One Week Down

Mannfred and I have officially been on Ethiopian ground for a full week. It came to us as a shock because we have completely lost track of the days. One week in and we’re finally starting to adapt and feel more comfortable in our new environment. The other students also seem to be getting used to having Faranjis (foreigners) on campus too. Everyone seems to say hello and know our names and I haven’t the slightest clue who they are.

Our first day on campus there were a bunch of girls hanging in our bedroom windows talking to us and welcoming us. These girls have been extremely curious and even dragged me up to their dorm room the other night as Mannfred mentioned. My visit not only consisted of a room full of girls asking questions but at one point a chorus of Justin Beiber and Shania Twain started ringing through the room. I was roaring with laughter, so that’s how people identify Canada now?  They were dead set on dragging me to the student cafeteria which Mannfred and I have been hesitant to go to since they often push the foreigners to the front of the line. My strategy was different since I made an obvious point of showing that I was with the girls. I was a spectacle as I ate with every eye on me to see if I ate the Injera, if it was too spicy and if I did the proper thing and only ate with my right hand.

Yesterday we were supposed to be heading to the main Jimma University campus to watch a football match between the staff. We were told to meet at 8:30 and we showed up right on time. That doesn’t mean a thing here since we waited for another 45 minutes for others to show up. The concept of time is very different here and I’m having a hard time with it and I’ll have to work on my patience. As one girl said to me “Your time is gold, our time is metal”. Everyone piled in one truck, yes the entire football team in the truck driving down the road and we stopped every fifty meters to add another person to the pile in the back. After getting halfway there we found out the game was canceled so they decided to have a friendly match back at JUCAVM. I will admit that I was distracted for the majority of the game because Dr. Ali (PHM Department Head) had brought his two year old daughter who initially was very hesitant around us but then became fascinated with Mannfred and I. She started crawling on our knees and as soon as we tried to take a photo of her, game over. The camera was her new favourite toy.

Later that day we were invited to attend our first coffee ceremony with the Post Harvest Management Graduate students. If you didn’t know already, Jimma is where coffee originated and the traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony goes through every step of the process with washing the beans, roasting, grinding, and finally making the coffee. Coffee here is extraordinary. It is much stronger and makes Canadian coffee taste like water. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to drink a cup of Tim Horton’s coffee again!

Thats all for now!

Suzie!

She really wants the camera

Traditional coffee ceremony

The Post Harvest Management Department at JUCAVM