OOOOPS!

I just had to show you this....Normally I'm not too concerned about what's happening on the roads, but here in Addis you just can't avoid it. Now, I know that this blog is filling up with updates on the road situation, and I will try to avoid it from now on. But this you just had to see...poor guy! Glad I wasn't in the car when it happened!

AT MY DOORSTEP

Once in a while there's a knocking at my door, and this little fellow is standing on my doorstep, looking so very innocently at me. Along with this charming little dude comes also his mother, Betelehem, who is very eager to sell me her baskets. Really, they are quite expensive, but this woman knows how to sell things, because who can resist buying when she brings along this gourgeous little guy? Betelehem speaks Norwegian very well, after having been taught by some Norwegian missionaries whose Norwegian last name she has also adopted. She refuses to cut Caleb's (that's his name) hair, and before I could take a picture of him she insisted that she wash his hair. He looks like a little skater boy in these pictures, but normally his hair is bound up at the top of his head, so he could be mistaken for a little girl. Cute anyway, isn't he?:)

TIMBUKTU!!!!!!

Guess who's going to a concert with this guy? Jepp, me:) He's playing at the Gaslight at Sheraton tomorrow! So, living in Ethiopia is more than documents and mud! Sometimes.....

COMPLICATED COMPLEXION

-Hello! Hello, miss! Hello! How ar you?
-I’m fine thank you, how are you?
-I’m very fine. Wer ar you from?
-From Norway.
-Oh. You have lot of oil in Norwegian?
-Yes, I guess we do.
-It is good life there, neh?
-Yes, life is quite good in Norway.
-Are you married?
-No.
-Do you have a boyfriend?
-No.
-Why?
-Why……? I just don’t, at the moment. I don’t need one.
-Why?
-I just told you….
-I want to marry you!
-???????????
-I love you.
-??????????????????
-I have a job.
-???????????????????????????.....I have to go now. Nice to meet you……

AT HOME

Looks quite Norwegian, doesn't it?:)

Well, for those of you who got the story about the sofa - here it is! This is my home in Ethiopia. Not so bad, really. Quite comfortable, actually. Especially now that I have this lovely, brown sofa to relax in. The cushion-cases that are on the back of the sofa will probably remain there for quite a while, because I am sure that it will just take me forever to get hold of cushions.

WHAT CAN I SAY.......

Life is unpredictable. I have started going with the school bus that goes to the Norwegian school and passes outside my door every morning, to be sure to get to work in time. I’m actually at work half an hour before I have to. But the other day, this huge trailer had tipped over on the road, and was blocking the traffic. So the morning after, I expected the school bus not to arrive, or having to take a different route. I decided to walk. A decision I shared with many others, it seemed. People were just pouring out on the streets and up the hill. I felt like I was part of a big pilgrimage. And all this because of this car that had tipped over. Yes, it is in fact quite normal to have cars tipping over in the road like that, they are digging everywhere these days, I must have mentioned this before, haven’t I? So there I was, walking in my high healed shoes, trying to avoid the worst mud. And then the school bus comes driving towards me. Jepp, he came after all. And it seemed he was going back the same way, even if it would be difficult to get past that trailer. I decided to keep on walking, and let the bus pick me up if he caught up with me. Because I grew up in Europe, I am a fast-walker, so I ended up walking the whole way to work. Well, on the bright side, it wasn’t raining, and it wasn’t that muddy. It could have been worse. The point is, here you never know what tomorrow will bring – cars blocking the road, or maybe even the whole road will have disappeared during the night. Or maybe there is so much water that you can’t pass. Or maybe the minibus-taxis have decided that they will not go the normal route anymore, and there are only a couple of buses going if you are lucky. And when they finally arrive, they are stormed by the 450 Ethiopians waiting for them in the morning. And because I’m too polite to push myself into one of them, I’m left waiting forever. So I take the school bus. But it might not come. Because a car might be blocking the road. I might have to walk. Life is unpredictable.

TIA

It feels like home but it’s not. I’m a stranger here. But part of the puzzle. Grateful that I’ve been given the chance to be a part of this great world of contrasts. Ups and downs. Extremes. Extreme beauty. Extreme poverty. Desperation. Joy. The hot, hot sun. the cold, freezing nights. The vast grassland and never-ending fields. The lions roaring in the night. The enormous sky. The billions of stars. The fantastic view from the top of the landrover – horizon everywhere. The smell of bush. The smell of smoke. Dust. Crazy traffic. Queing. Waiting.

More queing.

Food – tasty, aromatic food.

People – interesting, friendly, open, beautiful people.

Vibrant streets and music, rhythms. Colors. Clothes. Fashion. Luxury. Toilets that are not flushing. Envy. Guilt. Racism. Prosperity. Neat streets. Bumby roads. New, giant houses, castles. Shacks. Dogs. Giraffes. Herds of impala. The leopard walking past the car. Birds of all sizes. Water – and the lack of it. The mountains – shaped in the most amazing ways. The beach. The sand, white. Language. Misunderstanding. Conversations with strangers. Friendships. Life stories. Anger. Opportunities. Hope.

So many impressions, impulses, all at once. Thousands of them in one single day. And as different as night and day. Difficult to deal with, easy to deal with. Challenges your senses, your beliefs, your convictions, your perspectives. Makes you want to laugh, makes you want to weep. A variety, a diversity, so great that it can hardly be described. It has to be experienced. That’s why I love it here.

This is Africa.