MIRROR DAYS-I COULD GET USED TO THIS

Breakfast at 9am

Sleep till 12 noon

Yes this day has mirrored the last 2 days.  I could get used to this. 

I was supposed to have lunch with Minalu again, but he got held up doing some work and Lemma came over instead.  Lemma was one of the 4 drivers that I had on my very first trip to Ethiopia doing the south of the country back in 2011.  We always have got along well and I have seen him again on 2 of my visits back to the country.  He is really quite sweet, as he still has my thankyou note that I wrote for all our 4 drivers and one for Minalu when out trip finished in October 2011 and he always shows me with pride that he still has it every time we meet.  So we sat in the guesthouse lounge for half an hour or so catching up and after receiving a phone call that M was running late, we decided to go for lunch and he could join us when he had finished doing his jobs.  I wonder what my guesthouse is thinking at this stage with the coming and going of all these men!  Lemma makes the 4^th man in 3 days that has come to the guesthouse to see me-oh yes I am a very popular lady that is for sure!!! Ha ha ha ha ha. 

Along with everything else in this area, we were walking distance to our lunch stop in an English translation of ‘meat house’.  It is basically the Ethiopian version of the Kenyan Nyama Choma with the meat hanging off hooks, you selecting the piece of meat you want, the amount that you want and then you take a seat inside and wait for it to be cooked and served.  The only difference is what takes the Kenyans 1.2 hours to get the meal to your table, the Ethiopians take 15 minutes-yes the service is far better here than in Kenya that is for sure.  I just thought we were having the normal tibs which is generally meat along with vegetables which are sautéed to make tibs and can be served in a variety of manners and can range from hot to mild or contain little to no vegetables. There are many variations of tibs, depending on type and size or shape of the cuts of meat used.  This is my favourite dish of Ethiopia.  But what came out was a different version of tibs called shekla tibs (meaning clay) and was sautéed meat served on a hot clay pot, sizzling with a flame underneath it.  To give you a picture the pot looked like an oil burner and it smelt delicious.  Generally it is pot roasted mutton served sizzling hot with Rosemarie, onion, Garlic, Chili and Traditional spice.  The meat was BBQ’d and this is now my most favourite Ethiopian dish.  Shelka tibs!  So served with the staple of injera which is a large sourdough flatbread which is about 50 centimetres in diameter and made out of fermented teff flour and it is rolled on the large metal plate and ripped with your hands and used to pick up the pieces of cubed meat from the clay pot.  We washed this down with a local beer called St George and we continued to chat the afternoon away sharing the meal.  One of Lemma’s work colleagues, Ermias, came down from the office to meet me, and had a beer with us before heading back and Minalu arrived half way through the meal, so he was able to get something to eat in the end.  For the meal and the 3 beers only cost 99 birr which is 5.50AUD!

With Ermias back to the office, Minalu had some more things to get done; Lemma walked me back to my guesthouse and with a hug goodbye and a promise to see him again in May I went back to my room to chill.  Minalu called a short while later and it seemed it was my turn to host ‘khat’ and Lemma came back, Minalu arrived and then another one of Minalu’s friends, Fekadu, who I had meet the first day arrived with the ‘goods’ and we then settled in for the afternoon using the guesthouse Wi-Fi, watching MTV and ‘chewing.  I must admit I have it easy when it comes to the chewing as I don’t pick the leaves-M does all that for me and we have a system that he picks some leaves and puts them in a spot for me and when that spot becomes empty he would just top it up with more leaves.  Oh yes I am very spoiled and Lemma was also helping on occasion and even had a packed hand of leaves that he fed directly into my mouth.  This typically can be done with injera and is called gursha, which is an act of friendship and love. When eating injera, a person uses his or her right hand to strip off a piece, wraps it around some wat or kitfo, and then puts it into his or her mouth. During a meal with friends or family, it is a common custom to feed others in the group with your hands by putting the rolled injera or a spoon full of other dishes into another's mouth. This is called a gursha, and the larger the gursha, the stronger the friendship or bond.  It seems out of place for a ‘westerner’ like me but it is a cultural heritage here and I was humbled by the gesture. 

I have been telling the boys and also Minalu’s boss how cheap I got the airfares to come up to Addis.  I only paid 89AUD each way and they were all surprised on how cheap that was.  I told them I had checked all sorts of dates and these prices were consistent.  Minalu has been talking about coming to Kenya and with the flights so cheap it seems more do-able than ever before.  To prove to them that the flights really are that cheap, while I had internet I looked up the prices and I picked an August date from Nairobi to Addis and it was 89AUD and then I just reversed the itinerary Addis to Nairobi using exactly the same date and it was 239AUD!!!  WHAT?  Well that doesn’t seem very fare does it?  There is obviously a lot more business heading to Kenya than vice versa with the price difference of the flights.  What a bugger.   

No mirror day is complete without the afternoon storm and the loss of the power.  Luckily the guesthouse have a lantern that has been charging the last few days, so as the day faded we were able to switch that on and then we decided to pack it all in after all the khat was finished and head to Crystals for my last full night in Addis.  The time has gone so fast and I have met a bunch of new people as well as catching up with old friends and all in all I have had an amazing trip and it all wouldn’t have been possible without Minalu, David, Lemma, Zeme (yes I’ll include him), Fekadu and some else who’s name I have forgotten (sorry).       

So we finished off the day back at Crystals, but it was a sombre affair with Minalu not feeling so well, David had gone home and it was my last night.  In saying that it didn’t stop us from having a one last ½ bottle of vodka and a few beers and at 1am again we headed home.  The area where we are isn’t far from the airport, Minalu’s place, Dave’s place, the bars and local restaurants.  Everything is walking distance.  It’s a great little area and probably where I would be living if I had of moved here.  Rent here seems to be cheaper than Nairobi at around 2000-2600 birr a month (111AUD-144AUD), but apparently those prices are going up as the economy improves and the wages are not, so as the leases come up, people will have to move further from the city to be able to still afford a place to live.  I guess it happens in any city and Addis Ababa is just catching up with the times which are unfortunate for its residents.  The new housing that I have seen popping up is apparently for the richer folks of town, which is a shame as how can the ‘normal’ johnny afford a new dwelling with the increase of housing?

I LOVE Ethiopia and I think one day it will be more ‘western’ for a gal to live-tourism and the economy is just going through the roof.  Even from my very first trip to now I have seen the completion of the ring road, upgrade of one of the major roads in the city, the Radisson Blu opening and the lions that have been in the city park for the last 27 years getting relocated to bigger location.  Yes one day ….. but as much as I love the country and the people, my time for now is in Kenya.  That is my home and I am still happy with choice.