Ethiopia II - (not as long as the first one!)

Hello again, 

I am back in Addis after another few weeks in the countryside so I thought I'd post a few more photos and have a bit more of a whine about proselytizers. One of my friends here, Yared, says I must have 'please save me' written across my forehead because every second person is exhorting me to embrace Jesus with all my heart.

This is a conversation i had with my cleaning woman, Emabet.

Emabet: why are you lying on your bed Emma? Are you sick?
Me: just a headache.
Emabet: But Emma, are you Christian
Me: (trying to head this off at the pass) Yes! I certainly am a Christian.
Emabet: but what kind?
Me: ummmm.... I am Catholic?
Emabet: (gives me a shocked look) Oh Emma, you are not Pentecostal? I ask you to please, please start reading the bible. Jesus Christ can do anything, he can heal your headache, pleeeease look in the bible...

At this point I was wondering what she thought Catholics read - Playboy? 

After a few minutes of this  just pretended to get a phone call from an imaginary friend to stop the tirade and get Emabet to focus on what she was supposed to be doing - cleaning the bathroom of a rich white woman for 5 cents an hour.

That's no joke about the 5 cents, which is why the cleaning ladies at this hotel are well known for stealing. I am trying to bribe Emabet into not stealing from me by giving her bananas and other extremely cheap things, but one of my friends here tried that and said they just stole more, because they thought she was so generous she wouldn't mind! Amongst other things she has lost two iPhones, a cashmere jumper, deodorant and her underwear. I have locked up my passport but I can't quite work out how to lock up my deodorant and undies. Maybe I just need to start reading the bible.

The street outside my hotel

 Speaking of the Bible, it is Lent here now, and all the Ethiopian orthodox Christians stop eating meat for the duration. In the run up to Lent they get ready for two months without protein by eating a tonne of raw meat. I went to two lunches of raw meat over a couple of days and found it quite psychologically disturbing to see people slicing up meat into big chunks and popping them into their mouth instead of into a fry pan. 

 

This is actually how they serve the raw meat - just a big platter of...raw meat. 

On Easter Sunday the two month meat fast is broken and there will be so much raw meat around I think the whole country will look like an abattoir.

I am staying in Ethiopia's oldest hotel which looks quite nice from the outside, but I think the bathrooms are the worst I've ever seen. Mine is doubling as an Ebola breeding laboratory. 

This part of the hotel looks OK, but...

...the footpath outside is another matter.

The good thing about the hotel that it has a piano, which I am loving, except that I think it was tuned about the same time my bathroom was last cleaned.

 

There are some really interesting people staying here, also long-term, like me. So far I've met a photographer, a film-maker from the UK who is writing a screen-play, a weird guy who is making a documentary on Armenians in Ethiopia (yes, that topic is as obscure as it sounds) and a German novelist. It is a little bit like living in an artist's colony - not quite what I expected from Ethiopia, but extremely interesting and I'm enjoying it a lot. 

My news is that I am doing a bit of marketing work for Salayish (the place near the lake where I was staying). The idea came when they showed me an ad they had in a local magazine which must be pretty much the worst ad I have ever seen (apart from Brad Pitts Chanel no. 5 ad).

This is what the ad looked like:

If you are saying, "what IS that?" You are certainly not alone. None of us could figure out what that photo actually was or where it was taken. It looks like the light of a steam train heading straight for the building. (I think it is actually the sunset).

So, I approached the owner with some marketing ideas, and Yared (the owner's nephew) convinced them that they had to try some proper marketing. Which resulted in the following conversation:

Me: so I'll need to get into your email account. What is it?
Ayelew (the owner): ummm... I think the password is xxxx.
Me: ok, but I need more that the password, who is it with, google? Yahoo?
Ayelew: I don't really know, my daughter in the USA checks the email when she has time.
Me: wait a minute - so no-one here has email? Derese, can't you get email on your smart phone?
Derese: not at the moment.
Me: does 'not at the moment' mean 'not this morning but it will work this afternoon' or 'not ever'.
Derese: yeah, not ever.
Me: but you have an email reservations form on your website! Who is responding to those emails?
Ayelew: my daughter in America, when she isn't busy. But she is quite busy at the moment.
Me: whaaaaat?
Yared: I think the form is really there because it looks good. It's just something nice to have on the website.
Me: whaaaaaat?

Up until this point I had been worried about my marketing capabilities, but now I realise that absolutely anything I do will be an improvement. 
 

Ayelew and one of the Salayish staff members.

Yared and me, having the MOST delicious roast chicken evah!

Yesterday I helped set up what I hope will be a nice little marketing deal for Salayish. One of the film makers staying here is going to make a short promo video for Salayish, which we can put up on their website, and we are also going to team up with a local tour company who will put an ad for them in a really stylish brochure that is going to travel agents and travel trade fairs in Europe. All for $250, which I think is a great price.

The owners of Salayish freaked out about actually spending money on marketing (they are paying me with free accommodation), so, in the typical Ethiopian way, there were days of protracted discussions with every member of the extended family having their say, and finally the owner said yes. 

The tour company owner came to see me after the meeting and offered me a job, which was nice. Marketing and managing - full time or part time. I will think about doing a little bit of part-time, after I've finished with Salayish. It is a nice little company and I know someone here who is already doing some marketing work for them who says they are great to work for and very chilled. Also, their office is about twenty steps from my bedroom - very convenient! So, we'll see.

Little donkey, little donkey, on the dusty road...