I am finally feeling like I am comfortable walking around and not completely eyes wide open seeing so many things for the first time everywhere I look. It has taken a week to be at this point. I don't hesitate walking outside and being on the streets and on public transportation. I now know what to expect... and I like it. :)
My friend who took me around the city last Tuesday let me spend another big day with her today. Spending this time with her helped me see what I just mentioned: I have changed a lot in how I think and feel about Africa since I arrived. Here is what our day involved:
• Walked to three banks. The first wouldn't exchange my $10 bill because they didn't have the updated rates. The second wouldn't exchange it because it was "too new.” (I guess they think I just printed it or something.) The third took care of it... after I visited four different bank tellers at four different windows... back to the whole "process for everything" part of the culture.
• Stopped by The Cake Shop for a quick pastry... my first African donut: white powdered sugar on a strawberry jam-filled donut. So good. Supposedly, African sweets always look good and turn out to be the opposite. This was not the case here. My friend said she thinks this place was the best pastry shop in all of the city.
• Hopped on a minibus to the Piazza. Then, we walked to the big Orthodox church. We traveled past a lot of beggars... those in pain, with deformity or caring for kids, sleeping or following anyone who walks by. There are a lot by the church since people coming from the church are probably more likely to give since the Orthodox church is a conviction, works-based religion. (Today was also St. Mary's day... and they believe there are extra benefits to giving on certain saint’s days in their names. Also because it was St. Mary’s day, many people were celebrating and had laid long dried grass on the floors of their houses and stores. I think this would be equivalent to us putting up streamers and balloons.)
• Met my friend’s friend (who has grown up here), in the Piazza outside the gates of St. George Orthodox Church and then walked in to go on a tour of the museum and inside the church. There were a LOT of people all around and inside the church gates to attend the holy mass or pray. We walked to the museum gates and payed 20 birr (~1.60 USD) each to go on a tour. (The girl who we had just met up with--my friend’s friend--didn't pay because she is a part of the church.)
Attended the tour with my friends and our tour guide, a deacon at the church. Our guide showed us coronation robes, pictures, crosses, etc. and explained all sorts of background for the Orthodox church, the city and the country. He was a kind man who then told us we could go up to the top of the museum building (it was a bell tower) to look at the bell. We looked at it, debated... and even asked... about ringing it, and of course, went back down the narrow stairs (with NO rail blocking us from falling down 3 stories) without ringing in the community for a service (what the bell was meant to signal). Their answer to my friend who asked the question: “It would give the wrong impression.” :)
Continued the tour in the church where the guide showed us the three doors where men enter, women enter and deacons/priests enter. We saw the center of the church (well, the curtains surrounding it) which is a replica of the holy of holies. One thing which we didn't really see were the pictures of Mary because they were covered with linens to protect them from the dust. The whole church would be an empty room except for the huge center room blocked off by curtains from ceiling to floor on all four sides. The rest of the atrium areas were covered in carpet and separated by curtains. There wasn't much in the church but a couple drums and a few shakers they use for singing "Hallelujah" during their times of worship together. There are also long sticks, shaped like a "T," which are called "prayer sticks". These sticks are used to lean on when people come in and pray for 14, 16, 18 hours at a time. They pray a lot, it seems. And, the cross symbol is very important to them, whether in a necklace, a handheld cross or on a staff.
Saw turtles. I know you didn’t expect this one and neither did I, however it happened. Several LARGE tortoise-like turtles were wandering freely around the church’s grounds. I asked our friend what they were there for and this was her response: when they built the church, they learned that there were many turtles in the surrounding area that were homeless. So, they took them into the church grounds so they could have a home. I wonder what would happen if I did that at Starbucks, just found homeless raccoons or something equivalent walking around in the parking lot and brought them into the cafe.
Visited our friend and her family in her home in a slum. She was glad to have us visit and I was glad to visit a local home. She lived in a slum, but had a few very nice possessions (TV, stereo, china cabinet and matching furniture) because her sister lived in another country for a time and sent money back to the family. The concept of saving money here is foreign to most people’s ideas on life. So, when a family obtains money, they spend it immediately.
Participated in my first coffee ceremony. My friend and her mom brought out a tiny charcoal stove and let me stir some just-washed raw coffee beans over the heat. I pushed them around as they popped and browned. Yes, I roasted coffee in Africa. Next, they ground the freshly-roasted coffee beans. The next step, of course, was to boil some water and drink a cup. And, it was good. :)
• Had my first visit by a priest. While at my friend’s home, their family's assigned priest came and visited, carrying a wooden hand-held cross, touching it to each of their foreheads, lips so they could kiss it and then to their cheeks. He just shook my hand and the hand of my friend who was visiting with me, which I was glad about. I wouldn't have known what to do if he expected Orthodox customs from me.
• Took a long walk back to the post office shops on Churchill Road (named after Winston himself). We walked around a lot there to find good prices and to barter for better ones. My friend speaks Amharic so we did pretty well. :)
• Rode a minibus to another area of town and bought a couple bottles of water (one of which we had to exchange for another with a seal... sometimes, they get empty water bottles, fill them with tap water and resell them) and a few packs of African cookies. The whole snack cost about 10 birr and was definitely necessary since I was so hungry and thirsty. I really liked the guy that we bought the cookies from (different than the water lady) and also enjoyed seeing the young Donald-Duck-sweatshirt-shoe-shining boy.
Next, I met another friend and walked with her to the home of a family she is friends with of another people group. I met the mom, two daughters and one son. They all spoke English except for the mom. Right when I came in, the daughters made Tang for my friend and me... out of TAP WATER. This says to me: "Danger--I contain an amoeba." Really, though... you can pretty much bet you'll get sick. So, I pulled a cultural no-no and refused the drink. I felt bad and they pressured me a lot, but I stayed strong, knowing I'd rather make them upset than be sick as a dog for the next few days (especially since I'm flying to Kenya the day after tomorrow). We talked some and played a couple card games of Uno before my friend walked with me back to the house of my friend I knew before coming to Africa. There, I ate broccoli casserole, fruit salad and biscuits. I was glad to have a good American-ized :) meal of variety. After sitting around and debriefing my time in my first African city, my friend took me home. Then, I got to hang with a friend in my house some before heading to bed.
A side note: Sickness abounds around me. One of my housemates has been fighting some sort of amoeba or something for several weeks and another was up since 4 AM with stomach sickness in all ways. She finally went to the doctor this morning to get tested and she has an amoeba and a severe bacterial infection. A quote from one friend today: "It just comes with the territory." Thank goodness it hasn't come in my territory. I have prayed about it and am so thankful that God has protected me from that this far and pray the protection will continue.
Goodnight, world,
Laura
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