The smell of Ethiopia

Today, we went to the US Ethiopian Football match in San Jose. (http://www.esfna.net/)

Yes, they meet every year, in a different city and play football (soccer) and have a festival. Yes, we were the only white people there, but we had B and E, and that makes us white on the outside and brown and black in our hearts. Yes, we couldn't figure out where we were supposed to stop, park or go inside, but once that was worked out, it was fun.

As we were finally parked and walking in the heat towards the side entrance that was the actual entrance, we passed by the food vendors. The smells of Ethiopia, Ingera, Berberé and stewed meats, cooking and filling the air, several trucks passed by the busy Alma street between 10th and 7th, and the smell of diesel fuel completed the perfume, and it was just like Addis. B, the dear girl, stopped fussing the moment she smelled the food and started smiling and talking away. (She has some lovely sounds, very advanced for a baby, we often hear ones that sound like Eli. Last night, Mitch and I swore she said Daddy.....)

But her immediate interest. That made it perfect right away. She was so happy to smell Ethiopia. It makes me smile, wistfully.

It was hot, and there were so few people there on day two, early in the matches, in the heat of the day, that there were just a few people clustered in the shade, watching the games. We ambled over, me, with the B in the Bjorn, Eli, looking fine in his Ethiopian Alphabet yellow T-shirt, Andrea, and my dear sister Caroline. We plopped ourselves down and started watching the game. Everyone smiled at Lulu-B and luckily, because of the world cup and Caroline's tireless attentions as the world's best Aunt, and a bit of thanks to my nephews, suddenly, Caro knows some of the rules of soccer and she carefully explained the game to Eli as I tried to entertain the fussy, teething B. As usual, E and B were the youngest children there.

As B only really wanted people to stop everything and smile at her, I walked around with her a bit. People are very nice and kind to speak with us and are often very kind. They are very polite and talk to her, which she loves, loves, loves. It is a strange thing to be the mother to a child of another culture, another race and one becomes very aware of the occasional cross look, and wants to stay within certain norms, but she is my daughter and I want her to know her people. It is up to us, her parents to be uncomfortable, or get the occasional cross look, and yet still reach out and say hello to new people, to try to find bridges to her people. Ethiopians make it an easy adventure; I find that so many have such big hearts and are very compassionate and willing to spend some time speaking with us. And she smiles.

She had her picture taken by one of the organizers of the event.

Both of the teams E picked won, we got a little bit of Ethiopian food and wandered home and jumped in the pool. E wanted to stay and watch another match. He was having fun. And the food was really just started to get ready. It promised to be a nice evening.

B was so excited by it all that she skipped her afternoon nap and had it at 6 pm, woke up and had some prunes and rice cereal, played, had a bottle and passed out. She then sang for another 25 minutes. She really does make some interesting sounds!

We will return this Friday for Ethiopia day. I hope it is amazing and she likes and survives the crowds. I think it should be fun. I hope it becomes a tradition.