Friday, January 31, 2014

The Language of Food


 Another wonderful experience I had in Ethiopia was learning to cook Ethiopian food from the cook at the volunteer guesthouse named Tattalou.  When we had power, we cooked over a two-burner electric cook top, and when we did not have power, we cooked traditionally over the coals.  I watched and chopped and stirred my way into learning to cook many traditional Ethiopian dishes.  She also invited me to her home to learn how to cook Injera the traditional way over a fire.  Since she did not have electricity, this is the way she cooks everyday at her home.  I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to learn how to cook traditional Ethiopian food.  But most of all I was grateful for the connection to her and the culture I was able to create through cooking.  She spoke a handful of words in English, and I spoke a handful of words in Amharic.  Yet people were astonished at the way we could communicate with each other.  The same thing happened in India with Gouri.  I think cooking itself creates a common language among women who are willing to let it be what bonds them.  Cooking has long been women’s work and the commonality of shared experience allows people to communicate.  Chopping a tomato is the same whether you are a woman in America, India, or Ethiopia.  And bonding over shared life experiences is a way of communicating.  I think another key to understanding across languages is patience and the desire to truly understand someone else’s experience.  What a gift…  

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Learning to cook Messir from Tattalou in the guesthouse kitchen. We did not have power that day, so we cooked over the coals.

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Tattalou, the cook, and Lomi, the maid, enjoying some tea together.

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At Tattalou's house :)

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Learning to cook Injera the traditional way


                                         







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Tattalou and I making Injera

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Tattalou and Stephanos 

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Me looking very Habesha! 

On Cleanliness being a Privilege...


Having the chance to totally immerse myself in the Kore community of Addis Ababa to live and volunteer for 3 weeks was an incredible experience.  Getting to live there and experience what life is like for the children whom I worked with at the school was truly amazing.  Traveling around Tanzania and Ethiopia had been relatively easy for Jon and I since we lived in India.  We are both extremely adaptable because of that experience.  But I still was not prepared for how quickly and easily adapting to living in difficult conditions would be for me.  I was very grateful for being so adaptable.  The volunteer guest house I lived in hardly ever had running water and the electricity was an on again off again thing.  Just on the short walk from the guest house to the school, I would get a layer of red dirt covering my clothes and body which would only increase after the first break, or recess, where the kids used me as a human jungle gym.  Not being able to shower regularly was a whole new world for me.  I got used to using baby wipes and thinking that I was clean.  It is amazing how your perspective can shift so fast. 


Our guest house was luxury living for the area of Kore though.  Many of the people who live there do not have running water or electricity in their homes.  Those with more money have concrete floors and others have dirt floors.  During the dry season the red dirt becomes dust, which floats around and sticks to every part of you.  During the rainy season, the dirt becomes mud, which also cakes onto everything and gets all over you when you walk.  The majority of people walk for transportation so you are always getting dirty.  I understood what it was like to be dirty, constantly.  And I realized what a privilege cleanliness is because for many people it is not an option.  If you have dirt floors and no running water in your home, how would you ever really get clean? As I sit in my clean house in Seattle with my running water and electricity, I am constantly reminded what a privilege it is to be clean.  I feel like my relationship to water has changed very drastically and will never be the same.  I value it more, I understand it more, and I can no longer waste it.  I am so immensely grateful for this new understanding.        

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Around the neighborhood

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On my walk to the school

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Kore neighborhood homes

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The volunteer guesthouse where I stayed

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Me and Stephanos, a boy who worked at the guest house.

On Generosity and Graciousness...


The people of Ethiopia have to be some of the kindest and most generous people I have ever met.  Strangers start conversations with you on the street.   You stop and say hello to or shake hands with everyone you know who you walk by.  You invite people to your table to join a meal in a restaurant or at your home.  But the epitomy of generosity and graciousness I saw were the children at the school where I was volunteering.   During lunch on my first day I walked into a room of kids with hands full of food held high, I looked down at the girl sitting in front of me and she says “Join Us.”  I hope for my sake this image remains imprinted in my memory forever.  Here are children that are 5 or 6 years old, many of whom do not get their most basic needs met, and they are offering a stranger at this point their lunch.  My heart wanted me to eat that bite of food out of her little hand because I knew that she genuinely wanted to share it with me because this generosity of food is a huge part of their culture.  But I knew that for so many of the kids, this may be their only meal for the day, and I couldn’t actually take what I knew they needed.  I don’t think she could have ever known what an impact that made on me and how much I appreciated that beautiful gesture.  Seeing people not just surviving but thriving in circumstances where their basic needs are not being met is inspiring beyond words.   I wonder how many people that little girl will be responsible for me inviting to my table, to “join us” and share a meal?  I am so incredibly grateful for this gift.

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Ethiopia- Addis Ababa Volunteer Experience at Strong Academy- October 27- November 19, 2013


I had the incredible experience of living and working in the Kore neighborhood in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for 3 weeks.  I volunteered at Strong Academy teaching English to 5 and 6 year olds.  This  school was run by an NGO that strove to educate the children in the area who otherwise would not get a chance to go to school.  
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Me in front of the school on my first day

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The teachers I worked who I worked with.

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My classroom of kiddos

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Selam studying hard

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At recess I played with all the kids at the school. They liked to use me as a human jungle gym.\

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Yerusalem on the monkey bars

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Lydia pretend cooking

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Look at those gorgeous eyes!

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Farika, the teacher of my class

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My kiddos in their street clothes, they didn't have to wear their uniforms on Wednesdays.

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Playing some foosball, as well as they could with a  broken down table


Recess got crazy and the slide was packed.











Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Ethiopia- Exploring Lalibela!!- October 24-26, 2013

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Lalibela is a town set at 8500 feet in the beautiful highlands of Ethiopia.


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A child herding goats.


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Lalibela is home to eleven 900 year old churches that were hand carved with chisels directly from the stone.  Today, to preserve the churches, most have protective coverings.


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Inside of one of the churches.  It's amazing to think that everything you see here is carved from a single block of stone!


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The churches are 900 years old, but are still used today by the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian locals.


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Traditional Ethiopian-style painting of Mary and Jesus.


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Our guide taking us through some tunnels between the churches.  The churches have been carved down into the rock from above, so there are systems of trenches and tunnels to get between them.


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In one of the trenches just outside of a church.


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These are traditional Lalibela-style houses.  They are two stories with the family living above and the cattle living below.


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Mandi was a magnet for local children!!!


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Traditional Ethiopian looming methods.  The loom is built around a hole that has been dug to sit in.


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Incredible sunset from our hotel balcony!


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Mandi drinking Tej - the local "honey wine" beverage.  The vessel is clear, the tej is very thick and yellow.  We think it must be an acquired taste - it was bitter and smelly.


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At the tej house, the local entertainer pulled people up to dance.  Jon was picked first!


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The most famous church in Lalibela - the St. George church.


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The St. George church is in the shape of a Greek cross and is very well preserved.


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At the roadside, we stopped for a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony.  Here, she is roasting the coffee beans.


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Mandi helps to grind the roasted coffee with a mortar and pestle.


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She brews it and serves it up.  Yum!  Jon's favorite coffee!


Ethiopia- Exploring Addis Ababa!!- October 17-24, 2013

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Coca Cola in Amharic (the main language of Ethiopia).


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Addis Ababa is at 7500 feet and is surrounded by hills and mountains.  We arrived just after the rainy season so everything was lush and green.


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Delicious Ethiopian food!  Ethiopian food is served family style and is eaten with your hands.  You use the injera (soft crepe-like bread) to scoop up the food.


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Enjoying our food!


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In front of the Holy Trinity Cathedral which is the seat of the Ethiopian Orthodox church.  Their Patriarch (similar to a Pope) is based here.


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Stained glass in the cathedral.


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The dome of the cathedral.


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Beautiful view of the Holy Trinity Cathedral.


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A local market in Addis.


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Mini-busses.  These run set routes but are hop-on hop-off service around the city.


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We enjoyed some traditional Ethiopian music at 2000 Habesha - a cultural restaurant.