1/2/11: daily life in Addis

It's the weekend which is the most tedious time. I am not working and there is virtually no cultural scene. I have seen the only decent English speaking movie in town. I have not seen or heard a single musical instrument as you would know it. There is plenty of "cultural" music but it becomes annoying after a while. Bars with dancing are popular among the young, and any white person getting involved is welcome and applauded. Otherwise white males are easily tolerated and generally are seeking a stunning Ethiopian hooker as they are ubiquitous in and around the bars.

Last night I went to dinner with Naomi (lynn's guide) and her mother.



Both are handsome, intelligent and lovely women. If you painted them white and planted them in Shawnee mission they would be your friends. We ate at a "Swiss" restaurant. Had Garozzo size portions of veal Parmesan, chicken Marsala, and veal with mushrooms, numerous side dishes, drinks and dessert for 3 people for $21 including 25% tax and tip.

It is very interesting that I have rarely been aware of anyone staring at me as a lone white. Walked more than 8 miles yesterday and never saw another white person, nor felt I was being observed.

Today (Sunday) I was awakened by chanting over a loud speaker probably from a church blocks away. It started at 3:30 am and was non stop till 7:30. I now recall that this was an annoying issue each Sunday in Gondar during my past visits. They take their religion very seriously here. There is not a day that I don't here Jesus Christ invoked in one context or another.

I guess I could have stayed at the Sheraton for $480 per night or the Hilton for $200+ per night. However it is very convenient being on the hospital campus where I practically roll out of bed to rounds in the morning, or where students and residents often stop me with questions or just to talk. However, there is a price for this.

The building I am in seems to have residents with families living in one room "apartments". The building is filthy beyond belief, worse than any abandoned home or crack house. However my four room apartment is clean and has every essential, except . . .

If you flush the toilet it takes 45 min to refill with every drop of water echoing throughout the apartment off the porcelain tank and plaster walls. The shower is a 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 ft shower stall base with no enclosure; by the time I am finished showering the entire bathroom is soaked with the splashing. The choices of water are ice cold and boiling on, and the steel hot water spigot gets so hot you can only handle it with a towel. I am not complaining,but rather grateful for the privilege of being here; just want to be able to remember what life is really like.

The weather in Addis is ideal. 70 and sunny every dat. However when the sun goes down it rapidly cools to 50. Somehow my apartment is always cool, and becomes cold at night. I sometimes shiver getting ready four bed, but once I get under the covers (4 blankets!) all well and somehow it is warmer by morning.

I'm off to get a pedicure, replenish a few groceries, and wander the streets for the day.

An amazing day!

You never know what is going to happen in Addis. Day started out quite normally with morning report. Then degenerated into a discussion that became quite acrimonious over some latent medical political issues. I eventually loudly proclaimed "time out";suddenly there was silence and I proceeded to outline my proposed solution to which they quickly agreed.

On to rounds to see a museum of neurosurgical cases. I hesitate to post this photo but it may be quite historic:



I leave rounds early as I am being picked up by the administrator of ST. Yarod's Hospital. This was founded two years ago by Akeza Teame, an Ethiopian who went to K.U. Med school and did internal medicine and an infectious disease fellowship at Albert Einstein.


He is quite an amazing guy and his vision and his hospital are quite unique. Too long to go into all the fascinating details, but I am going to try to help him set up a sustainable program for elective neurosurgery in Addis. He is of the opinion that of the current 6 or so neurosurgeons in the country there is not one who meets his standards; he is probably correct. We are going to try and change that.

Had a snack on Bole rd and then lunch at the Jupiter Hotel where I caught up on Internet and email for the first time in two days. You would never know it is new year's eve in Ethiopia unless you are at one of the western hotels. Their new years is sept. 1.

Went to Dr. Rick's for Shabbat and it was historic. 60 people in his very small living room, the most he has ever had. His cook, working in a kitchen the size of a small closet made buffet dinner for all. There was a load of 27 fascinating Jews from Sweden who arrived yesterday for a 10 day tour of Jewish Ethiopia. About one third of them were doctors and I had some fascinating talks with them. They were extremely moved by the experience as was I. This is at least my fifth Shabbat at Rick's house, and each is different and very inspirational. Hard to put such a unique experience into words.

Met and had a long talk with Tom Kornberg, a fruit fly researcher at UCSF and son of a Nobel Prize winner. His son Ross is being paid by Johns Hopkins to do research here in Addis for one year; he will then be going to med school. Part of his work is at The Black Lion Hospital where I am working; I plan to meet him for lunch next week to learn more.

Also saw once again two couples from Denver who Lynn met when she was here. They have just returned from 10 days in the south omo. Their experience was not quite like mine; they were quite fascinated with the trek that we did.

Now I look forward to a weekend of leisure and dinner Sunday with Akeza and his wife.

One more funny story from the Mercato, the largest market in Africa and pickpocket capital of Addis. A true story. A friend of mine was there today. Suddenly he saw a woman lifted in the air by her waist and then shaken up and down. The woman's shoes fell off, the fellow grabbed her shoes and ran off. As the Ethiopians would say, "very clever".

Somehow I never know what I will be doing tomorrow, but it always ends up fascinating. I will miss Rick as he leaves for a two week trip to the states. Denver is having a huge fund raiser for him and thus far has raised nearly $400,000. He has a one hour presentation to the Gates Foundation, and is also trying to raise money from Schultz, CEO of Starbucks and one other prominent foundation.

Trek, day 2: Rachel and Safta were incredible

This is advertised as our longest day, 20 Km (12.5 miles). We arise to a table set on the edge of the escarpment looking down upon the vast Ethiopian equivalent of the Grand Canyon. Breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs and tea.



We set off for the trek slightly ahead of schedule with a plan to stop every hour. This worked well till the last hour when many aches and pains slowed us down.

We passed thru vast grazing lands where sheep, goats, cattle, oxen and horses are all tended by children in bare feet, aged perhaps three to ten. Huge wheat fields were ready for harvest. Men working with 12" diameter sickles were cutting the wheat, arranging them in large piles. They gathered the piles on their heads and walked long distances where they were set on the ground in a large circle. Two or three horses were then led round and round for hours to thresh the wheat. When the winds come in a few weeks it will blow away the chaff. The wheat will be crushed by hand into flour that will then be used to make the wonderful bread that we ate that was baked without a stove. There is no electricity, running water, plumbing, ect. However they have found a way to provide all the necessities of life.

Lunch is another idyllic spot where there are three tikuls. One is large and open on the sides -- the lunch room. One is the kitchen with a charcoal fire, and the third is the toilet, open on one side to the amazing view.



We meet people from Belgium, Germany, holland and the u.s. Hiking in opposite direction to us. We sign the guest book in which only one or two guests out of every one hundred are from u.s. I cannot help thinking that if people would do this instead of cruises we might make a dent in our obesity problem. Two other obervations; in 30 or 40 pages that I searched I found two 7 year olds and a scattering of 13 and over. To date Rachel is the first 10 year old to do this trip. Lynn and I are the most senior that I can find in dozens of pages. Oh yes, one more item; Brad Pitt has done this trip.



After lunch of, spinach, beets, potatoes and crushed spicy chick peas, we are off for two more hours to our destination on the edge of yet another section of this seemingly endless escarpment. Two other guests are with us here; a couple from France on their honeymoon.



Afternoon snack is Ethiopian pizza ala the bush. Our first "shower" in an enclosure built around a tree in the great outdoors. Dinner around a warm fire is again wonderful, nutritious and vegetarian.

We are off to sleep under a starry sky, the cooling air of nighttime in the mountains, and silence like you have probably never experienced.