Four of the students are from countries other than Ethiopia and two arrived yesterday and there were no rooms in the hotel so they had spent the night in the lobby. My class materials have not arrived so I have nothing to teach with. On top of that, we found out that you have to be here six months to even apply for a driving permit so that means four of the students and myself cannot do any driving—which is why they are here in the first place. But I’ve dealt with these kinds of problems before which is why my company sends me overseas so I’ll figure something out before tomorrow morning.
Ethiopia is not at all what I had expected. It is very mountainous and Addis Abebis is the
highest capitol in Africa. The city is very poor, old and dirty but eucalyptus trees are everywhere giving a pungent odor that is kind of pleasant. They also have towering cedar trees here and except for the urban aspect, it would be easy to imagine you’re in Colorado with the mountains and all. I had expected desert but this is completely the opposite. The hotel is built as a series of garden squares with beautiful landscaping and many trees and there are all sorts of exotic birds—very colorful and making neat sounds.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the primary religion here and dates back to the 4th Century. Because the Crusades and Muslim invasions over the centuries separated Ethiopia from Rome the church here is far different from the church as we know it in America. Although Christian, the church here has maintained very close ties to the Jewish background with regards to diet, ritual slaughter of animals and even in their services. This is definitely an Old Testament Christianity. The Christians here fast 250 days a year—not complete fasting but abstaining from certain items and the restaurant menus have two sections: Fasting and non-fasting. We drove by several today and the churches here are built as octagons and use loudspeakers to blare out calls to worship much like the Muslim mosques. When I heard it at the hotel yesterday I assumed it was a mosque near the hotel. Women here do not wear burkas but when entering a Christian church, I noticed they covered their heads and upper bodies in white shawls—there is a very definite blending of cultures and religions here.
While waiting for my luggage at the airport I watched the departure board and it’s a strange feeling seeing cities like Tehran, Mogadishu, Mecca and Tripoli on the board and the flying times are probably not more than an hour or two away. This is definitely Nort
h Africa with a distinct Arab influence.
The people are friendly but Ethiopia is going through tough economic times and petty crime is up but it is usually crime against property, not people. That is changing though and we have been advised not to walk anywhere but to take taxis.
The government here prohibits reading blogs so I can't proofread this once I've posted it. Sorry for any grammatical or speling mistkes.
Ethiopia is not at all what I had expected. It is very mountainous and Addis Abebis is the
highest capitol in Africa. The city is very poor, old and dirty but eucalyptus trees are everywhere giving a pungent odor that is kind of pleasant. They also have towering cedar trees here and except for the urban aspect, it would be easy to imagine you’re in Colorado with the mountains and all. I had expected desert but this is completely the opposite. The hotel is built as a series of garden squares with beautiful landscaping and many trees and there are all sorts of exotic birds—very colorful and making neat sounds.The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the primary religion here and dates back to the 4th Century. Because the Crusades and Muslim invasions over the centuries separated Ethiopia from Rome the church here is far different from the church as we know it in America. Although Christian, the church here has maintained very close ties to the Jewish background with regards to diet, ritual slaughter of animals and even in their services. This is definitely an Old Testament Christianity. The Christians here fast 250 days a year—not complete fasting but abstaining from certain items and the restaurant menus have two sections: Fasting and non-fasting. We drove by several today and the churches here are built as octagons and use loudspeakers to blare out calls to worship much like the Muslim mosques. When I heard it at the hotel yesterday I assumed it was a mosque near the hotel. Women here do not wear burkas but when entering a Christian church, I noticed they covered their heads and upper bodies in white shawls—there is a very definite blending of cultures and religions here.
While waiting for my luggage at the airport I watched the departure board and it’s a strange feeling seeing cities like Tehran, Mogadishu, Mecca and Tripoli on the board and the flying times are probably not more than an hour or two away. This is definitely Nort
h Africa with a distinct Arab influence.The people are friendly but Ethiopia is going through tough economic times and petty crime is up but it is usually crime against property, not people. That is changing though and we have been advised not to walk anywhere but to take taxis.
The government here prohibits reading blogs so I can't proofread this once I've posted it. Sorry for any grammatical or speling mistkes.
We’ll see how tomorrow goes……
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