There is nothing to start your day off better than walking in a door and having a whole horde of children run up to hug and kiss you and ask sweet questions.
After spending two days hanging out in Addis, I hopped on a quick one hour flight north to Mekele, where my cousin has been hanging out for the past six weeks or so volunteering at an orphanage. My plan is to be here for two weeks-ish, and then explore a bit of northern Ethiopia before heading south for my training, and I can already tell that leaving here is going to be sad.
That being said, Mekele ranks approximately ninety seven places higher in my book than Addis does. The traffic is less crazy, the buildings are more likely to be in a state of construction instead of falling down (and the scaffolding is enough to give an OSHA inspector a heart attack, but I'm mostly amazed by the ingenuity of it), I feel like I can actually manage to find my way around, the air is clearer, and I have something productive to be doing. Oh and there are about a million horses pulling carts, donkeys loaded up, and herds of cattle and goats being directed through the streets by men with long sticks.
Being a white girl here is definitely an interesting experience as well. Walking down the streets, it's more likely that a person will stare as I walk by than not, the children will call out "Ferenji!" (foreigner) or wave or walk up and shake my hand. The shy ones will stand where they are and maybe smile if I wave and smile at them first. Walking around yesterday late afternoon, a guy walked by and grabbed my hand quickly and kept on walking, which isn't a huge deal, but my personal space as an American was definitely "under attack" and I've been conscious of keeping my hands in my pockets or not anywhere grabbable since then. Really though, this is a safe area and just like anywhere else, stay smart and 99% of issues just won't exist for you.
Another fun thing: language! Here in the north people speak Tigrinya rather than Amharic, so I've been trying to pick up words where I can, recognizing that my vocabulary when I leave will probably still be less than fifty words. Luckily, the people I interact with most have the most important words ("Up!", Mama! You, me, etc.)' down pat.
Few places have wifi around here, so I'm relying mostly on internet cafes to send out emails and update ye olde blogge, but I'll try and run up to the Axum hotel that does have wifi in not too long to upload pictures. And, just so you can get a feel for how different things are, walking around trying to find an internet cafe, we had to walk ten minutes down the street and check in a few different places because the electricity is out on a large part of the street. Luckily, these folks handle it with a lot more calm than we do back in the states.
That's all for now, folks!
After spending two days hanging out in Addis, I hopped on a quick one hour flight north to Mekele, where my cousin has been hanging out for the past six weeks or so volunteering at an orphanage. My plan is to be here for two weeks-ish, and then explore a bit of northern Ethiopia before heading south for my training, and I can already tell that leaving here is going to be sad.
That being said, Mekele ranks approximately ninety seven places higher in my book than Addis does. The traffic is less crazy, the buildings are more likely to be in a state of construction instead of falling down (and the scaffolding is enough to give an OSHA inspector a heart attack, but I'm mostly amazed by the ingenuity of it), I feel like I can actually manage to find my way around, the air is clearer, and I have something productive to be doing. Oh and there are about a million horses pulling carts, donkeys loaded up, and herds of cattle and goats being directed through the streets by men with long sticks.
Being a white girl here is definitely an interesting experience as well. Walking down the streets, it's more likely that a person will stare as I walk by than not, the children will call out "Ferenji!" (foreigner) or wave or walk up and shake my hand. The shy ones will stand where they are and maybe smile if I wave and smile at them first. Walking around yesterday late afternoon, a guy walked by and grabbed my hand quickly and kept on walking, which isn't a huge deal, but my personal space as an American was definitely "under attack" and I've been conscious of keeping my hands in my pockets or not anywhere grabbable since then. Really though, this is a safe area and just like anywhere else, stay smart and 99% of issues just won't exist for you.
Another fun thing: language! Here in the north people speak Tigrinya rather than Amharic, so I've been trying to pick up words where I can, recognizing that my vocabulary when I leave will probably still be less than fifty words. Luckily, the people I interact with most have the most important words ("Up!", Mama! You, me, etc.)' down pat.
Few places have wifi around here, so I'm relying mostly on internet cafes to send out emails and update ye olde blogge, but I'll try and run up to the Axum hotel that does have wifi in not too long to upload pictures. And, just so you can get a feel for how different things are, walking around trying to find an internet cafe, we had to walk ten minutes down the street and check in a few different places because the electricity is out on a large part of the street. Luckily, these folks handle it with a lot more calm than we do back in the states.
That's all for now, folks!
I guess you're going to be reshaping your concept of personal space, eh, darling?
ReplyDeleteDo you remember walking down the streets in Japan? It got to the point where we had to take a longer path to the train station because the shortest path went right by a pachinko parlor and the old men would dash out to rub your blonde hair for luck- and you "didn't appreciate" that.
Thank you for sharing your adventures! Love you!