Blogs from Oromia Region, Ethiopia, Africa - page 4

I think I may be getting a hang of this Amhara dance after all! I was pulled up AGAIN at a Habesha restaurant on Saturday, only this time it didn’t end with me cowering in a red-faced ball in my Axum-shaped chair, but with a shoulder-touch and a sincere ‘ammesegnallehu’ from the dancer!! That’s right -- I’m setting my shoulders loose in Addis!! Haha I sincerely hope that all of my friends and family forget that comment a few months from now and spare me from having to “prove it” with a demonstration. I already have a list of excuses prepared: “Sorry, long flight, shoulder cramp” or “I really would love to, but this music doesn’t have the right beat”… the list goes on. It probably wasn’t too smart to stay out passed midnight on Saturday ... read more

I ran into Zelalem walking home from work one day. He was with an American who is helping his father start a coffee business here in Ethiopia, (his father is gone, only he is here). We got to talking, he is actually from San Fran, and now he is pretty much our 3rd Amigo. In honor of this I will call him Little Neddy Neddenlander…Three Amigos, Martin Short’s character. Anyways, his family somehow knows Zelalem and he has been helping them with translation and paying fair prices instead of Ferenji-fied prices. Neddy suggested we go to Zelalem’s church for the experience and I was totally down. That Sunday we went to the church. Like all homes in Ethiopia it was behind a metal gate, but this one had big red crosses on it. The church was ... read more

So we took Joseph and introduced him to Temesgen who is a Jimma University student. They talked about his options. Evidently Joseph wont be able to go to Jimma U because he doesn’t have his diploma. He completed grades 9, 10, and 11, but not 12. Grades 1-10 are their standard schooling, 11 and 12 are mandatory college prep years. So we were like ok, what can we do. We went to a school near the university that offered diplomas, but it turns out they only offer courses in Oromifan, and Joseph speaks Amharic. There is no GED equivalent in Ethiopia, we asked. Long story short he only has a couple of options: go to a technical school, repeat grades 9, 10, 11 and finish 12, or move to Addis and take diploma courses. He mentioned ... read more

The other day my companion and I both saw this kid pushing a metal hoop with a stick and we didn’t talk about him until today. She thought it was funny that kids here play with those 1950s type toys and I told her about that playstation 3 commercial, that talks about pushing hoops with sticks. People write into sony and they show the person acting/reading out their letter and they have their spokesperson who responds. Anyways, the kid is like, “help, my grandmother has hijacked my playstation 3 and I cant play it.” The spokesperson says “you should thank your lucky stars you live in the day and age of the playstation, when your grandmother was a girl her fun was pushing a hoop with a stick.” “But.” “With a stick.” “But.” “A STICK!” ... read more

In the beginning of the film, the Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Humphrey Bogart buys a lotto ticket from a kid on the street. The kid finds him later and tells him he won, and with this new wealth the group is able to finance their mining trip. Lotto tickets are sold in the exact same way here. I will be sitting in a café and kids will come up and try to sell me lotto tickets. It worked for Bogie, maybe I should take a chance.... read more