The Streets of Kore (3-21-12)

So I'm just chillin at home after a wonderful morning at the day care, waiting for school time this afternoon.  Since I have nothing better to do, I figured why not tell you a little about the streets we live on?  I don't think I've done much of that yet, and it's quite different than the streets of Saint Charles.  Perhaps if you've read allllll the millions of blogs I've posted, you remember how I described the minibus experience a long time ago.  Seems like the easiest way to go, so I'll just go ahead and tell you about our "neighborhood" as we experience it, with all five senses. 

Sight

I'll begin with sight.  There is much to see on this wonderful street.  Mostly good things, but some I could live without (mainly the men peeing everywhere).  When you leave our compound, you see our Target.  Really it's not Target, because they don't have Target in Ethiopia.  But it's pretty much just as great.  Across the dirt path from our house there is a concrete wall that makes up a few more compounds.  In the middle of the wall there is a small hole for a window.  Walk up to this window, and you can pretty much buy anything your heart desires.  Bread, Coke, water, eggs, minutes for your cell phone...what else could I ever need?! 

Now if you walk to the left for a while, you'll see the dump.  A beautiful sight where Addis accumulated lots and lots of trash.  Of course, I was being sarcastic when I said "beautiful" sight.  But actually, when we went to check it out once it was kind of not so bad.  After school one day, Kendra and I decided it was time to see the garbage dump.  We started walking there and randomly came across Masresha.  We told him we were just going for a walk, and he pretty much got super concerned.  Yes, it was still light out and we were only walking about five minutes from our house.  Still, Masresha was not okay with this.  He insisted that he walk with us and told us that after 15 minutes we had to go home with him because he was "too worried".  Anyways, as I was saying, you see the garbage dump.  It is, as you would imagine, a large mountain of trash.  In addition to the trash though, there are some little farms, lots of goats and sheep, and lots of kids playing.  Even a soccer field.  There are also large piles of dung which has been made into perfect circles.  When Masresha said, "some people make injera with this" we naturally got worried.  Because that sounds like they make injera with cow poop and I just never want to eat that.  Turns out he meant they only use the poop to start the fire to cook the injera.  I don't know if that's much better, but at least I haven't been actually eating cow feces. 

If, instead of heading towards the garbage dump, you head to the right when leaving our house and walk down the dirt road you'll come to the main road of Kore.  The main road is basically paved, though there is still a lot of rock and dirt.  The sides of the road are dirt, and most areas have little trenches dug out.  We aren't positive what these ditches are for, but often you see men peeing in them.  I'm pretty sure I haven't gone a day without seeing a man peeing on the side of the road since I've arrived here.  Fabulous.  Besides urinating men, you see lots of little shops.  Lining the road are little "buildings" made from scrap metal.  Each place is it's own little business.  They may sell food, clothes, movies, etc.  They may be a barber shop or a pool house (there are like, 50 places to play pool on our street.  I don't really understand).  They may sell wood or other such supplies.  One of our favs is the guy who weaves scarves on the side of the road.  He has a whole big weaving thingy set up, and just does it right there.  In fact, I bought one yesterday and Kendra is going to pick one up today.  He's pretty good, we're fans of his.  There are also teeny houses behind certain scrap metal walls, just off the street.  When you're walking down the main road, you see lots and lots of people.  Many people walking around, some selling things, some just hanging out.  There aren't tons of cars, though there is usually a pretty steady stream of minibuses.  In the distance, there are mountains which I think are very pretty and would still like to climb.  People keep telling me they'll take me, but they haven't yet.  And time is running out.  Last but not least, you see many, many animals.  Donkeys (love em), goats, sheep, cows, chickens, cats, dogs, horses...you name it, it's probably walking down my street right now.  Animals, shops and peeing men...I think that about sums up the sights of our street.

Smell

Well you smell a lot of pee.  Okay, maybe not a lot, but more than I would like.  If the wind blows in the wrong direction at the wrong time, you just get a really nice whiff.  It's not the most pleasant smell.  You also smell a lot of animals.  And body oder.  And breathe in a lot of dust.  Often enough, however, you don't smell much of anything out of the ordinary.  And occasionally you smell something yummy like a coffee ceremony or bread baking...yum.

Touch

When walking down our street every day, we shake hands with approximately 2349587 people.  Most are children, but you get the occasional adult, too.  Random children like to run up and shake our hands, walk hand-in-hand with us, or just give a little high five in passing.  It doesn't matter if they know us or not, because we're white.  Evidently that makes shaking my hand really exciting.  Sometimes we even get hugs from children we've never met before.  Long story short, there is usually someone reaching out for our hands at any moment during our walking down the road.  Sidenote - I know I'm talking about the streets of Kore, not the streets of Mexico (sidenote inside the sidenote - I mean Mexico in Addis Ababa, not Mexico south of America.  We have a Mexico here, too, you know.  Unfortunately they don't have Mexican food...I don't know what's up with that), but I just want to say that sometimes people in Mexico try to hold your hand or something too.  I'm speaking of the man who was sitting on the side of the road in Mexico and reached out for me as I walked by.  His hands made contact with my pants, and left behind some unknown substance.  I should add that these pants had just been washed, and should have been good for like six more wears.  Really, dude in Mexico?  My clean pants?  Anyways, back to Kore streets.  So, while lots of kids are holding your hands, you have to watch your feet.  The sense of touch is more important here.  Especially when you walk down the dirt path to our house.  There are ginormous rocks all over the place that make up the "road", and this makes for a very difficult walk.  If Kendra and I come home after dark, we have to walk arm in arm so we don't trip, fall, and die.  Sometimes you kick giant rocks accidentally, and it really hurts your toes.  Even if you're wearing your super-awesome-I'm-in-Africa shoes...aka your Toms.  Another painful experience that I think goes along with this sense of feeling things: wearing contacts.  Pretty much every time I wear my contacts here dust or something just as hurtful gets in and makes me go a little bit blind.  Unfortunate.  There are also constantly flies touching your legs, your arms, your face, your ears...but I think I covered that well enough in my last blog.

Taste

This one was hard for the minibus description as well...as I have not tasted minibuses or the street.  I have, however, tasted things while walking down the street.  The most memorable being sugar cane.  Masresha bought this for Kendra and I once on the way to school.  It tasted like a tree and I coudn't eat it.  I probably taste dust a lot too, since it's pretty incredibly dusty here, but I don't really notice anymore.

Sound

Most often when walking down our road, we hear the word "farenje".  I know I've said it before, but it means foreigner.  If you're white you're a farenje, and you will be told.  Many, many, many times.  In case you forget.  Someday I should take a count of how many times I get called farenje.  Kids say it, adults say it...they all think it's necessary to point out that I'm white.  As if anyone was unsure.  If, by some odd chance, you happen to walk past another farenje, you will likely hear them say hello to you.  Because evidently the fact that we are both clearly not African means that we are instant friends.  You will also hear lots and lots of people asking how you are, how is Ethiopia, what is your name, and any other question they know in English.  Sometimes you hear inappropriate things as well.

The best sound, however, is when you turn onto the main road I described and hear a herd of children yelling your name and running towards you.  This pretty instantly makes up for anything I have mentioned that might be a little unpleasant...flies and pee, for example :)

Ta-da!!  Home sweet home…Kore!