Friday was a half day so I got to leave at lunchtime! One of the doctors told me about a shopping mall that had a swimming pool in it, with a lovely cafe next to it that I could sit and read next to in the sun. She also mentioned that there was a supermarket down the road.
Both of these things were extremely exciting, as I had been under the impression that the only food in Addis Ababa consisted largely of onions, tomatoes, cabbage and some sort of massive leaf! Needless to say a supermarket with a wide selection of food was great – I stocked up on stuff I couldn’t get locally, but did not buy any cheese – it was astronomical! Prices are weird here – 4p for a short bus journey up to £33 per kilo of Edam cheese! To put into context, a senior nurse’s monthly wage after tax is about £75. After I had had fun in the supermarket I made a beeline for the swimming pool. It was lovely, though the chicken salad was absolutely terrible! The pool was open air surrounded by mall and fancy flats. Clearly how the other half live! It was full of well heeled Ethiopians and a smattering of expats. There are apparently a few Chinese expats here, I found out as 3 people have said I look Chinese!! The blue eyes, freckles and mousy brown hair really give the game away!
One afternoon in the hospital, one of the nurses, decided that we should make some coffee. I don’t like coffee, and told her this, but I said as we were in the land of coffee I would try some, but I may not like it. Much to my surprise she pulled out a tub of fresh coffee beans, a small pan with holes in it for ventilation, and a one ringed electric hob that she put under the table in the staff room. She then proceeded to roast the coffee beans on the floor – there was smoke and bits of burnt coffee skins everywhere! However, as in the NHS we are not allowed toasters for fear of setting the fire alarms off, I was quite jealous of the freedom! I’m not jealous of the toilets though. Bottoms are wiped on prescriptions…
After the coffee had been sufficiently roasted and amazingly we had not set the place alight, she whipped out a coffee grinder and turned it into rather chunky coffee. Then she wandered off and came back with a bunch of leaves, breaking one off and putting it in my tiny, freshly brewed, heavily sugared coffee. I made the mistake of trying the coffee (not too bad considering I don’t like coffee) before asking where the plant came from. I was told it makes the coffee taste nice (possibly true) and that she had just picked it from a ditch. Yum.
One of the other nurses came into join us for a hot drink – his favourite was tea and coffee mixed together!!! It’s called ‘spris’. Then I was fed injera directly into my mouth whether I liked it or not! Unfortunately I was not really expecting this so a lot of injera went all over the floor, mixing in with bits of roadside plant and coffee skins.
Anna’s adventures 