Daily Life

Being is Addis is a bit strange seeing as I’m living here as opposed traveling. Most days are sadly eaten up by work, especially due to the major setbacks with surgery prior to leaving. I wish I’d had more time to explore the city these first few weeks, but work and a major conference last weekend I’ve now had a total of 4 days off since I’ve arrived.

Of course we can’t always let work get in the way! The goal moving forward is to try and get out of the city a bit and see the country. After all only about 15% of the countries population lives in cities, so it’s hard to get a feel for Ethiopia sitting in the capital…especially behind a desk in the UN compound!

Although I’ve been cooped up working most the weekend, I finally had a chance to explore the city a bit by night without the group of local guys I usually hang out with. On Friday I met Claudio for a drink at one of the local bars. Most the local bars are small rooms, maybe 10’ X 10’, where you hang out, throw back a few local beers, and snack of peanuts and a variety of dried peas. The drink of choice is usually beer since it’s local and cheap. There are a few decent local varieties including St. George, Walla, and Amber. Although wine has just begun to be produced in the country, primarily under the French conglomerate Castle, it’s really expensive! Beer it is.

On Saturday I met up with two of the fellow interns, Anja and Amanda, to seek out a French restaurant with rave reviews. I know what you’re thinking, “French food in Ethiopia!?” Well, too many people recommended it to pass it up. Prior to journeying to La Mandoline we had to take a few minutes to explore the small, but moving Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum.

The Red Terror (1974-1976) was a terrible time in Ethiopian History. The Derg, a military regime, had just overthrown the Emperor Haile Selassie and proceed to exterminate any and all opposition. In a short period of time, the Derg killed an estimated 500,000 people. The Museum is a reminder of this horrific past, providing a heartbreaking but notable display.

Following a 45 minute walk and some U-turns we found the restaurant! Whenever you try to get anywhere here you need a landmark. First, most streets don’t have names. The ones that do change constantly. What’s printed in the guidebook may be recognizable to other ex pats, but certainly not to the local population. If you come from one region of the city, you may refer to a street by a certain name, while another region of the city calls that same street by another! To boot, the city is under more construction than I’ve ever seen, with roads appearing and disappearing daily.

Once we got to the restaurant I quickly realized this would be my first night really hitting the ex pat spots. The Restaurant was decent, though didn’t live up to my expectations. What did hit me was the fact that it clearly primarily catered to the ex pat community which was a strange feeling since I hadn’t been to that kind of place yet. Luckily the meal finished with a lemon tart that was good…though nothing compared to what Emily can make!

After three hours it was off to another almost exclusively ex pat place O’ Cananda. I’d had many people recommend the place, though I hadn’t ventured out since night travel here is a bit of a challenge and very expensive. It was a fine time, though I’d much preferred to have been in a local place. It was an interesting change of pace though to see what the weekends are like for that community within Addis.

Alright, off to the market to get a bit of food for the week! I’ve been scheming how to make Thanksgiving dinner, knowing ingredients may be limited. Since turkey isn’t available, chicken it is! You see beef available everywhere, but I’ve only seen live chickens. I’ll keep you posted as I figure out what I’ll make!

O, and here is a street snack I ate the other day. I usually love street food, but I've now had 2 locals warn me strongly against it. Perhaps I'll stop eating it? Haven't had any tummy issues yet! 

And since many asked for more photos, here are my two favorite puppies I see every morning!