Happy New Year

With my first report draft submitted I headed to Addis Ababa on Friday 9 September. A 2.5 hr drive to Mekele and then a 1 hr flight to Addis Ababa and finally a taxi ride to the hotel. The Harmony Hotel is a popular hotel for short term visitors and close to the Bole International  airport.

Without waiting too long I headed to the supermarket for some essentials, that I had been missing in Hawzen. Cheese, tuna and chips.

That evening we went to the Top View restaraunt just off the ring road - nice food with a great night and day time view of the city.

Saturday was a bit laid back as sometimes it can be as plans for a hike turned into nought. We then went to the Ethnography Museum of Ethiopia at the University of Addis Ababa  (http://www.addisculturetourism.gov.et/en/tourism-research-addis-ababa-ethiopia-3/item/110-ethnographic-museum-content.html ). Not enough time of 1 hr as we started to be edged out after only 30 min with the museum looking to close earlier than advertised.

Another great evening meal and show at Jazzeemba, a new jazz  club and as we found out other types of music. The  club is located at the oldest hotel in Ethiopia, Taitu. Rather than jazz, we came in to listen to 80's retro in English and possibly Amharic. Difficult to tell with so many languages but I am learning to differentiate music styles and associated ethnic styles. The night was still young so we went to a night club near the hotel and listened to Kenny Allen and the 251 Band  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5GXrcn-L18) . Kenny Allen is a Washington DC native who has been in Addis Ababa for 6 years and playing western and ethiopian music with different people before putting his band together.

Sunday was a brigfht day, New Years eve. The GSK folks based here got together to visit  Entoto, a village with 2 churches and a palace on the highest mountain close to Addis Ababa. At 10,000 feet it is another level of endurance and breathing effort. But having been at 5,000 feet for the past 3 weeks I am in better shape to cope. As we drove up we saw herds of sheep coming from the rural villages to be sold for New Years eve dinners. As well, women and donkeys were bringing large amounts of wood down for bonfires that night.

The palace of  Emperor Menelik overlooks the city of Addis Ababa through a forest of eucalypts. This is where he was born. The church in frotn was built to comemerate his birth place. The churches and palace were intersting. A second church was a further 5 km along the road and was a rock hewn church which was later replaced by a stand alone church. This church had beautiful paintings of biblical scenes.

In th evening we went to Yod Abyssinia, a cultural restraunt of which there are many in Addis Ababa. Music, song and dance from the different regions of Ethiopia in a program of just over 3 hrs was enjoyed. Despite it being a show it did demonstrate the vibrance of Ethiopian culture.

One of the MVP girls from Addis Ababa office then took us to the Ethiomillenium nightclub for the ethiopian version of a night club/disco. All music was ethiopian and the dancing was very much the shoulder dancing style. Men dancing with men and few couples on the floor. Again very friendly people for us 5 ferenjes in this night club.

Ironically New Year came and went without a countdown to midnight nor even a comment from the DJ. It took us 5 ferenjes to scream out Happy New Year and even then we were not noticed.

New Years Day 2004, found me  tired and packing for the trip back to Hawzen. The flight back was uneventful, but landed to have our colleague Mullo meet us, take us to the Axum hotel and then to his wifes' sisters' house. The house was about a 30 min walk from the hotel through the back streets of Mekele and past the market. The streets of Mekele are slowly being transformed in to cobbled pavements and not the usual mud dirt tracks.

So we ate lamb BBQ, injerra and a few beers. I guss I m anot a fan of the injerra and various spicey dishes that come with it.  But the company was great. Meeting Mullo, his wife and their 2 children ass well as his relatives. Language as usual was a challenge as Mullo was the only one to speak English.

The following day a visit to the Regional Laboratory at Ayder Hospital in Mekele for my project and then a drive back to Hawzen. Ethiopian New Year was a blast.