A friend for Papa

There's something I never told my maternal grandfather about my first trip to Ethiopia.  I have a strong feeling that, if they had a common language, he would be great friends with the man who was our driver when we went to the field, Girma.

 

I can barely communicate with Girma.  I know his Oromifa name (Gosh Liban), and we smile at each other a lot.  We were very happy to see each other again this week.  When I say "How are you?", he says "I am fine", but that's about as much as we get from each other. 

 

But I watch Gosh Liban interact with our colleagues, and he smiles, laughs, and is very courteous.  He seems kind, and thoughtful.  He took very good care of us when we were in the field in January, and there's something about him that reminds me of my grandfather.

A New Doggy Style

I had a moment of INTENSE embarassment this weekend as I walked around Addis with a colleague. I really have to share, because it's still unclear whether I've missed something pretty basic over the years, or whether some things really are *this* different between Africa and the
US.

As we were walking back to the guest house where I'm staying, I spied two dogs on the sidewalk. And then I did a double-take.

The dogs were facing completely opposite directions, and formed a straight line, with their heads at either end and their rears in the middle. They were, uh, having sex. They looked decidedly
uncomfortable, too, for the record.

I couldn't help myself. My attention was completely diverted to this unusual sight. My companion noticed I had stopped listening to him, and saw the dogs. He laughed, and commented on the fact that they were doing that in the middle of the city.

Hold on. *THAT* is what you're commenting on?

Apparently, what "we" think of as doggy style is just the males "warming up" here in Ethiopia. Because this appears to be normal behavior here.

Now, I'm opening myself up to ridicule, I realize this. But... really? I'd never seen this before.

Ok, go ahead, laugh all you want. :-P

Exploding Mini-bus

(Quickly, while the internet holds)

 

On Sunday, a colleague of mine took me on a tour of Addis.  Our mode of transportation?  Blue and white mini-bus taxis, the official public transportation here in Addis.  I'd already had the pleasure of riding in these aptly named "blue devils", but hadn't attempted to really navigate the city in them. 

 

The two of us set off from the guest house I'm staying in, and walked on foot to "la gare".  (I can't help it, "la gare" is what these impromptu transportation stations were called in Benin, and that's how I think of them in my head)  In each mini-bus there is a driver and an assistant.  The assistant takes your money and solicits customers by yelling the destination out the window.  La gare is semi-ordered chaos, with lots of noise as passengers walk around to find the appropriate bus. 

 

My guide for the day had narrowed down our choices when I heard a loud commotion, and found the source in time to see a mass of people throwing copious amount of water into one of the waiting buses.  "Are they cleaning it?  Dousing a drunk passenger, too far gone to get out of the bus at his stop?"  That's what ran through my head.

 

Nope, the bus had exploded, and then caught on fire.  "It may be a battery issue, because otherwise, it looks normal", was our driver's response as my guide and I scooted into the front seat of our mini-bus.  Trying not to convey my misgivings, I jokingly asked my guide if he thought it was idea that we were sitting up front, so close to the location of potential explosions. 

 

On our next bus, the only seats availabe were in the very back.  I continued with the day's theme, commenting that if this bus exploded, at least we would be able to get out through the back. 

 

Explosions aside (and, to be fair, this appears to have been a rare event), this was a great way to see the city.  Each ride was about 10 or 20 US cents... a steal when you think that a tour of the city in a small, "regular" taxi can be upwards of $20, and took me to places in the city I'm sure I'd never see on a tour intended for "Farengis".  For example, the slaughterhouse district of Addis, where all of the meat that is consume in the city arrives in the form of real, live livestock. You can tell you're entering this district even if you're upwind (because if you're downwind, there's no escaping that fact)-- vultures cover all of the rooftops, and the ground seems like it's moving, with all of the scavengers there eating the castoffs. 

 

One of favorite stops was Piazza, one of the older sections of town, and one of the areas we actually got out and walked around to see a bit of the quarter.  There was a line two blocks long for the cinema.  I was tempted to try to wait and see what the movie was, but we had an agenda!

 

Other stops on our tour: Mexico, the Stadium, Meskel Square, and a really beautiful overlook of the countryside to the Southeast of the city.

--
"Two of the greatest gifts we can give our children are roots and
wings." –- Hodding Carter

Teasers from Ethiopia

I've been in Ethiopia for a week and a half, and have stories!  Until I've got better internet, here are some teasers.  I'm interested in your thoughts about the last one, so please weigh in:

 

*Exploding mini-buses and my public-transprtation-tour of Addis

 

*"Doggy style" isn't what we thought it was...

 

*Atlanta, Georgia and Gary, Indiana represent at one of the nicest hotels in the world... with some of the most entertaining audience members I've ever experienced.

 

*Applications for a wife, vs applications for "consulting", and other conversational snippets

 

*To give or not to give: what do you do when confronted with street beggars?  If they are children?  Mothers?  Disabled?  I'm interested in your thoughts.

More soon...