Museums etc

On with the adventures of yesterday!  The Red Terror Martyrs Museum, situated ironically on Moscow Square, a huge square right in the center of the city named after the Russians because they supported Ethiopia after Salassie fell, is right next to the Addis Ababa Museum. We went there next, climbing a big flight of stairs.  This Museum traces the history of the city, founded by the wife of Emperor Menelik in 1847. It is situated on the highest point in the city, and right in the center. The building was at one time the villa of a government minister. It is, by Ethiopians standards, a huge house, all built of wood, including wood floors.  Terribly in need of repairs, from the peeling paint to the dirty unfinished wood floors, to dust all over, you almost wondered whether it was worth going in. But inside there were costumes of the Emperor and his coterie from the late 1800s, as well as marvelous photos from that era of the way of life of the elite.  We saw a costume worn by the emperor which was lion hair and silver, with a big ruff around the neck and lots of wooly animal hair as a wig. Made to look scary and mighty, it seemed.  A photo showed the emperor wearing that costume, seated on a bench, with his feet resting on the head of a lion which had been made into a rug. The museum also had old crafts, like large baskets used as tables, and many stretched animal skins with pictures painted on them.

Then we went for lunch at Finfinie, a restaurant and hotel nearby which had been built and operated by the Italians in the 1930s. A wonderful buffet of Ethiopian food was set out in an open-air pavilion. It was a great place to sit in the warm shady midday and eat good food.

Had to go back to teach another English class that afternoon.  I should say, though, that if you thought Italian drivers were crazy, Ethiopians have even more bravado. We haven’t seen a single traffic light in this city of 3 million, though there are traffic circles and squares. In Moscow Square, cars drive diagonally across it in any direction, so there is no traffic flow in a single direction. Literally, cars are going every which way, and busses, and minibuses, even carts and wagons.  You would be a fool as a pedestrian to think that you can cross in a pedestrian zone with the cars stopping for you.  They may stop for cows or goats, but not for people! 

Today we awoke to the absence of electricity and the sound of a couple thousand young people coming here for the weekend for a conference. These are 20 to 30 year olds coming from all over Ethiopia. Tents are set up on campus, rented chairs are everywhere. We understand they are sleeping in the tents and in classrooms and in local homes. There are 2500 extra people here for Friday through Sunday.  I haven’t seen any port-a-potties, so I am really wondering how that aspect is being handled. I did not that the faculty bathrooms are locked today. As we walked the ¼ mile from our house to the office and classroom area, we met hundreds of young men, mostly, and some women, going to the direction, past our house, to the huge tent where the conference will take place. We’ll take a stroll down there later and see what is going on. Tonight we agreed to go to a fundraiser at a local hotel which is for additional support for this conference. I guess the money ran short.

Tomorrow our dear Belete is coming back to get us and continue our tour of Addis Ababa. That’ll be great.  Right now the campus internet server is down,  so we hope that doesn’t last for too long so I can post this, and photos, before too long! Love to all.