Back in Japan

After three flights, 23 hours and about 3 hours of sleep, I made it back to Japan from Ethiopia. I don't know why I was so restless, but that came with the benefit of having time to watch a slew of movies and television shows that were featured on Emirates "I.C.E." (information, communication and entertainment) system. The best one was probably "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People" which I watched half of from Addis Ababa to Dubai, and then the last half during the flight from Dubai to Osaka. I thought it was going to be about high school kids (since that's personally when I alienated the most people in my life), but instead I was surprised to find a goofy Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) making me laugh in my seat. Naturally, it could have been the wine.

Back to Aladdin

Last night I decided to visit Aladdin, an Armenian restaurant, for my last dinner in Ethiopia. It's hard to find good Mediterranean food in Japan, especially at Ethiopian prices. We ordered the tabouleh, a greek salad with big green olives and chunks of feta cheese, and a mixed plate of kebabs, plus another dish that I can't quite remember the name of but tasted like beans crushed into a smooth paste and mixed with some light seasonings, which we ate with pita bread of course. We also ordered a couple Dashen beers, a local beer brewed outside of Gondar so not always available in Addis Ababa. We even ordered dessert, which for me was a sweet baklava variation and rich Turkish coffee. The bill came to more than we usually pay for dinner elsewhere, but a quick calculation and I realized it was less than $15USD each; this is the beauty of international eateries in Ethiopia!

Quick Fix

With an important delegation from the Japanese Ministry of Finance
(MoFED) coming to visit the water center today, everyone was hard at
work making sure the compound was in good condition. The head of the
center ordered that the cobblestone in front of the entrance to the main
building, which had shifted and become uneven due to heavy rains over
the years, be torn up and smoothed over. Since there was no time to get
masonry experts out to the center, a mechanic, a driver and one of the
guards set out with a couple shovels and a pick-ax to do the work. They
lifted the heavy stones and smoothed out the gravel below, then set the
stones back down and filled the space between with small pebbles and
gravel, occasionally testing if it was flat by laying a 2x4 across the
ground. After about an hour I came back out to see how everything was
going and they had finished, the cobblestone now level and hopefully
suitable for the VIP from MoFED to step across.

Calling it Close

On Tuesday, M was invited to speak at a water conference being at the
United Nations' Economic Commission to Africa. He was also leaving back
to Japan that evening on the 7:30 flight to Dubai, so the 5:30 start
time for his presentation was really calling it close. However, he
explained to the people arranging that particular event that he'd have
only 30 minutes or so and then have to exit early. When we arrived at
the ECA, we had to wait about 10 minutes until a person from the English
aid agency, DfID, who was running our event, could come down and vouch
for us, as the security guards were sticking to a strict protocol. The
conference hall was in the back of the compound so we walked past
half-a-dozen large buildings until we reached a curving road that swung
around to the entrance of the hall. Once inside, an international crowd
was milling about, the type you'd expect to see only at a United Nations
venue. After a visit to the ECA cafe, where M and the DfID rep planned
out his speaking schedule, we took a walk around to look at some of the
booths that were set up on the first floor. Finally, at 5:30 we entered
the conference room, which featured a huge oblong table with microphones
and headsets at each seat, and in the center, large, flat-screen
televisions facing all sides so that even the person seated furthest
from the conference host could see the presentation materials. At 5:40,
M gave a quick 7 minute presentation and then took about 4 questions
before we apologized and left for the airport, getting to the car just
at 6 o' clock. He already had his luggage in the car and he sat in the
very back of the Land Cruiser and changed out of his suit as our driver
raced through the streets to the airport. At a stoplight, a few beggars
came up to the car window, as they are apt to do, to hold out their
hands for spare change, although this time I'm sure they were surprised
to see a Japanese man getting dressed in the back. With Dereje's
excellent driving, we made it to the airport by 6:30 and M thew his
luggage onto a cart and raced up the ramp leading to the entrance of the
airport. Later, I received a text message that he had, indeed, made it
in time.

Alarming Rain

I woke up this morning 6 minutes before my alarm by what sounded like,
to me in my groggy state, the storm of the century. Luckily, after about
30 minutes, God seems to press the snooze button and the rain eases up.
It seems the rainy season has begun in earnest now, the intermittent
rain falling more and more harshly out of the sky, a few dark nimbus
clouds turning into a smoky, endless gray layer. The roads that are not
paved are turning further into a river of mud, those without shelter can
be see huddled under tarps while herds of goats stand under what brush
they can find.

Sales pitch?

This evening we ate at Ajanta "the jewel of India", which I maintain is the best place for dahl this side of the Indian Ocean. We started with soup (I had the palak soup, i.e. creamy spinach), followed by some of our favorite dishes there. After dinner we decided to order some masala chai, or spiced milk tea, so we called the waitress over. We ordered four teas, but she asked how many teapots we wanted. Not knowing how large the teapot was, we said, "four cups... four people." She responded by asking, "Do you want one-by-two?" We were still confused but figured that meant one teapot, two people, so we said, "two teapots, four people" thinking this had to be obvious.
A little while later she brought out 4 saucers, 4 slightly large tea cups and one medium-sized teapot. She placed the tea cups in front of each person and then began to pour tea into the first person's cup; she filled it practically to the brim. Later, we would all admit to thinking the teapot must be bigger than it looked to fill each cup that high. She filled my cup next; again, brimming with chai. Then she filled the next person's cup, practically overflowing. And finally, she began to pour the last person's cup, although by this point we all knew--even the waitress herself--that it wasn't a magical teapot. The chai trickled to a stop before the cup was even one-fifth full. We all looked at each other slack-jawed, and then at her. "Would you like to order another pot of tea?" she asked, to which we all burst out laughing.

Made-to-Order Macchiato

The way some people order their eggs sunny-side-up, overeasy, scrambled, hardboiled and so on, there are many things on a menu for which we might have certain, peculiar preferences. For example, my father is infamous for telling any waitress that he wants his breakfast bacon burnt. Of course, the cook will usually interpret this as being simply well-done, but he isn't kidding when he says burnt, so to avoid having to send it back, my father has developed a certain way to impress upon the cook just how burnt he wants it: "kill it twice and burn it three times until it's dead five times over". Well, I'm paraphrasing, but something to that effect.
Likewise, today when we went out to lunch with one of the course coordinators, he told the waitress how he wanted his macchiato (espresso and steamed milk). He said something in Amharic that made the waitress laugh out loud so I asked him what he said. He told me he likes his macchiato to taste almost like hot chocolate, so he always instructs the waitress to make it the same color as his face.
A few minutes later, much to his disappointment, the macchiato arrived with too much milk, looking more like my face. Trying to cheer him up, I suggested he help out whoever is operating the espresso machine by handing out wallet-sized photos of himself from now on whenever he orders.