Dashen Brewery is the local government brewery. Some people drink it to show their patriotism and some people refuse to drink it to protest the government. I tend not to drink it because it doesn't taste very good. In it's favour though it is the cheapest beer you can find in Gondor. I meant to go on a tour of the their brewery which is located not too far out of town before I left, but instead I stumbled across a better way to visit it. On Friday myself and some friends were out at one of the local pubs when we found out that the brewery was having a big party on Saturday. All day long, free food and drink, live bands, a comedian, the works. Of course we have to try and go. Our first solution to try and crash it proved unnecessary when sitting next to us a friendly drunken man introduced himself as the Dashen Representative in Charge of Inviting Foreigners. He might have made this up, but whether that was the case or not he did have a bunch of invites to give us.
So the next day off we go to the Dashen party. It was fairly humongous with about 3000 people in attendance. The music was good from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about the music beforehand. I'd write a review, but I have no idea who played except for someone named Ababa. We were the only foreigners there except for the nice old Jewish man who runs the tahini factory down the road (he gave me some tahini). This fact gave the impression that the self-proclaimed Dashen Representative in Charge of Inviting Foreigners was not very good at his job, but also made us incredibly popular. I opened someone's beer with my key-chain/bottle-opener and was then swarmed with requests to do this to the point that when a proper waiter showed up people tried to refuse his service to get mine. That was actually a little much to be fetishized like that. Double-standard alert! What wasn't too much though was
when a security guard came up to me and said, "Do you like food?" Not something easy to say "No" to. I've always kept food up there with things like air, sleep and shelter when I'm deciding on whether I approve of them. So I voiced my approval and he took me by the hand to the back of the food tent, where I was given a plate and unlimited access to the food.
The funniest part was the other people who had also been offered this privilege which were a number of staff, myself and a guy in a really nice suit. The guy in the really nice suit kept stuffing chunks of raw meat into his pockets because he said it was expensive to buy. As expensive as your really nice suit, buddy? I doubt it.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
Riots
Yesterday I got an email warning volunteers to stay clear of the Arat Kilo and Siddist Kilo regions of Addis Ababa (the capital I just got back from) with a vague warning of disturbances. Got this in my inbox today:
> There are continuing disturbances at the Siddist Kilo and Arat Kilo
> campuses of Addis Ababa University.
>
> The cause for the disturbances is the death on Wednesday of a student from
> food poisoning, and the subsequent post mortem including removal of
> internal organs (conducted without family permission). Federal police have
> entered Siddist Kilo campus and the situation is currently under control.
> Students at the Arat Kilo are engaged in stone-throwing with the police
> and the Dean has been injured.
>
> The Black Lion Hospital has also been the scene of protests.
I am glad that I got this email because a friend of mine is going to Addis and was planning on visiting the Siddist Kilo campus museum while he was there. If I hadn't warned him about this he might have unknowingly walked into the middle of a riot.
It really drives home the lack of a source of news in Gondor and really anywhere outside of Addis Ababa is pretty starved of news. There's no newspaper infrastructure outside of the capital really and what news there is, is mostly state-controlled so certain things are silently omitted. There's the official Ethiopian Herald, which is gov controlled and hasn't been updated online in a couple days, since before this development happened. The independent Sub Saharan Informer is pretty good and in fact carries this story currently, but is only allowed to operate because it is Kenyan based (I believe). I check the BBC pretty regularly, but that only covers big stories and usually a few days after they've happened. Things happen here all the time that would be front page news in Vancouver, but aren't mentioned because of a lack of infrastructure. Incidents such as a lynching that happened in a fellow volunteers town, that he didn't know about until he was asked about it in Addis. It's really appalling to see what happens and goes unheard of in a place without an established press.
> There are continuing disturbances at the Siddist Kilo and Arat Kilo
> campuses of Addis Ababa University.
>
> The cause for the disturbances is the death on Wednesday of a student from
> food poisoning, and the subsequent post mortem including removal of
> internal organs (conducted without family permission). Federal police have
> entered Siddist Kilo campus and the situation is currently under control.
> Students at the Arat Kilo are engaged in stone-throwing with the police
> and the Dean has been injured.
>
> The Black Lion Hospital has also been the scene of protests.
I am glad that I got this email because a friend of mine is going to Addis and was planning on visiting the Siddist Kilo campus museum while he was there. If I hadn't warned him about this he might have unknowingly walked into the middle of a riot.
It really drives home the lack of a source of news in Gondor and really anywhere outside of Addis Ababa is pretty starved of news. There's no newspaper infrastructure outside of the capital really and what news there is, is mostly state-controlled so certain things are silently omitted. There's the official Ethiopian Herald, which is gov controlled and hasn't been updated online in a couple days, since before this development happened. The independent Sub Saharan Informer is pretty good and in fact carries this story currently, but is only allowed to operate because it is Kenyan based (I believe). I check the BBC pretty regularly, but that only covers big stories and usually a few days after they've happened. Things happen here all the time that would be front page news in Vancouver, but aren't mentioned because of a lack of infrastructure. Incidents such as a lynching that happened in a fellow volunteers town, that he didn't know about until he was asked about it in Addis. It's really appalling to see what happens and goes unheard of in a place without an established press.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Roosters
Roosters are one of the most annoying things ever created by Mother Nature. The only satisfaction I get out of having a rooster nearby is that I know that at some point my landlord will grab it by the feet and lop off it's loud head. This is how I console myself when I am woken between 5 and 6:30AM every day.
A trip to Addis
I didn't post recently not because of laziness, but because I went to Addis Ababa for an IT conference. A conference like this is excellent news for a person in my situation as a volunteer not in the capital. It offers an opportunity to have regular hot showers, eat food that you can't get in your small town (Gondar's not that small, but the food is limited), pick up some goods you might not be able to find elsewhere and feel some normality in having some degree of anonymity. I say the last one because most people don't shout at you as you go by in the Capital, they're almost used to foreigners there. Except cab drivers... they always shout at you.
"Hey you want taxi?!"
"Taxi! Over here, let's go!"
"Where you go!?"
Things like that. The point is as a volunteer who is in a country who's probably finished touristing around you really look forward to the luxuries (actually just things that you used to have, but don't anymore) if they become available. I had a burrito and a curry when I was in Addis, that was pretty awesome. I also flew in and out of Addis and learned that Ethiopian Airlines is the most hijacked airline in the world. There was apparently a documentary about it. However, despite (or because of) all the hijackings they one of the best reputations for successfully resolving hijackings without deaths, one of the pilots has done it a dozen times. Woo that certainly makes me feel safe. Though I was not intending to test their security I did by losing my photo ID somewhere in Addis. I was allowed on without showing any evidence of who I was beyond holding a ticket with my name on it. Although I noticed someone in front of me got on with a rainbow laminated photo ID that looked like it had been made at Staples and then laminated... actually that's what my photo ID looks like (minus the rainbows).
"Hey you want taxi?!"
"Taxi! Over here, let's go!"
"Where you go!?"
Things like that. The point is as a volunteer who is in a country who's probably finished touristing around you really look forward to the luxuries (actually just things that you used to have, but don't anymore) if they become available. I had a burrito and a curry when I was in Addis, that was pretty awesome. I also flew in and out of Addis and learned that Ethiopian Airlines is the most hijacked airline in the world. There was apparently a documentary about it. However, despite (or because of) all the hijackings they one of the best reputations for successfully resolving hijackings without deaths, one of the pilots has done it a dozen times. Woo that certainly makes me feel safe. Though I was not intending to test their security I did by losing my photo ID somewhere in Addis. I was allowed on without showing any evidence of who I was beyond holding a ticket with my name on it. Although I noticed someone in front of me got on with a rainbow laminated photo ID that looked like it had been made at Staples and then laminated... actually that's what my photo ID looks like (minus the rainbows).
Monday, April 16, 2007
Going out
So last night I went out with some coworkers, which was exciting because I hadn't been out with coworkers who are habesha (Ethiopian) before. We grabbed some food and then hopped around bars downing far too much alcohol for a Sunday night. The high point of the evening was at a dance club we ended up at called 1st Bar where, Megbaru apparently decided I needed an Ethiopian girlfriend.
What made this event particularly amusing was his insistence on finding me one right now. His technique for doing this consisted of dragging a hapless girl who was dancing somewhere else over near us. Then he would ask her if she spoke English. He would then turn to me and say "I asked her if she speaks English". She would then dance off back to her friends. I assume she said "No". Then he'd do it again. And again. And again. At this point my disbelief at his attempts had been replaced by loud laughter and maybe he did find a girl who spoke English, but she was put off by my constant laughter at the ridiculousness of the whole situation.
Anyways afterwords I went home by cab and as usually happens when I got home late I had to walk through a pack of stray dogs, which is incredibly unnerving. The dogs that don't have homes in the neighbourhood seem to hang out on the road near my house and at night when the streets are empty they collect and lurk around. There's about 8 of them and they're big. They make me very glad that I have an infinite supply of imaginary rocks to drive them away with. They are quite ingrained with a fear of rocks as Ethiopian's tend to throw rocks at lots of things to drive them away, dogs, goats, chickens, kites, children and so if you pick up some imaginary ones you can scare off the dogs that tend to menacingly glare at and stalk you when you get home at night.
What made this event particularly amusing was his insistence on finding me one right now. His technique for doing this consisted of dragging a hapless girl who was dancing somewhere else over near us. Then he would ask her if she spoke English. He would then turn to me and say "I asked her if she speaks English". She would then dance off back to her friends. I assume she said "No". Then he'd do it again. And again. And again. At this point my disbelief at his attempts had been replaced by loud laughter and maybe he did find a girl who spoke English, but she was put off by my constant laughter at the ridiculousness of the whole situation.
Anyways afterwords I went home by cab and as usually happens when I got home late I had to walk through a pack of stray dogs, which is incredibly unnerving. The dogs that don't have homes in the neighbourhood seem to hang out on the road near my house and at night when the streets are empty they collect and lurk around. There's about 8 of them and they're big. They make me very glad that I have an infinite supply of imaginary rocks to drive them away with. They are quite ingrained with a fear of rocks as Ethiopian's tend to throw rocks at lots of things to drive them away, dogs, goats, chickens, kites, children and so if you pick up some imaginary ones you can scare off the dogs that tend to menacingly glare at and stalk you when you get home at night.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Religion and a brief mention of corn flakes
Before I left I was chatting about travelogues with Peter and he pointed out that all his travelogues are obsessed with food, and are really boring to read after you get back. This is why I'm not going to tell you how happy I was to eat corn flakes for breakfast this morning. I was really happy though.
Instead I'm going to talk about Protestants. Protestants are the persecuted religious minority in Gondor. As religions go, the oldest is the old African stuff that no longer exists much although there's apparently some practitioners in the ruraller areas I've never met them. So effectively the religion that forms the old boys club in Gondor is the Christian Orthodox and that's what most people follow. There is a Muslim contingent, but they've been here so long that they don't really get persecuted anymore. They probably did back in the day though. So the Protestants are the newest form of religion in Gondor and they seem to be treated about as well as Medieval Jews*. As recently as 13 years ago there have been incidents of Protestants being murdered and beaten up. They have a harder time getting a job and when they recently built a church to worship in it was burned down while all the Protestants were out celebrating the building of their new church. If I were coming to Ethiopia and was a Protestant I might neglect to mention this fact. Oddly this religious intolerance seems to have singled out Protestants as most other religions are just the religions of foreigners and the locals only have a vague understanding of them at best.
To end on a lighter note I'll relate a story my friend Avi, (who is Jewish if you hadn't guessed from the name) told me. He was asked his religion and said Jewish to which he was happily clapped on the shoulders and told he was just like them (they were Orthodox). A little surprised by this he pointed out that there were a few differences in their religion to which they replied "Like what?".
"Well, there's the Jesus thing"
"But you believe in him right?"
"Well, I believe he existed."
"But we both believe he was the son of God so we're the same"
"Actually Jews don't believe he's the son of God"
"But you know he was the son of God right?"
"No, we don't believe that."
"Are you sure?"
"Yep, pretty sure"
"I think that you know he was the son of God."
"No, we don't believe that."
It went on in this vain for a while. The point being that he (the Ethiopian) seemed to think that Jews really did know that Jesus was the son of God, but just claimed he wasn't to be difficult. Those wacky Jews always denying the truth of Christ even though deep down they know he was the son of God.
All this talk of religion and I haven't even discussed powerpoint presentations (which are apparently very important to religion) or my Buddhist defensive measures. Hopefully I'll do that soon.
Jordie
*I actually don't know much about the life of a Medieval Jew, so what I actually mean to say is they seem to be treated about as well as I vaguely understand Medieval Jews were treated.
Instead I'm going to talk about Protestants. Protestants are the persecuted religious minority in Gondor. As religions go, the oldest is the old African stuff that no longer exists much although there's apparently some practitioners in the ruraller areas I've never met them. So effectively the religion that forms the old boys club in Gondor is the Christian Orthodox and that's what most people follow. There is a Muslim contingent, but they've been here so long that they don't really get persecuted anymore. They probably did back in the day though. So the Protestants are the newest form of religion in Gondor and they seem to be treated about as well as Medieval Jews*. As recently as 13 years ago there have been incidents of Protestants being murdered and beaten up. They have a harder time getting a job and when they recently built a church to worship in it was burned down while all the Protestants were out celebrating the building of their new church. If I were coming to Ethiopia and was a Protestant I might neglect to mention this fact. Oddly this religious intolerance seems to have singled out Protestants as most other religions are just the religions of foreigners and the locals only have a vague understanding of them at best.
To end on a lighter note I'll relate a story my friend Avi, (who is Jewish if you hadn't guessed from the name) told me. He was asked his religion and said Jewish to which he was happily clapped on the shoulders and told he was just like them (they were Orthodox). A little surprised by this he pointed out that there were a few differences in their religion to which they replied "Like what?".
"Well, there's the Jesus thing"
"But you believe in him right?"
"Well, I believe he existed."
"But we both believe he was the son of God so we're the same"
"Actually Jews don't believe he's the son of God"
"But you know he was the son of God right?"
"No, we don't believe that."
"Are you sure?"
"Yep, pretty sure"
"I think that you know he was the son of God."
"No, we don't believe that."
It went on in this vain for a while. The point being that he (the Ethiopian) seemed to think that Jews really did know that Jesus was the son of God, but just claimed he wasn't to be difficult. Those wacky Jews always denying the truth of Christ even though deep down they know he was the son of God.
All this talk of religion and I haven't even discussed powerpoint presentations (which are apparently very important to religion) or my Buddhist defensive measures. Hopefully I'll do that soon.
Jordie
*I actually don't know much about the life of a Medieval Jew, so what I actually mean to say is they seem to be treated about as well as I vaguely understand Medieval Jews were treated.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Happy Fasika! (Cow Killing)
So my next meal would end up really driving home that I am in another culture that occasionally I'll think I understand, but will inevitably be proven wrong. Although, it was a very different experience I would not say it was as amusing as the first one.
I joined my landlords family for dinner and it was a much more relaxed affair compared to the last one. They were not as dressed up nor did they offer the fancy drink (ouzo) instead just cracking me a beer when I got there. The food was essentially the same as the last meal although there was a vegetable inhabited variant of tibs that was quite good. There were a number of extended family visiting and among them a couple who had recently been married. The family has apparently not seen them since the wedding and they had brought a copy of their wedding video with them. So they decide to put it on while we're eating. I am at first quite curious in a cultural sense to see the differences between our wedding ceremonies.
The first minute of the video was a quick pan over the kitchen which showed lots of women hurriedly making food for the wedding's feast. The next minute was a pan over a bunch of cows which were going to be eaten at the feast. The next twenty (20) minutes were the aforementioned cows being slaughtered in graphic detail at which point I promptly lost my appetite although the family seemed happily entranced by the proceedings which contained such lovely images as cows throats being slit, their entrails being removed, and then it happening again to another cow. After this had passed I politely left.
You're not in Kansas anymore, Jordie.
I joined my landlords family for dinner and it was a much more relaxed affair compared to the last one. They were not as dressed up nor did they offer the fancy drink (ouzo) instead just cracking me a beer when I got there. The food was essentially the same as the last meal although there was a vegetable inhabited variant of tibs that was quite good. There were a number of extended family visiting and among them a couple who had recently been married. The family has apparently not seen them since the wedding and they had brought a copy of their wedding video with them. So they decide to put it on while we're eating. I am at first quite curious in a cultural sense to see the differences between our wedding ceremonies.
The first minute of the video was a quick pan over the kitchen which showed lots of women hurriedly making food for the wedding's feast. The next minute was a pan over a bunch of cows which were going to be eaten at the feast. The next twenty (20) minutes were the aforementioned cows being slaughtered in graphic detail at which point I promptly lost my appetite although the family seemed happily entranced by the proceedings which contained such lovely images as cows throats being slit, their entrails being removed, and then it happening again to another cow. After this had passed I politely left.
You're not in Kansas anymore, Jordie.
Happy Fasika! (Drop It Like It's Hot)
For those of you whose knowledge of Amharic does not extend to holidays:
Fasika = Easter
Fasika will probably be the biggest celebration I see while I'm in Ethiopia. I will not be arround to see the celebration of the Ethiopian millenium which I imagine will also be a big deal. You can also tell how long a ferenji has been in town by how many invitations to eat at other peoples houses you get. I recieved three. People who had been here 3 months or upwards seem to recieve about 20 each. Fasika is also the celebration of the end of Orthodox Ethiopians fasting period which is the 40 days of Lent plus 15 extra days at the start for some reason I can't remember. At 9PM of Saturday before Easter Sunday they are allowed to eat meat again and they do this with great gusto. Starting with lots of chicken then going to sleep and waking up to eat lots of sheep and some more chicken. Beef is eaten, but it's not a celebratory meat (sort of like how you'd be much more likely to eat turkey than beef at Thanksgiving or Christmas).
I just got back from my first meal of the day which was incredibly filling and consisted of doro wot (chicken fried in burbere sauce), tibs (boiled mutton), ouzo, coffee and tallah (a disgusting local drink that I can describe as a homebrewed beerish thing that has a lot in common in flavour to cold weak coffee). Also a banana. Not particularly the healthiest meal I've ever eaten. There's way more food than you can eat and all they do is put more and more in front of you, constantly urge you to have more and then look faintly distressed if you say "No" on the very valid grounds that you are full, so that next time you feel guilty and say "Yes" but only a little and then they serve you/pour you way more than you wanted. The food is good though, but I am luckily only going to two meals (I dodged an invitation) otherwise I might explode/get embarassingly drunk. Which is what I expect to hear happened to some of the other ferenjis tomorrow.
What was perhaps the funniest part of the whole event was Ethiopian's love, but general misunderstanding of top 40 party rap. The meal starts we all go through the ritual handshake greetings that characterize Ethiopia, say we're all fine, get introduced to people we don't know, etc, sit down and start to eat. While we're starting to eat our hosts son turns on the DVD player and starts playing some music. Myself, Norma (a 73 year old coworker from Penticton) and an extremely Orthodox religious family will spend the next hour or so listening to such fine artists as Snoop Doggy Dog, The Game, Lil Jon, 50 Cent, Ludacris, G-Unit, and Eminem sing about how good they are at spending money, doing drugs, and having sex with promiscuous women. I'm fairly certain they also have no idea what the songs are about because I can't imagine the strongly held religious beliefs would allow them in the house if they did. The only attempt I made at explaining rap was quickly sidelined by their disbelief that poor people exist in North America, though so we didn't stay on the topic for too long.
To be honest I'd say that despite the fact that they don't understand the lyrics I'm pretty sure they can grasp the meaning of the songs as the videos that accompany the songs are exactly the ones you'd see on MTV or Much Music in all their bikini-girl glory. It was a surreal meal, now I'm going to go have my second one though and if it's notable I'll write about it tomorrow.
Jordie out
Fasika = Easter
Fasika will probably be the biggest celebration I see while I'm in Ethiopia. I will not be arround to see the celebration of the Ethiopian millenium which I imagine will also be a big deal. You can also tell how long a ferenji has been in town by how many invitations to eat at other peoples houses you get. I recieved three. People who had been here 3 months or upwards seem to recieve about 20 each. Fasika is also the celebration of the end of Orthodox Ethiopians fasting period which is the 40 days of Lent plus 15 extra days at the start for some reason I can't remember. At 9PM of Saturday before Easter Sunday they are allowed to eat meat again and they do this with great gusto. Starting with lots of chicken then going to sleep and waking up to eat lots of sheep and some more chicken. Beef is eaten, but it's not a celebratory meat (sort of like how you'd be much more likely to eat turkey than beef at Thanksgiving or Christmas).
I just got back from my first meal of the day which was incredibly filling and consisted of doro wot (chicken fried in burbere sauce), tibs (boiled mutton), ouzo, coffee and tallah (a disgusting local drink that I can describe as a homebrewed beerish thing that has a lot in common in flavour to cold weak coffee). Also a banana. Not particularly the healthiest meal I've ever eaten. There's way more food than you can eat and all they do is put more and more in front of you, constantly urge you to have more and then look faintly distressed if you say "No" on the very valid grounds that you are full, so that next time you feel guilty and say "Yes" but only a little and then they serve you/pour you way more than you wanted. The food is good though, but I am luckily only going to two meals (I dodged an invitation) otherwise I might explode/get embarassingly drunk. Which is what I expect to hear happened to some of the other ferenjis tomorrow.
What was perhaps the funniest part of the whole event was Ethiopian's love, but general misunderstanding of top 40 party rap. The meal starts we all go through the ritual handshake greetings that characterize Ethiopia, say we're all fine, get introduced to people we don't know, etc, sit down and start to eat. While we're starting to eat our hosts son turns on the DVD player and starts playing some music. Myself, Norma (a 73 year old coworker from Penticton) and an extremely Orthodox religious family will spend the next hour or so listening to such fine artists as Snoop Doggy Dog, The Game, Lil Jon, 50 Cent, Ludacris, G-Unit, and Eminem sing about how good they are at spending money, doing drugs, and having sex with promiscuous women. I'm fairly certain they also have no idea what the songs are about because I can't imagine the strongly held religious beliefs would allow them in the house if they did. The only attempt I made at explaining rap was quickly sidelined by their disbelief that poor people exist in North America, though so we didn't stay on the topic for too long.
To be honest I'd say that despite the fact that they don't understand the lyrics I'm pretty sure they can grasp the meaning of the songs as the videos that accompany the songs are exactly the ones you'd see on MTV or Much Music in all their bikini-girl glory. It was a surreal meal, now I'm going to go have my second one though and if it's notable I'll write about it tomorrow.
Jordie out
Friday, April 6, 2007
A Souvenir
I picked up my first souvenir the other day. Something that I'm definitely going to take back to Canada with me. In fact it'll be with me for the rest of my life. An African cold virus.
Hooray!
Symptoms: Dry hacking cough! Head feels like a balloon! Dizziness! Extreme Fatigue! Loss of Appetite! Really Sore Throat!
Luckily for me the Extreme Fatigue I mentioned above made me sleepy. I got up after a full nights sleep not feeling very well, got to work, realized it was stupid for me to be there, got home slept for 8 hours. After being awake for another 6 I was again tired and went back to sleep for the night, now all I've got is the cough. Almost all better. However, the best thing about diseases though is they stick with us for life. Maybe I'll give you the gift of the African Super Cold when I see you next!
Hooray!
Symptoms: Dry hacking cough! Head feels like a balloon! Dizziness! Extreme Fatigue! Loss of Appetite! Really Sore Throat!
Luckily for me the Extreme Fatigue I mentioned above made me sleepy. I got up after a full nights sleep not feeling very well, got to work, realized it was stupid for me to be there, got home slept for 8 hours. After being awake for another 6 I was again tired and went back to sleep for the night, now all I've got is the cough. Almost all better. However, the best thing about diseases though is they stick with us for life. Maybe I'll give you the gift of the African Super Cold when I see you next!
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