Jan 30th, 2008 (Wed)

We’ve been having spotty water and power service in the neighborhood lately. The water has been cut since Monday afternoon, which means we have been taking cold showers in the mornings (not very fun as the mornings are in the 50s here). Buckets come in very handy when this happens and one realizes how little water we actually need to use in showers compared to when we do not think about it and take longer showers than we need. The power has been coming in and out during the day, which is OK, since it’s bright in the apartment – I only occasionally worry about my computer running out of juice. However, our living room fluorescent lights take up a lot of power and so have not been working since the supply has been low. So the last few nights have been a little dark in the apartment in the evenings. Fortunately, Tedesi got people to come over this morning to replace the lights for more energy-efficient bulb-lights that now work well.

The African Union is meeting in Addis this week, so there are many entourages of cars on the streets around the center of town. One big issue will be the conflict in Kenya in response to the results of the presidential election – the situation appears to have gotten worse in some towns and villages and it is really sad to see the killings, destruction and chaos that have ensued, especially for a country that in the last decade had made so much progress economically.

Tuesday morning, after our respective morning runs at the Hippodrome, Marc left for ENTRO and I walked to the Sheraton (about 1.5 miles away – I couldn’t figure out which autobus to take), to do some banking and to work for a few hours there. I figured was one of the few places where I would not stick out like a sore thumb while working on my laptop and would be left alone. The ATM was having issues and the bank was closed until after lunchtime, so I thought I’d just wait in the lobby lounge and have a cup of coffee, and was shocked that the cheapest drinks on the menu were coffee and teas for 21 birr (actually 27 birr after service charges and tax)! This is a real sticker shock after having 2 birr coffees everywhere else in Addis the past 10 days, but compared to US prices, this is reasonable I suppose. So, I told myself to forget about the fact that I could have gotten a whole meal out of the price of my cappuccino (which I did at lunch – spent the same amount on yummy spicy siga tibs with injera, and a glass of espris juice) and enjoyed it anyway.

In search of a late lunch, I ventured towards Meskel Square, also know by locals as Arbriot (Amharic for revolution) Square, which is a little reminiscent of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square (though only about a tenth the size). The road that passes in front of it is the widest I’ve ever seen, with 8 lanes going in each direction. I am proud to say I successfully jay-walked across all 16 lanes :P

Marc and I went to the Armenian Club, which is just a 5 min walk away for dinner and had a great Armenian meal (a smooth yoghurt-based mint and meatball soup, lentil salad, cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and beef, grape leaves stuffed with goat and bulgur, Armenian coffee & donuts) with Axumite sweet red wine all for less than 12 USD (including tax & tip). We may have to return soon and try the shish kabob next time! We caught some of the Cote d’Ivoire – Mali African Cup football game on TV (Cote d’Ivoire won 3-0) in the evening.

I’ve been working in the apartment today except for a 2-hour long excursion for lunch – had bayanet (it is Wednesday so the vegetarian fasting dishes are available); and to pick up some groceries for dinner. It is neat to see what they have in the stores here – some canned goods I’ve never seen before like beef spam, chicken spam and canned pate (3 different flavors too!). I found some dark chocolate (rare around here – the stores mostly only have milk and white chocolate).

~ Shuwen

Amharic words
Yes -- Aw
No -- Eye
OK -- Ishee
Egg – Inkulal
Bread – Dabo
Banana – Muz
Water – Wuha
Foreigner – Faranji
Local/Ethiopian – Habesha

Amharic numbers
Ten – Asir
Eleven – Asra and
Twelve – Asra hulet
….
Twenty – Haya
Thirty – Selasa
Forty – Arba
Fifty – Hamsa


Feb 2nd, 2008 (Sat)

It is crazy that we are now in February, although based on the Ethiopian calendar we are currently in the 5th month of 2000! This is another thing that is odd about Ethiopia that supports my growing opinion that it is a very inward-looking country. Ethiopia is the only country in the world that still uses the Julian calendar (the rest of the Christian world dropped it in favor of the Gregorian calendar in 1582!) and even has its own time (which is something I haven’t yet figured out completely).

The Julian calendar has 13 months, with 30 days in each of the first 12 months and 5 days (or 6 on leap years) in the 13th month. So, the millennium was celebrated here just a few months ago (Sept 12th, 2007 on the Gregorian calendar) – I wonder if should we point out to them that technically their millennium should be on Sept 12th, 2008.

We were told about a Namibian children’s chorus that was performing at the National Theatre on Thursday as part of the African Union meetings, and we supposedly on a list to get tickets for it. So, we had planned a day to ensure that we would make it there by 6:30pm. When we got there though, we were told that the performance was the day before! We had a flyer with the information we were told and there was another lady there for the same event, so we were pretty sure it wasn’t that we misunderstood things, but that either we were seriously misinformed or that the event has somehow moved a day ahead and no one bothered to tell us. This was very disappointing, especially since we had made such an effort to find our way there.

Since we were at the city center, we figured we should check out a Swiss restaurant that was written up in the Bradt guide. So far most of the recommendations in the book have been pretty good, but the Cottage Restaurant was certainly over-rated in our opinion. It was very pricey by Ethiopian standards (entrees ranged 40 – 75 birr vs typical Ethiopian meals that ran 10-15 birr), and the food was blasé. Both of our steak and veal were overcooked and way too creamy. This was easily the worst meal we’ve had in Ethiopia so far. So, Thursday evening was sort of a fiasco between the concert and the dinner.

Both of us appear to have acquired some kind of stomach bug, as we both have mild tummy aches all day long, which obviously could be a lot worse, so we are at least grateful it isn’t anything worse. We are not sure what it was we ate or drank in particular that would have caused this, but one suspect is our dinner at Cottage Restaurant, which would be really ironic.

This morning we ventured out to the west side of Addis to the Mercato, supposedly the largest market in the African continent (though I’m not so sure after also having been to Cairo’s al-Khalili souq, which is impressive in its own right). Spending money at the Mercato is easy despite our best attempts to bargain. Being able to bargain a little in Amharic certainly helped some and lent us some credibility as faranjis who are at least not fresh-off-the-boat. Besides some local craft, we also got some veggies and spices (berbere, Ethiopian cardamom, caraway seeds, and another spice we have seen used in bread here that we do not know the name of).

About an hour after lunch, we walked to the Hilton (about a 40 min/ 2 mile walk) to meet up with the Hashers for this week’s run. It was an impromptu arrangement this week since the person who was suppose to set the course didn’t do it. So, instead it was a ‘live run’ ( ~ 4 miles) starting off beside a new residential subdivision about 40mins outside the city center. It was pretty surreal to be there as the houses there were new, large, uniformly lined up and looked very much like many suburban American neighborhoods (except for the herds of cows grazing around). We also learned that the streets were sponsored by PepsiCo., so all the roads in the subdivision are name Pepsi Zone 1 Road 5, etc. It is really strange that a private company can get so many roads named after it!

The hash was challenging in terms of footing as much of the terrain was across people’s fields and farms (we must have trespassed across 10-15 families’ lands, including squeezing through a gate). Because it is the dry season, the ground is very dry and cracked, with pretty large crevices in the ground, which makes safe running tricky. With the development in the area however, we suspect that in 5 years most of these farms will no longer be there and will have more terrace-houses and bungalows built over them. Not surprisingly, Marc was on the front of the pack although it did not move too fast as only the lead Hash knew the route/ where he was going. Shuwen struggled through much of the uphill sections, walking a fair deal of it and was happy to make it back to the starting point.

As usual, we were greeted by Gorgyis (St George) beers and hung around to chat, welcomed the virgin hashers and ended today’s hash with a Hash hymn, complete with lewd body actions (we just watched and laughed since this was a first time witnessing this for us). Others headed off to a bar for drinks after the run, but we, Lauren (teaching English in Addis for 8 months) and Richard (who had just arrive in Addis from London this morning!) went to Bole. We had dinner at an Italian place called Antica, which has impressive pizza crust, lasagna and salads. We returned home tired and ready for a shower!

Amharic numbers
Sixty – silsa
Seventy – seba
Eighty – semagnya
Ninety – zetena
Hundred – meto


February 3, Sunday

Marc started the day with a long run up Mt. Entoto, elevation 3,200 meters. The road from Siddist Kilo (sixth kilometer) started with a moderate rise, up past the US Embassy, with its typical fortress-like and barricaded access points. At the end of Entoto Avenue, the street became narrower and started to wrap up and around the now steeper face of the mountain. Marc took this part more slowly, not exactly knowing how long the climb would take. By 30 minutes and now into the really steep part of the run without any descent up to this point, a small pause was needed, as well as a look back at the city far below in the valley (at 2,400 meters). The rest of the climb to close to the top of the mountain took another 6-7 minutes. All throughout the latter part of the climb, Marc could hear chanting, which sounded very much like the Muslim morning prayer call, but turned out to be a Christian song, from the Ethiopian Orthodox priests supplicating at the Entoto Maryam church. This historic church at the top of Mt. Entoto was beautiful and colorful, and a large crowd was gathered inside its gates, spilling out onto the street, it being Sunday. Some worshippers appeared to come on foot from the city below, walking slowly up the steep roads, or riding in the occasional minibus that made the journey.

From there Marc ran along the road (basically flat at this point) a bit further, before turning onto a wide dirt road (he had spotted an elite Ethiopian woman runner going that way and decided she probably knew good places to run. In fact, Entoto is famous as a training ground for Ethiopian elites, owing to it clean air, high elevation, soft roads and beautiful scenery. All these things proved heavily seductive to Marc, who ran along into the Entoto Hills national park, drinking in the clean, cool mountain air, enjoying the gentle climbs and descents and gorgeous views of the plateau below. He went another 25 minutes before turning around and descending back to the city, completing a 2 + hour run that was both exhausting and rewarding.

Marc and Shuwen had breakfast and then returned to St. Matthew’s for the family service, which involved quite a bit of singing and some role playing of stories from scripture. That was followed by lunch at a local Ethiopian place that had reasonable food, including a terrific sauce with beef and some yummy doro wat and Ethiopian cheese. Marc then went to ENTRO for some meetings about the Scoping Study he previously worked on and some other discussion of ongoing work on climate change in the Nile basin, and Shuwen returned home for a nap and some work on the first paper of her dissertation. The day was long, but a good dinner at home finished it off well (noodles and stir fry).