Comments & Observations Part Deux

---

Addis has proper change, unlike Jimma where costs are usually rounded to the nearest Birr. I gave all my change away.

Addis is the only place I have ever worn a money belt in, I usually don’t wear them because I don’t like any unsightly bulges showing up on my person ala Jefferson Darcy. That was from the episode where the Darcys and Bundys went to England, the Darcys lost all their money and had to stay at an S&M club the whole time…I think the place was called the Whipped Pony. I forget why the Bundys went. Al had to battle some guy, it wasn’t Spare Tire, but I forget what for. I am actually pretty confident in the Whipped Pony, why I remember this, I don’t know. That episode must’ve aired 15 years ago.

The gasping sound means “yes” or “I don’t know” which makes it difficult to understand. They seem to inhale as they talk as well.

I kept hearing people say “yellum” so I asked some guys what it means and they laughed and said “it means we don’t have it, it’s not available.” I laughed and said that makes sense as every restaurant we go to we ask, “can I have this?” and they say “yellum”

Taxi drivers in Addis don’t want to go anywhere for less than 40 Birr, doesn’t matter if the destination is around the corner, they don’t want to make the effort.

One student said after seeing the countryside that if any able bodied man is poor in this area, it is out of sheer laziness. There does appear to be a lot of natural resources available to people.

All glass bottles are recycled…have I mentioned this before? Recycling means re-using. You drink a coke or a beer, and you must finish it at the place and leave the bottle with them. People will come around from the factories and collect the bottles and re-use them.

Ede’s Restaurant, a couple blocks east of Holiday Hotel but before Axum Hotel is awesome. It is on the second story of a building, near an internet café and Café Milano. The steak fajitas were really good and everyone was stoked on seeing and serving us.

Instead of saying “what?” they make a “eh?” sound, sometimes double tapped in rapid succession “eh? Eh?” I have adopted its usage.

---

Comments

[martha]

You are gonna be fine down there... u sound like a very positive person. About re-using, once u grow up in an environment like that it makes it very hard to let things go. Like I buy here now a bottle of milk and had to keep the bottle. Seriously my first year I moved to the west, I had one closet full of re-usables. Finally I decided to dump it. Well I am enjoying your blog as usual. Addis could be somehow confusing city having the extreme of the poor and rich. I see where ur friend is coming why people are so poor while having so much of a resource. I often wonder too. I have my own understandings of why. But I will leave the question to you to figure it out during ur stay in Ethiopia hopefully u will blog about it once done ur visit. Stay positive and healthy

[ethiopiadave]

Thank you for your comments, and for reading my blog. Just because we don’t re-use bottles in the west doesn’t mean you cant recycle the products. The streets in addis can be confusing, like in china, the streets just seem to change names randomly. Cross Churchill and the street has a different name. There is that huge shanty town that seems to border the park, mausoleum, the Sheraton hotel and the Hilton hotel. I will for sure come back to this in my wrap-up. I wonder how much of an impact western aid has been in their work ethic.