Mid-week goings on

So now that Dr. Paul has moved into his new mansion, thay are in a part of town called Tele Bole which is just across the street (sort of) from Deker. Ileana asked if I could be picked up at 7:30 rather than 8, then the driver would go to get them. I like to be up and out as early as possible so naturally that was fine with me. I can almost (I think) walk from Deker to their new house without getting lost. It is interesting how that half hour makes such a difference in what the city looks like.

To start out with it is a bit darker as, even with the sun shining, it is not completely bright usually until just before 8. We took an entirely different route to the office from Dr. Paul's house and it was busy busy busy with pedestrians. One minute we are on a boulevard, vehicles few and far between, then the next on a small side street bustling with people walking and engaged in deep conversation with one another. Some of the street vendors have already staked their ground and are open for business. I have wondered if their is a code of ethics between the vendors on who sets up where. So many of them are selling tomatoes and onions and the belt/sunglasses merchants are plentiful as well. I bought twice from sunglass merchants ... the first pair I still have and the second lasted a whole 15 minutes until the right arm broke.

The grocery stores have elaborate piles of meticulously stacked fruit out front, mainly papaya, apples (when in season) and tomatoes. I always wondered if this art work (you should see the TLC they put into making these piles) is torn apart each night to be re-built the next morning. As it turns out, the produce is covered with tarpaulins and a security guard sits there all night. As well, there are billions of shops with hanging banana clumps and I always wonder if Addis can possibly support that many fruit vendors and that gargantuan amounts of bananas. When Jordan was young he loved bananas and would have devoured all in sight throughout Addis.

I am proud to think that I know my way around Addis well, then get chauffeured through a part of town that leaves me bewildered. That is what happened today and I figured maybe our final destination was China. I had dinner with Melaku last night then we went to a club in the Jambo building not far from Deker. There were two singers there whom we had seen in the fall at another club. Each uses a computer to pump songs with no vocal track, which they do a nice job of providing. They were OK but I do miss the band. It was a relatively early night, and I marveled at the plethora of food kiosks that were still open along Bole Cameroon as Melaku dropped me at Deker. Apparently some of these shops are open 24x7, doing a thriving business in the wee hours of the morning as the clubs empty out. Habesha loves to go to clubs, and the establishment we occupied was close to full (on a Wednesday night to boot!).