southern south africa, in a nutshell

it's lame, but here is a list of stuff i've been up to the past few weeks (if you are so inclined to be interested).  i need time to process the things i have done, the people i have seen, and the thoughts i have thought over the past three weeks, but in the meantime...

cape town

• i still love this city
• i saw the colours, mosques, and unique architecture of the bo-kaap for the first time this visit
• a trip up table mountain in the cable car is certainly worth it (and maybe one day i will hike all the way up the mountain)
• staying at the westin grand was grand.  so was the spa.  and the waterbeds where you get to wait for your toes to dry after a pedicure.
• weddings and dress fittings and chaos, oh my!
• i could watch the boulders beach penguins for hours
• entering the main central train station from the back makes you think you are in africa.  exiting it from the front makes you think you are in europe.
• a few roads to nowhere that were there when i visited 5 years ago and are still there.  just unfinished freeways in the centre of the city, no big deal.

stellenbosch

• a farm town anywhere is a farm town everywhere.
• protea farms are neato.  proteas are also neato.  buy one next time you see one in the shops (or shoppies as the south africans might call them) and rest assured that it will last 3-4 weeks (which might offset the guilt for purchasing a flower that had to be transported from so far away).
• might i suggest staying at the sugarbird manor if you visit stellenbosch?  their staff are wonderful and their cats are so cuddly.  and watching the guinea fowl run across the lawn will make you giggle every time, i swear.
• wine tasting at bilton was accompanied by chocolate, delicious.  i kept thinking that it was missing a G though and it should've been biltong as we are in south africa.
• lunch at asara was also yummy.  the fish and chips were, as my mom put it, the best she's EVER had.
• views every way you look, stunning.
• lunch at jordan.  springbok tartar.  amazing.
• zipping through the hills in our rented hyundai atos, otherwise known as the lunchbox.

franschhoek

• the friendliest americans and brits at the guesthouse.
• a place for foodies and for anyone who can appreciate a good meal and a glass of wine.
• evenings of wine (and sherry) drinking with our hosts who provided us with a history lesson of rural south africa, both good and bad.
• dinner at dutch east.  perhaps the best fish i have ever had.  ever.
• a continuation of south africa's wonderful service.
• even the pubs serve gourmet food, including the scrumptious burger at elephant and barrel, which we shared along with some much-needed pints of beer after all that wine!
• one of the best meals i have ever had at reuben's.  ever.  see a theme here?!  a little piece of trivia - reuben is taking over from gordon effing ramsay at the cape town one&only hotel's restaurant.  yes, he's that good.  and so were the staff at his restaurant.
• a wine tasting with hilarious scots at solms-delta was followed by an incredibly informative social history tour with johan throughout the winery.  this place is a must-see if you are in the area, it is the site of a san living site hundreds of years ago and then of a homestead of european farmers.  and i want to bottle johan's intelligence and enthusiasm for nature, people, and learning and sell it, it was that encouraging and inspiring.

bredasdorp

• this is where i lived 5 years ago.
• it hasn't changed much.  a few new shops and some roadworks, but otherwise the same.
• surprising aunty joey, the woman i lived with, was something i will never forget.  and i am certain, neither will she.
• as happens in small towns, the phone was soon ringing with people confirming that yes, i had shown up unexpectedly.
• and she baked me melktert.  whipped it up.  just for me.  i also want to bottle this 60+ year old's energy, love, and spirit.  but i am not sure i would want to share it with anyone.  it is that special.
• my own milk tart, just to reiterate.
• a trip to struisbaai and l'agulhas - the most southern point in africa!  as they do not hesitate to advertise everywhere.
• fynbos.  and the some more fynbos.

hermanus

• whales!  whales from the coast and whales from a boat.
• the wind returns.  eesh.
• final bits of shopping.  woolworths.  pick n pay.  other shoppies.
• a random siting of a woman i used to work with in kenya.
• lunch at burgundy.  another delectable steak, cooked to perfection.
• cape dutch and more cape dutch houses.
• calla lilies and more calla lilies growing like weeds.

one good story

before i opened Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, i was in dire need of a good book.  a good story to take my mind off the stresses associated with my own life story at the moment.  and this was a book that i know i will be recommending and thinking about for quite some time.

marion stone is the main character, one half of a set of identical twins whose indian nun mother died during his birth and whose father, a top british surgeon working in the mission hospital in addis ababa where he was born, ran away immediately following his birth.

marion's story, along with his twin brother shiva's, parallels the story of ethiopia since the second world war and as marion leaves childhood behind and becomes a man during a repressive political regime and amidst the secession politics and attempted coups, his adoptive parents foster in him a love of academic study and medicine.  but it is the relationships that he has with those around him and how they evolve that is most fascinating and well described in the book.

i love a good historical novel, one that weaves facts and history into an engaging story, offering the opportunity not only to be entertained through storytelling, but also to get a unique perspective of a time and place.

along with the story of ethiopia, this book also is the story of surgery and the passion that doctors bring into that field of work as well as an exploration of why they choose medicine.  as someone who knows very little about the inner workings of the medical profession, i did not get lost in the language and along with learning more about ethiopia, i also had a glimpse into the life of expat doctors both in east africa and the us.

it is also a tale of deceit, trust, forgiveness and an example of how families are often not the ones you are given, but the ones you choose.  the author doesn't scrimp on details and many of the plot twists are completely unexpected, making it a book i wanted to get back to whenever i had put it down and one that offers enough depth to make it a true telling of a very rich story.

in some ways, it reminded me of Camilla Gibb's Sweetness in the Belly in its description of Ethiopia as someone's home and not as a visitor passing through would see the country.  both great books to read and if you do, i'd love to hear what you think!

the emerald isle

oh ireland.  how i loved ireland. 

i loved irish boys, irish beer, irish radio, irish scenery, irish hospitality, irish restaurants.  i didn't love irish weather though.

cold, cold, cold.  that was all i felt for two full weeks although it only ever got to -3.  but it didn't take away from venturing to the following places:

• dublin - staying in a fancy hotel, wandering the streets on christmas day, introduction to irish pubs, invitations from strangers, window shopping at clarks, guinness!
• kilkenny - a lovely castle, a really large bar that would have been fantastic had there been more than one bathroom in the entire place, a hotel room above a pub, my first true irish breakfast (sans black and white puddings), graveyards, long walks, fish and chips, smithwick's ale, learning that it is pronounced 'smithicks'
• cobh - staying with a 'new' friend, sharing bottles of wine until the wee hours, talking and talking and talking, fresh fish, mulled wine, sharing ideas about development, careers, and relationships, rock of cashel, murphy's stout, boot shopping
• kilarney - green rolling hills, gorgeous national park, fantastic clam chowder, a lovely little b & b, friendly people
• cliffs of moher - stressful driving at dusk, gorgeous coastal towns
• galway - happy new year!, charming company, oak bars, fresh oysters, more guinness, more boot shopping, extra long walks along the sea, warm cups of tea, my favourite irish city, italian boots
• derry - no-fun protestant north, fascinating history, fresh ira grafitti, city walls, best b & b hosts ever, more irish breakfasts, funny accents
• giant's causeway - photo shoots on the rocks, best weather of the entire trip, the ocean, beaches, surf shops, views of scotland
• belfast - terrifying history, stunning queen's university campus, even more phenomenal meals, black cab tour of the protestant and catholic areas that suffered most during the troubles, scouring marks & spencer shelves.

driving on the left was far easier than i thought it would be and we couldn't help but laugh as everytime we listened to the radio (constant lady gaga, take that, and jason derulo...) or watched tv all they could talk about were the 'trecherous conditions' and really, they weren't that bad at all.  the roads were relatively clear as it was christmas holidays and only crazies like us decided to tour around ireland in the dead of winter.

i wish i could give a further breakdown of my trip, but i am sort of sick of recapping it for anyone and everyone that asks.  but i will soon be uploading my photos to facebook so keep a look out for them there.

would i go back?  yes.  would i go again in winter?  no, but only because i would love to see many of the places in the summer not because going in the winter was a bad idea.  would i like to spend more time in fewer places?  yes.  would i like to get to connemara next time round?  yes.

easing back into it

before i even begin to talk about the wonderful trip i just returned from (and try to gloss over the horrendous flight delays, cancellations, and airlines i had to contend with to get back home), i thought i would do a relatively easy review of a few books i read on my trip that i must discuss (have i mentioned i need a book club to join?!).

Two Lives (Vikram Seth)
i had seen this book before and perhaps i didn't attempt it as i didn't get even halfway through the author's A Suitable Boy (which i know some people have raved about), but i picked it up in the dublin airport in case i made it through the other books i had with me and it is a good thing i did.  in my time at airports and hotels alone i finished all 500 pages of this beauty and i wholeheartedly recommend it.

the story is a true one and covers the relationship between a young indian man and his future german bride, all the way from when they both must leave germany before the first world war to his stint in the british army to her tracing of her jewish family's fate to the life they rebuild in england and his dental practice (with one arm!) and their relationship with numerous friends and family.

i was mesmerised with this book and gobbled it up.  i loved the transcription of letters that were written between all the 'characters' in the book and it made me think that it truly is a lost art.  the language that was used, the honesty with which they spoke to one another, and the incredible subject matter that they were required to discuss.  imagine writing to your friends about the nazis, the holocaust, the fate of your sister and mother, the betrayal of friends, and the state of post war europe in your own handwriting and language.

this seemed like such a rare story, the interracial and interreligious relationship between two people in the first half of the century and yet, as you read it, it makes perfect sense.  i sincerely insist that you pick this book up, a great way to learn more about our shared history, love, and why it is important to know where we come from.  fantastic.

The Good Mayor (Andrew Nicoll)
i finished this book begrudingly.  i didn't much care for the characters or their decisions and wasn't really sure where the 'love' in this love story was to be found.  i had to find out what happened though, so i finished it.  in the fictional town of dot, there are things like lust, obsession, and abuse, but not much love as far as i was concerned.

i have never been one for fable-like stories and this seemed one of those, something not entirely believable and not deep enough to really have a sense for who the characters were or what their intentions were.  so i was a bit disconnected throughout.

i read it, but i wouldn't recommend it.  not when there are so many fantastic books out there!

Something to Tell You (Hanif Kureishi)
after watching an interview with Kureishi, i picked up his book having never read anything he had written and not knowing what to expect. well, was i ever in for a whirlwind!

the story is largely about the search for pleasure (or at least that is what i took away from it).  it takes places in london and london is a character unto itself in the story (which is something i always love).  the main character seems to be at a crossroads that he never expected and is looking backwards and forwards to find out how to tie his loose ends while at the same time searching for something that will make him feel 'good.'  as you would expect, where he expects to find pleasure and contentment is not where he manages to find it and the twists and turns in the story are taken by the the main character, a psychoanalyst, in stride as they parallel the same search that is going on by those around him.

i am really not sure how i feel about this book apart from it really made me think and the characters are still alive within my mind.  and yet, did i enjoy it?  not particularly.  i liked the story, but i didn't like the experiences of the characters or what they were searching for.  and yet, it brings to light the fact that when anyone is seeking pleasure (and everyone does) that what they find often looks a lot more like pain, emotional or physical, but sometimes that is exactly as it should be.  and perhaps that is why i was uncomfortable with the story at times, because it was real.

i know i will be thinking of this novel for a long while, so in the meantime, if i have not done it justice, check out some other reviews at the guardian and the independent.  and if you wouldn't mind, could you please read this book so we can discuss it?!

and in this research, i found out that Kureishi and i went to the same uni in england!

i miss rsa!

and the reason that i am missing life in south africa is because i saw Invictus last night (with dreamboat Matt Damon and the ever impressive Morgan Freeman) and the images of the minibuses, the shots of cape town with robbin island in the distance and table mountain peering over the city bowl, the rhythmic african music, and the enthusiasm for democracy that i had the privilege of participating in in the form of the 10 year celebration of democracy in 2004.

it is a good movie, a great movie even.  maybe not a top ten movie, but surely worth the time to see how Nelson Mandela (madiba!) worked with the captain of the South African Springboks, Francois Pienaar to win the 1995 World Cup of rugby on their home turf.  it is still talked about in south africa as a time when the tides changed and i have been in numerous pubs where photos of Pienaar are on the walls and the green and gold jerseys are framed on the walls.

i always love a story where the place features as a character and especially when i feel as though i know this place.  i think anyone with an interest in south african history will appreciate this movie.  and even if you don't, it is still worth seeing.

god love him

all my pleas for the federal government to hire steve a stylist could not even have prevented this embarassing piece of canadian history:

who would i be but without a book?

i have not posted about the books that i have finished lately and i think it is about high time i did so, don't you?

first, we have Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo.  and i give this book two enthusiastic thumbs up.  Moyo's arguments against providing more foreign aid to africa are concise, easy for the non economist to read, and make a hell of a lot of sense to me.  we all know (and by we, i mean those of you who have either read my beefs with international development here or who i have had the conversation with) how i struggle to understand how such well meaning intentions can go so disastrously wrong and end up making people either poorer than they were previously, or do a whole lot of nothing.  if you want to read a more eloquent and educated view on this same dilemma, read this book.

next up, we have The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper, a native liberian who has spent the majority of her life in the us.  i was first turned on to this book when i moved into the new nest and didn't have tv so i watched a few podcasts from itunes u (a great source of FREE and informative podcasts on tonnes of topics, if you ever find yourself in a similar position as i did) and saw her interviewed about her memoir of life in liberia just before the civil war.  it is a relatively easy read and sheds a lot of light on the situation between the colonists and the native liberians and how that affected the break out of violence.  for anyone that thinks that all conflicts in africa are simply between two ethnic groups should read this book.  and if you have any interest in the colonies of freed north american slaves in the 1800s, this is also an interesting read.

and last, but certainly not least, is Ignorance by Milan Kundera.  it was lent to me by a friend from work and it is a short novel about two emigrants who return to the czech republic after the fall of communism.  i loved the way the author juxtaposed their experience to that of odysseus of The Odyssey fame (which i never thought i would be grateful for having had to read in grade 10 advanced placement english...).  as someone who has left and returned to a country (although not nearly under the circumstances that the main characters do or for nearly as long), the theme of the novel struck a chord with me and perhaps even more so as i have now been to the czech republic and experience prague in capitalist times.  the book really felt like a piece of literature that i need to revisit and rethink one day.  when i turned the final page, though, i felt an incredible sadness for the characters in the story, but i think that that is what a good piece of writing can do to you.

books about africa

i was recently asked for an email with my suggestions on books about africa and this is what i came up with so i figured it might be useful to someone so i am also posting it here.

here are some of my favourite books about africa:

The Zanzibar Chest (Aidan Hartley) - memoir about life as a foreign correspondent in Africa and that whole post colonial guilt thing.

Sweetness in the Belly (Camilla Gibb) - fiction about a white woman who grows up in Muslim Ethiopia, amazing read.

Half of a Yellow Sun (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) - fiction set during the Baifran war in Nigeria, awesome and based on a lot of real events.

My Traitor's Heart (Rian Malan) - memoir of an Afrikaaner who fought against apartheid in South Africa, truly explores the white guilt and the issue of Africanness, I think you'd like it a lot.

In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz (Michela Wrong) - journalist writes about Mobutu and his rule in the DRC, the one I was telling you about. Tough to get through at times, but you'll learn a lot about why the country remains effed to this day.

We Wish to Inform you That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families (Philip Gourevitch) - excellent account of the genocide in Rwanda and the role of the international community in prolonging the killings.

Shake Hands With the Devil (Romeo Dallaire) - the book that the commander of UN peacekeepers in Rwanda during the genocide wrote about his experience and frustrations with the UN system and watching people die, also a bit tough at times, but there is a glossary that always helps!

Don't Let's Go To the Dogs Tonight (Alexandra Fuller) - memoir of a poor, white Zimbabwean family, so interesting and an easy read.

Tick Bite Fever (David Bennun) - funny memoir of growing up white in Africa. Not fantastic, but an easy read.

Swahili For the Broken Hearted (Peter Moore) - I don't love his writing, but he did a trip through Africa riding solely on public transport and wrote about it, so there are some gems in amongst the other bits.

A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali (Gil Courtemanche) - fiction (but probably mostly true) about the expats during the genocide in Rwanda. The story will make you cry, but I loved the raw writing of the French Canadian author.

Acts of Faith (Philip Caputo) - an awesome novel about the war in Southern Sudan, the community of pilots, how the UN capitulates war, and the scandals of it all, a really great read and I know from my pilot friends that the story is true and the names were just changed.

Emma's War (Deborah Scroggins) - non fiction, about a British woman who rocks up in Southern Sudan in the middle of a civil war, marries one of the rebel war lords, becomes his second wife, and then actively participates in the war, alienating most people she knows. I also think you'd really like this as it shows the naivity and sincerity of foreign aid workers and those who feel th eneed to 'save' Africa. One of the characters in the book above is based on her, undoubtedly.

You asked for it, and there you have it! I surprised myself with how many books I could pull out of my head and I clearly could start my own post-colonial African literature course...

What can I say - I didn't have a TV for a number of years... nothing like reading a book when you are in bed with a hangover in Nairobi.

a busy week behind and ahead

here are some things i have to say:

• have you seen the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? it is really good. i watched it with my bro and we agreed that it should be shown in high schools when they study the second world war and the holocaust. this movie is great and shows a side of the war that we haven't seen much of - a german soldier's family that lives near a concentration camp and from the perspective of a 10 year old boy.
• i bought my guidebook for san francisco and have started to read it. i cannot wait to get there! and the fact that i am going alone isn't so daunting when i think of all the places i'd like to see, the walking i would like to do, and the photos i would like to take (although anyone wishing to join me is more than welcome!)
• both my presentations went really well this week and i think i have a host of new friends resulting from them, which is great. i have 2 coffee dates with potential new friends coming up and another presentation at a high school next week.
• i slept for 15 hours yesterday and it was all because i had what i think is called a migraine. i have never had something like this before, but i am convinced the universe was trying to tell me something in making me stay in bed for so long. it was weird.
• i have 2 dates next week! and 2 more in the pipeline. it must be spring.
• i seem to have hurt my shoulder, the one that is lacking in the cartiledge department. blech. it feels like i should put it in a sling.
• my sis and i went for an 8km run last night and it was awesome. only 6km more and i can convince her to run around the glenmore reservoir with me (but no wrong turns this time!). my new shoes felt like pillows with great grips on them, which i am sure helped me up those hills.
• i am ready for the sass-travaganza in banff this weekend!

more must reads

perhaps i should really just start a book review blog, but until that happens you (my ten or so readers) will have to endure my book reviews and recommendations here.

the first book that i insist you must all run out and purchase (or borrow from la biblioteca) is People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (she of Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden Lives of Muslim Women fame, a great piece of non fiction, if you're in the mood).

People of the Book is fantastic. a brief synoposis: an ancient jewish haggadah is found in sarajevo after the balkan war and the story returns to tell parts of the holy book's history based on the bits of gunk that are found within its pages by a book conservator. i love a historical novel and i now love books that teach you about the conservation of books.

above all, i was mesmerised by Brooks' ability to tell a story with such detail, historical facts, and unique voices. i spent two days on the beach buried in the words depicting vienna, spain, venice, sarajevo, and sydney. and when i came to the end of the book i wished there was more, highlighting the fact that we can never know all the details of history, but that our imaginations can continue to fill in the gaps.

the second book i am recommending is What is the What by Dave Eggers. it is the autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, a sudanese man who survived civil war, the long walk of the lost boys, refugee camps in ethiopia and kenya, and resettlement to the us.

my old office is mentioned at the end of the book and it was neat to read about the 'transit centre,' the place where refugees stay before their resettlement abroad and where i used to visit beneficiaries of my project. but more than anything, the story told by Eggers manages to capture Deng's experience of growing up without an immediate family, in fear of lion attacks, coping with hunger, avoiding recruitment into a civil war from which he fled, adolescence in dusty camps, and an insider look at the experience of an unaccompanied minor who goes through the unhcr system and finds himself trying to make a new life in a new world.

the best part of the book is that Eggers captures a voice that is not apologetic nor pathetic while allowing you the opportunity to understand what Deng's experience must have been like. it is not right nor wrong, it just is.

the book had me thinking long after i finished it and i am curious to know more about where Deng is now and how his foundation is faring in their work building schools in southern Sudan. not only a great book, but a great opportunity to learn more about a crisis of monumental scale that exists in our lifetimes.

not so sweet potato pie

while i wouldn't give it as much praise as other reviewers have, i quite liked the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. it took me one week of train rides commutes to get through it and contrary to my regular opinion on the format, i enjoyed the letters, notes, and telegrams that went back and forth between the characters.

i absolutely adored the main character of Juliet Ashton in all her imagination, idealism, and wit. she travels from post WWII london to the island of guernsey, which had been occupied by the germans during the war. as always, i loved the elements of history in the story and it covered a lot of ground and pieces of the plot without rushing or oversimplifying, which i think was the result of the authors (Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows) choice to use the letter format.

and perhaps i enjoyed the book so much because i do love sending and receiving mail, especially that which comes through the letter box (although my inbox excites me too) and this book allows you into the personal writing and receiving of the various and diverse characters.

need an easy, lighthearted read about the acute effects of the the second world war on a small island in the united kingdom? pick it up!


i also must read more about oscar wilde. read the book and you will see why. (i did kiss his headstone in a cemetary in paris, well pretended to anyways)

bring on the books!

i finished the book The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett awhile ago and wanted to recommend it to anyone who is looking for a new title to pick up. i really enjoyed this book, even with its sometimes repetitious vocabulary, predictable events to move the story along, and the oft described hair of one of the main characters. but i suppose in over 1000 pages long, dark curls can only be described in so many ways.

i felt a guilty pleasure in reading this book, almost like it was a scottish romance novel that i just had to keep going back to to find out what would happen, but i do feel as though i learned a thing or two about medieval england and the process and politics of building cathedrals in that time. don't be afraid of the length and weight of the book, you'll fly through it and enjoy every minute. it offers genuine, wholesome entertainment.

just yesterday i finished Any Known Blood by Lawrence Hill and i am afraid that i am not nearly as enthusiastic about this book as Follett's. i must have had good luck in the book department lately because it has been a long while since i have not recommended a book i have read, but i would suggest you give this one a miss.

i liked Hill's novel The Book of Negroes and thought Any Known Blood would be of the same caliber, but it was much less intriquing and i never had much sympathy for the main character, Langston Crane the Fifth, in his quest to uncover truths about his family. i also felt that Hill was making too many blunt distinctions between canadians and americans and although there is surely truths to each of his comparisons, i felt they were forced, almost as if he had an alterior motive in positioning the two societies against one another. it was a story, a decent story, but one you shouldn't spend your pennies on.

relaxashon

(april 28, 2008)

i have been missing in action since i arrived in south africa over a week ago, but i am sure you will forgive me as i don’t think i have relaxed like this since last summer. i have seen and done so much and thought many times, ‘oh, i should write about that,’ but then life got in the way and i would end up playing scrabble with a soldier, sharing a bottle of wine with new friends, eating meat, or been touring around and to be honest, was much happier than sitting in front of my laptop.

to be brief, i have, in the past week or so:

• had a love actually-style, moderately obnoxious, very affectionate airport reunion
• gone to an old car show, drank beer, and admired old south african men’s bellies (and they are a sight to behold)
• roadtripped to the drakensberg mountains, which although i mocked, are a stunning range
• hiked up to the top of a mini mountain, where we enjoyed beer and pretzels
• kicked some irish south african butt at scrabble
• found my new favourite south african coffee shop that reminds just enough of starbies, t ho’s, and second cup
• consumed more chips than i have in the past year
• ran for half an hour in the hilliest place ever
• fought off a group of would-be muggers (not so much fought off as stood sort of clueless as you-know-who yelled and made a fuss so we could leave with all our bits)
• toured battlefields of the boer war where i hiked through cow poo and long grasses for love
• frozen my buns off and bought sheep skin slippers that are delicious
• burnt my face and shoulders in the african sun
• climbed up the voortrekker monument in pretoria and admired it in all its afrikaner-ness
• poked not-so-nice fun at someone’s newfound fear of heights
• overheard the delicious english
• laughed a lot and made myself at home with the fam

and now i am off for more south african roadtrips, food, wine, and company!

frankincense and myrrh

i cannot recall if the first thing that struck me when i walked out of the airport in addis ababa was the gentle smell of frankincense that permeates the air or the peaceful quiet that was such a change from nairobi. or it could have been my immediate fascination with the amharic language or the stunning beauty of the people. whatever it was, i was hooked from the first moment we stepped out to the stillness and calm of the capital city and took a little blue taxi to our hotel.

before leaving the airport i can tell you what went through my mind and it was this, ‘why oh why must bryan adams follow me all over the world?’ it wasn’t long before we heard celine too.

checking in was an experience that kept us laughing. i wasn’t sure if i was misunderstanding the desk clerk when she refused to give my female friend and i a room with one king size bed and insisted we pay more for 2 single beds because that was decidedly not allowed in that hotel. after failing to reassure that we were indeed just friends and were more interested in the lower room rate than snuggling in a large bed, we began to wander the streets of addis and it was not long before i realised that poverty and homelessness is a constant in the city and street begging is sadly, extremely common.

a more positive thought struck me during my first walk through the streets of addis ababa as well – i could cross the street freely without taking my life into my hands each time i stepped off the curb. i was stunned at the reminder of what lanes are on the road. those little white lines painted on the asphalt that are meant to keep cars a safe distance away from one another? entirely non existent in kenya and i had sincerely forgotten what orderly traffic is like. it is heavenly. giving pedestrians the right of way was truly the greatest invention of all time. roundabouts actually work to control the flow of traffic in addis and i had to point out to my travelling companion when i witnessed someone yielding. i pointed in disbelief and nudged her in the direction of a car waiting to enter the roundabout and said, ‘he’s yielding,’ and we both sat and stared for a moment just to make sure it was not just a stalled car and that it was genuinely a road rule in action.

another peculiar thing about ethiopians in addis ababa, they seemed to only want to talk to me and not my friend who is equally as blonde and fair as me but about 6 inches taller. she would ask them a question and they would turn to me to respond. i couldn’t figure out if it was my underwhelming stature or my african butt. one of the funnier street episodes of this nature was a man who tried to rent us a ‘big house’ because he assumed we could afford it and that we must need a place to stay while we were in addis if we just arrived. apparently, they don’t get too many tourists wandering the streets.

other definite highlights of the trip included seeing lucy, the first hominid discovered and proof that relatively, i am pretty tall for our species and our ancestors. the churches are pretty amazing too, i spent a lot of time pondering the history and age of christianity in ethiopia. the women ‘dress their hairs’ when they enter a church and people are always found in the gardens outside of the ethiopian orthodox churches, either sitting on benches or steps or kissing the walls or the ground. we had to take off our shoes to enter the churches and we had our own personal tour and got to see haile selassie’s tomb and his throne on which he sat in church. ethiopia was the first (and perhaps the only, if i am correct) state to declare christianity their state religion and it is amazing to see what a part of their history and government it has had.

i suggest that anyone going to ethiopia develop a love for all things coffee if you have not yet discovered the wonders of the bean. a delicious and frothy cappuccino or macchiato is about 30cents and for that price you can simply not stop at one. or two. the italians left behind some good ideas, including perfect pizza, al dente pasta, good service, and pastries upon cakes upon biscuits. and an incredibly sense of style. we wandered into a shop one night and i wandered out with a new pair of italian shoes, which i needed precisely as much as i needed a hole in the head. but i love them.

and the story that you have all been waiting for (or at least 2 of you)… i stole a bathrobe from the sheraton. i did not actually stay at the sheraton (because the pepto bismol pink room with the king sized bed in the second hotel we scouted out was just too good to pass up, well the pink AND the view of the city) but i did have a most relaxing and enjoyable massage at the spa there and they give you towels, a robe, and slippers to play dress up in the locker rooms which are less locker and more heaven. i have been wanting to find a bathrobe because walking around the house naked is not kosher when you have flatmates and a towel just doesn’t cut it if i am trying to make breakfast, coffee, or my lunch in the mornings due to its way of falling off just as you have the pb on the knife and are spreading it on to the bread. these bathrobes were a delight to behold so i scooped one up and stuffed it into the handbag that i carry everywhere with me and affectionately refer to as ‘the case.’ and now i have a bathrobe. and a spine that is free of knots. and no shame, apparently.

just to make the trip complete, i had my hair cut and coloured and a pedicure (i know, life in africa is tough) while sipping on macchiatos with only one scream of ‘no, no, no,’ when the stylist nearly cut me some chunky side layers (no good if your hair grows wider through the natural drying process) and a few training suggestions to build the capacity of the colourists who had probably never used such light hair dye before. in the end, all is well and my hair is brightened up with a choppy trim.

we also visited with a friend, listened to stories of being put in jail for staging creative protests, drank more coffee, became acquainted with the expat community at a 4 year old’s birthday party, and i found a calgary connection in the suburbs of addis. it never fails, that whole 6 degrees of separation thing.

and i shopped. coffee, scarves, silver, icons, honey, reams of fabric that i have yet to find a use for, prints of paintings (ethiopia has fantastic modern art)… who would have thought that so many fantastic things could be found in ethiopia? i didn’t really expect it and it tamed my little materialist spirit for a few more months before i touch down in what feels like the material centre of the universe.

can you tell i loved it there?

baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?

i went to a town in the lake district today and visited a museum full of stuff that in canada would be considered Really Old, i love history. the town was the centre of the wool industry in england at one point and then that damn cotton replaced it. still lots of sheep in the countryside, looks like a fairy tale.

i had my first crumpet today. spongy, rubbery, and delicious.

i also managed to lose a pair of mittens, find a pair of mittens, lose a return train ticket, get home without a ticket, and pay almost $5 for tomatoes; a big day for stupid mistakes and inexplicable luck.

and i have committed myself to cheering jerome and the boys on in torino, italy. i have even secured a team canada jersey for the event. would anyone like to join me in supporting the true north strong and free?? the more the merrier, i hope that we can get on the cbc!