March 15, 2013

3 Weeks, Sugar, and Kids


PROCESS
We are down to needing just $660 in the next three weeks. We can do this!

Aaron is working with Rakeb now to complete the visa application, and once that is complete they will be scheduling her interview with the US Embassy.

RAKEB
The coffee in Ethiopia is incredible! That said, the way it is prepared there is much different than here and through their process it becomes extremely strong. The average sized cup of coffee is about 1/6 the size of what we are used to here in the US. Rakeb is not a big fan of coffee, but its existence in every aspect of Ethiopian culture often makes it hard to avoid. When she succumbed to societal pressures to drink coffee (which is always drunk without milk or creamer) she would try to avoid the bitter bite of goodness by adding sugar. One time when I was preparing the coffee for a few people I put in a heaping spoonful of sugar into her coffee and asked her if that was good. She said, “more”. After adding 3 more heaps she was content.
Part of the coffee experience. Notice the size of the sugar bowl compared tot he cups...

ETHIOPIA

Ethiopians love kids! Once while myself and another Ethiopian were picking someone up from the airport, he befriended a little boy who was maybe 2 years old. While the little boys parents went through security and entered the airport (much smaller than what you are probably imagining) my colleague played with the boy outside. He even took him down to the parking lot, sat him up in our SUV, and drove him around to wave to all the guards. Again, this whole time the boys parents, who we’d just met, were inside the airport! When the person we were picking up arrived, my colleague brought the boy back to the entrance of the airport, got the attention of his parents, and we all went about the rest of our day as if this wasn’t a crazy occurrence. 

The rural Ethiopian airport where the story above took place






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