The Birth of Coffee - The Story of Kaldi

As you may well know, Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. Here is the story of how that was supposed to have happened.

Once upon a time in Ethiopia there was a goatherd named Kaldi. He began to notice that when his goats ate the little red berries from a certain bush they’d go all spastic and crazy. Like any person would have done, he tried them himself and he felt GREAT! He took some of the berries home to his wife who popped some in her mouth as well. She liked the affects so much that she made up her mind that the berries were a gift from god. She promptly took the heaven-sent goodies to the monks at the monastery.

A Caffeinated Kaldi dancing with his goats.

The monks were skeptical and decided the berries were actually a gift from the devil, duh! However, over time the monks were trying to figure out how to stay awake and alert for prayers through the night and they decided that maybe those berries really were a gift from god and they ate them. Sure enough, praying through the night was no longer a problem. The berries tasted like crap though, so the monks tried to figure out how to prepare them so they’d taste better. They tried roasting them and then eating them. They still tasted bad, but the aroma of the roasting was awesome, so they kept on with it. Then they tried roasting them and boiling them and BINGO! Coffee was born! When the Arabs came to visit the Ethiopians were like, “Dudes, you gotta try this delicious drink we have here.” The Arabs liked it too, so they took some coffee home with them and marketed it. Anyway, now the whole world has coffee thanks to Kaldi and his caffeinated goats.

In the very beginning, coffee was traditionally served with salt, and sometimes even butter. In some places in Ethiopia it is still prepared this way, but sugar is much more common these days.

Coffee bush berries growing on my compound

The coffee ceremony is a tradition that continues and has changed very little over years. You can always tell when someone is having a coffee ceremony because you can smell the roasting coffee as you pass by on the street.  One of my favorite things about walking in the evening is the smell of all of the neighbors roasting their beans mixed with the incense they burn throughout the ceremony. I was never a fan of coffee before I moved here, but there is nothing  more satisfying than sitting and chatting with friends in a room filled with the scent of incense and roasted coffee, sipping at a hot little cup of traitionally prepared coffee.

Next time on Birdy Birds Bloggy Blog: The ins and outs of a traditional coffee ceremony and how to make your own traditional Ethiopian coffee.

Ethiopian Adventure - The Northern Loop - Part I

Me and the view in Debre Markos

               

Seeing as I’m an education volunteer, I found myself with a lot more spare time while the schools went on break for the growing season. I did lend my hands to put on a week long summer for upper grade students with some of my fellow Peace Corps volunteers, though. While the camp was enlightening and well worth the effort, it did only occupy a few weeks of my time. To my delight I discovered one of my site-mates was in the same boat, as the CTE (College of Teacher Education) was void of both teachers and students. So, we thought “what a good time to visit the rest of the country!” and that’s exactly what we did.

                Our first stop of course was to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s Capital City. Now, we happened to end up there as the city was holding the memorial services for the late Prime Minister Meles. This meant that there were a crap-ton of people in from all over the world and all over the country. Several main roads and areas were closed off, making getting around the city by line taxi quite hellish. Line taxi’s even on good days are quite the frustration, but I’ll leave that for another blog. The point is, getting around Addis was a pain and took three times as long as usual.

                We did manage, after some twisting and turning and fighting our way onto various automobiles, to check into a hotel. Next step, figure out our root and buy our bus tickets. We decided to start our trip by visiting Debre Markos to see our pals, also Peace Corps Volunteers, for a day or two. This meant finding the offices to buy our tickets, and it just so happened that the offices were in the exact area that was blocked of for the memorials service. After miles of wondering and managing our way through a handful of English/Amharic conversations, we found someone to guide us into the closed off areas to the Selam Bus office….but they had no tickets. Another few miles of wondering and we found our way to the Sky Bus office, but they didn’t have tickets either…..wait….wait….yes! Yes they did have tickets after all. We’d leave the next morning but we have to get ourselves to Meskel Squaire, the closed off area, by 5am. 5 am!!!

                We requested the hotel taxi for 4:30am to take us to our bus. “No,” he said “it is too busy at this time. 3:30 is better.” So, begrudgingly, we accept. And thank god we did because he ended up dropping us off of the opposite end Meskel Square from where we needed to be. Since the whole place was blocked off, we ended up having to walk a good 3 miles detour to where we needed to be. We got there just as our bus pulled up. We got on, tired, thirsty, only to discover that because of the closed off part we’d have to transfer buses in another part of the city. If we hadn’t managed to get onto that bus when we did, we never would have known that we needed to board another bus in another area of the city. We would have been lost and completely confused. The bus didn’t end up leaving until well after 6.

One long, but beautiful ride, and one pee in the woods in front of god and everyone, we found ourselves in Debre Markos with Jen and Chad. My pals, and two of the coolest people you could ever hope to meet.

Jen and Chad


There isn’t anything touristy in Debre Markos. Nothing notable to speak of, but we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We explored the town, had some good coffee, ate good food, and took a very steep and scary hike down into a ravine to see the river and the monasteries that are hidden away there. The view at the top was absolutely beautiful and it was time well spent with some awesome company.

On our way to and from the ravine we met these lovely children.

Peek-a-boo! Notice the baby on the little girl's back (on the far left)

 We found them building with mud, and shaping them into tiny sculptures. One little girl managed an absolutely wonderful little ox, complete with hump and all. That's her in the orange hoody with ears. Now, you might be thinking “what’s the big deal?”. One thing you have to understand is creative thinking, let alone imaginative play and crafting, are nearly non-existent here, even in children. The arts are simply not taught to children in public schools. Imaginative play isn’t encouraged among the general population because it doesn’t produce anything. It’s not because they don’t care, it’s just that the focus is on making ends meet, and playing pretend doesn’t exactly make it on to the list of useful activities.





The children's clay creations



The frames of a gojo bet and a house

                All in all it was an awesome visit. We even ended up staying an extra night. Thanks Jen and Chad for letting us stay with you and for being so awesome! Even though Debre Markos isn’t a tourist hot-spot, I would recommend staying a night or two there, just for the sake of the view from the top of the ravine and the views on the way up there from Addis. Beautiful country.

                So, we left Debre Markos with full bellies and happy hearts. Next stop? Bahir Dar………



Big Dan, Chad, and Jen resting after our hike



When a Teddy Bear Vomits

So, I’m sitting there with him, knitting, watching a movie. He’s not knitting, I am. He watches what I’m doing for a while, reaches over and picks up the opposite end of the scarf I’m working on. He eyes it, turns it over in his hand a couple of times and says, “Looks like what happens when a Teddy Bear has one too many.”

After some thought, I decided I couldn’t argue with that.



The Teddy Bear Sick Scarf

 It was fast, easy to carry around with me, and didn’t take much thought to knit, so I can’t complain. Can’t remember who so graciously sent me the yarn and the pattern, but thanks to whomever it was. Don’t know what I’d have done without all of the cool yarn folks have sent me. Knitters are awesome.

Pattern: Self-Biasing Scarf

By: I don’t remember

Needles: US 10

Yarn: 1 Skein Prism Twig, 1 skein Prism Azalea

I also knit up this bad boy.

Big Dan's Ethiopian Flag Hat



The Actual Ethiopian flag



Big Dan in his long-awaited Hat



 The bearded fella is the same guy from above. He’d been asking for either a red and black, striped “Jumper” (he’s English), or an Ethiopian flag hat. Seeing as I can’t get the yarn I need for the sweater, I figured I’d settle him down by knitting the hat. Turned out quite well if I do say so myself

…..which I DO!!!

Pattern: There wasn’t one. I just improvised a basic beanie.

By: Me, Birdy-Bird!

Needles: US 5

Yarn: Just your basic 100% Ethiopian cotton yarn. It’s the only yarn you can get here. Red, two shades of yellow, green, and blue. I had to hold 4 strands together because it’s too thin otherwise.

I crocheted the blue circle and then embroidered the star on with plain’ole white embroidery floss.

Fancy-pants……er…..hat!

Recipe - Special Fata

I do apologize for not posting a blog last month. I could have sworn I did one, but maybe I wrote one and didn’t post it. Never mind, never mind, I’m doing it now and that’s the important thing. As a matter of fact, I’ve decided I should be doing one twice a month. I do, after all, have lots to say, and I mostly do this blog for myself, so…..there you have it.

A couple of blogs ago I promised a recipe and I have failed to follow through, so I figured it’s about dang time. Not to mention, I just ate this delectable dish and so I have it fresh in my mind.

I have to say that the unfortunate thing about Fata is that I’m one of only a handful of ferenjoch that actually really likes this stuff. I think the problem most people have with it is the consistency and the fact that often times there is Kibe in it. If I haven’t mentioned Kibe before, its Ethiopian butter that doesn’t taste too awesome and smells like death. I, however, find myself enjoying it from time to time, in very small amounts, of course. In this recipe though, I have left out the Kibe and you can put more or less of any of the ingredients in to suit your fancy.

Here goes…..

Special Fata

You’ll need

A sauce pan

Something to stir with

A knife

A heat source on which to cook

Ingredients (mind, these are approximations)

½ to ¼ loaf French or Sourdough bread - (preferably a day or two old as you’re going to be adding moisture to this and fresh bread would get soggy rather quickly)

Plain Yogurt – as much or as little as you want

1 or 2 heaping Tablespoons of Berbere – Ethiopian spice mixture. If you can’t find it in your town, look up a recipe and have a shot at making it yourself………or order online.

2 large Red onions

Garlic (you choose how much)

Oil – just enough to coat the bottom of your pan plus a tiny bit more

1 Avocado

1 Egg

1 Tomato

1 hot pepper of your choice

¼ Cup tomato sauce of your choice

Salt to taste

Water (if necessary)

Down to business

1.            Dice the tomatoes, avocado and hot pepper and set them aside.

2.            Cut the bread into bite sized pieces and set aside.

3.            Finely chop the onion and garlic. Set a little of the onions aside to top the fata if desired. Put the rest of it in the sauce pan with the pre-heated oil, add the Berbere and garlic, and cook the onions until they’re translucent and start to break down. The finer you chop the onions the less time this will take.

This mixture will be mixed in with the bread, essentially making a sort of stuffing/dressing, so if it doesn’t look like this mixture has enough liquid to sufficiently cover the bread, add just the smallest bit of water until it looks like it’ll work. Be careful, if you add too much water your bread will get soggy. Ick!

4.            Mix the onion mixture in with the bread until all the bread has been blessed by its saucy deliciousness. You have now made what is called “Dabo Firfir” which translates to “Bread Scramble”. Set it aside.

5.            Scramble the egg, adding salt if you feel inclined.

6.            Dish out the Dabo Firfir into whatever you’re going to eat it out of. Traditionally, Fata is served in one big bowl with two spoons so you can share, but you can eat it however the heck you want.

Top it with the yogurt, then the uncooked onion, hot pepper, egg, tomato, tomato sauce, and avocado. Add a little salt if you think it needs it. Traditionally this whole thing is mixed up to form a weird lookin’ mush, but you do as you please.  Congratulations, you’ve just made Special Fata.

What makes it special, you ask? Well, if anything is topped with an egg here, it’s considered “special”. So, Fata with an egg is Special Fata. Pasta

EAT AND ENJOY!!!!

Side notes: You’ll notice in the photo that it looks like there is a lot more yogurt than one cup. It’s true, but my fellow ferenjoch often complain that it’s more like yogurt soup than Dabo Firfir with yogurt, so I toned it down a little for texture sensitive people. Feel free to add more yogurt if you wish, or less for that matter. You may also have noticed that there is pasta on top as well. If you happen to have just that much left-over pasta, well then, throw it on there, but I don’t think most people can be bothered to cook just that much pasta only to put it on top of something else. Do as you please.

Let me know what you think.

Amharic Language Lesson

Yogurt = Irgo (Ear + go)

Bread = Dabo

Egg = Enkulal

Scramble = Firfir

Tomato = Timatim

Hot pepper = Kariya (Car + ee + uh)

Avocado = Avocado

Salt = Chow (emphasis on the Ch)

Water = Wuha

Spoon = Mankiya (Mong + key + uh)

A Haiku For A Moment In Time

Hayena's laughing

The smell of roasting coffee

I poop in a hole

The Things People Call Us

Sticks and Stones may break my bones

but words can be exhausting!

Like a stick bridge over stinky water!

And by “us” I mean foreign people who are obviously not native to Ethiopia, i.e. white folks and Asian folks. Now, I have to clarify that even African-Americans are also called some strange names here, but I would imagine far less often, because most local people would automatically assume they are habisha. While habisha have seen, via western media, that there are indeed non-white Americans for some reason they have a hard time believing it “in real life” even when they are face to face with one, like my pal Audley for example. He has a whole other set of problems because of it. I’ll get into that subject another time. My focus here is to inform you of the things I have been called, and am still being called on a daily, or more like a minute by minute, basis. I’ve done my best to list them in order of how frequently I hear them.

1. Ferenji (or variations such as Ferenj, Ferenjo, Ferenjio)

I learned something recently about the word “Ferenji”. So, it turns out, and it’s quite obvious now, it originally came from the word “French”. Just in case you don’t know, the French had an interest in taking root in Ethiopia some time ago. Under the influence of local accent, “French” became “Ferenj”, which then came to define any foreign person, even as the Italians tried to move into the country.

2. China

“China” is well on it’s way to the same sort of fate as “Ferenj”. China has fairly solid relationship with Ethiopia right now. Someone recently admitted to me that they believe China has ulterior motives for befriending Ethiopia. Again, lets save the conspiracy stuff for later.

Anyway, Chinese workers are sent here in droves to work on infrastructure. Now, in my opinion they should be using local folks for labor, as unemployment is outrageous here, but that’s my opinion. At any rate, Chinese workers have made their way through town after town. A lot of local people don’t care much for the Chinese because, and this is according to locals (NOT ME), they have “bad behavior.” To give you an idea of what sort of bad behavior, I have been told that while the Chinese road workers are in town the bars get lots of business and there are several children in a certain district that look quite closely related to our Asian brothers and sisters……but I’m not making judgments. Please keep in mind that I have no first-hand experience, and I’m sure there are far more Chinese folks doing good things here than there are doing not-so-good things.

To make a long story longer, many folks, from less educated areas, fail to make the connection between the fact that they are Chinese and the fact that they are called “China” because they are from China. So, for most people, “China” is just another word for “Ferenj”. On the other hand, some people might call me “China” thinking that I actually am Chinese, because I’ve had a few kids come up to me and start making sounds like they’re speaking Chinese. For these few children and/or adults, every foreign person must be Chinese.

3. Nech (white)

4. Kayu (red)

White people have two colors, white, and red. I admit that when I first heard this I was dumbfounded. But, if you think about it, it’s true. I’ve seen myself after I’ve been in the sun for too long or I’m blushing. My complexion tends to stay on the pink side anyway.

5. Mister

6. Youyouyou

7. Hey guys

8. Okayokay

9. Yes

10.    Wushia (pretty girl)

11.    Hey baby

12.    Sexy sexy (cringe….I blame western media)

13.    England (or occasionally “English”)

14.    German

15.    Japanese

Hawassa Vacation and the death and rebirth of my computer

I want to tell you about my little vacation to the city of Hawassa some time ago, but first I want explain why I haven’t posted a blog for so long. Not so long after I posted the last blog my computer went into a coma. It spazzed out all of the sudden and then…..nothing. Dan, the new VSO fella here in Asella was able to fix it, but I lost everything. So I’m starting anew. I’m happy to have my computer back, even though all of the new programs are strange to me and I’d lost everything that had been on my computer before. Files, reports, music, photos, games, everything. I hadn’t realized how much I used my computer for therapy. I was lost without it, but I did get a lot of reading and knitting done, so that’s a plus. Enough of that. Let’s move on, shall we?



A traditional reed "boat"



First the boring stuff. This was taken from Wikipidia, not the best source for info, but it’ll do. “ Awasa (also spelled Awassa or Hawassa) is a city in Ethiopia, on the shores of Lake Awasa in the Great Rift Valley. Located in the Sidama Zone 270 km south of Addis Ababa. Awasa is the capital of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region. Important local attractions include the St. Gabriel Church and the Awassa Kenema Stadium. Fishing is a major local industry. Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia, this city has a total population of 258,808, of whom 133,123 are men and 125,685 women.” Seeing as this info is from 2007,  and many Ethiopians like to have lots of kids, you can imagine that the population has grown quite a bit.

Let’s pretend that you’re looking at an actual map and you’re genuinely interested in where Hawassa is. First, find Ethiopia. It’s on the horn of Africa, the Northeast bit that sticks out. There it is! Good job. So, almost smack-dab in the middle of Ethiopia is the Capitol city, Addis Ababa. Just below Addis Ababa are a series of lakes. The second one down is Lake Zuwai, which I live near, and the 6^th one down is Lake Hawassa. On it’s right shore is the city of Hawassa. That’s where I went. It’s AWESOME!!!

A good number NGO’s and stuff work from there, so the population of Ferenjoch is quite a bit higher than most larger cities, not to mention it’s pretty big on the list of places to see for tourists. As a result, I was quite happy to find that very very rarely did anyone ever look twice at me. The folks that live there are use to seeing foreigners so they don’t even bat an eyelash. I have to say, that was probably the best part of the trip, because I have to endure “all eyes on me” every time I set foot outside my door. I felt like I was able to “turn off” and it was a weight off my shoulders.

We, meaning myself and the chap I was traveling with, stayed at funny little hotel right by the water. It was called “Circle of Life”. You’re singing the song now aren’t you. It’s okay, I did it too. There was no hot water, but I splurged and got one of the nicer rooms so it was actually not bad place to stay, especially since it was, like I said “right by the water.”

Circle of Life Courtyard

Circle of Life room

I was able to visit with friends while I was there as we have three Peace Corps Volunteers there, not to mention there were a crap-ton of others visiting at the same time for various reasons. Some of us got together and had a semi-traditional taco dinner with cake and cheesecake for dessert! So, delicious. It was the first time Yusuf, the “chap” previously mentioned, had eaten tacos. He said they were good and that there was an Ethiopian version of Tortillas in some other region. Since he has quite a sweet tooth, he mostly enjoyed dessert.

We spent quite a bit of time by the water, either walking the shore or drinking leslasa (soda) on the floating café. The weather was awesome while we were there too so I never, not once, had to put my hoodie on. The best part though, was the boat ride. For 50 Birr (about $2.94 US) we got a private boat ride with an actual oarsman. Since the sun was about to set there was only one or two other boats out, so it was nice and quiet and relaxing.

I’ve always lived near a coast, and having been away from the ocean for so long it felt really good to be near a large body of water. It didn’t quite give me the sense of peace and balance the ocean does, but I did leave some stress behind. Anyone that has lived on the coast will know what I’m talking about.

On the boat at sunset

Some of the other attractions I managed to see were Saint Gabriel’s Cathedral, though I didn’t have enough interest to actually go inside, and the regional art structure. See, every region in Ethiopia has erected an official artistic structure that is supposed to represent the region. The Oromiya region structure, which is where I live, consists of two white pillar-like things that rise up into the sky and gradually bend towards each other with round bally things on their ends. They don’t actually touch though. It reminds me of one of those magnetic healing bracelets. I don’t have any photos of it, but next time I pass by it I’ll take a picture and post it so I you can actually see what I’m talking about. I don’t find it very appealing, but what-ev. The Southern Nations one is really cool though. It’s found in Awassa. You can see from the picture. On weekdays it’s actually open to the public so you can walk up the winding stairs and see the view from the top. We couldn’t because it was Sunday when we went. Next time, next time.

Saint Gabriel's Church

Regional Structure

Unlike pretty much any other city in Ethiopia, Hawassa has street signs!!! Streets don’t have names here, I’m assuming because Ethiopia is still a developing country and giving streets names is a new concept. Another factor is that because it’s developing, literally, a street could be there one day, and gone the next as buildings go up and others are taken down. Hawassa has signs, but they don’t say the names of the streets, only the place that the roads lead to. They have these signs because it’s a tourist city, and tourists get upset when they can’t find what they’re looking for.  My good friend works at SOS school, Lake Awassa is where Circle of Life is, and I never went to Gudumale Park.

An Hawassa Street...er....direction sign

The one thing that I really really really wanted to do and never had the chance was to eat a whole fried fish by the water. I love sea food….er, in this case, lake food, and there are several places on the water that fry up the catches of the day and you can sit there and enjoy picking out the bones by the water. It’s the first thing I’m going to do when I go back though, and believe me, I AM going back. As a matter of fact, there is a half-marathon happening soon, there, in which a friend or two will be running and I fully intend to lending my support. Oh, not to mention, there is a café there that makes real ice cream…..oh yeah.

I’m Reading

I just finished reading Kiss of the Bees by J.A. Jance. It was an okay thrille,r set in Arizona, so it was cool to kind of know the places they were talking about. Anyway, it’s about this mixed family that has lived through all kinds of stuggles and grief only to be faced with more when a psycho from the past shows up and swipes the daughter. There are a few little side stories that come together, which is always fun for me, and some cool Native American mythology as well. Not the best read ever, but it’s worth a read.

I’m Knitting

I’m still knitting the Pintuck-Tee. I don’t know why it’s takin me so flipin’ long. I’ve joined the Doublknit podcast’s Slog Along hopeing that it will move me along a little faster with it. It’s working I think. I’m about 75% done now. Finally!



I found this in Hawassa as well. I like it because it says "BK" and I'm BK!