ETHIOPIAN ARRIVAL

The flight from Tana to Adis Ababa, Ethiopia once again passed through the Nairobi airoprt...and by popular demand, I performed another concert. This time the front row spectators were not 5 Burmese Buddhists, but 8 very intense Pakistani Muslims. I invited to sit down with me and played them one song I have written called "Inchallah" (or "If God Wills" in Arabic). We talked at length about God, Mouhammed, Jesus, the works. They could not eat the bread and oranges I offered them as it is Ramadan, and they do not eat until after dark. We didn't come up with many solutions, except that I would probably would not see them in the eternal garden of bliss after death...well, I might get a job as a gardener there or something. All of the airport staff recognized me there, and said "You are Back"! The flight did not get in to Adis until very late, but I managed to get my visa and untampered luggage in record time! The first impression of the Ethiopians is that they are beautiful, well-mannered, and very relaxed. The cab driver I got drove me to one of the few hotels I had an address for, but when I got there it was all locked up. Then there was some shouting in Amheric (the language here), from inside of a little corrugated coffin in front of the hotel. Some buildings have these little coffins, where someone sleeps/guards the business. The cab driver then took me to a neighborhood where we knocked on a big blue steel door, and inside was a cheap, clean, and safe hotel!
When the sun was up, I took to doing what I spend a lot of my time doing. Walking the streets and people watching. Observing the world in action. I must say Ethiopia is one of the most wildly bizzare places I have ever been. Amheric letters slightly resemble Arabic, but are unique to themselves, and it helps having some of the signs (at least here in the capital) in English, or other languages as well. Many speak a little English here, so it is not quite as difficult as Madagascar was. I walked down the street and stumbled upon the largest Orthodox Christian Church in Ethiopia....and soooooooo fascinating to see all of these people cloaked in white garments, and very cool beards. They were pounding out beats on drums, and singing together, strange smells of incense in the air. Many of the ceremonies have not changed in over a thousand years, and must say they seemed together. The country is 30% Orthodox Christin, 30% Muslim, and 30% Wild tribal religions....very wild. Big Black robed priests in Red, Green, Yellow (these colors are everywhere), walk around with gold cross-staffs and say prayers as people come up to kiss it. They kiss everything....the ground, walls, each other.
Later, I walked more. There was this beautiful little girl standing on the street corner looking at me as traffic went with quiet eyes that seemed to ask for something. Then a man walked up without saying anything took her hand, and we crossed the street. I thought maybe she was is daughter or something as she was maybe 6. But at the other curb, they just walked seperate ways....no thank yous or goodbyes. It flattered me with sweetness. Later, I walked upon a large mob in the street that seemed to be discussing something. One person would talk, and everyone would listen. Then someone else would talk and there weere policemen there involved in the discussion. In the center there was a young boy sobbing. An old woman cloaked in a white dress was gently comforting the boys head. I could not quite make out what was going on, so I asked a well dressed old man next to me. He explained that the boy was getting physically abused by his father, and they were resolving it...right there on the street corner. I then walked upon a few guys chewing ghat, a leave indigenous to Ethiopia, Somolia, and Yemen. Many of the men chew it as the have tea or beer. I sat with this guys and chewed some, but it really does nothing...tastes like asprin! Its legal by the way...Then as the thunder clouds rolled in in the late afternoon, a bunch of guys showed up at the little bar and huddled around the TV. The big 5 km. run in some quasi-olympic event taking place in Berlin. Ethiopia won! U.S. took second! We cheered! Truth is, marathons and track are the National sport here, and they go bezerk for it! I can see why, its like horse racing without the astronomical stud fees.
There are a number of NGOs here....ALL OVER. U.N. trucks and relief agencies. I imagine the modern streets of Adis are not the same as the country side. I see many people begging in the streets with all sorts of wild sicknesses and ailments. Then right in the middle of a busy city street, a sheperd who looks right out of Biblical times comes trotting through with his herd of sheep or goats. Then there is this beautiful dark Ethiopian music that seems to sound sometimes like jazz, sometimes like Arabic yodeling, and sometimes like a great mystery. But overall there is a real feeling of chivalry here. Tolerance. If one country can solve the world's religious or ethnic clashes it is Ethiopia.