1 or 2 years old??

Frequent readers of this BLOG will remember my using these 6 words at the start of previous posts ... I don't know where to start. Tagel picked me up about 1:45 for the birthday party. We drove for about 30 minutes into areas of Addis I had never been before. While on the ring road, I was peripherally familiar with some of the sights. We then dove into a rougher area (geographically) with lots of road issues and 10 feet of construction every 20 feet. This town sure redefines construction as I have mentioned before. We pull into a development and twist our way through a few streets then arrive at chez Tagel et family. The last road one follows into their group of houses was a roller coaster ride.

There are some people already there, and the birthday boy appears. He does not look like he is turning 2 as I was told it was a celebration of his second birthday. I then recall that the custom here is for a baby to be 1 year old a few weeks after birth when the naming party is held. He has a big sister whom I met before who is as adorable as younger bro. Burhan with whom I work is also there and it is nice to see him. There is light chatter with some of the folks there then I park myself in an arm chair outside where I spent most of the next 4 and a bit hours. Another MoFED face shows up and not long thereafter the food appears. At one point, Tagel mentions that there were a handful of people invited with children but coincidentally all of them had transportation problems and were not coming. Burhan is dispatched with Marta's car and returns with a gaggle of young people, about 8 of them, ranging in ages from what seemed like 6 through 11. After Tagle picked me up, we stopped at a pastry shop on Bole Africa to get the birthday cake. A man and his daughter who were coming to the party met us there and we gave them a ride. Since it took us 30 minutes, I imagine the cab ride would have been 45 or more and cost well over 100 birr. Fasile, one of the gang I went to Awassa with a few weeks ago showed up with his cute son who was also very friendly.

The first things served are made from some unknown ingredients, and Tagel tells me he is deliberately not going to divulge what they are made from. One seems to closely resemble the charoset at the pesach dinner, but is a little more runny and seems to have a wider assortment of interesting veggies. The second is the colour and consistency of pureed tomatoes. We chow down using white bread rather than injera. The next few mixtures appear, one called "ferenge food" as it is a spaghetti dish. I am then told I have been eating a close-to-raw beef dish and another mixture of many ingredients including stomach and abdomen. That's all for me; I push the leftovers of innards dish away and exclaim that I have been tricked to the great joy and laughter of those around me. Some lamb is brought out and dished out to the attendees, with some interesting peppery orange powder that was intoxicating it was so pungent.

Then the birthday cake and the balance of the sweets came out and it reminded me of the sweet table at a bar/bat mitzvah. At one of those affairs, not long after the attendees start complaining they are so full they may never eat again, the dessert table with flowing chocolate fountain appears and the vultures load up; they are famished as it turns out as they have not eaten for 20 minutes :) The birthday boy plays with the cake for a while amidst a multitude of photo opps. There are globs of icing and chocolate cake clumps on the guest of honour and he is whisked away to be cleaned up as the throng attacks the sweets. The main black forest cake is cut and distributed to the guests. The chit-chat and conversations continue at a heated pace until about 6PM when the party starts to break up. It starts getting chilly as it does all Addis nights and I ask to be driven home.

Four of us and Tagel pile into the Toyota. He drops his wife's grandmother and a friend in Addis after a 30 minute drive again through new territory for me. We then wind our way through some dark and dusty streets, ending up at the palace near Arat Kilo. We then wind our way back to Deker and I am home. One rather busy winding road we were on when going home was the subject of some boulders the size of a soccer ball being moved around by a front-end loader. Hey! It's 6:30PM on a Sunday night. What are there people doing at work?

I watch Sopranos to end the W/E then have a short chat with Dora while Micha crashes. He collects her a bit later and the evening comes to and end shortly thereafter; this is the eve of the cast removel (I HOPE AND PRAY).