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