Ferenge Addis Blog

Repatriating with pets: how it works

As it turns out, repatriating your pets is in some ways easier than repatriating yourself. Take my example. For a one-way cattle-car-class ticket from Addis to Washington I paid $1300. Because the tiny seats don't have enough leg room for full-sized people and don't recline more than a few degrees, I'll be lucky if I get a couple of hours of sleep out of the whole journey. I have an eight-hour layover in Amsterdam. Since I'm on an economy class ticket, I don't get use of the airline lounges. So I can roam around the crowded waiting rooms, cooling my heels until my flight boards.

Compare this to Toby (dog) and Janet's (cat) experience. They go as excess baggage, $150 each. They go in their crates with soft blankets in the bottom, in which they can curl up, stretch out, lie flat, and sleep. In Amsterdam, KLM collects them and takes them to the pet hotel where they can exercise, snack, and relax until they go to the next flight, all included in the $150. No word on whether they get a massage and spa treatment.

My top six restaurants in Addis

1. Serenade: No question the best menu, service, and atmosphere in Addis. It's not that easy to find, tucked back in a neighborhood near amest kilo. The decor is deep-hued modern with several small dining rooms, which cuts down on noise. The chef combines cuisines from all over the world: european, middle-eastern, african (including Ethiopian) for unique dishes. The desert cart is a sweet-lover's dream. And the unique ice cream flavors have to be tasted to be believed. (My favorite is cardamon/saffron.)

2. Casteli's: now that the owner is concentrating full-time again on the restaurant, Casteli's food is back to it's former top quality. In an old Armenian building in Piazza, the restaurant has perfect traditional Italian decor: white walls, starched linen tablecloths, polished wood floors. The service is excellent and unhurried. The menu is traditional multi-course Italian. I recommend the cold antipasti bar. While I usually stick to the home-made pasta, people who have accompanied me also liked the meat dishes, with the lamb shanks being a standout. The wine list is short, but well-chosen. There are no wines by the glass. They offer one small-bottle of Merlot which is passable. Be sure to make a reservation no matter what. The owner sits on a throne-like raised chair behind a desk and scowls comically at those who attempt to enter without one, regardless of the number of empty tables. A few words of Italian have been known to soften his heart.

3. Jewel of India: located in a villa on Meskel Flower Rd. just a couple of blocks from Dembel, Jewel of India is my new favorite Indian in Addis. KP recommended it when I suggested Sangham, and I'm glad she did. The atmosphere is intimate, with just two small dining rooms (the former dining and living rooms of the villa). The service is attentive but not hovering. The huge menu offers something for everyone, and the hardest part is making a choice. The standout appetizer is the chili paneer, spicy without being overbearing.

4. Amsterdam Cafe: for my money, this large restaurant located at the end of Bole Rd. has the best pizza in Addis, a claim I'm sure will raise debate. The crust is always crunchy and the sauces flavorful. The simple gorgonzola pizza is spiced well enough that even with only the cheese as the main ingredient, I never tire of it. The veggie pizza is loaded with fresh local vegetables and is another standout. They offer a full menu, so if your fellow-diners want pasta or Ethiopian food, they'll be accomodated. The service at Amsterdam is friendly, but very slow. Don't go if you're in a hurry.

5. Makush: run by an Italian chef, Makush combines an art gallery with a restaurant. In what might be called the lobby of the restaurant there are hundreds of paintings on display and available for browsing, in stacks. The works are also featured on the walls of the restaurant proper. Makush offers a semi-traditional Italian menu, with some modern flair thrown in. My favorites are the spinach salad, the best in Addis, and any pasta with the red gorgonzola sauce. The wine list is very short, but adequate.

6. Yod Abyssinia: in my opinion the best "cultural restaurant" in town. I go there every time I have visitors from the US. They have a buffet as well as a full menu. There is a traditional coffee ceremony to add the proper ambiance, and the service is good and the waitstaff plentiful. The entertainment is wonderful, and on Saturday nights seems to go on all night. Be sure to make reservations. By 7:30 on weekends the restaurant is full. (A well-applied 50-Birr note usually makes an empty table appear as if by magic.) During the singing and dancing show it's not uncommon for the audience to start participating, especially later in the evening as the beer flows. It's a convivial, friendly atmosphere, with more locals than ferenges.

Wifi review: the Swiss Cafe, Lime Tree, Kaldis

As I reported earlier, there's a nice trend emerging at Bole coffee shops: free wifi. Here's my entirely unscientific poll of how it works at three places that offer it.

• Lime tree: I've tried five times. It has worked once, at very slow dial-up speeds.
• Kaldi's (the one on Bole Rd. and the one by the big church). They say they offer it, but I've asked many times and not once have found it working.
• Swiss Cafe: good, but weird. It's always been working when I was there. And it can be really fast, with bursts of speed up to 500kbps (Stop snickering you North American types, that's really fast for Erthiopia!) But every few minutes it drops out for about a minute. This is no problem if you're just surfing or checking e-mail. If you're trying to download software updates, as I was, it just won't work.

What about other folks, any other places offering wireless? How does it work?

The cow in my bedroom

How did this cow get in my bedroom??? Who is torturing it and why???

These were the thoughts in my panicked mind when I was jolted out of sleep at (get this) 2:45 a.m. with the window-pane-rattling-volume bellowing from the church 1km away. I guess today is Timkat, and the priest thought everyone should be up, and everyone would love the sound of his voice as much as he does.

This brings up some funny questions: Is god deaf, so you have to amplify so he will hear your prayers? Are there people who would love to come to church at 2:45 a.m. but they can't quite make it, so prayers will be blasted city-wide as a public service? Are there people who don't worship your god but if only they could hear your wonderful preaching at 2:45 the scales would fall from their eyes and they would be converted? Did it not occur to the priest that perhaps there might be one citizen in the city of several million who would prefer to sleep during normal sleeping time for humans? Does the loudest priest in the city win the cool-priest contest?

Look, one of the things I love about Ethiopia is its religious tolerance. I support this 100% If you want to worship God, Allah, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Krishna, Thor, or little green space aliens, more power to you. But how does religious tolerance jive with the populace's right to a decent night's sleep?

US Customs: what you can't take back

As I said in an earlier entry, it's a lot easier to get one's household effects (HHE) back into the US than to get them into Ethiopia in the first place. Coming in to Ethiopia, GOE Customs is super-worried you will being in things to sell for which they won't get their 100% customs duty. So the US embassy has to get involved, things sit in customs for a long time, lots of forms get stamped in triplicate by many many agencies, etc.

For a returning US citizen, things are a bit easier. Mainly US Customs is worried about you not bringing in "biohazards." This means food. No kidding. Any food you want to bring in has to be declared, inspected, and will hold up your shipment by days or weeks. This includes things you would expect, like plants, meat, fruit, etc. But it also includes all packaged food, like peanut butter, canned soup, pet food, etc. Huh? These precautions are made stranger still because you can bring all these things in your checked baggage. So if I pack some good Tomoca Harar in my luggage, good deal. If I put some in my air freight shipment, we all descend into the white-man's hell of US Government beuracracy. Why the difference? I know airports are logic-free zones, and US government regulations are all about process and have nothing to do with effect, but this one seems especially strange.

Repatriating your stuff: what it's like

Moving back to the US is almost as big a production as moving here. The physical logistics are the same: you make four big piles of stuff: sea freight, air freight, carry-on, and checked baggage. This time the pets count as checked baggage, and only cost about $150 each. (Although Janet demanded an upgrade to Business Class, none was available.) I'm flying to Washington DC, the closest I can get to NC with only one layover. (I want to minimize the time in the crates for the critters.) I'll rent a car in DC and drive the 4-6 hours to Raleigh.

Air freight timing is, shall we say, variable. On the way here I was quoted 8-10 days. It took 28 days. Oops. Sea freight always takes about 2-3 months. This timing is good for me. By the time the air freight gets to the US I will be in a sublet in DC. By the time the sea freight arrives, I should be in my permanent residence.

Customs is *much* easier going back to the US. As a US citizen mostly they're just worried whether I'm bringing back "biohazards." This includes things like peanut butter. No kidding. No food can come back.

Good Bye Ethiopia

In three days the movers will come and pack up my stuff. Two days later, Toby, Janet, and I will get on a plane and head for the US via Amsterdam. After spending some time with friends in North Carolina, I'm starting a new job in the Washington DC area.

I plan to continue this blog for a couple of weeks after getting back, to write about the culture shock of being a US resident again. Also, people who are coming here to live might be interested in what the repatriation process is like. By the time I'm back in the US for a couple of weeks I might also have some perspective on what my 16 months here has meant. I may also start a blog about what it's like to be a foreigner (from NC) living in DC.

So, to Sami and the rest of the "Ferenge go home" crowd: thanks for providing the most entertaining comments on this blog, and now you get your wish.

OT: Boris RIP

Today I lost a companion of 15 years. Boris came to me when one of those crazy cat ladies you read about in the newspapers died, leaving 47 cats and dogs in her house. In 1993 the vet guessed Boris might be six years old. When he arrived at my house, I thought he was a medium-gray cat. He hid in the basement for the first couple of weeks, but every time I would see him he looked lighter and lighter. By the time he was comfortable coming upstairs and interacting with me, he was snow white. He'd just been really dirty. He got his name from another cat my roommate had at the time, Natasha. (It will be a test of your age and childhood entertainment choices to get that reference.)

In his prime, Boris was the most beautiful cat I've seen, with the softest, angora-like fur. His tail was described as "plumage" it was so fluffy and carried so high. He was highly affectionate and loved to be petted and he had a nice medium-loud purr. He hated, however, to be picked up, and would hiss and claw. Speaking of which, I think I still bear scars from giving him pills during times of illness.

In the past few years, Boris's decline has been hard to watch. Especially in the last year he's been unable to move around quickly (arthritis), he's stopped grooming himself, and is confused much of the time, hissing for no reason, and forgetting where the litter box is. As J often says "old pets will break your heart." So this morning Dr. Dawit helped me send him on his way. Mamoosh the gardener dug a nice deep hole in the corner of the flowerbeds, and there Boris is resting.

But I will always remember Boris as a rare beauty, an undemanding companion, and a quiet, constant presence in my life. Rest in Peace, Bobo.

Comments: keep it clean guys

Sorry for an editorial post, but...

It's been my practice to not edit comments, no matter how vitriolic about yours truly. Actually the more scathing of the comments have provided a lot of humor for most of the other readers. But this *is* a blog meant for my friends and family. I mean, my Mom reads this blog. So c'mon guys, and please keep the profanity under wraps. I have been and will be editing comments to change the cuss words to their cleaner equivalents. Other than that I'll continuing not editing or filtering comments.

Peace, out.

Buchela gets a home

You might remember the puppy L rescued that I've been fostering for a month or so. I call her Buchela, Amharic for "puppy." L put ads in the American Embassy newsletter, and one paid off. A nice German couple with two cute kids came and took Buchela to her new home. The only worry is they've never had a dog and I had to agree to take her back if it doesn't work out. (Cross your fingers.) I was unexpectedly really sad to see her go. It seems I'd grown somewhat attached. Toby, on the other hand, is relieved. He's been looking kind of run-down and chewed on. Last night he collapsed on the rug right after supper and didn't stir until bedtime, when he just changed venues.