A wonderful thing happened today: Abez came into our lives. Well, more precisely, she came into Jennifer Morris Sarah’s life. Jennifer hired her has a nanny to help her with her two babies while she is in Addis!
Abez is the sister in law of Mengistu, the driver that Jen and Tom met and used while they were here last month. She is 28 years old, single, currently unemployed and has worked as a nanny at her church. She is really, really lovely and handles the babies with great ease, love, creativity and humor. Phew. Now maybe Jen can get more than 3 hours of sleep per night. We also talked about my using her on an occasion if I need. Did I say, PHEW?!?
Our former foster home nanny/friend Meherat came by today to visit and invited us to her church on Saturday for Ethiopian Christmas. I am excited about the experience but thought it better to do the confession up front.
The conversation went like this:
Me: “Do you know what Jewish means?”
Meherat: blank stare.
Me: “Uhm, You are protestant, I am Jewish.”
Meherat: “Kind of Catholic?”
Me: “No, not Catholic. G-d but no Jesus.”
Meherat: “No Jesus? Long pause. “Oh…..Israel!ite”
Me: “Yes”
I knew that we were on the same page when she went on to explain, in her very limited English, that Jews are those people still waiting for the messiah. Meherat's ability to communicate rather complex things despite a quite limited vocabulary is really interesting. She has also shared with me her feelings that that she thinks that our souls connected immediately:)
At 3 pm, I finally went to the hotel restaurant for lunch. This is the conversation I had with the waitress:
Me: “May I have a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, and no meat?”
Waitress: “Yes madam, no problem.”
Me: “No meat, right?”
Waitress: “Yes, no meat.”
15 minutes later...
Waitress: “Excuse me, Madam, is cheese okay? Mozzarella perhaps?”
Me: “Yes, that is great, thanks.”
½ hour later….a nice looking salad arrives with tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, cabbage and an unidentified red fleshy substance.
Me: “I cannot eat this, I am fasting. No meat.”
(BTW, “Fasting” is the practice of Orthodox Christians at this time of year and it means that they eat fish but no dairy or meat of any kind. I generally find it is more easily understood than “I am a kosher vegetarian, thank you.”)
Waitress: “There is no meat.”
Me: “What is this red fleshy substance?”
Waitress: “That is mozzarella, madam.”
Me: (VERY confused) “It looks very much like meat and not mozzarella.”
Waitress: “I am sure, madam, no meat.”
Waitress: “I am sure, madam, no meat.”
Since Yared, our friend the bellman of nostril infamy was nearby, I called him over for assistance. I have trusted that man with the mucus of my baby so I figured I could count on him to let me know I wasn’t losing my mind.
Me: “Yared, I cannot eat meat and this looks very much like meat.”
Yared speaks to the waitress and then to me: “It is not meat. It is mozzarella.”
I take it back to my table and look at it closer. I even poke it with my fork and take a smell. Strangest mozzarella I have ever seen. I am NOT convinced.
A moment later the chef comes out to speak to me (Yared asked him to).
Chef: “How can I help you, Madam?”
Me: "I cannot eat meat. What is this red fleshy substance?
Chef: “That is beef ham, madam.”
Me: “I cannot eat meat. May I have a salad without meat?”
Chef: “No problem, madam”
15 minutes later, the same waitress brings out a very similar looking salad with mozzarella instead of beef ham.
And it was quite tasty!
Rondi is going back to NYC on Thursday we had talked about going shopping together today. She came over at 5 pm and Jennifer and was kind enough to watch a sleeping Bami when we went out to buy some souvenirs.
At one point we were engrossed in a conversation crossing the street and walking next to us were….a herd of goats. They stopped, however, on the grassy island to have a snack.
Shortly thereafter we came upon a man with a plastic tarp laid out on the sidewalk selling common Ethiopian shawls and scarves.
We stopped and were looking through inventory, as were several Ethiopian women. One purchased the same scarf that we were looking at.
Me: “How much for this scarf?”
Man: “100 birr madam.”
I smiled at the woman and asked her how much she paid. The man saw this and said something in Amharic to her which I think is safe to assume was, ‘don’t tell the ferengi (foreigner) how much you paid.’
As she walked away she whispered to us: “40 birr.”
Me: “I will give you 100 for 2 scarves.”
Man: “No, they are 100 birr each.”
Me: “You just sold the same scarf to her for 40 birr. I handed him a 100 and put the two scarves in my bag and started to walk away.”
The man started to protest and then broke out into a smile. He was busted, plain and simple.
So I ask myself, was this cheating on my part or just solid haggling??? In any case, Rondi and I have matching scarves and a story to go with them!
Tomorrow (Wednesday) I am going on an all-day outing and Bami is going to the Biftu orphanage for the day. I am not happy about not being with her for a full long day and, frankly, a bit anxious about it but it is a long car trip and not good for her. However, I think the trip is important.
Last month when our little group of adoptive parents visited Biftu, Tariq, the director, and her brother, Mordekai, offered to take me to the town where Bami is from. They came by today to firm up that tomorrow is the day and that they will pick us up at 5:30 am.
The town is a 4 hour drive each way and we will get back very late. So no blog tomorrow but I look forward to reporting on what will surely be an interesting day for me and hopefully, not too traumatic for Bami (will she think I am returning her to the orphanage?!?!?!)
Jen and Tali
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