Canada Day up Addis Way!

We had a beautiful morning for our Canada Day pancake breakfast. The grill was set-up and the tent erected - we got one in case it rained. We also rented a “bouncy castle,” or inflatable jungle gym, for the kids. Our first guests arrived and began to sample the delights of pancakes with real maple syrup. We had pork and beef sausage, to cater to Muslim or Orthodox eaters, as well as some Ethiopian snacks. One of our team made Moose Milk, using the time-honoured Navy recipe. It was a big hit. We had about 70 people come to the house, a mix of our work colleagues, people from the Canadian Embassy, and the families of our staff. I provided the music, with an all-Canadian mix of the Hip, Stompin’ Tom Connors, Great Big Sea, and Sarah Harmer booming out over the front courtyard. For all our kvetching about not having enough syrup, we appeared to experience a mini-miracle of the syrup as our one can and small jug lasted the entire morning. Someone did say they received a pancake shaped like Pope John Paul II, so maybe we were especially blessed that day! We were done by about 4:00 PM and the crew had everything packed up by 5:00 PM, just in time to watch the traditional self-destruction of the English soccer team against the Portuguese at the World Cup. Hope your Canada Day was a special as ours. Celebrating Canada day this year in Addis, in the context of Darfur, really made us grateful to be Canadian, and appreciative of the way of life we enjoy.