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Published: November 16th 2008
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Obviously I'm not very good at this. It is 3pm in the afternoon, or 9 o'clock Ethiopian time, and I am sitting slouched over with two branches of qat plant in my hands in a smoky, dim room off Bole Road no bigger than a typical dingy African single bedroom encircled with enough colorful blinking Christmas lights to give me a minor epileptic seizure. I'm trying to keep the wad of plant between my right gums and my cheek, but the wad keeps moving out towards my teeth and disintegrating in my saliva, only to be washed away down into my stomach before achieving the desired effect of giving me some sort of "high." Frustrated, I drink more water and look over to Jonas and Filimon. Jonas laughs, says something in Amharic to the around-eight other Ethiopian guys, and grabs another branch of
qat "chat". He picks off the good leaves with care, and rolls them up with a few spinkles of peanuts, hands it to me with purpose and expectation.
Qat is apparently (what I've been told) Ethiopia's biggest export. Heavy exports to Britain and to the US (Colorado)... It is something like a very legal form of pot
that you chew instead to get high. I try again, and shove the green wad into mouth and try to chew a bit before placing the wad back to the side of my cheeks where it is to stay. I'm supposed to let it sit there and suck out the juices seeping from the leaves. It doesn't really work because I keep accidentally swallowing, and after an hour and a half sitting in the qat house surrounded by (successfully) high Ethiopian guys, I give up and just let myself sit and listen to the Lil Wayne, Akon, and Tupac floating through the speakers. I'm just not cut for chewing drugs I think.
Ethiopian guys LOVE American rap more than any other Africans I have encountered yet. Walking in the streets of Addis so far, all guys I meet inevitably start beat-box rapping and asking me if I know so-and-so. "Of course I know so-and-so, it's all from my country!" High fives all around if I can rap along with them. This is how I meet Jonas and Filimon my first day here. Jonas is a year older than myself at 25 and is a rather good looking specimen of
Ethiopian male. He has fat dreads about 6 inches long and is a self-proclaimed Rasta, coming from Sheshmene, the unofficial capital of the actual religion of Ras Tafari in Ethiopia. Filimon is quite the opposite, only 21 and small and thin in stature, but instead of your Jamaican rasta accent he speaks extremely good American English. I met the two separately but the three of us have been hanging around Addis all day, although I have to admit I think Jonas is too much more interesting than Filimon.
The capital of Ethiopia is large and sprawled out. Not as hectic as Kampala, but not as sleepy as Kigali. I can't say I love it for the city itself, but already Ethiopia is proving to be a country to make you wonder and make you curious. You hear everywhere that Ethiopia is unlike anywhere else in Africa, historically, religiously, extremely important, and sitting at the crux of European, Middle Eastern, and African cultures. Ethiopians have their own language (Amharic), their own alphabet. They are something like (along with Eritrea, their neighbor to the north which they are currently at war with) the only African nation to not have been colonized,
and man are they all eager to make you as the tourist aware of how they beat off those oily Italians, seemingly a huge source of pride for them.
Like some of the East African countries, they are on Swahili (or Ethiopian) time - the days start at 6am, so European 7am is their 1am, and our 6pm is their midnight (I think, or their noon, I don't actually know) so that has been a slight source of confusion here. The typical African foods I have unfortunately let my standards drop to, you won't find them here. Instead of pap, maize, and any other cheap starch, here in Ethiopia you have a completely non-related injera and spicy meat/veggie dips. Even down to the weather Ethiopia stands apart - in that it is absolutely freezing, a country with endless mountains, valleys; most regions of interest at 2,500 meters above sea level.
Even the people of Ethiopia, in physical features stand out. Southern Africans seem to have rounder faces, fatter lips, way darker skin. Ethiopians, on the other hand tend to have thinner faces, higher cheekbones, straighter noses, and lighter skin. You could say they just look a bit more
European, and certainly closer to what you would picture Egyptians to look like. They say the most attractive African nation is Ethiopia, and that Ethiopian women are beautiful galore. (They are also really into prostitution in Ethiopia, and despite the country being heavily Christian, prostitution seems to be "accepted" in a way. Many of the women can speak all of Amharic, English, and Arabic for work as maids and prostitutes elsewhere. I found out you can get basic full service for about 30 USD here.) And in case anybody is unaware, it is widely known that most of the world's fastest runners come from Ethiopia, god knows why.
Tomorrow I catch a bus to Gonder, Africa's "Camelot," at 4:45am. It should be a 7 hour ride but I'm sure it will take 12. We're heading to some big Jazz night at some club whose name I don't remember (it's named after a burough of NY though) tonight and I don't suppose I will get any sleep. It doesn't matter though, because I'm finally in Ethiopia!
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Niccolo
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Well done Amy to have gone so far. It seems that this will be more of a music cultural place. I follow your blog with great attention and still enjoy every single line I read.