Just because we live in Ethiopia doesn’t mean that we can’t have some good ole fashion American fun every now and then. By that I mean, dinner and a movie. Well, while going out to a nice restaurant and then a movie theater is possible here in Addis Ababa, it would be expensive to rent a vehicle for such an outing. So we do the home variety, and I must say that we do it quite well. It all started in early December when I (Travis) was having a REALLY bad day. You know, one of those days when your whole mind is clouded with so much crabby-ness that it just makes other people laugh! Desperately needing a break (or a nap) after morning language school, I got a call from someone requesting an afternoon meeting. Knowing the importance of this meeting, I agreed, hung up the phone and scowled at everybody in the room (who couldn’t help but smile having overheard my conversation). Knowing that my exhaustion and attitude would not benefit my motorcycle driving, I took public transportation to and from the meeting (your welcome, mom!).
Upon my arrival back at home, I was immediately greeted by our housemate, Grant. “Hey, Travis! Melissa (that’s his wife) gave us permission to watch “Fellowship of the Ring” tonight!” (Yes, we need our wives’ permission on such privileges). You see, Grant and I had been working for some time on our wives to watch the “Lord of the Rings” series with us. Andrea wasn’t difficult to convince because she actually likes that series, but Melissa was not enthusiastic. News of Grant’s success helped melt away my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! After dinner, Grant popped his DVD into our computer and we edified ourselves with this classic film! Before the night was over, we vowed to continue the series the next Friday and finally finish it on the Friday two weeks out.
News spread of our “Lord of the Rings” viewing and so our group grew from four to eight. The next two Friday’s found Andrea and Melissa going all out in the kitchen to provide excellent pre-film dinners – homemade meatballs, quesadillas, fruit salad, etc. After finishing Lord of the Rings in mid-December, we watched “A Christmas Story” before taking a week off for Christmas. Early January had a showing of Ironman with an excellent Taco meal (you better believe the tortillas were homemade!). The French toast and scrambled eggs breakfast for dinner marked the beginning of the Star Wars series, which we hope to see in six consecutive weeks (tomorrow is the third). Andrea and I own just three movies (The Truman Show, Radio and A Christmas Story), so we don’t know if the “Friday Red House Dinner and a Movie Night” will continue much after Grant and Melissa take their movie collection back to the States with them in mid-April. Nevertheless, it is fun to have this down time as well as to play host to many of our co-workers and friends who live nearby. By the way, you’re invited! Dinner is at 6:30.
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