The PULSE of Ethiopia: A Weekend Around, About, and In Addis Ababa

We had a very nice weekend “at home” this past weekend. We started it off Friday night visiting a nice restaurant called The Diplomat, which serves food featured from different counties. The meal started out with a great variety of breads, with some wrapped in banana leaves:

They did have USA as a featured country, but all of us passed on its featured appetizer (chicken wings) and entrée (fried chicken). We did try to get the dessert – chocolate brownie – and sadly, they did not have any available. The desserts here are very hit-and-miss…actually usually a “miss”, even though so many cakes look so good, they often do not taste sweet or are very wet/soggy. I ended up ordering the chocolate mousse for dessert there, which although it didn't taste like the consistency of any other mousse I’ve ever had, was still delicious!

On Saturday, we ventured about 20km out of the city to visit two women’s centers. We first visited Desta Mender. Desta Mender translates to “Village of Joy” and houses long-term patients in connection with the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. The women who are residents also receive schooling and training in various life-skills. Unfortunately, when we arrived on Saturday, it was quite deserted. Apparently most everyone was out, as Saturday is market day in that area. Also the café that was there was currently closed, for what appeared to be construction. Luckily there were security guards on duty that let us in and walked us around the pretty grounds.

Security guard, wearing some great boots, showing us around.

Following that stop, we headed on to the nearby Bethel Women’s Center. Here local women are being trained in claymaking and textiles. Again, no one was actively working/crafting while we were there, but again the grounds were very nice and we were served some traditional Ethiopian coffee (with popcorn, of course) and were able to browse the shop rooms.

To see more pictures from the day, click here.

On Sunday, we were invited by a co-worker (Hiwot) to her home for her son’s 4-year old Birthday party. We took on the task of bringing supplies and ideas for a couple of games for the kids – including Pin the Tail on the Donkey, which we thought was very appropriate here with all of the donkeys! No one had heard of the game before, but it was a big hit with everyone. Similar to Birthday parties back home, there was cake, candles, singing, music, and lots of sweets…and in addition there were a couple of Ethiopian-specific aspects, including the grass on the floor and traditional coffee ceremony. It was a great Sunday, and nice to experience a bit more personal aspect of their culture.