Off to the Market

It's Monday. We met our cook, Addis Abata, this morniing at 8:30. She and I took off on foot for the market to buy some food. I had written a grocery list and used a little English-Amharic dictionary to translate the items on the list to her language.  She was a great shopper. I stood and watched while she picked out the best papaya, refused bananas that were too ripe, selected the soap she likes to wash clothes (out behind the house we have a cement room with a built-in washtub with a slanted washboard on the front. She fills the tub with soapy water that may have a little hot water added to it, then she scrubs them by hand, using the washboard.), tea, and a variety of vegetables. We visited the bakery, the fruit and vegetable stand, a dry goods place, a "supermarket" which was about 1/10th the size of a small SuperAmerica and had a variety of packaged goods, frozen meat and dairy products. We got yogurt there.

I was so happy to have someone communicate for me, pick the best, know which stores had which products, etc.  As we walked along the street, a busy four-lane road, a cow walked down the middle of it, semis heavily loaded veering around it. It sauntered over to the taxi-stand, where about 50 minibuses which carry people on regular routes were standing. It kinds of disappeared in the middle of that mass of vehicles. Seemed to be untended.  Yesterday I saw a whole herd of goats, maybe 50, walking down the main street of this section of town, but at least they had a herder following them.  Lots of kids came up to me to shake hands, but this time they also asked for money, and an older woman looked at me and put her hand to her mouth as if she were eating.  Addis called the shopkeeper and he made them leave.

:Last night the electricity went out about 11 pm and came back on about 6 this a.m. Jim moved a mattress into the living room so he could plug his sleep apnea machine into a line connected to the school's generator, so he could sleep uninterrupted. He is having a bit a trouble with the altitude. The air is thin up here at 7200 ft.

We're home for lunch now. It'll be fun to see what Addis has prepared with all those groceries. I am sure they'll taste different that what I would make--she knows how to use all the local spices!

More later---