Only if you live in Ethiopia....

So there I was walking across the street. Well actually its the ring road- sort of like a freeway- and I was walking across near a
roundabout that has a crosswalk painted on the ground, but I wasn't using it. Yea, we call that "jaywalking" at home.... So these 2 policemen are standing in the median and they beckon me over. (I wasn't too nervous about getting a jaywalking ticket seeing as I didn't have any ID on me and I knew they couldn't track me down. How can jaywalking be illegal in Ethiopia??? People are flooding everywhere!!) Here's our conversation:

Them: Yes Hello, how are you? (In English)
Me: Hello! How are you? (In Amharic)
Them: Oh! You speak Amharic! (now all in Amharic)
Me: Yes, I learned it.
Them: Why didn't you cross at the crosswalk? It is painted.
Me: I didn't want to trouble the cars.
Them: How long have you lived here?
Me: I have lived here 2 years.
Them: Oh, we need to write you a ticket since you didn't cross at the crosswalk.
Me: I drive. And when I drive, people always run in front of the car and I have to slam on my brakes. (Slamming of brakes was communicated with drama)
Them: Where is your country?
Me: US.
Them: Obama! (No kidding, very typical one word response.)
Me: Yes, I don't know, but he is a nice man.
Them: We want to buy you coffee or tea, let's go!
Me: (!!) No, I need to go home now.
Them: Oh, since you're a guest in our country we want to treat you to something, at least a soft drink.
Me: No, I have guests tonight for dinner, I need to go. (Partially true- I was a guest for dinner but said I'd help with the guacamole..........)
Them: Do you have a cell phone?
Me: No (No partially true, all false....)
Them: We love you!!
Me: OK. (How do you respond?)
Them: The thing we want to learn in English so we want to practice with you. We need to speak English for when we pull over firenges.
Me: [As if I am going to further that cause...] I come by this road a lot so we will see each other.
Them: Don't you have a phone at your house? Where do you live?
Me: Up that road (vague arm motion). I live in someone else's house so it is not my phone. Why don't you give me your number, I will call you?
Them: (They write their number down). Are you afraid of us? We are _____ (something along the lines of being educated or upright kinds of people)
Me: OK, I have to go home now.
Them (one of them): Find me a friend [female friend].....

Might sound creepy, I was neither scared nor creeped out nor about to have coffee with them! People in this culture warm up so fast if you attempt Amharic!!

The Trip to Langano

So there I was.... sitting on the bus next to Becky yesterday thinking to myself, what kind of girl puts her little sister through this kind of experience in Ethiopia?  Becky was feeling a little off/sick on Friday and was feeling dizzy when she stood up so she spent most of the day in bed.  So then on Saturday we are standing on the main road to Addis at the Langano turn off, in the middle of nowhere, crowd of Ethiopians around us, trying to catch a bus, running and waving in front of any large vehicle flying down the road (then running back off to road so as not to get hit!!) and it took longer than I thought!  We were standing there for at least 30 minutes, Becky just sort of standing by her luggage with everyone crowding around.  I kept asking her if she was ok, and she was perky and kept saying she was fine, but still!!  What kind of sister does that??  So then we finally catch a bus to Mojo (about half way to Addis) and are rushed on trying to keep track of our bags (!!).  That's when we finally sat down (very back seat with 6 people packed onto the bench) and I wondered what I was doing.  

Just then she says to me, "This is a pretty cool experience."  She was certainly getting the adventure of it all!  She was perky and agreeable the whole time.  It was easier to catch an Addis bus in Mojo than I thought.  On the second bus I ended up moving was up to the middle/front of the bus while she was in the back (see photo below) and I was telling everyone around me, "Ethiopia is amazing to my sister.  She was amazed when she saw goats walking down the road in Addis."  Of course Becky can't really hear me or understand me anyways, so imagine her surprise when a man sitting next to her (who must have heard the story??) says to her in English, "Do you know what a goat is?"  She realized I had been telling stories and entertaining Ethiopians at her expense!!  (!)

It sure felt good to get to Addis- we were a little pressed for time as we were having dinner with some friends in town, so we needed to rush home, get showered, then head out for dinner.  So we are SO, SO, SO incredibly dirty from basically only bathing in the brown Langano lake water, limited shower possibilities during our week in Langano, plus the bus always just makes you feel dusty and grimy so as we rush home for showers there is no water at my place in Addis!!  I rushed outside to turn the city water off and the tank on, but still no water pressure!  We tried to be cheerful but it was depressing to have to just change clothes and brush your tangled hair and head out for dinner!!  What are the chances??  When we got home from dinner (which was great to have a nice American meal with good conversation!) we had great water pressure and hot water, but no electricity!  We both took candlelight showers.  What a wild time.

See anyone you know???

This was yesterday on the bus.