Ferenge Addis Blog

Ordering breakfast in Amharic (in Jimma)

I joke with people that I only know "restaurant Amharic" which is not far from the truth. I know how to order basic things and how to say thank you and so forth. On my recent trip to Jimma, this ability was not quite as useful as I had hoped. I stumbled in to the restaurant of the Jimma Central Hotel ("the best place in town") before anyone else. The waiter appeared immediately. I ordered large coffee with small milk, some mango juice and eggs with toast. He looked confused. I repeated slowly. My Amharic pronunciation has been compared to that of a small child, often providing amusement for my Ethiopian companions. Still, the waiter didn't understand. So I switched to English and he seemed to finally grasp what I wanted to eat.

It didn't occur to me until I was on the plane going home that night: In Jimma they don't speak Amharic. They speak Oromifa.

From the birthplace of coffee

Greetings from Jimma near the Kaffa region. Notice the name, whence comes "coffee." Everywhere we drive we see coffee plants, many of them shaded by Akasha (sp?) trees. On our way back from our afternoon Health Center visits yesterday I had the driver stop and I walked out among the coffee bushes. See photos here. They're about as tall as me, laden with coffee berries. Most of the berries were green, but some were cherry-red and ready to be picked. We saw pickers along the road carrying one bucket, or two baskets, balanced across their backs on a stick. The farms we passed were all government owned, although some in the area are owned by small farmers.

As for the drinking experience, Jimma/Kaffa coffee is so different in flavor from other Ethiopian coffees as to be surprising at first sip. While the Harar, Sidamo, and Yergecheffe have their distinct flavors, they're all from the same earthy, winey flavor genre. Kaffa coffee is much more spicy. I asked if spices had been added, so much did I taste cardamon, pepper, and cloves. All questioned servers swore it was only coffee, as did my colleagues here.

I was going to bring back several kilos as christmas gifts, but the beans are only available unroasted. I asked why you couldn't get them roasted and everyone said "you just have your cook roast them." I didn't explain about the poor people in the US who have to cook for themselves.

Ten things I do *not* miss about being in the US in December

• 12 catalogs in the mailbox every day
• cheesy Christmas decorations in every store
• pressure to show how much you love people by how much $ you spend on their gifts
• commercialization of the holiday
• people who whine about forgetting that christmas is a christian holiday, when it was stolen from the pagan winter solstice so the early church could gain market share (Jesus was born in the spring)
• office holiday events that become obligations, not gifts
• cheesy renditions of christmas carols I've been hearing since October
• snow, driving into the ditch, and dirty slush everywhere (I grew up in MI)
• sharing the road with NC drivers when it snows, even 0.1 inch
• shopping anywhere after Thanksgiving

Getnet gets a house

There was great news in our compound on Sunday. Getnet, my senior guard, was successful in a housing lottery drawing. From what I can gather it works like this: the GOE is building lots of subsidized housing around Addis. In order to determine who will get a spot, they hold drawings from time to time. The last two times, Getnet came home empty handed and down in the mouth.

Usually Getnet, and ex-soldier, is all business. When I got back from Menagesha yesterday and he was all smiles I knew something was up. He immediately told me that this time he was successful in the housing lottery. This adds to his good fortune earlier in the year: as the result of a salary survey and adjustments, his income went up significantly. After, in his own words, "wasting" several years as a soldier, Getnet now has a plan for his life. He's 2/3 of the way there. As he said "I now have some money, with this lottery I have a house, now I can find a wife."

Toby Big

Over the past 14 months, Toby, my middle-aged Brittany Spaniel has, shall we say, bulked up. This is due to Woinshet's good cooking. Not having a reliable supply of dog food here I downloaded a recipe off the internet and Woinshet cooks it up at least twice a week. It's rice, sheep meat, carrots, and yogurt. Because I go to the gym after work, Woinshet or the guards feed him in the afternoon. Finding it easier to curb his expanding gut than to curb my own, I cut down on his morning food. I was explaining to Getnet the guard that Toby is fat and it's not good for him. He laughed and said "you foreigners don't understand. In Ethiopia it is good to be fat." I didn't want to explain worrying about dog cardiac care and other things that would make him think I'm crazier about the pets than the considerable amount he already knows. He kind of shook his head and said "eshy" (okay).

I was trying to explain the same thing to Mulgetta, another guard, whose English is on a par with my Amharic. He clearly wasn't getting that I wanted him to cut down on Toby's food, even after I showed him the proper amount. He just looked in the bowl, looked at me, and looked puzzled. Finally I hit on something that might work: "Toby tilik. Toby megeb tinnish." (Toby big. Toby food small.) He smiled. "Eshy."

So, after only 14 months, I can string three words together and be understood.

BTW, there are new puppy (and cat) photos on the flickr site.