at about 10.00am local time and came through immigration without a problem. Luckily, E and M (and baby bump!) came to meet me at the airport, so they could help me with the 10 tonne of luggage that I've brought …

So I'm here, rested (I slept like a dead person last night!) and starting to get to grips with everything. In fact, I was thrown into the deep end slightly – I'd only been here 10 hours and I'd already been involved in the ritual slaughtering of a sheep (for a wedding – it's not like it happens every day before lunch!), been yelled at by a drunk man, and danced like a crazy person at a family wedding.

Ethiopian weddings are a very grand affair! They generally last for three days, with the actual wedding bit as we would recognise it on the second day. I joined in on the third day, which is where the Bride and Groom's family get together and have a meal, and then there's lots of dancing. LOTS of dancing!

In my experience of family weddings, the little boys are generally skidding across the dance floor and shouting, and a few mums and their teenage daughters will be up dancing around their handbags, but it takes a while for everyone else – particularly grandmothers and the older generation – to join in. Not in Ethiopia. The oldest people in the room were up, drums slung over their shoulders, beating out a rhythm and leading the rest of the room in whichever tribal dance it is: Amhara, Tigrinia, Uragy (sorry about the spelling!).

And wow, the energy! The Uragy dance is probably the most energetic, with lots of jumping and leaping, but even the Tigray dance, which is mostly stepping round in a large circle, really takes its toll on your thigh muscles! I impressed everyone – and made everyone laugh – with my attempts at Ethiopian dancing, and I think I got the hang of it!

I wish I was better at writing, so that I could convey to you exactly how amazing, beautiful and energetic an Ethiopian wedding is. I have taken some pictures, which I will try and post as soon as I can, but even they can't really do it justice.

It was a great first night in Addis, and left me no time to be thinking 'Oh God, what have I done?'! I grinned so much my face hurt, and it reminded me how lucky I am that I have access to this 'personal' side of Addis. I'm so grateful to my Ethiopian 'extended family' out here!

So, this afternoon I start planning what on earth I'm going to do for the next three months! So I shall be mostly opening a bank account, visiting the orphanage, sorting out a phone … and finding some time to eat some injera! :o)