Quick Notes

Not sure how regular the blog entries are going to be now that I am
traveling. Not sure how regular they were in the first place.

My parents got here the other day, and despite the eight time zones
they crossed, we did more in their first day in Addis than I did in my
first month.

We are in Lalibela now. It is pretty amazing. We aren't going to be
here for Ethiopian Christmas, but that's okay. Christmas was never
really a big deal for me anyway. Had Hanukah with kids from another
orphanage, not sure if Jewish indoctrination that they don't
understand is any better than Christian, there were potato pancakes
though..

It was sad to say goodbye to the AHOPE kids.

Next up is Gonder and the Simien Mountains for New Year's and then on
to Tanzania. Not a lot of internet connections I imagine, but I don't
think that will ruin it. Have taken some amazing (in my humble
opinion) pictures, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to upload.

Happy Holidays.

Basketball

Soccer is clearly the most popular sport here. As I have mentioned
before, not having a favorite English Premier League club results in
social awkwardness from time to time. The kids even play in an orphan
soccer league, and they are actually pretty good (they pass and
everything). However someone went to the effort of putting a
basketball hoop up at AHOPE and I think it is my duty to make sure it
is put to good use.

There is not a lot of basketball in Ethiopia. I'm told, in some
African countries (where the populace is a little taller on average no
doubt) such as Angola and Senegal there is a fair amount of basketball
played. However in Ethiopia just the fact that there is a reasonable
facsimile of a backboard is quite an achievement. The one at AHOPE was
clearly fabricated by some local welder, one wonders if he had any
idea what he was making. The rim and net I'm told were brought into
the country in someone's checked luggage. Regardless, though it is
about 9 and a half feet off the ground, it is very functional.

The most common use for it unfortunately is a game where kids take
turns trying to kick a soccer ball through the 8-inch space between it
and a wall. Now I am by no means a stellar basketball player by
American standards (or even European standards these days), but in
Ethiopia I can hold my own, and serendipitously one of the
tutor/teachers is supposedly on the Ethiopian basketball B-team
(though I'm not sure if this means anything, or is even true), Him and
I fostering the nascent growth of basketball at AHOPE. And we are
succeeding, not that we have brought down soccer or anything (not
that I would want to), but the cumulative field goal percentage as
well as total shot attempts have both increased significantly since my
arrival. Even my skills are a little sharper, though when I get home,
all of my shots will probably be 6inches short (same as it ever was).

When I say goodbye to the kids of AHOPE at the end of this week I'm
not sure how much lasting impact I will have. The kids may forget
their English lessons and their multiplication tables, but I will be
happy if a few more jump shots are going through the net.

Foods I Eat

Injera
I don't really understand people who say they don't like injera. I
agree it doesn't really taste very good by itself, but you don't eat
it plain. I think people who say they don't like injera just aren't
putting enough spicy food on it. It really goes well with spicy food.

Sambusas
I have been eating a lot of sambusas recently. People sometimes get
sambusas confused with samosas (or even with samusas for all the Burma
Superstar fans), because they are fried triangles of goodness, but
sambusas are clearly the best. I prefer the lentil ones, though I'm
told the meat ones are quite good as well (thankfully the lentil ones
are more prevelent here). They have protein and are delicious and are
the perfect 10cent snack.

Bananas
Bananas here are much tougher their del monte cousins. They can have
quite a few black marks on the outside and the inside remains
unscathed. They are a little daunting at first, because they look a
little beat up, but they are basically good normal (aren't I
enthocentric) bananas once you get past the lack of aesthetics.

Good Restaurants
I have been eating at quite a few good restaurants recently. I am
really realizing my time in Addis is wrapping up, and I am trying to
get everything in. Therefore I have splurged at little recently.
Eating at classy restaurants in the developing is still a good deal
comparatively, dropping 20 dollars gets you a five star meal. This one
restaurant, Castelli's, is evidently Bradgelia's and Bill Clintons
favorite restaurant in town, and I would tend to agree (though a
couple places I have been to have really good homemade pasta). However
the next day I am defintely an easy target for the beggars as it's
hard not to feel guilty for spending what people make in a month on
one meal.

Doctor Rick's

Although I am about to leave Addis, I feel like I have settled into
the ex-pat scene here, confirmed by my visit to Dr. Rick's house. I
did not visit this doctor because I had any rare disease (that would
truly cement my local status). Rather, I went to one of his regular
Friday night dinners, that evidently are a staple of ex-pat life in
Addis Ababa.

Dr. Rick is an MD from Long Island, who came to Ethiopia twenty years
ago, and basically never left. He works as a doctor doing various
incredible things including rounds at Mother Teresa's clinic,
traveling to surrounding countries and performing miracles (on Friday
he had just flew in from Rwanda where he is helping to start an
orphanage for 500 kids who lost their parents to the genocide), he
also raises thousands of dollars to send kids with a rare spinal
disorder to a specialist in Ghana for surgery, and he's taken in
around 20 orphans (most of them were around for dinner, all had
excellent manners). If you are interested in more details, I'm sure
you can google him (I'm told there was a recent reader's digest
article about him). He is a pretty mild mannered guy, the first thing
he asked me about was where I went to college, and weirdly enough he
also is a Middlebury alum, he even sent one of his sons out to photo
copy an article about Tanzania he had for me.

Anyway, every Friday he has dinner at his house that anyone is welcome
to come to (somewhat shabbat related). The food was great (all
vegetarian), and the crowd was classic. Apart from his bakers dozen of
boys, there was a medical student from Chicago, his volunteer
assistant from Michigan, a few Israelis, and an motley crew
representing your typical faranjosh (white people) in Addis. I ended
up talking with this one guy from LA that escorted a kid back to
Ethiopia who had surgery in America. He seemed like your normal
traveler working for some foundation, talking about buying
handicrafts, selling them in the States and giving all the profits
back to an NGO here, etc.

Only after we left did I find out, that the person I was talking was
not just your average faranji. He was Mel Gibson's Son! He said he was
raised outside LA and didn't seem to have too much direction in his
life, but he didn't talk like William Wallace or anything.
This is Addis.

Weekend Warrior

So I've been going on weekend trips, getting out of the city, fresh
air, wildlife, etc. And they have been really great. It feels like
Africa.

They have definitely lived up to expectations. This weekend we went to
Awash National Park. 3+ hours from Addis out in the bush. There was a
hot spring oasis, a volcano, local tribesmen with AK47s, oryx's, and
hotel from 1907 when the French built the railroad, everything you'd
want.

We hired a driver in Addis, recommended from another driver. He had to
borrow a Land Cruiser, but we figured it would be fine, his job was
"driver".

However the reason Ethiopians are such nice drivers in general is
because there are so few of them. The Majority of Habesha cannot
drive, and the one's that do have a lot less time behind the wheel
than your average Californian..

Our driver had never driven off of a paved road before, which made the
rutted roads of the park quite an experience for him, not to mention
us. He seemed more like a guy wealthy enough to own a car making money
on the side, then a driver (he took more pictures than we did). But
the kicker was that the battery connection in the Land Crusier was so
corroded that the car would rarely start the first time one turned the
key. Not to discount the ingenuity of the men of the developing world
in general (Max you can tell them about Rurrenbaque to La Paz), it was
temporarily fixed a few times by hammering a screw between the clamp
and the battery with a rock so the connection could be made, 30K from
a road. And it worked every time, sometimes with a few sparks and a
little smoke, but it eventually worked every time, until we were on
the way home, stopping for dinner in Nazeret one of Ethiopia's bigger
towns. It died completely. We (the four of us, along with a half dozen
other guys who were around) tried everything from pushing the car to
get it moving(as buses passed us on the right), to holding the battery
cable with pliers (not something I was willing to do). But by 8:30 it
was still not working, and as the last mini-buses were passing us
heading to Addis, we were a little worried.

Eventually a "mechanic" arrived on the scene, and with a little copper
wire, the day (or the night) was saved. After a prolonged argument
about how much the driver should give the crowd of people who helped
us, we were off again with no more turning off the engine (even to get
gas) all the way home..

Food

Because Karlita asked:

If you are familiar with Ethiopian restaurants in America you might
think that Ethiopia would be a great place for a vegetarian. Many
ethiopian spots back home (at least in such concentrated vegetarian
capitals such as Berkeley/Oakland) seem to market themselves to the
vegi crowd. However in Ethiopia it is a different story.

While there is a wide variety of vegetarian items endemic to the
traditional food, anyone who can afford it, will eat meat with every
meal. So that means the restaurants are a little meat heavy. The
exception to this is Wednesdays and Fridays which are traditional
Orthodox fasting days. On these days the full range of vegi options
are usually available.

On fasting days, I can go anywhere and get a big plate of assorted
piles of vegetable mush on injera for two or three dollars, and as I
think I've mentioned before, it is far superior to what you'd get
abroad. However on the other five days on the week I am constantly
searching for good places to eat, and I have found quite a few, but it
is not assured that I can eat well on a Tuesday night.

I am not starving. There is almost always shiro, and I like shiro. And
I have great lunches at work everyday that always include vegetable
options. Plus, there are many restaurants around that serve reasonable
facsimiles of western food (I think there is an aphorism: no matter
where you go, there is always pizza. Although one interesting twist on
that, often the vegi-pizza in ethiopia comes sans cheese and I have
had some difficulty communicating that I actually want vegetables AND
cheese.

to be continued..

Christianity

To say that Ethiopia is a religious country is an understatement. The
first night I arrived I was awoken at 4am (I went to bed an hour
earlier after getting in at 2:30) by chanting. It sounded to me like
it was the proletariat ready for the revolution, but it actually was
just the average night chanting from the local Orthodox Church.

They say there is a big Muslim population as well, but I would
estimate it in Addis Ababa at about 10%, everyone else seems to be
some form of Christian. The Westerners too, the place is like
Christian Disney Land to American evangelicals. Probably the majority
of the tourists are organized Christian tour groups. There is
everything they want in a vacation, from the amazing rock hewn
churches to plenty of poor Christians to have mercy for.

AHOPE is supposedly not religious. However everyone who works there
is, and the kids are definitely indoctrinated. Groups frequently stop
by to sing religious songs with the kids and give them candy. I think
the kids are starting to associate sugar with God. I definitely cringe
a little, but there's not much I can do (other than set an example).
The AHOPE staff definitely have a skewed idea of what America is like,
due to their contact with mostly Americans who are seriously
religious. I was asked the other day about home-schooling being normal
in America… I worry a little about the kids who get adopted by
heathens and how they will react to their parents' views.

Every Ethiopian I know here is very religious, and they might be a
little appalled by me. I try to be non-judgmental (at least outwardly)
but stay true to what I believe without being too offensive. At first
the questions would stop when I told them I was Jewish, they at least
had heard of Judaism, so it made sense to them. But we have definitely
gotten into some sensitive territory, ie the frequency of my church
attendance, stances on gay marriage and abortion, etc. I'm sure, just
like in the US not everyone is quite as religious as they say. Half
the office is in their mid to late 20's and is supposedly waiting
until marriage, while prostitution and AIDS is unfortunately rampant.

I always was interested in religion, studied it in college, etc., and
I guess immersion is always the best way to learn. Hopefully my
presence as an apostate but also as a good person might open some
peoples eyes as well. Anyways I am thinking of starting to tell people
I am a 7th Day Adventist to explain the vegetarianism..

More Photos

Here are some more photos. Click on the photo below:

Around Addis

Dark Chocolate

Amazingly, you can get Mexican food down the street from my house (no it's not nearly as good as Gordo's [or Anna's] but it is ok and the guacamole is great). I'm not really missing that many foods as one might expect. The Ethiopian food here is great (much better than home), I do miss real black pepper a little bit, but I digress. The one thing I have really been on a quest for is dark chocolate.

One might think since so much coffee grows here, they could grow a little cacao. But you would be wrong (Julia maybe you can explain it). There is milk chocolate here, and there are plenty of bad packaged choco-cookies (I even resorted to TimTams), and there are pretty good pastries in many of the coffee shops, but not a lot of the high
percentage stuff.

I understand that some people prefer milk chocolate to dark, and while I do not claim to understand them, they would be quite content here. However personally I have been looking all over for the real deal. I even asked some of my Ethiopian friends, and while I think I adequately explained what dark chocolate was, they were unable to help.

One thing I have been doing recently, and not just in search of Scharffenberger, is stop into grocery stores when I am out and about. You see, no two grocery stores are the same, and while I can get my meatstockless ramen at one grocery store, it is non-existent at many others. In fact, just yesterday on such a expedition I found Crest toothpaste!

Anyway, I was heading to Mexico the other day, and low and behold I saw a Grand Opening sign for a store called Rose's Chocolates. Needless to stay this had to be investigated, so I made a special trip over there on Saturday. And, I am now the proud owner of a bar of Lindt dark chocolate, 75birr (about 8 bucks) and well worth it. It melted a little on the way home, I stopped at a grocery store, they
even had Gillette Sensor razor blades! they also had dark chocolate (only 30something birr).

I am happy, but someone really should start a cacao farm around here.

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Great Run

Here is a picture from last year.

http://www.ethiopianrun.org/

Music

I love the music here, and I don't mean Ethiopian music in particular. Everywhere you go, there is music, but there is quite a mix of hip-hop, R&B, reggae, Ethiopian, and African music (no indie rock !!!) And yes, Ethiopian music is as diverse as the society (20+ defined ethnic groups), but I don't understand a word of it, so I am lumping it all together, not to mention the wide range of African music, whatever..

Regardless, the music here truly exceeds all my expectations (not really sure what I was expecting) and preconceived notions, and I am happy about it. Whenever you climb into a taxivan you are as likely to hear Bob Marley as you are Tigrinya Christian hymns. Everyday on my way home I pass this one place that sells (and even rents for 20cents) VCDs and CDs, and it is undoubtedly blasting T-Pain or Rhianna. But even better, sometimes you hear really dated stuff that you wouldn't hear back home, ie Michael Jackson or SWV. The local (really great
bytheway) bar is a great example, it is a classy place, somewhat related to this nice new hotel (but I think it may have been there first). The drinks are a dollar or two, and the bartender has about a thousand VCDs including his favorite Lil Wayne and Chris Brown videos (surprisingly limited Kayne selection). One time we were sitting there, watching whatever video Timberland was making an appearance in, and without warning, We Are The World came on. More fun than the impromptu off-key sing-along was spotting all the washed up stars singing their hearts out for the children. This is Africa.

Ethiopia has not failed to live up to expectations musically, and thankfully hyphy music has not made it over here (yet).

Random Thoughts

I have not been blogging as regularly as I would like, but blogger sucks in Ethiopia, and I have been sick this week (possibly parasites), but here are some random ramblings straight from Ethiopia.

I’ve done a couple short excursions the last few weekends, and they have been amazing. We haven’t even gone that far from Addis, 100-200km, but it has been amazing. Really feels like rural Africa with all the accompanying wildlife and nature, with some great lunch spots as well. I’ve taken a lot of pictures, I will try to upload them soon..

Drinking a lot of juice recently. There are these great juice bars all over that have fresh juice. The offerings are inconsistent, but they are always pretty good. It isn’t really like juice, more like a smoothie, but they call it juice. They use mango, papaya, avocado, banana, and some other fruits I don’t know the names of. I usually get a ‘spris’, which is a mix of what ever they have, but they don’t mix it, it’s just layers of each fruit sitting on top of each other. Very good. But I can’t figure out how they make them all the same consistency, no matter what fruits are in it, no matter where you go, they are all about the consistency of pureed banana (even when there is no banana in it), and they stay separated unless you mix them with the spoon they give you. I’m not complaining, it is really good, well worth the 40 cents and chance that they didn’t clean the glass out that well. Of course I squeeze fresh orange juice with breakfast every morning as well. Gotta get my vitamins.

I haven’t read any of the comments on the blog yet. Ethiopian internet won’t let me. Blogger.

I am participating in the Great Ethiopian Run next Sunday. Supposedly it’s the biggest race (most participants) in Africa, something like 24,000 people run 10K. Should be a lot of fun. We are supposed to be taking some of our kids as well, as AHOPE is actually one of the beneficiary charities this year, but it doesn’t seem very organized thus far. I am looking forward to it though.

How bout those Celtics.

I’m looking forward to my parents coming out here in December, though planning things here is always a little tough. Getting straight answers out of people can be challenging, but I guess it is tough in the US as well.

The weeks are flying by. I’ve been sick this week, and I mostly just read, watched tv and slept and it is already Friday. I have less than two months left in Ethiopia, and I haven’t explored half of Addis. This is really an amazing country. I highly recommend it to any Bolivia fans.

Email me your address, and I might send you a postcard. The Ethiopian postal system is amazingly efficient. I am daily astounded.

the photos

Addis Ababa

Merkato

As I have mentioned before, Addis Ababa seems like a very safe city. I
walk alone by myself at night and never fear for my personal safety or
even worry much about theft. Even groups of teenage boys walking
around at night do not seem to have the same pack mentality for
stupidity that their American counterparts often do. Sometime people
will try to engage you in conversation against your will and then ask
you for money, but they are not aggressive. As my guidebook warns, the
one exception to this is at the merkato.

The merkato is supposedly the biggest market in Africa (though the
souk in Cairo seemed bigger to me). It is a confabulation of streets
and alleys in the northwest of the city with ill-defined boundaries,
and everything you can imagine for sale. It is very confusing, even
for locals, as there are no street signs (much like the rest of the
city), and the grimy pavement is packed with people. The busiest day
is Saturday, when people for all over come to sell and shop. This is
also evidently is primetime for pickpockets.

So, looking for adventure, one of my first Saturdays in Addis, I went
out to the test the wisdom of Phillip Briggs and hopped on a vantaxi
headed toward the merkato. The sun was out, and imminent danger to my
faranji skin added to the frenzy. I jumped off the vantaxi somewhere
in the middle of it all, and with my wallet deep down in my front
pocket started to make concentric not-quite circles from my starting
point. I had vague notions about buying a sweater or some sandals, but
mostly I just fended off hawkers and attempted to get my bearings.

I bought some overpriced hangers, because despite the generous size of
my closet it was bereft of hangers. I looked at some sweaters, but
couldn't really find what I was looking for, and the noise and the
smells really doesn't make it a great shopping experience. I started
to wander a little more aimlessly, while at the same time looked for a
vantaxi back to Mexico (yes the intersection I needed to go is called
Mexico). Finding the correct vantaxi started to seem hopeless as I had
no idea where I was, nor any idea where they left from, and I was
considering ponying up the two dollars for a private taxi.

I asked a few people where to go, and unsure of their English
comprehension and their halfhearted pointing in general directions I
continued to wander the streets under the mid-day sun. Someone bumped
into me and grabbed my arm as if he was angry with me for bumping into
him. It took me a few seconds to realize there was someone else
digging in my pocket at the same time.

As soon as I realized what was going on, I yelled something and
grabbed at his arm. He started to move away and I swung wildly at him.
They both ran in different directions, and despite a momentary
inclination, I did not run after them.

I assured the people around me that I was in fact unharmed and still
in possession of all of my belongings. And possibly because of the
adrenaline, I quickly found a vantaxi back to Mexico.

I may venture back to the merkato one of the these days. I still
haven't found a sweater to my liking, but for the most part I am
trying to keep that kind of action and excitement to a minimum, even
if it makes a good blog post.