Ethiopia 2010 Day 2

9-30-2010 0725 Addis Ababa. And beyond that, I am not sure. In an apartment with bare walls and individual rooms labeled with large Roman letters. I am "B". Polished large format polished stone pavers, flat plaster walls. But worked into it are at least the segments of roman columns,complete with capitals..but no pediments. Did I get that right? Its quite elegant, and of course, unloved and unlived in, as most transient places are. So I will love it.
Lufthansa Business Class is definitely another world, including the strange breadbasket like pods that enclose the adjustable seats and the video monitor assemblage. I think I finally figured out how to stop the seat controls from bullying me into strange positions of its own choosing. And saw an amazing French version of 'Ocean'...all of the best footages of the diving gannets, the feeding humpbacks, but also of the slaughter of porpoises and sharks, and details of how who eats whom int he smaller worlds of cuttlefishes and mantis shrimps. It wasnt until we were landing that there was any view. Ethiopia from the first air view was very green, and well tended, but without the lights and highway activity of the first world. The airport no longer has the submachine guns it did in the 70's, when we tried to visit on our trip home from Dar es Salaam. Sala had just read Moorhead's books, and wanted to follow the Nile home to the Mediterranean,
And later today I will research the origins of the Blue Nile, where to find Lucy A. Afarensis, and perhaps even do some work.
And more about both the ancient and modern history of this extraordinary country.
Impressions gleaned from night arrivals. The smell of wood fires. Gentle temperatures. Double handed shakes. Smiling faces. People who all look like Ethiopians. Like Sala. Not being sure about the water. Being pretty sure about no to the lettuce. A begger with no legs. Three varieties of peanut butter to choose from. Nice to see Kevin, meet Bob.
This should really be a day of listening. Of reflection. Of remembering how delicate first encounters really are.
I know that what I have to offer is worth having. That the methods of teaching I have learned really are a good way of communicating the kind of professional attitudes that most people would like their health provider to have, and that most nations would like their health workforce to have. And I suspect that most of them are so culture bound that I cannot even begin to understand the extent of the problem. And so as usual the only way in is to listen. And of course, watch, smell, taste, and even, cautiously, feel.
Thats why the Ahmaric handshake, with one hand, but with the left gently restraining the reaching right, is quite nice.
Ah, what an amazing world.
Dehna hun.