With a dramatic increase in Amharic since this summer, Jon and I prayed to have significantly less miscommunications. This lasted until our first morning in Injibara. The night we arrived, Yeshwas had told us that on Christmas day, in the pasture, everyone plays a game with a ball and a stick. Jon, glad he could understand those words got out of the attic a bin of baseball supplies and bright and early Christmas morning, the crowd of kids was organized into baseball teams.
He was surprised at the lack of understanding of the game if this was truly a yearly highlight for them. Nevermind, we press on.
And amidst the animals, it was a great game of ball.
Fielding is way more interesting amongst the herd.
And this little sweetie showed up, wearing her traditional clothes for the festivities.
We went into town for a lunch and passed this...
We were stopped by these boys, who showed us their game, the one they always play on Christmas day. The one played with sticks and a ball. It’s “Christmas Ball”.
It dawned on Jon first. “Oooohh. So this is the game they play with a stick and a ball on Christmas”.
We went back home and asked our friends why they didn’t correct us. We were assured baseball is fun and now it was time for Gena Kwas.
Ah. So clear in hindsight.
Now we know the game played on Christmas with a ball and a stick.
4 comments:
I can't wait to find out what game is played next Christmas! haha!
Love it! Jon needs to teach them how to properly hold a baseball bat!! ;-) Next Year, not to take away from tradition, but I definitely vote for more Baseball. :)
Jake
so funny! I love the picture of the outfield with them catching the ball among the herd!
This had me laughing- thanks for sharing! :) I think Jon did pretty good with his Amharic if he was able to teach them even the fundamental basics of baseball!
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