Learning Fast

Before I go, I've been brushing up a bit on the culture, heritage and incredible people of Ethiopia. I know I'm going there to teach, but at the moment I'm the one doing the learning. Here are the top 10 things I've learnt about Ethiopia, so far:

1) It was the first country to declare Christianity as its official religion

2) Ethiopians celebrated the new millennium in 2007

3) Former Emperor Haile Selassie is worshipped by Rastafarians as God on Earth

4) Meals in Ethiopia are traditionally served on injera, a sort of edible plate

5) The country's favourite alcoholic drink is a type of honey mead

6) Ethiopia contains 21 species of bird that are found in no other country in the world

7) The skeleton of the oldest human ancestor was found in Ethiopia and is 3.2 million years old

8) In the town of Lalibela the Churches are not built, but dug down into the rock

9) The Danakil Depression in the South of the country sees temperatures rise to 48°

10) The source of the Blue Nile, which leads into the Nile, is in Northern Ethiopia