Stranger In A Strange Land

Coffee - you have not had coffee unless you've had it in Ethiopia... That, my friends, is coffee.

Steve, Ben and I walked around the city in the morning. Lindi still had to do some homework for a course she's taking back in Vancouver. We met a guy named Solomon, who is the gardener at Wabe Shebelle. He decided to walk with us and play tour guide.

My senses are always heightened when I travel. You get an edge, an awareness of all that is around you. Things lodge in your brain quickly - how people do things: what's the dynamic between local people, between you and them, what are the customs. In a microsecond, you size up the situation and hope you're right.

It's the eyes that reveal the most. Looks of confusion (who is this guy? Does he speak English? Mandarin? Japanese?), looks of suspicion, perhaps. Mostly I think they are shy. A smile closes the divide. My few words of arhemic also help. Shows respect and respect is universally acknowledged.

Then there are the sights, sounds, smells.

overload.

Sights - soldiers with AK-47's, beggars with deformities. People everywhere - doing nothing, doing everything. Traffic is insane, ordered by insane by this Canadian’s standards. I can see what Vancouver traffic is becoming like though…J. Sounds of a big city - car/truck horns that signal frustration, presence and intent, air raid sirens for something, talking everywhere, but I can't understand. I'm in a sea of sound that I have no meaning for me or mean something else to me. Smells that I don't smell in Vancouver - cigarettes inside, exhaust from all cars/trucks (and they definitely need a tuneup), spices in foods I've never smelt before.

assumption. context. confusion.

My girlfriend would be overwhelmed, especially the people with deformities that find the most... pragmatic way to cope. Being in the health profession, she would see the need everywhere and wonder why it is the way it is. I do too, but perhaps my heart is hardened, because I want it to be.

plan. justify. think.

(just don't feel. not yet.)

We have lunch with Tibebu at the Hilton. Nice lunch. Chicken Tikka by the poolside. Not something done everyday, but it was Hope International’s traditional way to welcoming donors, etc.

juxtaposition.

We're off to SaLE, the orphange/school site and meet with Freihwot and her staff. We tour the facilities and I see the warmth of the people there. I introduce myself to Freihwot, the person who started SaLE, and explain what I'd like to do there. I'm looking forward to it.