Day 5: Saturday (11/16): A Taste of Addis

Saturday, 11/16! This morning I was greeted not only by beautiful sunshine, but the sounds of lots of children yelling. It wasn't until Mindi told me later that on Saturday mornings around 7 a.m. the kids on her street like to play a game of football (soccer) in front of her home. At the time, as I was lying in bed, I had no idea what was happening, but it makes complete sense now, especially because Ethiopians like their football! (See below.)

Today, we started the morning at the Golf Course. We went there to get internet, but we didn't have much success, as the Ethiopian network is often down or doesn't work. We did however get to see a glimpse of the Minister of Defense as well as the set up for a wedding. It looks like Ethiopians who have a bit of money can afford to have weddings at a golf course like many from the States. Most of the patrons of the golf course are government families, diplomats, foreigners, and business people.

Then we went to see the Lion’s Zoo. However, it took a very longtime. Which leads me to a quick interruption about traveling in Addis.

Public Transportation, roads, and traffic:

In Addis there are no street lights or stop signs (well, none that I've seen). There aren't lines for lanes. And pedestrians definitely do NOT have the right away. Honking is normal. Most streets have lots of potholes or are bumpy. Some are dirt roads. Roads are often closed for construction (especially for a train that is being built) or for important people. Yes, they will close roads if someone very important needs to drive through (ie: they just had a conference with many African presidents, in which roads were closed as they traveled in the city.) Driving is honestly an art. I thought LA was aggressive, but just come to Addis and you will find a new meaning to the word aggressive. People weave in and out of the non existent lanes, don't think twice about people crossing the street and will honk if they are stopped for more than 3 seconds. Buses and mini buses are packed full with people (with no safety measures in place like seatbelts). And of course the pollution and smog from the vehicles is off the chart. So just imagine a bumpy, stop and go, weaving, smoggy, long and loud drive. And people might have to catch multiple mini buses, and they have to really know the system. Because what you see are people hanging out the window yelling different locations, moving quickly, and it’s crowded. And I know it takes hours. Maybe in a few years when there is a train it will be better, but for now, transportation is probably one of the most expensive parts of living in Ethiopia. It is also time consuming, crowded, bumpy, and filled with pollution.  That's what you will experience in Addis, it doesn’t faze the people here, it’s just their reality. Plus there will always be tons of people walking in the streets. Always. Not sure where everyone is going but the streets are always filled with people. (It now makes sense to me why SLTSSA provides transportation money for families with deaf kids to come to Sign Language Classes, because it’s expensive and it’s greater incentive for them to come).

Anyways, it took a longtime to get to the zoo, but once we did we saw lions with beautiful black manes (Yes! Black manes!) Caged lions make me sad. They should be free, not in a tiny cage... But that's a whole other blog (for another day and time in my life.) Plus just last week one of the lions ate its feeder... I’ll just leave it at that… 

Black maned lion

Next we walked across the street to get lunch. Another interruption to tell you how much I love Ethiopian food/culture!

Fasting Food:

Legitimately, I should move to Ethiopia because the food is PERFECT for me. As many of you know I am #plantstrong which basically means I am vegan. I don't do dairy and I don't do meat. WELL, in Ethiopia, many people fast on Wednesday and Friday, so almost every place has "fasting food." Fasting food includes food without meat and without dairy. Yes, you read that right. Fasting foods to Ethiopians = vegan foods (well fish is acceptable in the fasting food)! So, I basically have no trouble finding food to eat. I even learned the word for fasting food in Amharic. :) Anyways, today at lunch we went to a pizza place (timeout for a small history lesson, Ethiopia is the ONLY African country not to be colonized, however, Italy did try to occupy them for a few years. Although, Ethiopia continued to fight them until they left, they did leave a small amount of influence like pizza and shoe shining which is literally on every street). So I assumed I wouldn't be able to find anything to eat since I don't do cheese, but on the menu there was a vegetarian pizza and in the description there was no cheese listed. We double checked with the waiter, and there was no cheese on the pizza. How perfect for me that there was a fasting pizza on the menu. I didn't even have to make any changes :) It was yummy. (We also had some red wine made in Addis... and wow, was that strong.)

Fasting Pizza! Yum!

The Arts:

After lunch, (and my fun bathroom experience swatting -- which wasn't a first for me, but it's been about 4 years since I had to do that) we went to the museum to see Lucy as well as some Ethiopian art and artifacts! There is a lot of buzz around Lucy as she really is the “oldest” human remains. I think Ethiopia is pretty proud of it. It was really interesting and a cool piece of history to experience. However, as much as they value art and history, we (Amy, especially) noticed that the museum is no Getty or LACMA. And I’m not really sure how long everything will last, because I don’t think it’s preserved very well. I in no way mean that they don’t care about their history or art, because they do, but it’s just in different standard than I was used to. The outside of the museum had grass and other random items rusted and laying around. Including a small little structure with a sandbox and some signage with no upkeep. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of visitors both foreigners and Ethiopians. When we visited the National Art Museum the featured artist was actually there with a group of students. The paintings were amazing, and I was surprised to see locals and students visiting a museum. This showed me that I’m obviously naïve and that I underestimated the culture. I guess I didn’t imagine with that the education system or maybe even the locals would care about art. But I was wrong. And I’m embarrassed. And by the amount of crafts and arts that is sold all over Addis, I can tell art is important. 

LUCY!

Then it was time to do a little shopping to find some Ethiopian Football (Soccer) shirts. Here's my last and final interruption for this post.

Football:

Ethiopians LOVE their soccer. Today, Amy, Nicole and I had to find Ethiopian soccer shirts to wear because probably half of the city was in game day shirts. Even Mindi, Dereje, and their two sons, Adam and Zion were in Ethiopian Soccer shirts today. Kids, adults, and teenagers all had their shirts, scarves, flags, and face paint on. People sold bracelets and other Ethiopian goods on the streets as well as face painting for the game. Teenagers walked in the streets screaming cheers or packed themselves into trucks to find the closest place to watch the game. What I think is so cool is that the game brings the whole city together. The pride and excitement they have for their team and country is beautiful. And this game in particular was a very important one. If they won, they would have qualified to participate in the World Cup. Although Ethiopia lost to Nigeria, I think it was interesting to get to experience a game day and to see green, yellow, and red overtake the streets in Addis. I loved seeing the country come together.