The namesake

The name had to mean something, although I couldn't imagine what. Finally, last night we were told that the owner of Chez Glo, the guest house we are staying at, is named Gloria and all the pieces fell into place. Sitting in the kitchen at "Gloria's House", having just finished cooking a meal, eating and cleaning up after myself, I suddenly felt as if I was somehow invading her space. Naturally, since I was paying a fair amount of money as a "boarder" at this house, it was my right, but now I had a sense that Gloria could possibly walk in to "Kitchen Glo" at any time and see this random American rifling through the cabinets looking for a potato peeler. I imagined such a moment would be awkward, however this feeling was immediately diminished when I realized that I actually had met Gloria the previous day when she popped into the coffee ceremony. She didn't introduce herself, but you could tell she was the owner as soon as she walked into the room. A guest walks into a room and scans it to see what's going on and if they are welcome; an owner strolls into a room talking on her cell phone and puts her bag down on the chair before clicking off and saying hello, discussing something in Amharic with the staff and then giving a friendly wave goodbye.