Getting cultured (and fed)

That's entertainment, Ethiopian-style

It's been taking some time getting used to Ethiopia again following our visit to Cape Town. Physically, I'm finding myself wheezing once more going up stairs after a week spent closer to sea level (even atop the 1085 meter/3558 foot Table Mountain we were still lower than the 2290 meter/7513 foot-high elevation our townhouse occupies in Addis Ababa አዲስ አበባ). And mentally, well...South Africa has its share of serious problems, but Cape Town for us was a city of convenient shopping centers, paved roads and sanitary restaurants, so we find ourselves having to readjust to Ethiopia's developing nation conditions.

We've also returned to a much more tense political situation in this country. The news that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ዐቢይ አህመድ አሊ has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize broke while we were in Cape Town, and is certainly cause for celebration. But this past week saw reminders of the ethnic conflicts that present a serious challenge to Abiy's efforts at reforming his country (see here and here). Surprisingly, the events of last week in Addis didn't affect me much, as our residence is a safe distance away. However, we aren't allowed to leave the capital city by car until further notice, and additional areas of the country have been closed off for both official and personal travel.

But that doesn't mean we can't find ways to amuse ourselves. On Saturday evening Amber, Shu-E and I had dinner at the Yod Abyssinia Cultural Restaurant ዮድ አቢሲኒያ የባህል ምግብ ቤት. There are two branches in town, with the more well-known one that's featured in the guidebooks being located in the Bole area. The other one, which the three of us went to last night, is only six-minute taxi ride from our house.

There are a number of these kinds of restaurants scattered around Addis, combining traditional Ethiopian food with dancing and singing shows. It sounds touristy, but surprisingly the majority of the customers are Ethiopians. Our reserved table had a good view of the stage:

 

It was the first time for my wife and I to sample Bedele Beer. We ended up downing three bottles each:

Daughter and mother waiting for the show to begin:

We arrived at 1830 hours, but the restaurant would soon fill up with customers:

I'm not yet familiar enough with Ethiopian food to identify individual dishes, but our dinner was a combination of meat and vegetarian options that was both filling and tasty:

The performances began after 1900 hours and continued almost non-stop for the rest of the time we were there:

 Coffee and popcorn followed the meal:

The most energetic performance of the evening was given by one of the women below. She twirled her head and hair around in a whiplash-inducing frenzy that I should've caught on video, but I was too mesmerized to do anything other than watch. Which is how it should be...:

These two dancers were especially well-received by the crowd, earning a lot in tips:

At one point, an enthusiastic member of the audience got up onstage to bust a move:

My favorite was this group:

  

We left after the above act was finished, having stayed for nearly three hours. A good time was had by Shu-E and me, though the music wasn't really Amber's style:

If anyone can find the time and/or work up the courage to come and visit us in Ethiopia, this place will definitely be on the sightseeing itinerary!

The rest of the time since coming back from South Africa has been pretty quiet and uneventful (for us personally, not for Ethiopia as a whole). We've been blessed with some fine weather:

My wife checks her phone in front of a modern-style tukul:

A modern-style house (not ours) in a relatively upscale neighborhood (also not ours):

A Protestant church not far from our residence. These churches have made inroads into Ethiopian society in recent years, at the expense of the traditional Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church የኢትዮጵያ:ኦርቶዶክስ:ተዋሕዶ:ቤተ:ክርስቲያን. This one is well-attended by an affluent, middle-class congregation:

The grounds of my workplace are home to at least two large tortoises. This one is the less skittish of the pair, in that it doesn't retreat into its shell whenever people pass it by:

And, finally, the sunrises are becoming more impressive now that the rain has gone away:

Shu-E will be leaving next weekend for a month-long stay in Taiwan, meaning Amber and I will be fending for ourselves for the next few weeks. Hopefully our car will be showing up soon, so we can do some more exploring around Addis Ababa. Until political tensions die down somewhat, that will be all we can do for now. It isn't considered a hardship post for nothing...

All that Jazz

今週末台中でジャズフェスティバルを開いて、日曜日の昼に家族といっしょに行って見た。

Before going to Taichung 台中, we stopped by a small "river" near Jhong-jheng Park, to say hello to Amber's uncle, who was doing some fishing. My brother-in-law is one of the most nicest people I have ever met.

 

義兄はとても慎み深い人だ

The festival was held in the park meridian that runs between Taizhonggang and Gongyi Roads, not far from the National Museum of Natural Science 国立自然科学博物館. The number of food stalls and other vendors there made it seem more like a market than a music festival, but then what would Taiwan be if there weren't people out there trying to sell you things? Amber had a try at an electronic drum kit:

 

アンバーはドラムを演奏している！

We stopped for a break at a nearby Mister Donut, where Amber had her first, and presumably (for a while, at least), last sip of coffee (with cream and sugar):

 

娘はコーヒーを楽しんでいる！

We actually didn't hear all that much in the way of music. I did, however, record one jazz quartet for about 90 seconds:

Jazz Group

The somewhat shaky camerawork comes from trying to film with one hand, while carrying my daughter in my other arm.

As night fell (and Amber started getting tired), we headed back to Fengyuan 豊原, stopping off at a roadside teppanyaki 鉄板焼き stand to pick up some food to take home for dinner.

For myself, Taichung's Jazz Festival ended up being a celebration of Taiwan's budding craft beer industry. I've long complained about the generally poor quality of the government-monopoly produced Taiwan Beer (if you like Budweiser, you'll love Taiwan Beer!), and the lack of selection of beers in general to be found in convenience stores and supermarkets. The retail situation is still pretty bleak, but microbreweries are starting to appear on the scene, and not a moment too soon!

 

地ビール

The large bottle in the middle is brewed by a company called Le ble d'or, while the two on either side are from North Taiwan Brewing. Both breweries are based in the Taipei 台北 area, though Le ble d'or also has a couple of restaurants in Taichung. I've already polished off the bottle on the right (the Abbey Beer) while I've been writing this (and it was delicious!), and I'm looking forward to the other two. In fact, combined with the sake-in-a-can and sake-in-a-carton (straw included!) that I was given by a student on Friday (her mother-in-law had just returned from a trip to Japan), I think I'm going to be feeling pretty good for most of this upcoming week!

いろいろな事

Several articles have appeared in the media in recent weeks lamenting the damage being done to Taiwan's relations with the United States and Japan by the administration of Mr. Ma 馬英九. Today's Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ has one such story, entitled "Taiwan's Ma in damage control over Japan ties", which points out how:

"Japan (is) increasingly worried over Ma's attitude toward Tōkyō and his handling of ties with rival China. Increasingly acute, those concerns have prompted Ma to scramble, albeit quietly, for damage control before T'aipei-Tōkyō ties deteriorate beyond repair."

In the wake of his government's ridiculous handling of the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島 incident, and therefore:

"Eager to calm nerves in Japan, Ma has assigned Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng 王金平 to articulate his policies and lead a delegation of lawmakers on a goodwill visit. Taipei's top envoy for China, Chiang Pin-kun, is also scheduled to visit Tōkyō later this month. Unlike Wang's trip, news of Chiang's upcoming Japan mission has been subdued, with few officials commenting on his itinerary and objectives."

Regarding the latter envoy, the article notes that:

"...Chiang is also a Japan affairs expert and ruling Nationalist Party 中国国民党 vice chairman, and is thus uniquely positioned to soothe Tōkyō over what seems to be its greatest concern — that Ma is moving Taiwan too close to China. For regional security, the stakes are high, with the (Taiwan) strait representing a buffer zone between the U.S.-Japan alliance and a rising China, whose growing military, economic and diplomatic clout poses challenges to the balance of power. As chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation — the semiofficial agency in charge of direct contact with Beijing — fewer Taipei officials are better versed in cross-strait relations than Chiang, who...received instructions from Ma to portray those warming relations as beneficial to Japan."

After pointing out how the last sentence above is the basically the kind of lip-service Ma pays when he meets Japanese officials (has the JT got this guy pegged, or what?), the story concludes by observing that:

"Domestically, behind-the-scenes damage control measures have also emerged, with a Cabinet meeting last month focusing on ways to improve relations with Tōkyō. The flurry of activity comes after ties were sent reeling in June after a Japanese patrol boat rammed a Taiwanese fishing vessel."

It's too early to tell how much of this is genuine, and how much is for the sake of superficiality, but in any case, Ma has no one but himself to blame for the current mess. Not that he has accepted any responsibility. Not coincidentally, perhaps, former president Lee Tung-hui 李登輝 has decided now would be a good time to pay another visit to Japan ("Ex-President Lee reportedly to visit Japan"):

"Lee is scheduled to visit Okinawa Prefecture 沖縄県 from Sept. 22 to 25 and deliver an address at the University of the Ryūkyūs 琉球大学 on the second day of the visit...It will be the 85-year-old Lee's fourth visit to Japan since stepping down as president eight years ago."

On a completely different note, thanks to some great posts (and posters) on YouTube, I've been able to hear some great songs that I used to listen to on KDVS, 90.3 FM, out of UC Davis (my alma mater), back in the mid-late 1980's. Here is a sampling of tunes making this post-Baby Boomer/Gen Xer nostalgic (but not dismissive of today's music, either. I try to keep an open mind, a la John Peel):

"Last White Christmas" by the Basement Five

"Non-Alignment Pact" by Pere Ubu

"Across the Sea" by Salem 66

"Discipline" by God's Gift