So I've arrived back in Vancouver now and will probably be kept fairly busy with job hunting, writing about music, catching up with friends and all those things. I've enjoyed writing this and it's helped keep me on my toes to try and think of fresh new things to write every few days. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you're interested in reading about things that have nothing to do with Ethiopia (or at least not too much), which I write, you can find them at Streethawk, Tooth & Dagger and Discorder. They are mostly of the musical variety.
Goodbye and thanks for reading!
Jordie
Friday, June 8, 2007
Thursday, May 31, 2007
London & re-entry to society (or Supermarket Shock)
I'm in London now on my friend Jessica's computer. I was a little too busy during my last days of Ethiopia to post from there however I said my goodbyes and left without incident. I even got through customs on both sides of the airplane ride quickly! Hooray!
I spent sometime being touristy in London, but since this is a blog about Ethiopia, (it's in the URL and everything) I'll write something about that. So getting back to civilization on the first day was a little surreal, especially the trip to the grocery store near Jess's apartment. Living in Gondor has been a big change in the consumerist/shopping vein. I lived in a place where you didn't have much in the way of choice in foods and while you could find a nice choice of dry goods, pretty much anything that could rot was in short supply. Meats were limited, as were veggies, fruit, and dairy... frozen foods were unheard of. With this in mind shopping became a little bit of a different experience. I'll go with vegetable shopping for an example. In Gondor you could regularly find potatoes, tomatoes, chile peppers and onions. On good days you could also find avocados, spinach, carrots and pumpkins. I might be forgetting something, but you get the drift. If you see one of the rarer vegetables you buy it immediately (except the pumpkins, they were just too big). If you don't you might not see them again for weeks if at all.
Now take this new mentality and go into your average grocery store. It doesn't work! You sort of flop between wanting to buy everything and just staring blankly at the selection and trying to work out all the combinations of choice into something that makes sense. My shopping brain has essentially been destroyed and I'll have to rebuild it from scratch to make sense of the variety of foods (and probably everything else) available again. You think about culture shock, but you don't really think about reverse culture shock. Admittedly it was only a few months so I'll probably get back into the swing of things pretty soon, but if I ask you to hold my hand through a shopping experience you know why.
I spent sometime being touristy in London, but since this is a blog about Ethiopia, (it's in the URL and everything) I'll write something about that. So getting back to civilization on the first day was a little surreal, especially the trip to the grocery store near Jess's apartment. Living in Gondor has been a big change in the consumerist/shopping vein. I lived in a place where you didn't have much in the way of choice in foods and while you could find a nice choice of dry goods, pretty much anything that could rot was in short supply. Meats were limited, as were veggies, fruit, and dairy... frozen foods were unheard of. With this in mind shopping became a little bit of a different experience. I'll go with vegetable shopping for an example. In Gondor you could regularly find potatoes, tomatoes, chile peppers and onions. On good days you could also find avocados, spinach, carrots and pumpkins. I might be forgetting something, but you get the drift. If you see one of the rarer vegetables you buy it immediately (except the pumpkins, they were just too big). If you don't you might not see them again for weeks if at all.
Now take this new mentality and go into your average grocery store. It doesn't work! You sort of flop between wanting to buy everything and just staring blankly at the selection and trying to work out all the combinations of choice into something that makes sense. My shopping brain has essentially been destroyed and I'll have to rebuild it from scratch to make sense of the variety of foods (and probably everything else) available again. You think about culture shock, but you don't really think about reverse culture shock. Admittedly it was only a few months so I'll probably get back into the swing of things pretty soon, but if I ask you to hold my hand through a shopping experience you know why.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Almost done
I'm so busy, but I thought I'd just say that I'm almost done my job! Woo! I'll be in on Saturday to finish up, and possibly post something more substantial than this.
Jordie
Jordie
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Departure (coming up)
Leaving Gondar seems fraught with paperwork. In addition to the recommendations and reports I have to submit for work I also have to finish up my goodbyes to people here.
Yesterday (or maybe the day before) I said goodbye to an unusual young man named Waretow who is a student at the college. He is perhaps the most devoted scholar I've ever met. He reads the dictionary every day attempting to improve his vocabulary. He used to be a shoeshine boy when he was younger and claims this is how he first learned English, talking to tourists for tips. His friendship with me seemed a little forced as I'm fairly certain he me with me mostly to practice his English. Nevertheless I certainly had some interesting conversations with him as I drank beer (because I was usually going out after) and he drank tea (because it was the cheapest thing he could order). I've never really had people come up to me and ask me to explain isms (minimalism, atheism, etc) to them, which he did quite regularly and he sorely tested my knowledge of some of them.
I don't think I'll miss him much, but knowing him was an odd experience. We've exchanged mailing addresses, as he doesn't have any access to a computer or phone. I gave him my copy of the Brothers Karamazov which I never actually finished, but I'm certain he'll get some use out of it. He'd actually heard of Dostoevsky when I handed it to him and he seemed excited so that's a vote in favour of him actually finishing it.
Yesterday (or maybe the day before) I said goodbye to an unusual young man named Waretow who is a student at the college. He is perhaps the most devoted scholar I've ever met. He reads the dictionary every day attempting to improve his vocabulary. He used to be a shoeshine boy when he was younger and claims this is how he first learned English, talking to tourists for tips. His friendship with me seemed a little forced as I'm fairly certain he me with me mostly to practice his English. Nevertheless I certainly had some interesting conversations with him as I drank beer (because I was usually going out after) and he drank tea (because it was the cheapest thing he could order). I've never really had people come up to me and ask me to explain isms (minimalism, atheism, etc) to them, which he did quite regularly and he sorely tested my knowledge of some of them.
I don't think I'll miss him much, but knowing him was an odd experience. We've exchanged mailing addresses, as he doesn't have any access to a computer or phone. I gave him my copy of the Brothers Karamazov which I never actually finished, but I'm certain he'll get some use out of it. He'd actually heard of Dostoevsky when I handed it to him and he seemed excited so that's a vote in favour of him actually finishing it.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
The Simiens part 3
The rest of the trip was felt feeling ill. Not that I didn't get some hiking in, but it wasn't really as much fun now that I was suffering from chronic fatigue. The next day I took the short route along the road with our cook and the mules. Our cook Sisay, who seemed to have experience with sick people in the mountains secretly hired a mule for me. He didn't say it was for me until he caught up with me panting my way halfway up a steep slope. He'd ridden the mule from the bottom of the slope after letting me go ahead and politely suggested that maybe I'd like to ride part of the way. Gratefully I accepted and rode a placid mule the rest of the way up the hill through barley fields and animals grazing. That mule was the best animal ride I've ever experienced. Unfortunately, it was just to the road and then it had to go home. I walked from there with frequent breaks, but made it more or less intact to our final camp. Chennak (sp?).
Chennak is situated in a sheltered valley full of gelada baboons, with a picturesque stream running through it and small palm tree-ish plants growing throughout it. We didn't hike much once we got here, but we didn't really need to as right next to the sheltered valley is a huge dropoff that has some breathtaking views. Between these and the least worried baboons we were pretty entertained for the remaining time we stayed in the Simiens. This turned out to be a lot longer than we'd intended because our driver was 6 hours late. There had been a gas shortage in Gondor and we were all quite annoyed with him for not thinking to fill up the day before. It's hard to get good help. Getting in at midnight I was too exhausted to shower and just fell straight into a stupor that would last a couple days until I eventually got better.
The Ethiopian government seems to have backed off on their attempts to block access to Blogger so I'm able to do my own posting again. Thanks so much to Michelle for her help while I was unable to post. If you're interested in donating to VSO, but have been too lazy to do so up until now, please click up on the left to make a donation. VSO is run on a combo of government and donor support, so every little bit helps.
Chennak is situated in a sheltered valley full of gelada baboons, with a picturesque stream running through it and small palm tree-ish plants growing throughout it. We didn't hike much once we got here, but we didn't really need to as right next to the sheltered valley is a huge dropoff that has some breathtaking views. Between these and the least worried baboons we were pretty entertained for the remaining time we stayed in the Simiens. This turned out to be a lot longer than we'd intended because our driver was 6 hours late. There had been a gas shortage in Gondor and we were all quite annoyed with him for not thinking to fill up the day before. It's hard to get good help. Getting in at midnight I was too exhausted to shower and just fell straight into a stupor that would last a couple days until I eventually got better.
The Ethiopian government seems to have backed off on their attempts to block access to Blogger so I'm able to do my own posting again. Thanks so much to Michelle for her help while I was unable to post. If you're interested in donating to VSO, but have been too lazy to do so up until now, please click up on the left to make a donation. VSO is run on a combo of government and donor support, so every little bit helps.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The Simiens pt 2
So the second day on the Simiens we got up early to go see some of the more amazing viewpoints. I woke up to the raspy cry of the thick-billed raven, which are the biggest crow relative I've ever seen. We didn't have a lot of hiking to do today which meant we would have a lot of time to kick around and admire the views. Heading towards Mount Gogol (sp?) we saw a Lammergayer which is the biggest bird available to find in Ethiopia and it really is quite huge. It was trying to break open a bone it had found for its marrow by dropping it onto the rocks near the path we were walking on. We watched for awhile and then moved on to the narrow ledges that led to the viewpoint which stands at a 3990m which is higher than I'd ever been before.
At this point I started to feel the altitude in the form of dizziness and a slight headache. It wasn't enough to stop me, but it was destined to get worse. The viewpoint is hard to put into words so I'll put pictures up later, but let me tell you that 4000m is really high. We headed back to camp and on the way it started to drizzle, then pour and finally hail as we ran into the shelter of camp. It didn't last long, but we were all freezing by the time we got there. This is about the time that the altitude sickness decided to kick in. Altitude sickness is what hits you when your body decides it isn't used to the amount of oxygen it's getting. It's not fun and involves, dizziness, nausea, fatiguem, a splitting headache and a loss of appetite on top of your lungs constantly complaining. I vomited and then went to sleep for 14 hours skipping out on dinner. It was the best sleep I got while in the Simiens, but it wasn't exactly something I wanted. I still had 2 days left in the mountains.
Don't forget to donate!
At this point I started to feel the altitude in the form of dizziness and a slight headache. It wasn't enough to stop me, but it was destined to get worse. The viewpoint is hard to put into words so I'll put pictures up later, but let me tell you that 4000m is really high. We headed back to camp and on the way it started to drizzle, then pour and finally hail as we ran into the shelter of camp. It didn't last long, but we were all freezing by the time we got there. This is about the time that the altitude sickness decided to kick in. Altitude sickness is what hits you when your body decides it isn't used to the amount of oxygen it's getting. It's not fun and involves, dizziness, nausea, fatiguem, a splitting headache and a loss of appetite on top of your lungs constantly complaining. I vomited and then went to sleep for 14 hours skipping out on dinner. It was the best sleep I got while in the Simiens, but it wasn't exactly something I wanted. I still had 2 days left in the mountains.
Don't forget to donate!
Friday, May 11, 2007
The Simiens Part 1
So censorship issues aside what I'd meant to tell you about last post was my trip to Simien mountains. The Simien Mountain National Park is four hours north of Gondor and houses some of Ethiopia's rarer/more interesting species of life.
We drove in starting early early in the morning. Our driver needed to get gas and had trouble doing so (foreshadowing) and then we picked up our cook and a Belgian couple who had asked to tag along the day before. Upon reaching Debarc we picked up our scout, Tesfan who would be with us the whole trip and headed into the park. Tesfan is an older friendly gentleman who wears his toque like a sailor with the edges folded up. He walks with a limp and carries a Lee-Enfield rifle straight out of World War 2, as opposed to the more common automatics. Even with his limp he out distances us with little effort and we are constantly calling him to rest. He has been walking these mountains most of his life and lives in fact in the town next to our first campsite, which both share the name of Gich. We hike for awhile before stopping for lunch at a viewpoint. We are now quite high above our starting point and on our way we saw an 800m high water fall dropping off onto an unseeable valley floor. Can't stay here all day though so off we go. On our way to the camp we see some amazing wildlife at a distance we have never seen before. We spend an hour walking through a valley full of gelada babboons who are for the most part unafraid of us. I try and count how many we can see from one particularly good viewpoint where we can see a huge troop just across a river from us and give up at around 80. There are probably over a hundred though. Some get within metres of us and I have some good pictures to post when I get copies of them. We reach the camp with time to spare passing through Gich and we're all starving. Our cook has set up the food for us though and we all get to chow down pretty quickly.
Children from the nearby village stand around and stare at us shyly (sometimes creepily in the case of the one child who insisted on following people around and whispering "Hello" to them"). They hold chickens and beer which they'll sell to us if we're interested, we're not really though so they stand there with there chickens and beer and stare at us until night falls.
That night is the coldest most uncomfortable night of my life. Thinking that it wasn't so cold when I went to bed I crawl into my sleeping bag wearing a T-shirt and underwear. I wake up at night and am hot and sweaty as usually happens to me in sleeping bags. So I take my shirt off without leaving the bag. Still hot and sweaty I decide to get a drink of water. My water bottle is at my feet so I get out of the sleeping bag to get it. I have a couple sips of water and realize that it is REALLY REALLY cold out. I get back into my sleeping bag and spend the next hour shivering until my body heat is restored. The rest of the night is spent sleeping very lightly.
Next up Part 2! Don't forget if you want to donate to VSO you can click up in the top left link to VSO Canada's page to donate in my name. Tomorrow's my dad's birthday too, so happy birthday Dad!
We drove in starting early early in the morning. Our driver needed to get gas and had trouble doing so (foreshadowing) and then we picked up our cook and a Belgian couple who had asked to tag along the day before. Upon reaching Debarc we picked up our scout, Tesfan who would be with us the whole trip and headed into the park. Tesfan is an older friendly gentleman who wears his toque like a sailor with the edges folded up. He walks with a limp and carries a Lee-Enfield rifle straight out of World War 2, as opposed to the more common automatics. Even with his limp he out distances us with little effort and we are constantly calling him to rest. He has been walking these mountains most of his life and lives in fact in the town next to our first campsite, which both share the name of Gich. We hike for awhile before stopping for lunch at a viewpoint. We are now quite high above our starting point and on our way we saw an 800m high water fall dropping off onto an unseeable valley floor. Can't stay here all day though so off we go. On our way to the camp we see some amazing wildlife at a distance we have never seen before. We spend an hour walking through a valley full of gelada babboons who are for the most part unafraid of us. I try and count how many we can see from one particularly good viewpoint where we can see a huge troop just across a river from us and give up at around 80. There are probably over a hundred though. Some get within metres of us and I have some good pictures to post when I get copies of them. We reach the camp with time to spare passing through Gich and we're all starving. Our cook has set up the food for us though and we all get to chow down pretty quickly.
Children from the nearby village stand around and stare at us shyly (sometimes creepily in the case of the one child who insisted on following people around and whispering "Hello" to them"). They hold chickens and beer which they'll sell to us if we're interested, we're not really though so they stand there with there chickens and beer and stare at us until night falls.
That night is the coldest most uncomfortable night of my life. Thinking that it wasn't so cold when I went to bed I crawl into my sleeping bag wearing a T-shirt and underwear. I wake up at night and am hot and sweaty as usually happens to me in sleeping bags. So I take my shirt off without leaving the bag. Still hot and sweaty I decide to get a drink of water. My water bottle is at my feet so I get out of the sleeping bag to get it. I have a couple sips of water and realize that it is REALLY REALLY cold out. I get back into my sleeping bag and spend the next hour shivering until my body heat is restored. The rest of the night is spent sleeping very lightly.
Next up Part 2! Don't forget if you want to donate to VSO you can click up in the top left link to VSO Canada's page to donate in my name. Tomorrow's my dad's birthday too, so happy birthday Dad!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Don't worry I'm not dead
So on Thursday I attempted to post a heads up to let everyone know that I'd be going on a four day mountain trek in the Simien Mountains far away from computers and my contact with the outside world. However when I attempted to post this my connection continually timed out. This was unusual, but hadn't happened before. I was certain my parents would worry about my lack of internet activity, which is how they make sure I'm alive. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to wait out the problem (which is how most internet problems are fixed here), so I went home to pack.
I just got back to find the same problem and an inability to login to my blogger account through proxy services like The Cloak or Proxify. I couldn't get through to the nearby Kenyan anonymous proxy service either. The Ethiopian government had finally cracked down on blogging and shut everyone in Ethiopia effectively out of the service. Facing defeat I was about to give up the blogging when the excellent Michelle Mayne offered to post for me in exchange for the illicit thrills annoying a government would offer. There is a brief and vague story in which the Ethiopian government lies profusely about their censorship here. If you are interested in knowing more I will attempt post more on it as I learn it. Until next time give thanks to Michelle and wait for an exciting account of the Simien Mountains.
Oh also I keep meaning to start a fund drive for VSO before I go. I really do believe that VSO is one of the better and more effective volunteer organizations operating in Ethiopia and a lot of the work they do is because of donors. So if you have some money floating around (tax receipts available upon request) please click that link up on the left hand side of the page that is for VSO Canada and at the bottom of the page there's an online form you can fill out to donate.
I just got back to find the same problem and an inability to login to my blogger account through proxy services like The Cloak or Proxify. I couldn't get through to the nearby Kenyan anonymous proxy service either. The Ethiopian government had finally cracked down on blogging and shut everyone in Ethiopia effectively out of the service. Facing defeat I was about to give up the blogging when the excellent Michelle Mayne offered to post for me in exchange for the illicit thrills annoying a government would offer. There is a brief and vague story in which the Ethiopian government lies profusely about their censorship here. If you are interested in knowing more I will attempt post more on it as I learn it. Until next time give thanks to Michelle and wait for an exciting account of the Simien Mountains.
Oh also I keep meaning to start a fund drive for VSO before I go. I really do believe that VSO is one of the better and more effective volunteer organizations operating in Ethiopia and a lot of the work they do is because of donors. So if you have some money floating around (tax receipts available upon request) please click that link up on the left hand side of the page that is for VSO Canada and at the bottom of the page there's an online form you can fill out to donate.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Dashen Brewery
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.
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.
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!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Celebrity
I strongly recommend Ethiopia to anyone who has self esteem issues as its done wonders for mine. This may hold true in other nations. By being foreign and living in Ethiopia I've joined a select group of people who form a celebrity clique whose actions are closely followed by the people of Gondor. I did not expect everyone in town to recognize me before my arrival, but since coming here most people seem to have figured out who I am. Including a lot of people I've never met formally. Foreigners activities are closely followed.
For example myself and a few other younger volunteers were assisting Kate (who has baboons!) move furniture because she had switched offices. Once everyone got over the fact that we didn't want to pay them to help they just watched us with amused expressions on their faces. After we'd taken a few loads we ran into someone we knew on our way back. He then asked if it was true that we'd been carrying furniture. Apparently a few blocks away this had been the topic of conversation. He had details down to who was carrying which piece of furniture. (I was carrying a chair, so was Matt, Avi and James were carrying a desk).
Simply by being foreign you reach a level of minor celebrity in town. Your doings are reported in great detail among the locals to the point that they'll sometimes report what you've been doing to you more accurately than you can recall it.
Children regularly shout at the sight of you and rush up for the opportunity to shake your hand. Anyhow yeah... I gotta get going to ummm... hang out with Kevin Bacon.
For example myself and a few other younger volunteers were assisting Kate (who has baboons!) move furniture because she had switched offices. Once everyone got over the fact that we didn't want to pay them to help they just watched us with amused expressions on their faces. After we'd taken a few loads we ran into someone we knew on our way back. He then asked if it was true that we'd been carrying furniture. Apparently a few blocks away this had been the topic of conversation. He had details down to who was carrying which piece of furniture. (I was carrying a chair, so was Matt, Avi and James were carrying a desk).
Simply by being foreign you reach a level of minor celebrity in town. Your doings are reported in great detail among the locals to the point that they'll sometimes report what you've been doing to you more accurately than you can recall it.
Children regularly shout at the sight of you and rush up for the opportunity to shake your hand. Anyhow yeah... I gotta get going to ummm... hang out with Kevin Bacon.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Rained out
So yesterday I was supposed to have hijacked the English club to listen to some "English" music and get them to discuss it, but I was rained out. I got there and everything was going fine there was even a power outlet that I could use which I wasn't sure would be there. I gave a little introduction to myself and what I wanted them to do. I wanted to ease them into things with something a few Ethiopians I had met had heard of, which was Tracy Chapman. I didn't even bring this over, but found it here a few days ago when someone was playing it in the lab and asked if I knew about it. So I ripped a copy of it to play for the English club. I figured some good discussion could come out of this and get them warmed up.
I introduce myself tell them I want to hear them discuss the song after listening to it. What they think about it, comparing it to Ethiopian music, etc etc (I didn't actually say etc I'm just abbreviating). I pick out "Fast Car", press play and literally about 10 seconds into the song it starts to rain.
I don't just mean it rained a little. I mean the sky opened up and it poured down sheets of water. It went from no rain to torrential downpour in about 5 seconds flat.
We were indoors though right? Yep. So what's the problem? Corrugated metal rooves are the most common form of roofing in Ethiopia and they are not quiet in rainfall like what I just mentioned. The raindrops become a constant racket of percussion interrupting everything. You cannot even speak at normal volume and be heard. This was also loud enough that they could not hear the music. I thought this was hilarious, they looked embarassed. I let the song finish up in hopes that the rain might let up. It did not so we post-poned to next week when I'll have louder speakers provided for the purpose of drowning out any rain.
I introduce myself tell them I want to hear them discuss the song after listening to it. What they think about it, comparing it to Ethiopian music, etc etc (I didn't actually say etc I'm just abbreviating). I pick out "Fast Car", press play and literally about 10 seconds into the song it starts to rain.
I don't just mean it rained a little. I mean the sky opened up and it poured down sheets of water. It went from no rain to torrential downpour in about 5 seconds flat.
We were indoors though right? Yep. So what's the problem? Corrugated metal rooves are the most common form of roofing in Ethiopia and they are not quiet in rainfall like what I just mentioned. The raindrops become a constant racket of percussion interrupting everything. You cannot even speak at normal volume and be heard. This was also loud enough that they could not hear the music. I thought this was hilarious, they looked embarassed. I let the song finish up in hopes that the rain might let up. It did not so we post-poned to next week when I'll have louder speakers provided for the purpose of drowning out any rain.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Not so Decent... yet
I must say Decent Pub is going to have to make a big climb uphill to get back to the rank of decent that we thought it had. We arrived there on a Saturday evening only to discover that the owners had thought that this was a good time to be closed. So we went somewhere else. I have vowed to return though.
Shops are unusual in that unlike in North America people don't have a house and a shop. They have a shop and they live in it. With their families and any employees they might have. So if you end up poking around a restaurant, bar or shop and you manage to find the backroom you'll find a room with a few beds where everyone lives. These places open in the morning when people get up for the day and close in the evening when the last customers leave at an arbitrary time. We're accidentally stayed late at a bar and ended up watching a movie with the family after they'd closed. It was Kiss of the Dragon, which is a good movie to watch when you're not paying any attention to it. There's a hotel that we like to go to for food (they have pizza, which is hard to find over here) that has a little hole under the stairs. I popped my head in once and found a mattress where someone must spend the night, every night. Anyhow I'm in a cafe killing time before we head up to market so I'll write more another day.
I will write more about Crambole or possibly Carambola (sp?). It is an excellent billiards game.
Shops are unusual in that unlike in North America people don't have a house and a shop. They have a shop and they live in it. With their families and any employees they might have. So if you end up poking around a restaurant, bar or shop and you manage to find the backroom you'll find a room with a few beds where everyone lives. These places open in the morning when people get up for the day and close in the evening when the last customers leave at an arbitrary time. We're accidentally stayed late at a bar and ended up watching a movie with the family after they'd closed. It was Kiss of the Dragon, which is a good movie to watch when you're not paying any attention to it. There's a hotel that we like to go to for food (they have pizza, which is hard to find over here) that has a little hole under the stairs. I popped my head in once and found a mattress where someone must spend the night, every night. Anyhow I'm in a cafe killing time before we head up to market so I'll write more another day.
I will write more about Crambole or possibly Carambola (sp?). It is an excellent billiards game.
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