Yesterday's post (courtesy of ETC)

Two things happened to me over the weekend which convinced me "I have arrived" in Ethiopia. When I was out with Tagel on Sunday we stopped at a brewery near Addis on the way home to check it out. We paid a small fee to park then entered the pub area that was SO FULL of people the fire marshal would have had a field day in America. We go to the bar and stand at one end for 5 minutes. I ask Tagel what the sign on the wall means and he says "No smoking". I then ask him what's going on and why we have not been served. He does not have a clue how to order. Just like a ferenge, and this guy is native Ethiopian with a father from Eritrea ... welcome to "not having a clue what's going on land :)" Then was we come back to Deker where he drops me off, he does not take the shortcut from Bole Africa to my Bole that is the shortest route. I ask him if he would like me to show him the shortcut next time and he says yes. I am going to show a native Ethiopian how to get around Addis ... I love it. My Nike tennis shoes were brick red from the clay on the court in Bole 19. I decided to get them cleaned when I went out for dinner tonight. Wow! The kid, who was no more than 15, spent 20 minutes on them. He wiped, washed with a soapy sponge, rinsed and then washed again. He took out the shoelaces and washed them and ran them between his fingers to squeeze all the water out. The going rate for any shoe shine in Addis is 3 birr. I gave this guy 10 ... it was better than a night at the movies watching this guy work. I stopped at Dembel mall after work to see about replacing my lost camera. Sony digital cameras started at 5500 birr (roughly 500 CAD) and went up from there. I may go out tomorrow with Tagel and hit a place he knows and trusts. No news at work except Dr. Paul is going back to the US tomorrow for 10 days for OSW. The Ileana flag is orange. I found a legal way to exchange birr for CAD ... I spoke with a travel agent on Saturday who confirmed today that he can book travel in North America and I can pay with birr here!! Picture this ... someone I know wants to go to Los Angeles. I find out the details, book the travel here say with Air Canada, an electronic ticket is issued and then I get paid back in Canadian dollars when I get home ... slick or WHAT! Why all the trouble ... when one leaves Ethiopia you can only take 200 birr with you. If one had say 60,000 birr here (worth about 5,000 USD) there is nothing you can do with it. Foreign exchange here will not buy birr from ferenge!