Ethiopia, as I’ve written in my last post, is the country that introduced me to the big wide world and the beauty of different cultures. It showed me that we can learn so much from other people and their lifestyles. 

Here are a few facts and interesting things that I remember from my visit. Now things might have changed, as I was there back in 2004. But here are a few things that I always think about when I look back 🙂

The year and that 13 month calendar

So, first things first. The current year in Ethiopia right now is 2011. No, that is not a typo. We had the same reaction when we saw the year written on the newspaper back then. Their calendar is influenced by the Ethiopian Orthodox church where they have 12 months of 30 days and a 13th month of 5 or 6 days (depending on the leap year). They celebrate the new year on September 11th – so you are still in time to make it for those extra New year celebrations 😉 Take a look at this article for more detailed information about the history of their calendar.

The land

In the news, Ethiopia is often portrayed as this dry land with malnourished children hanging by a thread to life. And so, before we went there, we sort of expected to land in this desert-like land. However, we were surprised to find that this is not so. Addis Ababa, which is the capital city of Ethiopia, is this standard city with tall buildings, palm trees on the side of the main roads. Don’t get me wrong though, there is still poverty. Once you start walking out of the centre, you end up in a slum area with people living with just the bare necessities. 

We then travelled South West, heading to this region called Jimma, and all we could see were green hills. In fact this western part of the country is full of rivers, waterfalls, forests – the perfect place for some good trekking. Band Aid singers were singing “Where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow” – well that’s not the Africa I saw 🙂 The Eastern part of the country is much more dry, however there’s a lesson there – never judge a country, or anything really, from what you hear 😉

The food and the bunna

As soon as we got there, we started seeing this spongy looking pancake on plates. We didn’t know that it was the food that we were going to be eating for the whole three weeks, unless you try to avoid it and eat just the side dishes instead (guilty as charged 🙂 ). 

The injera is the national dish of Ethiopia, as well as Eritrea. Traditionally made out of teff flour, it is a sourdough-risen flatbread with a slightly spongy texture. It is usually served with spicy tomatoe sauce, meat and vegetables. I was not a big fan of the injera, but had to eat it, especially when we visited a family and the mother cooked for us. She enjoyed watching us eat the injera. She enjoyed it so much, that when I managed to eat the whole thing, she put another one on my plate, and I died a little on the inside 🙂 Joking aside, they enjoy eating injera as much as I enjoy eating cake, and that says a lot!

Apart from the injera, Ethiopians love their bunna (coffee). Being the birthplace of coffee, it is no wonder that they include it in every celebration, be it during a Sunday town hall meeting after church, or greeting friends at their house. Their coffee celebration is a wonderful tradition to witness. It is usually done by women, they decorate the floor with flowers, make the coffee and serve it to the guests. The ceremony usually lasts around an hour and it is a symbol of hospitality.

Making a call

Back in 2004, when we visited Ethiopia, mobile phones weren’t a big thing just yet. And so, in order to contact our families, we had to go to this government building in the centre of the town, get searched by soldiers holding guns, go through a whole bureaucratic paper filling system to declare who you are going to call and why, and then finally get to make the call. Sometimes you will get through and speak to your loved ones. Many other times though, something goes wrong and you can’t make the call. So you had to return another day and do the whole procedure once again. Nowadays it is much easier, as you can just call from your own personal phone, or simply text. Although, I’m hoping that the system has improved for the locals living there.

Airports and flying times

So let me tell you a funny story, which wasn’t that funny when we were there. Once our three weeks were up, we travelled back to Addis Ababa to take our flight back home. So we got to the airport, and noticed that it was pretty empty. Just a cleaner and some handymen going around doing their jobs, but we took little care of this. We started looking for the departure gates, only to find out that our plane had left something like 24 hours before it’s scheduled time.

Long story short, apparently it was common for flights to leave at another time, doesn’t matter if it was before or after their scheduled time. We spent the night at the airport, not knowing what to do, thinking about our connection flight from Egypt, which had to leave in a few hours. But it turned out well… we just spent a few more days in Ethiopia, a few more in Cairo, and we were back home a week after it was planned. Hopefully things have changed now. But word of advice, call your airline or the airport, around 72 hours before your flight, to check that the flight is still on as scheduled 😉

The loving people of Ethiopia

The people of Ethiopia are some of the kindest people I have ever met. They will always say hi, smile or greet you. Sometimes they stop to try to talk to you and they shake your hands as a sign of friendship. If their hands are dirty, they will give you their arm instead of their hand. Close friends kiss each other on the cheek around three times. But if they haven’t met for a long time, they may kiss four or five times and embrace for even longer.

The children would run up to us from afar, only to say hello and be acknowledged by you. They come running with a big smile, calling out ‘Faranji, faranji!’ which means foreigners. 

As a country, it is a spectacle to witness, with all the greenery, wide spaces, and striking scenery. However, the kindness and gratefulness of the Ethiopians is the thing that I will remember the most. Even though they might not have a lot, they are more than willing to share it with you, like the woman who was feeding us injera in her small hut in the middle of the slums in Addis Ababa. They are grateful for the little that they have. Their smiling eyes recount countless stories of the pain life can offer. But in view of these pains, they soldier on, with some injera and coffee in their hands and smiles on their faces 🙂