Day 196 - Settling Down in Our Apartment in Addis Ababa
Tuesdays January 15th, 2019.
Today we checked out from Cheers Guest House and waited for Henock, our new host, to drive us to his apartment. Somehow, we all fit in his black pickup truck although the kids were not happy about being squeezed in the back.
We settled into our apartment, went out for coffee, then we walked for a long time looking for a grocery store. I kept stopping and asking people if we were close to a grocery store, and everyone kept saying yes but we couldn’t see it. [Gregory's note: actually, Lili was fixated on finding a supermarket in the center of Addis. Those US habits die hard!]
We almost give up when we saw it in the corner of the main street. The supermarket was a 30-minute walk, not 5 minutes like they had said. [Gregory's note: we passed about 100 markets and stands selling fresh produce, dairy, meat, pasta, beans, and more on Lili's quest.] We were surprised to see how little the Shoa supermarket was. [Gregory's note: Shoa means eat in Amharic.] There were few aisles and very few with canned food. Two of the aisles had seeds and grains like red lentils, beans, coffee, etc. A guard was constantly checking on us like if we were going to steal something. We also noticed that the food was more expensive than in the small stands that we saw in each corner walking down the street. [Gregory's note: oh, never mind.]
I was disappointed not to find more food. [Us, too.] I got a few of the basics that we needed to start the week, including my Diet Coke because I was sure we were going to get a taxi back home. Well, that didn’t happen because the taxi drivers wanted to charge $10 for the 1km ride so we walked.
On the way, we stopped to eat lunch in a local restaurant that only served the traditional dish of shiro, which is a rich orange sauce made with tomatoes and spices. It's served on injera, which is a sort of flat pancake made of a fermented grain called teff. We asked to see the menu but it was written in Amharic. Luckily, there was a couple sitting next to us who spoke English and helped us order. We were the only tourists there, which meant that the food was good and reasonably priced [we think].
They were surprised that we only ordered one dish to share and we were not able to finish it. Sunshine wasn’t with us because she was sick. After lunch and some photos, we finally made it home and with no desire to do anything else. Sunshine was frustrated that the electricity hadn’t come back on and wasn’t able to do homework. I took a nap with the hope that we would have internet when I woke up. Well, the electricity didn’t come back until midnight when we were sleeping and we were woken up by the lights -- we left them on by mistake!
Maybe not having electricity was a good thing because we ate peanut butter and jelly tortilla sandwiches and watched a movie on Gregory’s laptop. We all sat close to each other, enjoyed the movie High Spirits and after that, we talked by candlelight. It was an experience that we haven’t had in a long time. Well, that’s not true, we were in Wadi Rum about a month ago. In any case, maybe it's an experience that we should try to repeat when we go back to California to our busy lives where everyone goes different directions, this experience definitely brings us closer as a family. [Gregory's note: without the blackout, I hope.]
Today we checked out from Cheers Guest House and waited for Henock, our new host, to drive us to his apartment. Somehow, we all fit in his black pickup truck although the kids were not happy about being squeezed in the back.
We settled into our apartment, went out for coffee, then we walked for a long time looking for a grocery store. I kept stopping and asking people if we were close to a grocery store, and everyone kept saying yes but we couldn’t see it. [Gregory's note: actually, Lili was fixated on finding a supermarket in the center of Addis. Those US habits die hard!]
We almost give up when we saw it in the corner of the main street. The supermarket was a 30-minute walk, not 5 minutes like they had said. [Gregory's note: we passed about 100 markets and stands selling fresh produce, dairy, meat, pasta, beans, and more on Lili's quest.] We were surprised to see how little the Shoa supermarket was. [Gregory's note: Shoa means eat in Amharic.] There were few aisles and very few with canned food. Two of the aisles had seeds and grains like red lentils, beans, coffee, etc. A guard was constantly checking on us like if we were going to steal something. We also noticed that the food was more expensive than in the small stands that we saw in each corner walking down the street. [Gregory's note: oh, never mind.]
I was disappointed not to find more food. [Us, too.] I got a few of the basics that we needed to start the week, including my Diet Coke because I was sure we were going to get a taxi back home. Well, that didn’t happen because the taxi drivers wanted to charge $10 for the 1km ride so we walked.
On the way, we stopped to eat lunch in a local restaurant that only served the traditional dish of shiro, which is a rich orange sauce made with tomatoes and spices. It's served on injera, which is a sort of flat pancake made of a fermented grain called teff. We asked to see the menu but it was written in Amharic. Luckily, there was a couple sitting next to us who spoke English and helped us order. We were the only tourists there, which meant that the food was good and reasonably priced [we think].
They were surprised that we only ordered one dish to share and we were not able to finish it. Sunshine wasn’t with us because she was sick. After lunch and some photos, we finally made it home and with no desire to do anything else. Sunshine was frustrated that the electricity hadn’t come back on and wasn’t able to do homework. I took a nap with the hope that we would have internet when I woke up. Well, the electricity didn’t come back until midnight when we were sleeping and we were woken up by the lights -- we left them on by mistake!
Maybe not having electricity was a good thing because we ate peanut butter and jelly tortilla sandwiches and watched a movie on Gregory’s laptop. We all sat close to each other, enjoyed the movie High Spirits and after that, we talked by candlelight. It was an experience that we haven’t had in a long time. Well, that’s not true, we were in Wadi Rum about a month ago. In any case, maybe it's an experience that we should try to repeat when we go back to California to our busy lives where everyone goes different directions, this experience definitely brings us closer as a family. [Gregory's note: without the blackout, I hope.]
Please click here for pictures
https://photos.app.goo.gl/rbjmptinZ4NAfFN78
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