About a week without Menachem and Sam have passed, and I'm still alive! Things have been very busy, but have managed to go more or less smoothly.. or as much as is possible in Ethiopia. Everyone has offered to help me and some have done so which has been really sweet and great.
Living here for this long, I've started noticing the funny nuances of Ethiopia/Addis life, and felt the need to share some things with you.
As the story goes, G-d created man of clay, and put him in a kiln. When he took him out, he discovered that he had left the clay in too long and thus black people were created. G-d then put the clay statue of man in the kiln for less time, but the clay was not cooked enough, and so white people were made. Next G-d put the clay in for just the right amount of time - and out came Ethiopians!
This story although slightly ridiculous does show the listener more or less how Ethiopians view themselves, as well as white people and other Africans. For me, walking down the street isn't always fun or easy. I can't blend in, and standing on the street waiting for a friend is more or less out of the question. The beggars, many of them children - and there are many many more than I expected- will always make a B-line for me and my white skin. They will sometimes touch or grab me, and although I don't like to, I sometimes have to yell at them to go away. I have to watch out for my pockets with them as well! Being white here of course isn't all bad. Sometimes I just need to stand with an Ethiopian at a hotel or embassy to ensure that he gets service or whatever he needs. My whiteness apparently ensures that I am an honest and important person.
The funniest thing of all is how white people act towards each other. Menachem told me there was something like an 85-90% chance that white people would see each other yet ignore one another, as if to say.. you poser, I'm living the cool indie life of Africa, stop making it seem like I'm not special for being here! I've started smiling at every white person I see to test this out and I must say it's quite true. Almost none of them smile back at me, much to my own amusement!
Even though I've been here for a while, I still haven't stopped giggling every time I see a cow cross a round about, or leave my house to find a few sheep or a donkey walking by. It's the capital, a huge city, yet these guys certainly seem out of place! The coffee here is keeping me going and is really delicious... sadly though even if you order your drinks way ahead of your "m'gib" or food, the drinks always come out way last.
I've really been having fun here, and have been enjoying the food and life... The one thing besides white person heckling that gets to me though is that whatever restaurant you go to.. unless it's a fancy one.. it is almost guaranteed to not have most of the food on the menu. When you walk into a restaurant, you must first ask for a menu.. then you must ask what food on the menu they actually have. Most of the time they only have the Ethiopian traditional food, available at all spots from German Beer Gardens, to Italian restaurants. Besides this you can always get scrambled eggs, another popular choice! Finally though, the fact that copyright laws don't really exist here is another amusing thing... Restaurants such as Facefood and Tib's Hut, In-n-out, and Kaldi's all bear varying degrees of similarities to Facebook, Pizza Hut, In-n-out, and Starbucks respectively. I always have these signs and many more to brighten my day as I walk down the street and dodge small children and animals!
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