Tuesday in Ethiopia

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

I re-learned today that one of Lulu’s nannies is named Fasika or Easter. She told me before, but I immediately forgot. Just like everything, our sea legs are now under us….we had no lost in translation moments today. A miracle! Everyone’s name here has a meaning or is from the bible, just about, but they can be so different and filled with vowels, it is hard for my dyslexic brain to connect.

We were going to go to the big market today, but stopped at the post office neighborhood and went to the shops there. The first stall got the most of our money, then we started to bargain. The silver rattle in the one shop really was nice, as was the ebony lion, but I will have to pack it and we will wait for the next trip. We never made it all the way down the block and we never saw the big market. Our guide and best hope for translation was a great bargainer.

I got a beautiful Ethiopian cross and some leather crosses. I wonder if they will be too religious to give to most people as gifts. They are really, really cool, all the various crosses. There are a zillion, in silver, leather, wood. We bought a cross from the Amahara region and some silver necklaces for Lulu-B. Mitchel managed to get a decent price for some traditional scarfs with the Ethiopian colors, but it took 4 stores and several visits and we still got the foreigner price. Eli picked out some rocks, which the man selling was so shocked by that he initially asked 100 birr each for the tiny rocks. The next guys sold them to Mitch, quietly, for 10 birr each, but said, keep it quiet, keep it quiet.

I found the most lovely bird book in English on Ethiopian birds. Our awesome driver from the Toukoul Guest House (YGF), Ibrihim, looked at it for about 5 minutes and knew some of the calls of the various birds and where one can see them. He is massively experienced in tours all over Ethiopia and loves going on them. If you stay at YGF, the Toukoul Guest House, once you arrive, it is easy to set up tours of the country with guides just like him. No tour is too long! He has spent days with many of the different tribes and knows so much about Ethiopia and it's peoples. We hope to come back, someday, and spend a month traveling around and visiting the tribes, seeing the birds and animals, and hanging out with him. He led tours around for a long time, but now has a wife and two daughters and would like to stay closer to home. Yes, you can book trips with him or one of the other drivers, easily though YGF, once you are in country.

Being white, a minority by far,( I think I saw less than 15 white people other than those in our party today) there are two or three price levels. One place we visited has it just about right, Foreigners, 20 birr, Resident Aliens, 10 Bir, Ethiopians, 2 birr. At the lions of Judah, the park, we had to pay a camera tax of 20 birr, in addition and then our guides got pinched for 2 more birr each at the gate, just because. The market is the same, Foreigners, 150 to 200%, Returned Ethiopians, without Amharic, 75% and locals, 5 to 10 % markup. But sometimes, there are special fees…double for taxis on holidays, for instance or extra mark up for rain or late night taxis. Also, almost everyone works for low wages and earns their money in tips. Frankly, as long as I don’t pay 400% markup, and am closer to the 150%, I am happy. It’s money into the economy.

And it is so safe. Before we came, I was afraid of going to the market, afraid of losing our wallet, afraid of getting sick. Yes, medicine is not as common here. Yes, there are no car seats, yes, pay attention to your wallet, yes, bring your own antibiotics, cold medicine, novels, pens and paper at your beck and call, but other than that, it is an amazing place. The people are so welcoming, so openhearted. Yes, like any market, many people want a piece of you. The other day, at the lion of Judah, following our guide's lead, Andrea gave our half empty big water bottles to the three girls that adopted us for the trip. Their names were impossible to remember, as I have never ever heard the words before, but they had the biggest smiles and really wanted to just be friends. Sure a piece of chocolate would be nice, but….just watching us hang out was entertaining. They were kind and intended no harm….

Yesterday, we had a really funny LOST IN TRANSLATION event. Andrea and I took apart the lonely planet, when we all decided we were not going to go trekking, when we decided that we needed to stay near Lulu, and tried to figure out what we wanted to do in Addis. We made a list and asked Ibrihim if he could help us out. He said, sure, one day, we can do all of that....well, we spread it out, what with seeing Lulu everyday, twice for up to 2 hours at a stretch! One thing we both liked the look of was the Lion of Judah. So, off we went on the Monday after Easter. Mitch had a mild stomach ache that passed after a few hours, but he stayed home, thank goodness. Andrea, Eli and I went off with our incredible hosts, to see the Lion of Judah.

Imagine our surprise, when low and behold, we arrived at the LIONS of JUDAH. Yes, Hallie Sallise's Lions, and, being a national holiday, half of Addis, off to the zoo for the day. The lions were beautiful, but we thought we were going to a monument made of black stone. Yes, The LIONS of Judah are live and right in the middle of Addis, and as you can tell, very, very close to you!

And our hosts never whispered a word that we were asking them to take us to the equivalent of Fisherman's Wharf on The 5 of July. Not a word. What an experience! And a perfect Lost in Translation moment. I thanked our guides a million times. (the turtle lives there too!)

Speaking of chocolate, I have not seen it here. We need to go walk through a drug store, but most people go to their equivalent of the corner store, a shack on a dirt road that sells stuff….water in bottles, and other things. People also walk over to hang out. The main roads are paved, but the neighborhoods are a mixup of old and new, with lots of dirt roads. Cows, sheep, dogs hanging out, next to a car, and a block away a medium size hotel, the JUPITER, with internet and doormen, but the street in front, unpaved. A local coffee-mega-cafe-equivalent in one place, then people living in the street down the way. A group of at least 50 men, hand digging the new broad band in. Construction, with handmade Eucalyptus scaffolding, everywhere. A wild jumble of sounds, images and life.

Tomorrow we are going to give our toy donations (balloons, sidewalk chalk, pens, super balls, a few toy cars…just little things that fit in the suitcase) to the orphanage and hopefully be allowed to let Eli share some of them. I don’t know how it works, but I do know that you are supposed to check the presents in at t he office. Because of the day tomorrow, we may not get to Toukoul until the afternoon visit and unlike the weekend, the kids were in school today, so not in the yard to play are rousing game of SKY Ball, a new target product that has been a huge hit. I want to bring a suitcase of SKY BALLS next time to give away. It wouldn’t weigh much, but it would be bulky.

I don’t really remember yesterday. I wrote my mom on a slow internet connection, downloaded some files for 15 minutes and my five minutes of fame was done. Sharing a computer an hour a day, at a spot a lovely walk from our house….nice, but not really a part of the intra web!

Things to bring as gifts: Little bound notebooks, pens and pencils to go with, things depicting your city, postcards…. balloons, cloth diapers, baby blankets, clothes for older kids, toys, games, books, whatever will fit. I packed some SF Giants baseball caps (I dont know how popular they were!) and I am psyched to give them away. The boys didn’t end up wearing them.

Last , but not least, LULU-B.

She was so cute today in her short sleeve outfit. Yes she had two undershirts and socks on, but you could see her arms and her calves. She SO likes us. The main doctor, who’s name I cant spell, much less say, stepped in to say hello and respond to a question that we had. She was lovely, kind and said that Lulu would be spoiled now….she obviously was responding so well to us. It was a sweet comment, very kind.

It’s true. Lulu really does seem to like us, although we are the only game in town. We show up, entertain her, give her kisses. Today, she really, really liked watching Eli play ball with this amazing cloth ball I got at the Ethnology Museum, or the University Museum. She was very, very happy and moving very well. We went down the checklist from Dr. Arnoson (finally got it downloaded, we forgot it had home.

Note to self, read it before you leave, duh) with Lulu, in person and she is doing great. She is a bit stiff, but I think it is just from her trying so hard to do things before she should. She can push herself up 90 degrees, she can move both arms and bring them together to stuff in her mouth, she follows sound, she watches Eli play ball across the room.

She is just a bit over 4 months. She is out of her mind with wanting to do stuff. She ROCKS.

The Ethnology Museum is housed in a main building of the University on the second floor. We loved it. Also, so cool to see the library, with the students studying, just like a college anywhere. I bought a beautiful little ball, which they don't have at the Toukoul gift shop. Which has a ton of stuff, but much of it is put away. It is directly across the courtyard from the room you get to hang out with your baby in. It is open during the week and you don't have to haggle. You can look at the book and then they will take things out for you. I wish they took credit cards, but almost NO ONE DOES. Well, the Sheraton and Hilton. The nice thing about the gift shop, no bargaining as the prices are set and the money goes to the orphanage. The market, getting a good price, takes FOREVER! (We did buy some absolutely fabulous art, on credit card at a special gallery. The paintings are now in my house!)

Outside the university ethnology museum is this arresting statue. Each step represents one year of the Italian rule. Andrea loved this statue.

We are going to go get some more money exchanged as we only changed $300, and with trying to shop for Lulu-B, gifts for people at home and wanting to tip at the guest house, as the people are so very cool….we just don’t want to run out and not have money for everything.

Yesterday, we went to the Entoto mountains for a few hours and saw Emperor Melika’s palace and the outside of a beautiful, the most traditional, Ethiopian Orthodox church.
The countryside is just a half hour away; the air is fabulous and the view of the city great. There is supposed to be a wildlife park up there, but we forgot to ask about it. The air was really clear and we even met, just for a moment, the caretaker's, a couple that live in the traditional way. The palace and the church were well worth the visit.

I hope someday to travel to see more of the animals. With Lulu.