Observations #3

Landscape

There are glass shards on top of the walls of most compounds. The glass sometimes catches the sunlight and sparkles like jewels, other times it just looks menacing and unwelcoming.
Even the church is surrounded by a wall of evergreen shrubs, and they have metal doors along the row.
Women with large straw hats cleaning the streets, then other places that have huge piles of trash. Here people seem to cover up in the sun. Little boy with bright pink sunglasses!
The people that clean the road are completely covered and they never clean the sides of the roads. Are these people lepers?
Male and female bathrooms are not always separate in restaurants and there are often sinks available for washing hands.
Most buildings appear to be constructed by hand rather than using a lot of heavy machinery or even power tools.
It seems like some guards are not really needed and just end up lounging around all day.
Dumpsters by the side of the road are surrounded by garbage.
Very few people smoke here.
Barbed wire around some grass mediums along the roads, why?
The outskirts of Addis is very beautiful, especially at sunset. You look out into the open fields, and see a mountain shining in the sunset, as peaceful as ever.
Ordinary water that has sat in plastic buckets becomes holy when a priest prays over it.
Huge crowds for Timket, few religious events have this type of format in America.
A nearby church set off fireworks last night for concluding Timket
Most trees do not survive without aid of walls or other type of manmade protection.
My family takes very good care of their flowers/garden area.
Even though it is very dry here, the plants/grass are very green.
My father said that often people will spend more money on the fence to go around their house than on the house itself.
This area grows a wide variety of fruit, however apples don’t grow here and are very expensive.
Every afternoon when I get home there are boys playing soccer in the field across the street. They play until it is dark.
My family covers their carpet and some of their furniture with plastic
The first day I saw Bole road I wasn’t impressed, last night when I drove by Bole again I was surprised by the display of wealth.
Lots of vultures fly in the sky around the school, probably probing a dead animal to scavenge, I have never seen anything like it in a city.
In Pizza, the section of town we found seemed to be all jewelry and pubs!
The electricity will randomly go off for various periods of time.
A crippled boy scoots out to our table at a restaurant, what can you do… what would life be like scooting down the street on your bottom using your hands to move?
Services seem to cluster by type, for instance, a whole row of jewelry shops or a line of shoe shiners.
The weather here is perfect and the mountains are soooo beautiful.
Though surrounded by mountains Addis can certainly be windy – the wind blows dust everywhere, in my eyes and even in my mouth. At 6:00 in the morning the air was still.
There actually seems to be no smog hanging over the city this morning.
Everyone was dressed up and walking around the street in their best “cultural” clothes for Ramadan.
At the risk of sounding… awful… so is the national dance chicken inspired or what?
Its very common to see people freely throwing trash out of their cars.
Today I rode in a taxi that had a driver and no sidekick.
They have commercials for protecting the environment and anti-corruption on TV
People try to sell things right outside of the church
During the rainy season do the rivers flood and spread feces everywhere?

Relationships

Our servant is called by the honorary term for cousin.
Kimberly’s dad walked me home then didn’t just say hi and leave but stayed to chat and had tea even though it was late at night.
Adults tell kids begging for money to stop- usually they listen. What do they say?
I got special treatment at the Timket ceremony because I am a white foreigner. I was allowed to go into the center of the field and climb the stairs so that I could get a better view.
The priest had a “box” on his head for Timket – I am assuming that the tablets were inside somehow…
I am pretty sure our cook is Orthodox even though my parents are MKC. She does not serve meat on Orthodox fasting days and she made a special bread yesterday for Timket.
Timket is a time for boys to look for girlfriends.
My little brother is pretty spoiled, he just whines and gets what he wants.
Everyone has a job, big or small, is this a left over trait from the revolution?
When individuals are sitting and their elder enters the space, the younger persons make a motion forward as if about the get out of the seat.
Close friends or siblings often times hold hands longer than what I am used to. It is strange for me to see men do this, but here it is normal.
My family does not seem to associate value with the word “fat” – it is just a description.
Ethiopian men can’t survive without women: They would starve!
There seems to be a height gap – people are a little shorter than Americans except for the really tall Oromo.
My family is very modest, my sister quickly leaves the room if I change clothes or if she does.
Ethiopians may ask the same question many times in a row or repeat themselves.
It doesn’t seem important for the whole family to eat together, I often eat before others or on my own.
My father wouldn’t let me pay the fee for the lion zoo or for coffee yesterday because “a daughter doesn’t pay”.
Last night the guys insisted on paying for everything when we went out.
My mother puts on a black shawl when company comes over because one of her friend’s died.
At a wedding last night as we waited for the bride and groom to arrive my father said “we are wasting time eh? You could not get this many people to wait for so long in America?”
Children carry very strong bonds to their parents. Parents are very well respected in Ethiopia.
After bartering with a taxi, the drivers seemed surprised that we tried to pay them as we get out.
There are locks on all of the drawers in our house, they are kept locked but the key remains in the lock.
After my mom heard that I went to a friend’s house for tea and bread she said I should invite friend, she is very open about inviting people over.
It seems to be ok to talk with your mouth full of food.
My family’s neighbor just had a baby – it seems that a baby is a community event. About 25-35 people went to the house and each person kissed the baby and gave beautiful gifts to both mother and child.
My dad says that it is Ethiopian culture not to walk between two people who are talking.
The maid sometimes joins the family in the living room but she never sits on the furniture, she usually crouches or stands by a chair.
This morning my housekeeper chases my little brother around with a small whip made from the handle of a purse.
Last night by sister insisted that we take a taxi (3 mins) to our home because it wasn’t safe for us to be out.
Ethiopians tend to drink little water compared to Americans/Europeans.
Ethiopians are more than happy to teach you Amharic.
Most people here enjoy simple pleasures much more than those in the states.

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