6 years Mama Africa!

Past month, it has been 6 years that I first stepped on to the land of Mama Africa. In May 2009, Ethiopia became my love, my home, the place I want to be. With all my love for this beautiful country and its people there are always things that bother me or even sometimes drive me tinish (a little bit) crazy. So I want to contemplate about this a bit.

Normally I get a bit fed up with Ethiopia or Africa just before I am about to leave for my summer vacation to Switzerland. Once a year I just need a break from everything here and refuel my energy by seeing my beloved family and just enjoy all the things that you cannot find here. So usually, shortly before I leave, all the negative things about Ethiopia start to bother me more than usual. For those who don’t know what I am talking about a few examples:

No electricity: for days in a row, or for some hours everyday or exactly then when you have a Lasagna or a yummy cake in the oven.
The rain: In June (sometimes in May already) the rainy season starts in Ethiopia and this means heavy rains at least once a day. When I got here, 6 years ago, I always laughed about Ethiopians who would not leave the house or place they are because it rains, but now I do the same. Because it is really difficult to get around in the heavy rain. Also the rain is depressing, as the sun slowly starts to disappear and says goodbye until September.
Disappearing food items: No, not because of rats 🙂 Certain items just sometimes disappear from the shops, such as sugar, milk, butter, coconut milk.
Certain behaviors from Ethiopian people: As a Swiss it is sometimes hard to accept certain behaviors such as constant lateness, staring (especially being stared at), egoistical driving behavior in traffic (you cannot imagine how upset I get while driving because 80% of all drivers in this town are eccentric selfish bastards).

I will be leaving to Switzerland in 16 days, but this year somehow I am not yet in the stadium of being bothered by any of the above mentioned things. Funny. I am wondering why. I mean I am really looking forward to my vacation and I can’t wait seeing my family, my godson and my friends. But this year it seems, I am at peace with Mama Africa. In May, it has been 6 years that I am in Ethiopia and maybe, maybe, it really needs time to get used to everything here. Or one just adopts. Or, these things I mention above are just minor things for leaving a happy life? I don’t know. Or maybe things just are getting better. I will try to explain:

Electricity: For those who are friends with me on facebook might already be bored about my posts, because if I post something on there it is usually complaining about having no electricity. Sorry for that by the way. Three weeks ago we moved into a new house, in a new neighborhood after, what I thought living in the worst neighborhood of all in Addis regarding electricity. We should have known why the house had candleholders on every wall in every room. Anyhow, I was looking forward to the move until we found out that this house, where we live now is even worse. From the first 10 days living here we had power cuts for 9 days. Funny thing, our neighbors (and owners of our house) had always power during these days. So their electrician had the best idea ever and connected our house to their power grid. Meaning, if we don’t have electricity we just switch to their grid and voila, there is light. SInce we have that switch we had power every day. So seems, no more complaining needed 🙂 Or maybe I wait until the owner wants to share their high power bill 🙂

Me trying to call the Ethiopian Electric Power Cooperation!

Rain: Yes, the rain started already. But the first time in 6 years I am actually happy about it. This has 3 simple reasons I guess. Number 1: I am pregnant and the last couple of weeks it was unbearable hot in Addis and I am already fighting my hot spells due to the pregnancy at normal temperatures. So I am happy about the coolness the rain brings with it. It smells great and is so refreshing. Number 2: Our roof in the new house is not leaking. And number 3: We have cars, two to be precise, and even though Tsion (that is my 40 year old VW beetle) has no functional windscreen wipers, at least I don’t have to wait in the rain for a minibus.

Rainy Addis

Food items: In my new neighborhood lives a thai family so the local supermarket always has stock on coconut milk 🙂 I know other things might be more important than coconut milk, but who doesn’t love a good curry. Also our nanny knows all the places where to get the difficult items such as sugar etc. and even goes and stands in line for us at the Kebele shops. And if one day there is really no milk, we and also my son got used to powder milk, which is better than nothing and even the smallest kiosks always have.

Precious sugar

Waiting for sugar at the government shop

Being late is not in my blood, nature or education, however, this is Africa and I think I will get more and more used to it with every year I am here. One just has to rethink the situation. So when my nanny for example is late half hour every morning it means she will leave at least half hour later in the evening.

Being stared at or being called a “ferenji” (foreigner) almost every day of my life is still not my favorite thing in Addis, but these days I just smile, stare back or I am just so amused about the fact, that despite of so many foreigners living in Ethiopia there are still Ethiopians who don’t see forenjis every day and just have to stare. Somehow cute in a 8 Million international city. Also staring sometimes just means you are seeing something beautiful, so I should feel flattered. My son, for example loves to stare at Ethiopian ladies in public, sometimes he even comments their beauty with a “wow”! And these ladies are always flattered 🙂

Eccentric drivers. These people drive me crazy. I guess that 99% of all traffic jams in Addis are produced because of egoistic and stupid drivers. Everyone want’s to be first (and still everyone comes late) and create 3 lines in a one line road. I can go insane while standing in a proper line when 10 cars try to sneak in from the sides. Anyhow, my husband, my midwife and my friends told me that it is not good for my baby to get upset and angry while driving so I try to relax and take my friend Sarah (also a VW beetle driver) as a role model. She is so cute when she drives. When stupid people cut her way, overtake her from the wrong side or don’t stop at junctions and just speed ahead she just stays calm and says quietly to herself “Wieso denn bloss?” (translated “why oh why”). And this is my new mantra 🙂

How people here in Addis drive into a roundabout 🙂

So all in all, it seems I am quite content with Mama Africa and in general I am still very happy here. And because it is my 6 years anniversary post I want to shortly list all the things I love about Ethiopia and Mama Africa.

My son Ilai, the offspring of the love between Ethiopia and Switzerland
My husband Rami, the most beautiful, loveliest Ethiopian man and father
My great Ethiopian friends, who became my family
My great ferenji friends, who like me choose to live here, and know exactly what it means to be here and are more than just a huge support group
All the other people who surround me with their smiles, their respect, their childish wonder, their thirst of knowledge, their love for children, their overwhelming helpfulness, their beautiful traditions, their diversity, their ambitions, their love for life, their loyalty, their sense of family and so much more.
The vibe you get when passing through the city. The “this is Africa” vibe.
The beautiful products coming from this country (apart from its people). Number one being coffee!!!!
The almost 13 months of sunshine that wake you up in the morning.
The amazing sound of all the beautiful languages spreading through the city.
The pretty colors shining through even during the rainy season.
The most beautiful sceneries as soon as you leave the city.
The diversity of this land, people and cultures.

All these points would require their own blog post so I will leave it like that for now. After contemplating my past 6 years in beautiful Ethiopia I can still say Ethiopia is my love.