A post about nothing

Lion of Judah monument

Things have been quiet on the domestic front, both on a national level and on a more local, er, domestic level. At the end of last month violent clashes broke out in several regions that resulted in the deaths of more than 80 people, but things appear to have calmed down for the time being. Travel restrictions that had been placed on the Oromia region, Harar ሐረር and Dire Dawa ድሬ ዳዋ have been lifted, and we're now able to drive out of Addis Ababa አዲስ አበባ again should we so desire (not that I can, as I'm still waiting for our car to clear the last bureaucratic hurdles and be delivered at last into the warm embrace of its owners). The main story now in the news involves the GERD, aka the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam ታላቁ የኢትዮጵያ ሕዳሴ ግድብ. For obvious reasons I'll let this BBC article provide the background, but suffice it to say I hope the contentious issues surrounding the dam's construction and eventual operation are resolved peacefully, especially as the family and I are planning to visit Egypt at the end of this year.

On that other domestic front mentioned at the beginning of this post, I find myself as a temporary single father due to my wife having gone back to Taiwan for the month of November to visit family and friends. My daughter and I are coping pretty well, considering that my daughter is 13 and doesn't need a whole lot of supervision; Shu-E left us a lot of food in the freezer; and there are enough restaurants within walking distance in the surrounding neighborhoods to keep the two of us from starving. My wife's absence, in fact, has given us a good enough reason to seek out some new places, like the one we went for lunch on the first Sunday of the month:

It was only a coincidence that I was wearing my purchased-in-Cape Town Springboks jersey the day after South Africa thumped England 32-12 in the final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup:

The rest of that first weekend sans mother/wife was spent at home, opening up boxes containing the last of our household effects, and deciding where everything should go. It's taken more than 3½ months for all of our stuff to finally end up in one place (and in one piece!), which isn't unusual in this lifestyle.

The second weekend without Shu-E was supposed to be more active, starting on Saturday when Amber and I spent time moving some heavy furniture up a couple of flights of stairs. In the afternoon I attended my first Ethiopian wedding reception, held at an outdoor garden. The reason for going is that the bride is one of the locally-employed staff in my office. In a modern custom similar to that in Taiwan, the newly-wedded couple arrived at the reception in a classic Mercedes:

The couple sat up on a stage between the bridesmaids and the groomsmen:

Enjoying some moments with coworkers:

The happy newlyweds:

The following day I'd planned to take Amber to the one of the city's finest museums. However, when my wife left for Taiwan on the first of November, she apparently took her commitment to hygienic cooking practices with her. I've had several episodes of gastronomic distress since her departure, although my daughter has been fine (and we've been eating a lot of the same foods). That Saturday evening after the reception, along with the following morning, was one of the worst. Prudence dictated staying indoors that Sunday, so the two of us used the time to successfully hook up some electronic appliances that had been lying around in boxes. By lunchtime I was feeling sufficiently better to go out for lunch, enjoying an omelet with beef and a strawberry milkshake at Mamokacha Cafe, secure in the knowledge that I was most likely the only person in all of Ethiopia at that moment sporting a Sacramento River Cats jersey:

Veterans Day - one of those American holidays in which I have the day off, but my daughter still has to attend school. With the wife out of the country, there wasn't much to do. In the morning I took a long walk that led me to South Africa Street. Compared to other major metropolises around the world, there aren't many recognizable foreign companies doing business in Addis Ababa. "In-N-Out  Burger" and "Home Depot" are two examples of Ethiopia's lax intellectual property rights laws (there's also a "7-Eleven" at Bole International Airport):

As in many other places in Africa, Chinese companies have a big presence in Addis Ababa. There's a dormitory for Chinese workers a short distance from our townhouse, and construction sites around town are surrounded by fencing with Chinese characters written on them. As I set out on Monday morning on my walk, I passed a group of Ethiopian telecom workers installing some cables, and being supervised by a Chinese foreman. On the way back home I passed a couple more examples of the Chinese footprint:

After lunch, I cleaned up my bike, filled the tires with air and took it out for its first ride since back when we were living in Vilnius last year. It was only 2½ kilometers (1.6 miles) from the house to Amber's school, but it took some effort on my part, due to my chronic knee issues and with trying to find the right gear combinations. The altitude also took its toll. Sure, the elevation gain was only 50 meters (164 feet), but when you're starting out at 2300 meters (7546 feet), it takes some getting used to:

It came in through the bathroom window...

I took the day off from work this past Friday in order to oversee the hanging of paintings, calendars and other things on the walls of our government-provided townhouse. This was the final act of the moving-in process, where everything has finally been received, accounted for and allocated a place in the grand household scheme of things. Well, almost. We're still waiting on a.) our car, which I've learned I can bring home on Monday; and b.) our mother/wife, who should be delivered at the beginning of next month.

Ours is a typical living room for a family in my line of work, with items picked up from around the world - Japan, Taiwan, China, Thailand and various places in Europe. Joining the collection will be mementos from Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular:

On Sunday (today) the plan yet again was to go with my daughter to one of Addis' best museums. And again, those plans were derailed - not by a stomach bug, but by a race. The Great Ethiopian Run, an annual 10-kilometer road running event, to be exact. Major events such as these in Addis Ababa tend to result in the closures of main roads, and I was advised against traveling by taxi while the race was underway. So the museum was shelved for another day, and in a case of can't beat 'em, join watch 'em, I walked up Roosevelt Street toward Mexico Square ሜክሲኮ አደባባይ to see if I could catch a glimpse of the action.

Life in a Third World metropolis: high rise buildings in the background (the African Union HQ in this case), shantytowns in the foreground:

Roads being closed off to traffic meant I could stand in the middle of the usually-busy Ras Abebe Aragay Street to take this photo:

I eventually reached the halfway point in the race:

Apparently it was all over by the time I arrived on the scene shortly after 1100. There were many people wearing race shirts, but none of them were running:

The Lion of Judah monument on Gambia Street. There's a more famous statue 650 meters to the south, in front of the old train station. According to Wikipedia, this one was commissioned by Emperor Haile Selassie ቀዳማዊ ኃይለ ሥላሴ in 1954, and was crafted by the Polish/French sculptor Maurice Calka:

As Amber and I have plans to go out of town for the next weekend, hopefully the subsequent blog post will be of more interest. Until then...

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...