It's *Buna Time in the Piazza!

Passing by the Tiglachin ትግላችን ("Our struggle") monument in a taxi. This Derg ደርግ-related structure is a memorial to Cuban and Ethiopian soldiers who turned back invading Somali forces in the 1977-8 Ogaden War. It begs future exploration...

The best-laid plans of mice and men.

The idea on Saturday was to visit the most famous cafe in Ethiopia, but not before first having lunch in the vicinity. Perusing my Lonely Planet guidebook, I settled on a place called the Reizal Café, about a nine-minute walk from the coffeehouse. According to LP, the "slick modern cafe speedily (italics mine) serves" various international dishes "to a fashionable, young crowd". The latter part of the description is accurate, but the former didn't exactly jive with our experience on Saturday afternoon. The female server who seated us took our order: a pepperoni pizza and a bottle of Ambo Mineral Water for me; an order of spring rolls and an Ambo for my wife; and a tuna melt and a cup of hot chocolate for our daughter. A little while later, a male server came by to inform us that they were out of the meat-filled spring rolls, hot chocolate and Ambo; Shu-E opted for the veggie spring rolls and a cup of coffee, Amber a bottle of regular water and your humble scribe a Coca-Cola. More time passed, and the drinks and my wife's spring rolls arrived. The waiter returned later to confirm my daughter's tuna melt order, which eventually arrived after another lengthy wait. I was beginning to worry about my pizza, and after almost 75 minutes of sitting I called another server over and re-ordered my pizza. The pizza finally showed up at our table, but in all it was an unintended two-hour dining experience. Next time I'll take Shu-E's advice and not rely on guidebooks when it comes to choosing places to eat.

Looking on the bright side, the pizza was pretty good, and the total bill came to only 289 birr ($9.89). Plus there was free entertainment. Not once, but twice, groups of musicians entered the cafe to perform tribal music and dancing. I wanted to video the performers, but was afraid that doing so would obligate me to pay them (some customers were giving them money). My wife, on the other hand, was less than pleased by the intrusion. Already uncomfortable from the exhaust fumes she inhaled on the cab ride from our house, the loud music (including the blaring of what sounded like a vuvuzela) only added to her discomfort (the bitterness of the coffee didn't help). Finally, at the end of our meal, the rain was pouring down outside, as the second group of musicians/dancers waited for the skies to clear up. We should've done the same, but Shu-E didn't want to spend any more time inside Reizal:

The cafe may have been a letdown, but Tomoca ቶሞካ ቡና lived up to the hype. There are several branches all over town (including one about a fifteen minute-walk from our house), but the 1953 Italian-style cafe on Wawel Street is the original:

Amber poses with some coffee plants outside Tomoca. It's beyond the scope of this humble blog to dive into the importance of coffee in Ethiopia's culture and economy. Suffice it to say the country is where the Coffee arabica plant originated; coffee makes up a third of Ethiopia's exports, and Ethiopian coffee production accounts for 3% of the global market. And then there's the **coffee ceremony:

My wife and I both ordered the regular coffee, at only 16 birr (55¢) for a cup. It was very bitter, but adding sugar as the Ethiopians do made it more palatable:

The cafe is standing-room only (no tables). By the end of my shot, I was hooked:

The interior is small:

Beans are for sale but Shu-E wasn't interested in purchasing any. There's still plenty of time:

Following a brief look around Book World መጽሐፍ ዓለም, one branch of a local bookstore chain featuring speciality English-language titles on Ethiopia (had it had a copy of The Addis Ababa Massacre: Italy's National Shame in stock, a title I'd previously come across at Washington D.C.'s Politics and Prose, I might've made a purchase), we returned home by taxi in the late afternoon. A scene from the cab window - I don't know what the modern building is in the background, but to the left you can glimpse the tracks of Addis Ababa's አዲስ አበባ light rail system, the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa:

Despite the weather, the traffic, the crowds and lunch, I had a pretty good time on Saturday. It was our first occasion to venture into the capital's Piazza district, an area the legacy and architecture of which "are owed to the Italian occupation" of 1936-1941 (to paraphrase my now somewhat-maligned LP guide). My long-suffering wife may be finding Africa a little overwhelming at the beginning of our tour; I, on the other hand, am still in that initial stage where everything is exhilarating. Our daughter, being at the beginning of her teenage years, is content playing with various devices and waiting for school to begin.

Stairs. The other side is even more interesting in that it appears to be joined to the building being erected next door

Shu-E and Amber amble down a residential street in a neighborhood filled with upper-class houses and diplomatic residences. Not our ሰፈር, in case you're wondering...

A brief but intense storm rolled through on Sunday evening. This is what it looked like from the front (top) and back (bottom) of our house

* Buna ቡና, the Amharic word for "coffee"

**Speaking of the coffee ceremony, an extremely abridged version was demonstrated during orientation day at my daughter's new school:

When in Addis Ababa, do as the Chinese

A pair of cats prowl the Korean restaurant where we had lunch on Saturday afternoon. Addis Ababa has a large stray dog population, and we've been advised not to touch the cats or dogs on the streets due to rabies concerns

Well, it's our third weekend in Addis Ababa አዲሱ አበባ, and we've yet to do any sightseeing. However, we haven't been staying at home all day, either. In a discovery that is sure to make my wife's transition into our new life in Ethiopia much easier, we learned that Addis Ababa has a "China market" ቻይና ገበያ located on a side street just off of Airport Road. Shu-E was taken there briefly earlier in the week, but on Saturday the three of us went there by taxi so she could do some more in-depth exploring/shopping. We were dropped off in front of the Rainbow Korean Restaurant ቀስተ ደመና የኮሪያ ምግብ ቤት, where we would eventually have lunch. But not before first checking out the stores on both sides of the street:

China is a major investor in infrastructure projects in Ethiopia, and there are upwards of 60,000 Chinese nationals residing in the country. To supply those living in the capital city with familiar foods and items from back home, there are several small grocery stores in the China market, many of them run by Chinese nationals. The Ethiopian clerk in this shop spoke fairly good Mandarin, better than mine, according to my daughter, who always finds my inept attempts to use the right tones entertainingly hilarious:

The was an inviting aroma of fried chicken wafting from this ሱቅ, but all we could see were some chicken breasts boiling in hot water:

Note the sign for Habesha Beer in simplified characters:

The shop on the left carried the notorious Darlie brand toothpaste. Notorious in that it used to be called "Darkie", and featured an Al Jolson-like minstrel man on its packaging. Growing criticism in the late 1980's forced the manufacturer to change the name and replace the face on the tube with a more racially ambiguous image, but the product is still called "Black Person Toothpaste" 黑人牙膏 in Chinese:

Not all the businesses are Chinese-run in the China market:

On the way into the Korean restaurant for lunch, my daughter noticed this chair promoting Pocari Sweat ポカリスエット, a notorious Japanese sports drink. Notorious only for its name, that is, as it actually tastes pretty good. It was my thirst-quencher of choice for my hiking outings in Taiwan:

Speaking of Habesha, it's been replaced as my current local beer of choice by Castel ካስቴል ቢራ, though I was disappointed to learn later that it's produced by a French company:

The menu at Rainbow Korean Restaurant was exactly the same as that of Arirang, the Korean restaurant where we had dinner on our first Sunday in Addis Ababa. That isn't to say it was bad; quite the contrary...:

The opposite end of the China market is a series of produce stands, where we stocked up on bananas, apples and mangoes. That's Amber in the hoodie; Shu-E is invisible as she was crouching down behind the woman in the shawl, checking out some of the fruit:

The punishment for public urination is harsh:

Small herds of goats are a common sight on the streets. Tomorrow is Eid al-Adha, an Islamic holiday known as the "Festival of the Sacrifice". On the way home on Saturday afternoon, our taxi drove by a large livestock market, where people were attempting to put cows, goats and sheep they had just bought into their vehicles. The animals, seemingly aware of their fate, were resisting:

Some of my wife's haul from the China market:

Speaking of Eid al-Adha, as a security notice put out by the embassy referred to large crowds, traffic disruptions and a heavy police presence, we decided not to go anywhere on Sunday where large groups of people might congregate. However, not being one who likes to stay indoors all day long, I dragged persuaded forced took my daughter to go with me on a walk through the neighborhood. Once outside, we soon passed by the St. Michael Church:

Until Saturday night, when I was looking at Google Maps, I hadn't realized how close we're living to the African Union Commission የአፍሪካ ህብረት ኮሚሽን ዋና መስሪያ ቤት, which has its headquarters in Addis Ababa. We've been advised not to take photographs of government buildings and other sensitive structures, so I took this shot from hopefully a safe distance away:

Amber and I had lunch at the popular-with-ፈረንጅ's Bake & Brew, where she devoured a tuna melt...:

...while I satisfied my sweet tooth and expanded my waistline further with some French toast:

It all comes down to perspective - this building reminded my daughter of the Soviet-era apartment blocks we used to see in Vilnius, while to me it looked like upscale housing in a fast-growing area of the Ethiopian capital (Correction as of 8.23: walking past this building a couple of nights ago, I was surprised to learn that it's actually an Addis Ababa transportation bureau office):

My first portrait taken in Ethiopia, courtesy of my daughter, in which I tried to make sure not to drop the bottled water onto the road below:

Ties between Ethiopia and South Korea date back to the Korean War, when Emperor Haile Selassie ቀዳማዊ ኃይለ ሥላሴ sent troops to fight on the United Nations side. Interestingly, Ethiopia also has diplomatic relations with North Korea, and both the ROK and DPRK have embassies in Addis Ababa:

In case you're wondering, Taiwan (aka the Republic of China) doesn't have any representation in Ethiopia, including any non-political, non-diplomatic or non-intergovernmental representation. In the unlikely event Shu-E and/or Amber would need assistance from Taiwanese authorities, they would have to go to either Eswatini, where there is an ROC embassy; or to Nigeria or South Africa, where there is a Taipei Trade Office in Lagos, and Taipei Liaison Offices in Cape Town and Pretoria.

Until next weekend, ምልካም ሳምንት!

I took this photo of a group of women either heading to or from church from the shuttle taking me home after work

TIA

The view from our third-floor balcony on a clear day

Here at last, here at last, thank god almighty, we're here at last! In Africa for the first time! After a long flight from Washington, D.C. via Frankfurt, we arrived at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport on the final Friday in July to begin our next adventure. As it's been only been nine days so far, conclusions can't be made and impressions are continually being shaped, but thanks in large part to our social sponsors M & K, our transition has been relatively smooth so far. Unlike other officers with the missions (AU and bilateral) here who had to wait several months in hotel rooms before housing could be secured, we were able to move into our residence upon arrival. It's a three-story townhouse made of concrete and tile, and surprisingly resembles a typical Taiwanese abode, an observation noted by our daughter almost as soon as she stepped inside. It's also largely empty, as our unaccompanied baggage, household effects and consumable shipments (not to mention our car) will take weeks or months to arrive, due in no small part to host country bureaucracy. This is Africa...

Ethiopia has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, but GDP per capita is among the lowest and there are serious structural problems. This has been manifested for us in the frequent power outages - fortunately, there is a generator that kicks in when the electricity goes out. We have a water distiller to ensure an uncontaminated supply, and have been strongly advised to bleach our fruits and vegetables before consumption. Gastrointestinal difficulties are apparently a frequent topic of conversation among the expat community here.

We've also managed to get our Internet service sorted out quickly (again thanks to our social sponsors), though not without a few hiccups. Here is Ethiopia, after all, where the Ethio telecom government monopoly is the sole Internet Service Provider, and shutdowns are not infrequent, most recently in the wake of the Amhara Region coup d'etat attempt. Blog posts, therefore, may not be as frequent as when we were living in Shanghai and Vilnius.

A frequent topic of discussion almost anywhere you go in the world is weather. We managed to arrive in Addis Ababa አዲሱ አበባ at the height of the rainy season, and it has rained every day we've been here, heavily at times (with lightning and thunder). The rain also means the temperatures are occasionally on the chilly side - the average highs for July and August are 21° Celsius (70° Fahrenheit), while the average lows for both months are 10°C (50°F). The rain, however, is manageable - it tends to come in short downbursts, and we've had some very clear skies at times. What is harder getting used to is the altitude - Addis Ababa sits at an average elevation of 2200 meters (7200 feet). It's going to take a few months to fully acclimatize, but while I find myself short of breath just going up a flight or two of stairs, it appears I'll be spared any altitude sickness (cue the sound of frantic knocking on wood).

Food hasn't been a problem so far. Our social sponsors have taken us grocery shopping a couple of times, as well as going out to Addis' best hamburger joint and a Korean restaurant (the latter being our suggestion as well as our treat). In fact, I'm embarrassed to say I haven't had any Ethiopian food so far, but I'll blame my wife and daughter for that - Shu-E isn't ready to try any yet, and Amber still thinks injera እንጀራ is "too sour" from the one time I took her to an Ethiopian restaurant in D.C. Addis has a lot of non-Ethiopian dining options (pizza places proliferate here), but sooner or later I'll force convince the girls to try something more native.

It's been a busy week for me at work, though mostly that's due to the process of getting everything sorted out. I've been fascinated by the street scenes spied from the shuttle going to and from the embassy in the mornings and afternoons, but we've yet to do any sightseeing. That should change in the forthcoming weeks and months as we begin to settle in, so stay tuned. In the meantime, for your enjoyment, a few photos taken with my camera and iPhone during the past few days...

The view on our first morning in Addis Ababa:

Looking out from the rear of our building:

To quote John Lennon, rain, I don't mind (though I'll be glad when this season is over):

Sampling some of the many local beers, including Walia ዋልያ...:

...Habesha ሐበሻ...:

...and St. George ቅድስት ጊዮርጊስ:

I took this picture from the shuttle:

Examples of Ethiopian currency, known as birr ብር:

My wife was disappointed to learn seafood isn't common in Addis Ababa, but it didn't take her long to find a small store not far from where we live:

A typical street scene. Ethiopia is a developing country, and the traffic is unsurprisingly chaotic:

So far I've only seen one accident, but once our car gets here, I'm not looking forward to scenes like this!:

For safety reasons we're not allowed to use the blue-and-white taxis to get around:

Driving around Karls Square, named after an Austrian-German actor and philanthropist and not Karl Marx, like I first presumed (the country suffered under a Marxist dictatorship from 1974 to 1991):

We were given an informal tour of Amber's new school yesterday afternoon. Haile Gebrselassie ኃይሌ_ገብረ_ሥላሴ is one of Ethiopia's greatest sports heroes:

Losing to one of the school's resident tortoises, while Shu-E walks away in disgust:

The view from the school rooftop:

A fruit-and-vegetable stand that so far has lived up to its name:

I was surprised to see this young woman's bag bearing the names of several seminal California punk bands (Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Descendents and Angst):

This Sunday we took our first taxi ride, going out for lunch at the Sichuan Chinese Restaurant የሲቿን ምግብ on Tito Street. That's "Tito" as in former Yugoslav Marshal and leader Josip Broz, and not Michael's brother in the Jacksons:

Across the street from the Chinese restaurant:

Amber enjoys a post-lunch treat at Tutto Gelato:

One of the many traffic circles in Addis. The only noteworthy thing about this roundabout is that it's named after the Russian novelist, playwright and poet Alexander Pushkin:

Strolling around the neighborhood. Note the minaret in the background - 30-35% of the population is Muslim. The first call to prayer is at five in the morning, right about the time I'm waking up to get ready for work:

And so the adventure has begun. More to come soon, I hope...