Ethiopia
my first week in ethiopia is ending. i’ve not seen much beyond the hilton, the sheraton, and work.
the hilton is to the sheraton as a wealthy communist leader’s compound is to the wealthy princes’ palaces of saudi arabia.
the hilton is nice, the sheraton is scarily opulent. marble floors and stairs, men in capes hold open the door for you as you pass through the metal detector and pass your bags through the x-ray machine. the grounds are impeccably maintained and you can get thai green curried vegetables at the cafe next to the pool. as you sit there, drinking excellent coffee and discussing food security issues and poverty and health issues with others similarly priveledged, you can glimpse the shanties and slum neighborhoods that ring the sheraton, that the sheraton razed to make way for the hotel and the further neighborhoods they are planning to raze to expand the hotel and parking lots. some of the worst neighborhoods in addis are next to the sheraton.
my friend and i went to the piazza last night to walk around and see some parts of the city that i’ve not had a chance to yet. the piazza was crowded with people walking around, meeting up, sitting at the pastry and coffee shops that go on forever here. the streets of the piazza area are full of gold and silver shops and local art stores. you can buy paintings as medicine. there was one man who sold paintings done on ox leather and if you hang them, they protect you from various entitities and events. the one i liked the best, that my eye was drawn to most, was a bright red one that is supposed to keep the devil away. i wonder if a devil is hovering near me that i subconsciously need protection from…
we went and ate at a middle eastern restaurant that was fair to middlin’. i’ve had excellent food here, though. of course ethiopian food, which i love and it is fun to eat with your fingers. when i eat it, it makes me think of my friend seema saying, food tastes better off the flesh. i’ve also been to a yemeni restaurant which was two types of rice, white and yellow basmati style, types of meat, some veg, and spicy sauce all glopped onto a tray and mixed, with naan on the side. nice pizza and scads of coffee. i wonder if why i can’t sleep anymore is all the coffee i drink all day long…
the hotel is lovely. every night, someone comes in, turns down my bed, puts a candy on my pillow. friday nights i get a dessert tray, saturday nights i get a fruit plate. the beer in the minifridge is reasonably priced, which i found out to the detriment of my head the other night. based on preliminary tests, castel beer (the queen of beers) trumps st. george’s beer which trumps bati beer. they also have yoga classes and aerobics classes here. and a massage service. which i’m seriously considering, as it is $10 and my back is killing me, from the stress i like to contain in my neck to the pain in my lower back from sitting in front of the computer for 8 hours a day at least every day since i’ve been here. including saturday. sad kitten working on saturday. and sunday. i’ll be working today as well.
going around the city is strange. there are goats being herded, donkeys carrying loads three times their size. when driving down the street and stopped at a stoplight, women with babies wrapped tight in cloths will come to the windows and knock, begging for money. boys run around with boxes of kleenex to sell and dash into the streets to sell to the drivers. when we were walking around the piazza, tiny children laden with cardboard boxes slung around their necks with string run after you singsonging ‘chinga chinga’. took me a few times to realize they were saying chewing gum. mothers sleep on the sidewalks with their children. when we were in the taxi from the piazza to my hotel, we drove through one of the worst neighborhoods in addis. i’ve never seen anything like it. there were streets and streets of tin-sided and mud-sided small shacks running into each other. women hovered in the doorways, looking bored and resigned and trying to attract the attention of the men walking by. other than those women, there were no other women out and about at that time of night. there were many groups of men walking about, sitting in front of cafes and liquor stores. there were also fruit stalls and little buildings chock full of third hand electronics and shoes and things. and that neighborhood is right between the sheraton and the hilton.
it is a strange life. in the mornings i line up with the other workers going to various agencies waiting for our cars and drivers. all these foreigners. coming to help. and staying… anyway.
