Sunbird Cafe

For lunch today I had a vegetarian club sandwich. On the menu, next to the vegetarian dishes it said in parentheses "(fasting)", an common piece of information since most Ethiopians fast on Wednesdays or Fridays until 3 or 6pm, and I was told the reason was that Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead at these times, so people observe one of these times.In addition, it is currently Lent in Ethiopia. Unlike Lent in America, which lasts 40 days before Easter, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church designated 55 days, although I haven't been able to find out yet why. During Ethiopian Lent, people are not supposed to eat meat or drink alcohol at all and observe more strict fasting guidelines.
Having been a vegetarian for a couple years in my twenties, I'm always interested to try dishes without meat just for variety, and the vegetable sandwich did not disappoint. It came in the conventional triangle cut with a toothpick through all four slices arranged around the plate with french fries in the middle. It was packed with green beans, cucumber, boiled spinach and a few veggies I actually couldn't identify. I listened to NPR on my iPod while I ate (a great program on WBUR 'On Point' about the 1,000 year old novel Tale of Genji, written in Heian Era Japan), looking out the window at the passersby. Every so often a waitress would lean forward into my line of sight to see if I needed anything and I'd pull out my ear buds. I ordered a cup of espresso and sipped it slowly watching people come and go, couples walk by hand-in-hand, mothers carrying their infants on their backs using a large cloth, and beyond the sidewalk, buses and trucks rumble past, people talking on their cell phones sitting in SUVs and little blue taxis whizzing by trying to keep up with traffic.