Jan 20th, 2008 (Sunday)

We woke up early around 6am, unable to force ourselves to sleep anymore and took an hour + long walk around the neighborhood as the sun rose. Considering that we did not have a map and the lack of road signs (or names for that matter), we did very well navigating our way around and found our way back to the guesthouse without having to backtrack.

There were a number of herders with goats roaming the streets – although it is not clear what the poor goats were able to find to eat – perhaps the little tuffs of grass here & there, and bits of trash like banana peel, fallen injera bread, etc on the streets. The butcheries seemed to be the only stores opened so early on a Sunday morning, and there were a decent number of people on the streets walking towards the bus stops and bigger roads that would bring them towards their destinations. This was in huge contrast to the lazy, quiet Sunday mornings in Carrboro with barely a soul up and moving at 6:30am in the morning.

We found our way to the main entrance of the Addis Ababa University, which has a beautifully manicured front garden and impressive gateway, probably because the university is now where the palace used to be. We have been told that we could probably enter the university if we turning our IDs at the security gates, and may venture to do so another time. On our way back towards the guesthouse we saw that the university did indeed have a track and there were a number of students running on it.

Breakfast (qurse) consisted of omelettes with tomatoes, green peppers and onions, and some rather amazing bread baked with cardamom (this bread reminded Shuwen of some of the Nubian bread she ate in Luxor and Aswan). We also got a flask full of hot tea (shay) and mango juice. It was a much enjoyed breakfast after our morning walk. We did some reading (for Shuwen), and computer work (for Marc) before Edesi came to get us to head out to see the Epiphany celebrations.

We didn’t have to go very far by van, but had to contend with a large crowd of people squeezing us from all sides while walking towards the celebration field. It was rather incredible how many people were out there. Folks would form large circles to sing and dance in them. We saw a few Caucasians participating in the festivities with one group, dancing in the middle of the circle as the Ethiopians cheered them along. Tents and tabernacles belonging to the different parishes lined one side of the field, and had been there since yesterday. There were crowds of people standing outside the gated baptismal pool where they were being sprayed with water to symbolize a baptism. Some had even brought bottles to try to fill with the holy water.

All around the field were people selling snacks, candy, sugarcane for chewing on, and other random knick knacks. People do not miss the opportunity to try to make some money if they are able to around here. However, one cannot but help see the irony of the religious celebration becoming so commercialized, even in a country like Ethiopia.

We left through a back-way that led us onto a street that had a few lanes closed for a Sunday market. We would have liked to venture into that and see what items we could have picked up given our lack of clothing and essentials, but we did not want Edesi to waste his time with us. He mentioned that there is a lion exhibit just down the road and suggested that we go check that out together. The Lion Zoo is rather old, but is still a very popular entertainment spot for families with young children. Edesi said that is has been years since he was last there since his children are now all grown up. As foreigners, we had to pay higher entrance fees compared to locals (10 vs. 1 birr), and the entrance fees are directed towards the upkeep and care of the zoo and its animals (only lions). There were 8 pairs of male & female lions with each pair having a small enclosure of their own. Many of them were pacing back & forth, obviously unhappy to be in captivity. A few others just lazed around and ignored the people pointing and jeering at them as best they could. Edesi explained that these lions were mostly caught in the wild from the national parks around the country when they were still young.

On our way back to the guesthouse, we pulled over at a neighborhood provision shop to call Ethiopian Air from their phone in hopes of figuring out the status of our baggage. We were told that they are due to be on a flight from Frankfurt tonight and should be ready for pick up tomorrow morning. Shuwen is not too confident about the claim, but we will call again tomorrow to find out for sure. Since we still had none of our bags, we figured we better try to pick up a few things to see us through the next day or two, so Edesi dropped us off near the Piazza before heading home.

Unfortunately, we did not have too much luck in tears of clothes shopping and finding an Internet place since it was a Sunday (most shops were closed) and the shop keepers kept quoting us exorbitant prices for goods that were clearly items that did not sell well in the US or Europe and were hence often too large for Marc. We did manage to pick up some toiletries however, so it was not a complete waste of time. We had lunch at a restaurant-café by the Piazza and tried gomen besega (greens and sheep) with injera. Then, we popped in Jeneve café in search for decent dessert and found a really good and moist chocolate cake and discovered that their idea of juice was well blended/pulverized fruit, much like a smoothie. Two big slice of cake, a guava smoothie & a cup of coffee came to 17 birr (~ USD 2) – what a deal. We were so stuffed when we left and were glad we had about a mile more to walk home. Along the way, we picked up some vegetables (carrots, zucchini, pepper, onions, tomatoes), bananas, oil and macaroni, and used much of them for the pasta dinner we made tonight.

The temperature here is generally cool (high 60s) in the shade during the daytime, but the sun really beats down on you and easily makes it feel like it’s in the mid to high 80s. With the walking we were doing outdoors we were both starting to feel rather warm & sweaty by 3pm. Not surprisingly, Shuwen caved into an hour-long nap after getting back home.

Later in the afternoon, the maid cleaned the apartment from top to bottom, vacuuming, mopping and wiping all the windows and shelves. Hopefully she doesn’t have to do this every day as it must be a real chore for her!

Amharic words/phrases for the day:
Thank you – amesegenallehu (this is tough – 7 syllables!)
One (two) cup of coffee – And (hulet) sini buna
Black pepper – kerum(?) berbere
Tea – Shay


January 21, 2008 (Monday)

We had mentioned that Addis is a city of many smells. It is also a city of a cacophony of sounds. One can hear the calls of various animals throughout the day, but at night, they become more amplified as the traffic lessens. We awoke a few times in the night to dogs barking, donkeys neighing and chickens cackling – there might have been others, but we were too drowsy to figure out what was actually going on. By 6am there are usually some carts or cars on the road the guesthouse is located on (not a major road) and you can hear conversations in the distance among neighbors. As the sun rises, the nearby mosque will have its first prayer of the day. It is actually really nice to have the chants going on in the background as you get ready for the day as it is somewhat grounding. For Marc in particular, this reminds him of his time in Bamako as well.

We had a very hearty oatmeal breakfast, then headed out to get a taxicab by the Piazza to bring us to the Sheraton. There are only a few places in Addis where there are ATMs, mostly in expensive hotels such as the Sheraton & the Hilton. Unfortunately, this also means that between the fact that we are foreigners and that we are going to the Sheraton, the cab-drivers would certainly over-quote us. Attempts to haggle will only get us so far since they know that other cab-drivers would also quote us the “white-man / yellow woman” price – oh well!

After accomplishing our banking needs, we tried to contact Ethiopian Air to figure out the status of our baggage, but to no avail (getting through is a real problem!) So, we headed to ENTRO together. We did not have very detailed directions other than the name of the road (which no-one seemed to know where it was) and the fact that it was near the Ararat hotel. Our cab-driver ended up dropping us off at the Ararat hotel and we wandered around for a bit before finding the ENTRO office which was on an adjacent road that apparently has been having its sidewalk paved for over 2 years now (hasn’t changed from when Marc was last there in 2005).

Upon arriving at ENTRO, no-one seemed to know that Marc was going to be here are a few weeks as Marc’s main contact is currently out of the country. This was not too surprising as this is generally how things work. However, folks were rather responsive and accommodating and Marc got to speak to the Director who got the ball rolling. The ENTRO office is quite nice and Shuwen ended up spending some time there online, while Marc met with various people to figure out how to access the database and use their resources.

We learned from one of the administrative staff that the work hours (at ENTRO at least) are:
Start work: 8:30am
Tea/Coffee break: 10am (this is a scheduled daily event, and everyone gathers for this!)
Lunch: 12:30 – 1:30pm
Call it a day: 5:30pm
Good information for us as he plans his day and it will get us towards having a routine. Tomorrow Marc will go alone and Shuwen will stay home (at the guesthouse) to work.

Lunch at Ararat Hotel --->

We learned that our bags somehow ended up in Paris (gah!!!) and should arrive in Addis Wednesday morning. So, we really had to get stuff because Marc now badly needs to run, otherwise his training will greatly suffer (the last time he ran was on Friday). Fortunately, Shuwen had gotten travel insurance that covers up to USD 500 for baggage delays over 24 hours. While we knew we could have easily gotten over-priced items earlier and had insurance cover things, we were hoping to not have to go shopping and be easy targets. The head secretary nicely arranged for one of the ENTRO drivers, Assafar, to drive us back into town to do some shopping and helped by translating and generally being a useful person to have around. Despite our efforts to negotiate prices down, we ended up buying 2 nice shirts & 2 dress pants for Marc and a shirt & skirt for Shuwen for 1500 birr (~ USD 165). We would rarely spend that much on clothing in the US, let alone a country like Ethiopia, but given our situation and the fact that we were so sick of shopping and had tried on a number of different pieces of clothing by now, we just wanted to ordeal to end – after all, we (in theory) should be able to claim all of this.

Finding running shoes is a real pain in Ethiopia, which is quite ironic considering the number of talented runners that hail from this country. Maybe that is why so many of the top runners run barefoot! We saw lots of fashion sneakers, basketball shoes, tennis shoes, and others with plastic soles, but saw only 3 pairs of running shoes among the 6-7 stores we went into, of which only one was in Marc’s size. So, without having to haggle too much, the shopkeeper was able to sell that pair pretty easily.

Assafar kindly drove us back to the guesthouse, which as it turned out wasn’t too far from where we shopped. It is easy to get turned around from being driven here and there, and because road signs are rare (only for major roads), the roads wind all over the place, and each street can have more than one name. We also haven’t been able to get any real maps of Addis since our guidebook is in our check-in luggage. Still, we are slowing getting familiarized with the Arada district, where we are staying, at least.

Marc headed out on his first run in Ethiopia around 6pm, and came back declaring that he wasn’t going to run that time of the day anymore since there are still lots of traffic and hence exhaust. He’s planning to do his runs in the AM before heading to ENTRO as the air should be much better earlier in the day. Meanwhile, Shuwen did some laundry and headed across the street to pick up a few things, using a few Amharic words here and there to the apparent amusement of the storekeeper. We had a quiet evening, blogging, working, catching CNN and BBC (we get cable here – more than a step up from Carrboro where we don’t even have a TV – we had mentioned this to Kibrum who responded with “you are true scholars”).

Amharic words/phrases for the day:
How much does this cost? – Wagaw sint no?
That is quite expensive – Betam wood no?