Okay, continuing the slide show; This is Rob ordering room service for breakfast (which he did every morning) to help me combat altitude nausea. I didn't realize beforehand how much the altitude really affects you if you're not used to it. You feel nauseous every morning and it can make it hard to sleep for more than a few hours at a time. When he wrote the other day and said I wasn't feeling well... yeah. If you're already not feeling so hot at the current altitude, try taking off in a plane. The 10 hour flight from Ethiopia to London was...eventful.
This was one of the restaurants we went to. These dancers are amazing. SO different from what you would see here at a dinner theatre! The cool thing was that this wasn't a tourist spot. We were the only "Foringee's" (foriegners) in the joint. But I guess the only REAL tourist was me. Rob fits right in with these people. I was amazed and impressed watching him casually speaking Amharic with everyone...then there was me...."What's up guys?"
The Ethiopian Palace. HUGE honor to even be allowed inside the gates. I still don't know how we pulled this one off but they gave us a personal tour of the palace. This was one of the rooms we were allowed to take pictures in- And yes, that is a stuffed lion on top of a piano in their ballroom. (The lioness was on the other side of the room. No, seriously.) Apparently taxodermy is a BIG thing there.
The coffee ceremony is also a big deal. It's a very time consuming part of the day that is done only between close friends. That's me roasting coffee beans. The next step is to pulverize them BY HAND. Rob's buddies that are locals got a real kick out of showing me all the things women are expected to do in their culture. I'm smiling because I know there's an electric coffee bean grinder and a "Mr. Coffee" auto-drip waiting for me at home.
This last one is from the mercado. Supposedly its the biggest open air market in Africa. It's also the place where you are most likely to be robbed. It's SUPER stressful because you're trying to hang on to whatever you were crazy enough to think you could make it through the other side with while everyone is shouting at you to buy their stuff. (In Ethiopia a white person isn't fooling anyone. You're a tourist.) Anyway, this store owner and his son were great. Because of the language barrier, they would model each product so we'd know the use. Some of their stuff (i.e. Necklaces, pictures) are obvious. I got a kick out of watching them use head wraps, scarves, handbags, etc. so that we'd know what they were. We were all laughing about that. It was one of those moments where everyone forgets you're from different cultures on opposite sides of the world. That was probably one of my favorite moments. Okay guys, that's going to wrap it up. Obviously we have like 500 more pictures, but I think you get the main idea. :-) hope you enjoyed it, I know we did. See you in three weeks, honey!
Okay, continuing the slide show; This is Rob ordering room service for breakfast (which he did every morning) to help me combat altitude nausea. I didn't realize beforehand how much the altitude really affects you if you're not used to it. You feel nauseous every morning and it can make it hard to sleep for more than a few hours at a time. When he wrote the other day and said I wasn't feeling well... yeah. If you're already not feeling so hot at the current altitude, try taking off in a plane. The 10 hour flight from Ethiopia to London was...eventful.
This was one of the restaurants we went to. These dancers are amazing. SO different from what you would see here at a dinner theatre! The cool thing was that this wasn't a tourist spot. We were the only "Foringee's" (foriegners) in the joint. But I guess the only REAL tourist was me. Rob fits right in with these people. I was amazed and impressed watching him casually speaking Amharic with everyone...then there was me...."What's up guys?"
The Ethiopian Palace. HUGE honor to even be allowed inside the gates. I still don't know how we pulled this one off but they gave us a personal tour of the palace. This was one of the rooms we were allowed to take pictures in- And yes, that is a stuffed lion on top of a piano in their ballroom. (The lioness was on the other side of the room. No, seriously.) Apparently taxodermy is a BIG thing there.
The coffee ceremony is also a big deal. It's a very time consuming part of the day that is done only between close friends. That's me roasting coffee beans. The next step is to pulverize them BY HAND. Rob's buddies that are locals got a real kick out of showing me all the things women are expected to do in their culture. I'm smiling because I know there's an electric coffee bean grinder and a "Mr. Coffee" auto-drip waiting for me at home.
This last one is from the mercado. Supposedly its the biggest open air market in Africa. It's also the place where you are most likely to be robbed. It's SUPER stressful because you're trying to hang on to whatever you were crazy enough to think you could make it through the other side with while everyone is shouting at you to buy their stuff. (In Ethiopia a white person isn't fooling anyone. You're a tourist.) Anyway, this store owner and his son were great. Because of the language barrier, they would model each product so we'd know the use. Some of their stuff (i.e. Necklaces, pictures) are obvious. I got a kick out of watching them use head wraps, scarves, handbags, etc. so that we'd know what they were. We were all laughing about that. It was one of those moments where everyone forgets you're from different cultures on opposite sides of the world. That was probably one of my favorite moments. Okay guys, that's going to wrap it up. Obviously we have like 500 more pictures, but I think you get the main idea. :-) hope you enjoyed it, I know we did. See you in three weeks, honey!
4 comments:
Rob and Danielle, I can't tell you how awesome it is to see you guys together! I am so glad that Danielle made the trip, even though I missed her terribly ;~). From the smiles on your faces, it was worth it! Stay safe Rob!
danielle, those are some hot khaki pants. where'd you get those pants? i want them.
I just got one thing to say for now. "DANG, it's great to see the two of you together again." Congrats!
ANG
I STILL WANT THAT "COUNT" WE TALKED ABOUT
Post a Comment