Settling in

Well, it’s been a week and a half now and I’ve slowly been settling into life in Addis. Perhaps the most challenging part of being here thus far is the battle between working hours and the sun. A typical day for me starts out around 7:00 AM when the Genet (the maid/cook) comes and wakes me up with 2 glasses of juice, some coffee, and whatever the inspires her that morning. Actually I was pleasantly surprised with warm chocolate cake with strawberries on Monday, boy what a breakfast! Then it’s off to work on foot. Walking through my neighbor in the morning is always a joy, as there are school children everywhere in adorable uniforms! Whenever a group in front of me sees me they always whisper to all their friends who can’t help but look and giggle at the goofy foreigner. They get suck a kick at of using their English and telling me their names.

Once I’m on the main street the first thing that hits you is the air. Addis  has by far the worst air quality I have ever experienced! Part of this is from the fact that no emission standards exist and cars and trucks constantly douche you in huge black clouds of smoke, but the fact that it’s so dry here is almost worst. The dust is unrelenting as it penetrated everywhere, covering you in a not so fine layer of the brown stuff. It really took me a few days to get used to it, and there’s no way I can make it walking the 35 minutes from my home to work without drinking almost an entire Nalgene! I’ve never felt parched 24/7 before and boy is that unpleasant. Then it’s back into the slums (as they call it) to take a short cut which drops me on top of Meskel Square. Now if you haven’t heard of this place before, look it up! Every morning and evening you see hundreds of runners gather here to train, from the weekend worrier to Olympic athlete. If you can actually make it through the entire thing you’ve just completed an entire marathon! After this place the walk is a bit boring, just heading up some streets and crossing INSANE roads to get to work. The drivers and beyond crazy and nobody stops for pedestrians. You just say your prayers and run! Now the main difficulty for me is heading home. Work runs every day from 8:30-5:30 and if I don’t leave by 5:45 it’s rather dark when I arrive back home. This wouldn’t bother me too much, but I’ve been having to carry my laptop with me every day which concerns me in the evening. The first week has been a real challenge, as I’d be harassed multiple times a day every day, BUT the past two days have been hassle free which has been a fantastic change. Nevertheless, I’m certainly not comfortable walking around after dark and taxis are rather expensive, making social life in the evenings rather impossible during the week.

Now for the fun!

On the weekend Claudio, my host, brought me to the market with him after showing me around his workshop for a few hours. What a great experience that was! This is the stall where we bought all our food. I splurged on the following items:

3 kilo papaya

3 kilo banana

2 kilo avocado

1 kilo red onion

1 kilo hot peppers (not too spice, but they are fantastic)

1 kilo sweet potatoes

1 kilo tomatoes

½ kilo garlic

And the grand total? $10! I couldn’t believe it! I have to be honest though, I had grant plans of cooking but I’ve just been to worn out since I’ve been here so I’ve sadly left most of that up to Genet, though later I’ll tell you a bit about my brief stint cooking Thursday evening!

Next I decided I wasn’t being adventurous enough so I decided to get some street food. On my way out of the neighborhood to meet some of the other interns from the UN I stopped and grabbed a lentil sambussa. I have to say, it was warm, crispy, spicy, and overall delicious, though when I got home and told the house about it they all scolded me and told me never to do that again! They (the locals I’m living with) claim that nobody eats street food here and it’s generally considered very very low quality. They said that most people may only change the oil every few months, and certainly the sanitation conditions are non existent. Well, lucky for me I enjoyed it and my stomach has been strong ever since I arrived!

Later that day we headed up to Mt. Entoto to get a nice view of the city. The view was OK, but by far the best part was the fresh air! O to breath deep again! We took 2 minibuses to get there, then had to take a taxi for the last little bit which proved to be a frustrating experience but all was worked out. After viewing the church and museum, we stopped at a lovely buna (coffee) spot overlooking both the city and the country. Here they made us fantastic coffee as we relax, enjoyed, the view, and laughed at each other as I attempted to make conversation in Amharic.

On another note, I’m dealing with all my silly 1^st world problems. The internet has basically been down for my first eleven days (though it works at the UN most the time) and finally came back on last night! I was so excited to have the chance to skype and check my e-mail from home, though sometimes not being connected is relaxing.

Tonight when I got home Genet told me I could help her cook, but of course not till I ate my diner first! She served me up three lovely dishes on Injera, including stewed green beans and garlic, a chick pea tomato stew, and some oniony collard greens. Next, Salesh (the guard) was building a fire to start the doro wat for Sunday’s celebration. It’s Lydia (Claudio’s daughter) first birthday! I’ve been really excited about experiencing an Ethiopian BBQ, though I just found out from work that this weekend it the African Economic Summit at the UN and I’m expected to be there taking notes and reporting back. Don’t get me wrong, I like the opportunities, but I just want to relax and take in as many experiences here as possible.

That’s all for now! If you have any questions about life in Addis let me know and I’ll do my best!

Chow (left over from the Italian occupation of course),

Mark

First few days in Addis Abbaba

What a great trip this has been so far! The first day here has certainly been the best since I had a chance to explore the city all day. When I woke up in the morning, I was in a compound somewhere in Addis rather helpless. Luckily Claudio, my couch surfing host turned landlord for my stay here, asked Genet (the maid/cook) to show me around a little bit before I was set off on my own. Of course I couldn’t start the day though without a proper Ethiopian breakfast! She made me ….. and eggs, which is basically Injera that's shredded up into small pieces and cooked with tomatoes, onions, and burbere (pepper and butter mixture). To wash it all down was I was provided with freshly roasted coffee, which was truly phenomenal, though they drink it here with SO MUCH SUGAR!

Off to see the city we went. First Genet showed me the important spots right near the house – the grocery store, the fruit shop,  and the internet café. She was supposed to show me how to get to work, but that must have been lost in translation. I decided to head back to the house and use my dictionary to try and ask her to show me on the map where we were, but I was out of luck!

My directions to get to the house are as follows:

From the main road take a left after the internet café.

Take your first right

Stay straight when you see the little shop on your left

Take a left when you see a cell tower

Left at the large pile of dirt

Arrive at the green gate, knock, and show Salesh (the guard/grounds keeper) that you’re friendly!

The compound:

Well, I’ve found a place to live it looks like! Before I go on to tell you about the adventures that ensued I figure it’d be nice to have an idea what the place looks like.

First pit stop was the internet café to send off a message that I’d arrived and all was well. From there I walked toward what looked like the busy area of the city to take care of business before starting work.

The goal: become acquainted with Addis, buy a cellphone and sim card, eat some Ethiopian food, find out how to get to work, and of course try to meet some locals!

I have to say, I really did have the best first day I could have asked for. This couldn’t have been possible with Woadesen, a 19 year old Ethiopian guy I met while walking into town. We became friends almost immediately, laughing over our challenges as we used a combination of sign language, Amharic, and English to communicate. He had just hopped out of a minibus when I happened to ask him for directions to get to the ECA (Economic Commission on Africa). He was a decently dressed 19 year old with this crazy hairstyle…..it was like a Mohawk, but from left to right and in the form of a “fro wall”. I’ve never seen anything like it!  It made the world of a difference to have a local hanging out with me, telling me about life in the city, and explaining a bit about how things really were here in Addis. He mentioned that he lived close to the ECA and would walk me there, but by the time we got there he wanted to keep chatting! At this point I was actually a bit worried to be honest, because Claudio had just mentioned to be 2 hours beforehand not to get to friendly with students, as they will show you around the city and then demand money from you. It was hard to navigate that discussion with him without making an ass of myself, but I think it went over well because next thing I knew we were in the Merkato!

After some fuss and confusion, I got a cell phone and we were back on track. Next up was to find a sim card but they are apparently cheaper in his district of town which is called Kazanches….. This area was lovely, with tons of character and a general feeling of relaxation. At this point we had been hanging out for a few hours and it was really time to get a bite to eat. I figured naïvely Woadesen would have a favorite place but he explained that he was very poor and had never been to a restaurant before BUT he knew of a local place that everyone said served great meat! First day and of course it’s time to eat meat in a local section of the town. We’d walked by a few meat shops at this point, which was a classic 8’ by 3’ stall slabs of meat hanging in the brutal sun covered in flies. I knew the national dish was Kifto, simply slabs of raw meat served with burbere, so I warned him I can’t eat that since I decided I’d do my best to steer clear of tape worm at least for the first few days! Nevertheless, he ordered at the butcher stand and before I knew it there was a huge platter of raw meat served up. Luckily I was able to convince the waiter to take it back and bring us tibs instead, which I felt a bit bad about, but my was it worth it! The food was amazing! I mean so simple, just bits of fatty meat cut into small chunks, heavily seasoned with S&P, and grilled over a piping hot wood fire. They serve it up in a hour glass shaped cast iron concoction, with meat on the top and coals on the bottom. The meal wouldn’t be complete without a huge mound of Injera to go with it. We ate like kings, and boy were we satisfied.

At this point, Woadesen insisted I meet his mother, whom he lived with only a few minutes walk away. How could I resist? A chance to hang out with a really nice local family on the first day! Next thing I know, we walked into a very old rickety door built into a dirt wall that’s about 15 feet high. First there’s a small dirt courtyard that's probably 2’ x 5’ where there was a chicken with a leash on it’s foot hanging out there! Then another small rickety partial door and a step down led into the house. The main room was probably half the size of our kitchen, with a bit of old beat up furniture. Against the wall in the far end was a bed that he and his mom shared. The place was very dark and dingy, but the people were so wonderful you couldn’t help but be joyous! They were so kind and asked me to sit and relax and after a few minutes of chatting she offered to make us some coffee. It was a thrilling experience to see how this is done on a regular basis in a ‘local persons house in the city. They had a small back room that was basically pitch black where I think a bit of the cooking is done and the food is kept. I wanted to explore, but also didn’t want to be intrusive so I held back. Back into the main room she came, with a little gas stove and a cloth filled with a handful of dull looking raw coffee beans. First we light up the stove, and then we place a small round metal try on top, perhaps about the size of a dinner plate. Then go the beans! Water is pored over them and they get mixed around and ‘cook’ in the water for a minute or two. Then, the beans are pushed to the side to steam a bit and a little water here and there from the center of the plate is placed on the beans. Keep in mind at this point it’s all done by hand right on the plate! Finally the water is pored off and it’s time for the roasting to start! Here we upgraded to a small medal rod to help stir the beans as things really heated up. I must say, the coffee aromas were absolutely delightful! I wish you were there to smell it! At this point, Woadesen had went next door and brought over one of his school friends Kerubel to join for coffee. His English was so much better and made communicating much much easier. He took the roasted coffee into the courtyard in a mortar and pestle and beet it to a pulp while the chicken scavenged around for coffee bean scarps. At this point I became a bit worried because I realized I was going to be drinking the local water in the coffee but hoped brewing the coffee would kill of anything harmful. The coffee was so black and rich, though sadly the flavor was masked by sugar and sugar and did I mention sugar? In a little espresso they put in two huge heaping teaspoons so to me it’s blindingly sweet. I tried to convince them I was OK without sugar, but they insisted.  After 3 rounds of coffee, it was time to head home cause I was beat. I had been adventuring at this point from 8:30-4:00 and was ready to head back and try out my cold shower!

Later that night when I got back and showered up Claudio invited me into the ‘hangout room’ next door with his wife and 2 Ethiopian friends. Everyone was incredibly friendly and we hung out and chewed chat! First day already jeez. Claudio and his wife retreated after about 30 minutes but his friends Erick, Fidel, and another  brought me out to some fancy Ethiopian bar. It was such a surreal experience to go from hanging out with Woadesen and his family to sitting in some fancy Ethiopian bar drinking grey goose (they insisted and made it clear it was on them). 2 drinkz later it was time for relatively bad friend chicken then off for my first cold night in my room.

More to come!

Mark

Ethiopia!

First off, just to let everyone know I’m here safe and things are going great. My couchsurfing host is fantastic and has been a huge help to me. I’m not sure yet where I’ll be staying in the long term, but for now this place is great! More on my experiences later.

OK, so many of you may be wondering why Ethiopia? First, let me tell you a bit about the country. Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa, and is currently the second most populous nation on the continent with roughly 95 million people. When one first thinks of Ethiopia, imagines of deserts and famine may flash into ones mind, but this is just a small part of the countries rich history. Ethiopia is a very large and diverse country, actually ranking the most populous landlocked country in the world! It’s classified as a federalist democratic republic split on ethno linguistic lines, though upon reading Ethiopian history you quickly learn how complex the country is with over 80 languages (200 dialects) currently spoken.  

During the first two months I’ll be spending much of my time in the capital city, Addis Ababa. Addis is located roughly in the center of the country, surrounded by the Oromiya killil (think state. The killil is the largest form of government district in Ethiopia with 7 in total). Although close to the equator, the city is actually the third highest capital in the world, located at 7,726 ft, and therefore is very moderate in climate. Lucky for me, the sun rises every day around 6, with highs consistently around 70 and lows about 45-50. The city has roughly 3.5 million people, and is regarded to as the political hub of Africa since the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) are based here.

During the following two months I’ll be working at the United Nations Economic Commission on Africa (UNECA)! I’m hoping to spend only a few days a week here, as I plan to spend as much time as possible in the surrounding area talking with farmers, learning as much as possible about the country, and conduction some dissertation fieldwork. During the third month Emily will be joining me for much adventuring around the country!

In a nutshell, my work is on agrarian development in Ethiopia. The crux of the research is focused on the fact that Ethiopia and most other African economies have largely failed to expand employment despite a decade plus of positive economic growth. Thus with limited employment options pro-smallholder (i.e. small farm) development strategies are paramount to the improvement of rural livelihoods. My first paper I’m finishing up argues small farms produce more per unit of land. Additionally I find the fragmentation (farmers having multiple plots. In Ethiopia this is usually seen as a big issue by the government since the ‘average’ farmer has about 3 plots that are not contiguous) is positively associated with yield. During my time here I plan to explore this latter finding. I hope you’re all sufficiently bored now! 

Ethiopia quick facts:

Regarding the economy, Ethiopia is still an agrarian society. Roughly 80-85% of the population still works in the agrarian sector, vast majority of which are subsistence farmers. In fact, Ethiopia is one of the least urbanized countries in the world! Currently GDP per capita is hovering right below $500, though growth numbers have been very promising. Schooling remains dismal with average yrs of schooling currently at 2.2. I did find at yesterday that the government just eliminated the fee for schools for roughly the bottom 80-85% of the population! This appears to be great news, but I have much to learn about the education system here. 

Time – although Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of the east coast, time is actually told on an entirely different system. In Ethiopia, the day starts at dawn (6 AM). Therefore, 8 AM in Ethiopia (1 AM on the east coast) is actually called 2 in the morning there. Likewise, say 7 PM in Ethiopia is called 1 in the evening.

Ethiopia is consistently the top / one of the top US and UK aid recipients (non-war). Why is Ethiopia a favorite? Well, that’s a complicated matter but a lot of this has to do with the countries political stability in the Horn and its assistance to the US in routing Al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia.

Ethiopia is often referred to as the only country on the continent that wasn’t colonized, except for a relatively short occupation by the Italians during WWII that lasted 6 years.

As mentioned above, the country has many languages with a total of 82! The two languages most frequently used (Amharic and Oromo) are only spoken by about 1/3 of the population. In Addis however the vast majority of residents speak Amharic. Although Amharic is the chosen language of the government, English is used throughout the Universities and taught during secondary school.

That’s if for now! Hope you’ve learned a bit about Ethiopia. I’ll keep you all posted on how the adventure is going!

I'm heading to Ethiopia today for three months, so Emily and I decided to start a blog. Although there will be frequent updates about my Ethiopian adventures on here Emily will also be contributing from home to keep everyone posted as she tries to survive alone!

Soon I'll be filling you in with details about Ethiopia, but first a post on Emily's fall birthday.

Today Emily is 23! Happy Birthday! She's very lucky to have started the day with a cannoli and cappuccino, what else could someone want!?  Perhaps for me not to be leaving for 3 months on her birthday....that's understandable of course. Yesterday we had a fantastic day with our family and friends.

We had a lovely day starting with a picnic at the apple orchard! Luckily the weather held up nicely and we were able to wander around the sculpture garden where Emily and Grammy saw two young bobcats! We then went to the vineyard for a lovely wine tasting before heading back to the house for some lamb tacos and carrot cake.

Off to do some final packing! Emily and I are thrilled to go to Ten Tables tonight for dinner prior to my departure for a last birthday/sendoff celebration! It will take me a few days to get set up in Ethiopia but I'll post soon! 

Love,

Mark and Emily