The Camelot of Africa

The history of Gondar is fascinating. Ethiopia has had many changes of capital over the centuries according to the whims of whatever emperor was in power at the time (Addis Ababa only became the capital in the 19th century when Emperor Menelik's consort decided she liked the beauty of the place and wanted her house to be built there), and so in 1636 Emperor Fasiladas moved the capital to Gondar as it was geographically convenient for fertile land and caravan routes transporting slaves and gold.

From 1636 until the fall of Gondar around 1784, huge castles were built that resemble anything you would find in Europe at the time. Gondar's palaces held huge banquets for various passing dignitaries, and it's pageantry and ceremonies became legendary in the region and among Arab traders. The amount of wealth and power concentrated here was immense. It was like having King Henry VIII's court smack dab in the middle of Africa. And what got me the most was that I'd never heard of the place until I started researching this trip!


This is what I like most about Ethiopia. A fascinating kingdom and history that remains undiscovered by so many westerners. So much for the "famine-ridden tribal country" view that is still lodged in so many people's minds! 

Many of the castles lay in ruins as a result of the British bombing of the dug-in Italians who were using it as a hideout toward the end of the second World War.

Fasiladas' "vacation" home

It's a pool! Would be filled with water for Fasiladas to swim. Now they only fill it once a year for a festival after the Orthodox Christmas. 

Loved the trees

Fasiladas' castle

Posing...in the grass...trying to watch out for possible snakes!

3 of the castles

Horse stables on the compound

There are two hangers in the closet. What should we hang up?

When Whitney said the above statement, she actually just saw 1 hanger, and it seemed a lot funnier with one hanger for two people, but alas, we could each hang something in the closet.

The Lalibela portion of our trip was a whirlwind...but definitely worth it! We were picked up from the airport and whisked away to the churches. There are 11 rock-hewn churches, and our tour guide was adamant that we would visit all 11 (even though we arrived at 3PM and they closed at 5PM and our flight the next day would leave at 11AM). I was hesitant, but you know the saying "Where there is a will, there is a way"....our guide had the will, so we got to see all 11 churches.

On our drive to Lalibela from the airport....the scenery was spectacular!

One of the churches....just amazing.

Baptism pool

Traditional Home in Lalibela

The famous St. George church

Tourist shot with St. George

Another amazing church

Last church before we headed back to the airport. This church is still attached to the rock!

Take me to Djibouti!

After waiting in line for what seemed like forever, we were finally checked in with 30 minutes to spare before the flight was supposed to depart. Thinking that we were late, we rushed through security (FYI – nothing like the US) and found seats at the gate to wait.

You know…there’s a song by Tom Petty and Eddie Vedder…The Waiting…he says “The waiting is the hardest part”. 

We waited for our cab to arrive. We waited in line to check-in. And now we were waiting for our plane. For. A. Long. Time.

At 8:30AM (1 hour after our flight was supposed to depart), a representative came through and said they had breakfast for us while we waited. Breakfast consisted of some stale/not very sweet/not very good bread and orange soda. We were told the flight would leave at 10AM, so Whitney and I opted out of the “complimentary breakfast”, and headed for the food court in the airport. There I had an omelet sandwich (I really should have taken a picture) which had three huge pieces of bread (kinda like a Big-Mac) and probably 4-5 eggs. It was massive!

After finishing breakfast, we went back to the gate to wait. No sign of our plane. They were calling passengers for other flights, but the flight to Lalibela was not mentioned! At one point, the Ethiopian Airline representative walked through the crowds and announced that the plane to Djibouti was ready to board. Whitney and I decided that we would be happy with going to Djibouti for the weekend instead of hanging around the airport for much longer!

Around noon they came around and announced that a complimentary lunch was available. It wasn’t bread and soda, but since Whitney and I were still full we passed on lunch and opted for cold beverages instead.

Finally, around 1:30 PM we were allowed to board the plant to Lalibela (which was also going to Gondar and Axum). We were finally on our way!

Were you in the rain?

This past weekend Whitney and I did some domestic travel in Ethiopia. While I could write a single blog post about our entire trip, I've decided to write smaller posts about our adventures, highlighting the fun/interesting things that happened to us over the weekend.

The trip began early....5AM. I woke up and finished packing my backup and waited for our cab driver, Alfred (from previous posts), to arrive at 5:30. Alfred was a little late (15 minutes), but given my need to always be on time/early, I was starting to feel a little anxious. Our flight was supposed to leave at 7:30, and the travel agent recommended we arrive 2 hours before our departure. We only live a few kilometer from the airport, so we arrived around 5:50AM.

When we arrived, the main guard only checked my passport and ticket, and let Whitney enter the airport without even checking her documents. I guess they figured that if 1 American had her stuff together, that the other one would as well. Once we got in the actual airport, the line was ridiculously long! We got in line and waited, and waited, and waited for what seemed like forever.

We struck up conversation with a man and his two daughters who were in front of us. The man was returning to Ethiopia after being away for 10 years, and this was the girls' first trip to Ethiopia. They had arrived from Washington DC the previous night (he owns an Ethiopian restaurant  around the Convention Center) and were flying to Axum to visit family.

One of the girls asked me mid conversation if I had been in the rain. I was confused for a second, and then realized that my hair was still wet from my shower an hour before we arrived at the airport. I started laughing and told her that I had washed my hair before coming to airport. She gave me a confused look and we continued with our conversation.

Most folks in Ethiopia don't leave their house with wet hair. Heck, most folks in the US don't leave their home with wet hair. I guess it was strange for the girl to see, but it made my smile and made the long wait to the ticket counter a little more bearable. 

Pictures from Recent Travels

Group photo before proceeding to Portuguese Bridge

Overlooking the Blue Nile Gorge

Another look at the Blue Nile Gorge

Group photo from the top of the mountain..I'm in the blue jacket :)

At Lake Langano! The only Schistosomiasis free lake in Ethiopia!

The group in front of Lake Langano

Outside of my office in the middle of a rain/hail storm

My new motto :)

I played the piano and sang at church last week

Upcoming Weekend Plans!

Last night I had the (joy?) of listening to the dogs bark and the hyenas howl. I thought I was getting used to their midnight noise, but alas, the past few nights they have woken me up with their back and forth communication. I woke up around 3AM and didn’t fall asleep until 6AM….and woke up about 30 minutes later from a dream where I was in a car and the driver was driving recklessly. Not a good start to my day. Oyyy...

But, I did have an exciting evening. Whitney and I went to the Hilton last night and booked plane tickets for our weekend travels. We will leave on Friday AM heading to Lalibela (known for the rock hewn churches), then fly to Gondar on Saturday afternoon ( known as “The Camelot of Africa" due to the presence of a group of royal castles ), and then drive to Bahir Dar on Saturday evening( the source of the Blue Nile).  We will spend the Sunday in Bahir Dar, and return to Addis on Sunday night. The three flights costs $156 USD! You can’t fly to one city in the US for that amount, much less 3 one way flights!

Keeping Busy

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "To fill the hour -- that is happiness". 


If that's true, my happiness cup should be overflowing! Work is busy, life is busy. We only have 3 more full weekends left! I knew that time would fly by, but I feel like I'm just now finding my groove. I'm getting used to Addis and Ethiopian culture. I'm actually able to contribute to things at work. Why is the time flying by?


I'll try to post some pictures from my recent travels and adventures tonight.

Coffee

Quick Trivia Question: Where did coffee originate?

If you said Ethiopia, you’re correct! The history of coffee goes at least as far back as the thirteenth century. The story of Kaldi, the 9th-century Ethiopian goat herder who discovered coffee, did not appear in writing until 1671 AD.

  

Living in the country where coffee was “discovered” means that my daily activities revolve around consuming the popular caffeinated beverages. Most days I probably have 4-5 cups of coffee. A cup in the morning with my breakfast, a cup after lunch, and the newest fad is having coffee (cappuccinos and macchiatos) delivered to the office.

Everywhere you look there are small coffee boutiques. There are at least 6 on the strip outside of my office. The girl who sits next to me calls one of them, and they bring up the coffee and a bowl of sugar. They return about half an hour later to pick up the coffee cups (there are no disposable cups here), I pay him 6 birr (roughly .38 cents). Amazing! I could get used to this!

Roasting coffee beans at a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony

4th of July from Ethiopia

This was a 4th of July I won't ever forget! And it wasn't because of the amazing fireworks (because there were none), or the delicious BBQ (try again), or the amazing warm weather by the pool (yeah right...it rained for several hours during the day).

For starters, I took the day off from work. Most of the other interns (except for Liz) were working, but I figured I should celebrate our independence. And what better way to celebrate than a day at the spa.

Boston Day Spa in Addis

What I thought would be 2.5 hours at the spa, ended up being 4 hours....all for only $30USD! It was amazing! A 45+ minute massage, eyebrow wax, and mani/pedi...and no wait time! I was being pampered the entire time. I left the spa feeling soooo refreshed :)

Eskinder picked me up afterwards and took me to the grocery store. I was planning on making a mango cobbler (mangoes are in season and are really cheap). The recipes I  found online all called for brown sugar with the mangoes....and of course, the grocery store had no brown sugar. As I rounded the corner I saw canned peaches, and thought I would improvise. So I grabbed a few cans of peaches, and other supplies and headed home. 

Now, can openers exist in Ethiopia, but the house we're staying at doesn't have one, unfortunately. So I had to improvise to get the can of peaches open. The following photos document the process :)

 Using a screwdriver and fork to puncture the can of peaches

 Once the can was punctured, I cut open the lid to get the peaches out

 My work station....complete with my computer for the Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion

Ready to go in the oven!

 Looks right...smells right...

Tastes right!! Success!!

Poverty

I know I promised (for those of you who actually read this) an update on my Saturday adventure, but I think I’ll wait to write/post pictures from our day trip. I also want to blog about our 4^th of July celebrations in Addis (if you could call them that), but I’ll try to do that tonight.

On a more serious note, I wanted to write about the poverty and homelessness in Addis. Everywhere I look I see beggars and homeless individuals in the street.  You can’t go a mile without having someone approach your car and ask for money, food, anything. What really gets to me is when I see women approach the car with a small child and say “Sister” to me and put their hand to their mouth asking for food. Young children walk in between cars in traffic asking for money. Disabled and crippled individuals struggle to make their way to the cars begging for change. If it doesn’t pull at your heart to see this, I’m not sure you’re human.

As a white person in Africa, I feel that they expect me to give money to them. Sure, I’m better off, but that doesn’t mean I have lots of money to just hand out.  Leaving a restaurant with a take-away box is hard, because they point to it and ask for it. They don’t know if we have money in our pockets, but they know we are carrying some food. A few weeks ago, another intern (Brett) and I went to lunch one day at Chicken Hut. We had an extra chicken thigh, so we boxed it up and handed to a homeless man sitting outside of the church near our office. He seemed grateful.

I feel bad when I see someone who is clearly disabled…or a mother with a small child, but as a student trying to support myself in Ethiopia and maintain an apartment in Alabama; it’s hard to just hand out money constantly. And while I know it’s just cents, cents add up to dollars.

So what I’ve decided to do before I leave, is to go through the clothes/shoes that I brought to Addis, and donate items to a church or organization that will give the items to people who need them. I can’t make a difference in someone’s life by giving them 30 cents when the approach my window, but I can help by giving them a pair of shoes, or a skirt, or a jacket to wear in the rain.

Weekend Update: Part 1

Wow. I apologize for the lack of blogging over the last week. It’s amazing how tired and busy (mostly tired) I am after a day at work. Last week was really bad, because we would spend over an hour in the van picking up other interns before arriving home. I found myself so tired from commuting, that I would have a can of tuna for dinner and some chips, check my email one last time, and go to bed at 9PM. The dogs…and hyenas…and calls to prayer are slowly fading in the background and don’t disturb me as much anymore.  The rainy season has picked up and my rain boots and raincoat certainly come in handy when walking to the little boutique during the work day to grab a diet coke and a piece of chocolate. Having a driver is certainly a huge benefit – door to door service, but sometimes it’s nice to get out and walk around the compound.

Save the Children has a fairly large compound where I’m located – I think USA, Canada, and Sweden are all located on the property. We’re all in different buildings, so our experiences are quite different. Last week one day we were without water, power and internet (obviously) for several hours. Because we are working on desktops, the moment the power goes out, the computer shuts down and all work that wasn’t saved is lost. The funny part about it was that there was power on the 1^st and 2^nd floor AND 4^th floor…but not the 3^rd floor (where I’m sitting). It was really strange...how does electricity skip a floor? Regarding the water situation, it gets icky (pun intended) when you don’t have water to flush the toilet….if it was a latrine, it wouldn’t be so bad…but a regular toilet…people pour water everywhere, so it’s like a swimming pool by the afternoon. And we’re supposed to be public health folks!

I’ll try to write tonight (or tomorrow) about our weekend adventure (see video below for a sneak preview), but I thought I would write about my Sunday adventure (before writing about Saturday).  I got up Sunday AM with the plan to go to church (I’ve been attending the International Lutheran Church in Addis). I called a taxi driver that a friend who lives in Addis recommended. The guy gave us a reasonable rate, so he planned to pick us up at 10:30AM in order to get to the 11AM service. He arrived on time,  but on the way to church, we were in our first accident in Addis. Nothing big. Just a little tap on the car in front of us. What happened next amazed me...our driver got out…the other driver got out...looked at the cars, said something in Amharic, and both drivers got back in their cars and went on their way! Amazing! It was the shortest discussion over an accident I had ever seen!  In the US, there would at least have been a 10 minute conversation…and someone would surely have been “injured”.

Fast forward to Sunday night…the night of the Euro 2012 Final. Spain vs. Italy. Given the Italian influence in Ethiopia, I knew I wanted to watch the game with fellow Italians, Ethiopians, etc. Bethany and Austin (2 interns in the house) and I decide to watch the game at the Italian Club in Addis. So I called our new taxi driver and asked to be picked up at 8:45. As usual, he arrives on time and he gives us a good rate. We’re driving around a roundabout….when all of a sudden; he realizes he’s gone too far, so he starts backing up in the roundabout.  Per my previous posts, traffic is a MESS in Addis just by having the car in drive….stick that thing in reverse and you’re playing a whole notha’ game! The ride isn’t over yet, so don’t think that’s all…he passed the entrance to the Italian Club….and I don’t mean by 50 feet…probably 1000 feet! So what did he do? You guessed it! The other two interns didn’t turn around, but I had to look so I could prepare for the worst….thankfully, we weren’t hit and made it to the Italian club to watch the game. Fast forward a couple of hours and several goals later, when it looked like Italy was not going to make a comeback, we decided to leave a few mins early to avoid the crowd. Ignorantly, I called the same cab driver (3^rd time is supposed to be the charm, right?), and he called me 10 minutes later to us know he had arrived.

We walked outside just in time to see the cab driver back into a wall of rocks. The back of his car just went straight into those huge rocks. I couldn’t see his bumper, but from the sound, I don’t think it looked good in the AM. As I’m writing this post, I’m shaking my head as a recall what happened next. Because he backed his car up so far against those rocks…his back wheel was off the ground and was spinning. I was trying really hard to control my laughter…and was not successful…My friends were just staring in disbelief at what was going on. After revving the engine for what seems like 5 minutes while the wheels were spinning, the driver got out of his car, put a rock under the wheel, got back in the car, and was able to move the car from the rocks. We continued to stand there in amazement. Just in awe. Well, besides my inappropriate giggling over the situation. The driver got us back to the house in one piece, but rest assured, it’ll be a while before I give him a call again for a pickup J

Video from the Blue Nile Gorge

A few photos from our weekend trip to Meta Abo Brewery

 

The waterfall at the end of the mini trail

     The interns who went to the brewery last weekend

 The Americans (or ferengi) don't obey the rules! By the way, that's Eskinder (our driver) in the white. Coolest Ethiopian I've met so far!

A few more observations

Sorry for the lack of posting this week.  We’ve been busy with work and other things around Addis. I’ve been working on editing success stories for the project I’m working on – it’s difficult for non-native English speakers to write, so part of my job is editing their work. I hope that soon I’ll be able to go out into the field and talk to beneficiaries on my own (through a translator) and start writing my own success stories.

So to continue my list of observations of Ethiopia: 

• Carry your own toilet paper – This may be hard for Americans who have never traveled outside of the US to understand, but TP ain’t always available at a bathroom. And I ain't just talking about restaurants and other public places. I’m talking about at work.  We have no TP at work. Some folks keep their roll on their desks…and carry it with them to the bathroom, and when they are done, bring it back and put it back on their desk. The other intern and I are a little classier/discreet – we keep a pack of Kleenex in our purse, and take the small pack with us to the restroom. 
•  Wash your hands! Because Ethiopians eat with their hands, hand washing is extremely important.  When we eat in the canteen with our coworkers, we wash our hands before we eat, and after we’re done eating. I (often) forget to wash my hands before I eat in the States (even though I use silverware the majority of the time),but  it’s still a good habit to have.  It’s been a good refresher for me. 
•  GASP!!  After a few days in Addis, I started noticing that locals would gasp for air while talking to me. I started worrying that they were trying to get more oxygen?? Or that I just take their breath away? Haha, kidding. But honestly, with every conversation I had with an Ethiopian, they would gasp – like they couldn’t believe what I was saying. I mentioned it to one of the interns who is half Ethiopian, and she explained that the “gasp” is a sign of agreement. So when you ask a question, and someone “gasps”, it means yes, or OK. It still kinda takes me by surprise.  

A few photos from Wenchi Crater Lake

Week One Observations

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in Ethiopia for a week. I’m preparing for the remainder of the time to fly by as well, but I thought I would share a few tidbits of what I’ve learned and discovered about Addis Ababa so far:

1.       Altitude – Addis is the fourth highest altitude post in the Foreign Service. The airport is 7,628 feet above sea level. The US Embassy is 8,400 feet above sea level.  Coming from a lower altitude is certainly taking a toll on my body.  I’ve noticed fatigue, difficulty sleeping (the hyenas also contribute to this – see #7), and shortness of breath from walking up a few flights of stairs. I guess this is practice for what it’ll be like as an old person. Most people say it takes about 2-3 weeks to adjust to the altitude. Here’s to hoping it’s sooner.

2.       Traffic/construction/driving in general – Wow. See my previous post on life. I ain’t a bettin’ gal, but I can’t help but think how long it’ll be before we’re in an accident. I know that’s awful to say (and think).

3.       Eskinder (our driver) - Per above bullet, I must say one of the best perks of this internship is having a driver while in Addis. Eskinder takes us to work, picks us up in the afternoon, takes us to restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies, etc… basically anywhere we want to go. If we are going to be out late, he’ll tell us the maximum amount a taxi should cost us to get back to the house (taxi drivers like to inflate the price for foreigners). He also helps me with my Amharic pronunciation in the car – and smiles when I attempt to speak Amharic with a slight southern US accent.

4.       Rain (or lack thereof) – The rainy season in Addis begins in June and lasts until August/September. I was warned to bring rain boots and a rain jacket, but thankfully I have yet to use them! It’s only rained for about 30 minutes on 2 different days this week, so I’ve been enjoying the temperate weather.

5.       Injera – Ethiopians eat their stews with Injera – a sour, spongy bread like thing. I’m not a fan of it, but when it’s put in front of me, I’ll eat a bit of it. Because Ethiopia was “occupied” by Italy for several years, pasta and other Italian foods are available in cafes and restaurants. Ethiopians also know how to make a mean macchiato!

6.       Internet – Internet is hard to come by – even at the house. Electricity is often cut off (for no reason), making it difficult to access the web. I’ve only been without my iPhone for a week, but already I realize how much I relied on that thing. Americans (and others in developed countries) have the world at their fingertips. Not so much in Ethiopia. I’m learning to appreciate the luxuries I have in the states…and not spending countless hours on the Internet “just cuz”.

7.       Hyenas – Per a previous post, not only do the barking dogs and altitude keep me up at night, but also howling hyenas! In the movie Lion King I thought the hyenas laughed more than howled….kids..this is the truth!

I’m sure there are more things…but I’m not sure when the Internet will cut out. This list is to be continued….