Finally, furniture!

Finally! My furniture has arrived!!!

Is it anything like what I ordered? Nope, but hey, I’m only going to have to live with it for another 17 months, right? Want to know the drama that unfolded in my Ethiopian life in order to get my furniture here? The answer is probably “No, thanks!” but guess what! I’m telling you anyway. The good thing about being the reader of a blog, any blog, is that you can stop reading at any point. So, if you get to the end of my wordy purge and you find your mind numb with boredom….blame yourself.

Two weeks after I moved to Assella, permanently, I decided it was time to order some furniture for my little studio room. I left it to my counterpart to decide which carpenter I went to as I assumed he knew best. I ordered a table for two with two chairs, making sure I specified that this was a table I would not only be eating at, but using as a desk as well. So, it had to be tall, not like a coffee table which is what they use to eat on in these parts. My wardrobe was to have the closet bit up top and the drawers on the bottom with no decorative whirly-gigs on the front. I drew pictures of what I wanted and the man, or “young man” I should say, gave me the signals that he understood what I wanted. The dude said it would take 6 weeks, tops, as he had a lot of work to do. It was longer than I wanted to wait, but I agreed. What’s another 6 weeks in the long run, right? (If only I had known!!)

“6 weeks” my big, white butt!!!!

At 8 weeks I was finally able to nag my counterpart into seeing about its completion. Nope, not done yet. “One more week”, he said. Two weeks after that I’m getting a little perturbed, so I go with my counterpart to see about it. Crap! Still not done! Really? No, really??? Again, he says “One more week, for sure this time. Really, really. It will be prepared. We will come on the weekend to pick it up.”

Now, I’ll allow you to guess whether it was ready for me or not. Come on! Take a swing at it!

Well, I was angry to say the very least; a few Kilometers past angry, actually. It didn’t make it any easier that my counterpart didn’t show up at the time he said he would meet me. I couldn’t open my mouth. Nothing would come out. If I said a word I would burst into tears I was so livid! I, literally, threw my hands in the air and said “I have to go home!” and I did. As I walked away I could hear my counterpart yelling at the carpenter.

Day after day I was told it would be finished, and day after day I was given excuse after excuse. “Yesterday was a holiday.” “The carpenter is not there today.” “The power was out.” “The carpenter is out of money.” “The table has been sent to be sanded.” “The chairs are in the back.” “Other people are nagging him for their furniture.” Argh!!!! You know those cartoons in which characters eat something too hot and they turn red from the toe up until steam comes out of their ears? That’s what it was like. I’m still battling the anger as I write this.

Finally, I refused to go back. I refused to have anything more to do with it until it was delivered, finished, to my door. I refused to listen to another excuse. People kept telling me, “it’s culture that this happens.” Well, just because it happens all the time doesn’t mean it’s acceptable…..right? It’s not culture, it’s just bad business.

Okay, now I’m going to tell you about this last weekend, but don’t worry, it’ll come back round to the furniture in due course.

 A few of us volunteers have been assigned Warden Duty. I’ve been made Assistant Warden which means, in the event of political or natural upheaval, I am in charge of helping make sure the PCVs in my region are safe and accounted for.

On Friday a bunch of us piled into a private car and headed into Addis Ababa for Warden Training. The training was short and sweet, leaving us with pretty much all of Saturday and Sunday to do as we pleased. For me, this meant traipsing around tourist shops and eating lots of super delicious Ferenji food. Mmmmm…..so good. For other’s it meant running in The Great Ethiopian Run, which I plan on running next year. If you don’t know what it is, Google it.

FYI, if any of you readers suddenly find yourself in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the next month, find a restaurant near the National Theatre called Sishu. It’s got just about the best American food I’ve ever had here, and it’s well priced. Unfortunately, due to government crap, it’ll be torn down in January, hopefully to be rebuilt elsewhere thereafter.

Anyway, what made the weekend the best ever was the fact that I spent it with friends I’d missed terribly, that I visited two craft fairs, and that I spent a crap-ton of Birr on a deliciously, mind blowingly beautiful painting. Now, I love this painting so much that when I bought it, I cried. No, really! I did! That’s how much I love it. If I go back to America with no other souvenir but this painting, I will not be unhappy. I met the artist. He shook my hand, wrapped my painting, and his sister, being so moved by my tears, sat my friends and me down right there in their shop and made us buna. It soothed my soul.

Not to mention, I had a whole three days in which I did NOT have to think of my furniture.

The Precious Painting

Upon my return I found my furniture complete and at my door. The table is NOTHING like what I wanted, but rather than wait another 6 months for a new one, I decided to suck it up and figure out how to make it work. My counterpart took liberties in making choices for me regarding…well….everything (sigh). However, like I said before, I don’t have to live with it forever.

I’m a resourceful, clever sort of girl. I’ll find a way to make it work.

To make a long story longer, my house feels more…..homey, with furniture tucked inside. Now I can start putting all my accumulated crap away. It’s amazing how much “stuff” I have after only 6 months. It’s a good thing though, seeing as most of it is arts and crafts related, so I’m happy to find a place for it all.

Is there a lesson in all this? Yes, of course there is. The lesson is: if you come to Ethiopia expect to have the same ugly furniture that everyone else in the country has and splurge on the things that are going to make you really happy, like art and food.

The Furniture