Hamburg-er With Cheese, Please

The World According to Dennis:
Frankfurt to Hamburg— this short leg was accomplished via bus, about 8 hours over the road. Sound long? Actually it was a great opportunity to see the German countryside via the Autobahn. Downside was it rained 90% of the way. We had the best seats in the house—front row, passenger side. Even though it said “Don’t bother the driver” (in German)Goran (Our Bosnian driver) and I had an on-going 8 hour conversation. I learned a lot about him, the war in Bosnia in the 80’s and his emigration to Germany when no jobs were available in his home country. He’s now in his early thirties, has a wife, a young daughter, and is very happy with his job as a bus driver and his life in Germany. “I’m not rich but I have all I want and I like it here.”  We shared lots of stories and parted friends. In fact he apologized for not being able to take us right to our hotel but the bus wouldn’t fit down Alt Wal Street. He’d like to visit the USA but has no desire to move there. He’s happy where he is. Another American myth crushed. Not everyone wants to live in the our country. ;-)

One short story about Hamburg...Cindy’s job is to write more about that. She got us a great room at the Sofitel Alt Wal. It has to be one of the nicest I’ve stayed in.  Why? The room was nice, the bed comfortable but the pool and spa downstairs was outstanding. It was like what I think of as a Roman Bath.  A pool at about 85 degrees, enclosed in tile with a small river leading into it with a waterfall at the far end. It also had a sauna, steam bath, hot/cold foot massager, and a man and a woman who didn’t realize a swimming suit wasn’t optional. Cindy’s mouth was hanging open. Which brings me to Cindy’s swimsuit. She didn’t bring one and I thought she’d be missing a great opportunity to enjoyable a memorable experience so I said I’d buy her one at a shop nearby.  You know what she said? “I’d rather have a charm for my bracelet!” Who dickers with someone offering a gift? The only thing worse would have been, “Can I have the money instead?”  She decided a suit was better than nothing so off we went to shop. I sat in a chair for over an hour, while she wandered, touched the fabric, and considered all of the suits (and there were many). A prime example of why we don’t shop together — ever!
Next stop—Sweden to spend time with Steve and Lotta Linton, Cindy’s cousins.

Cindy’s Notes:
Hamburger with cheese, please.  I so wanted Dennis to go into one of the banks to order a cheeseburger.  He kept insisting that Hamburger Sparkassen was a chain much like a MacDonalds.  On our second day in Hamburg we had a walking tour and our guide, Matthias gently broke it to him, that it is a bank and no, he couldn’t get a cheeseburger there. 

In Hamburg we stayed in the city center, just behind the town hall. We didn’t find it as easy to navigate as Frankfurt though we took a five hour walking tour and the Hop on-Hop off bus.  We couldn’t seem to get our bearings and we couldn’t easily find neighborhood bars.  Though we did find a neighborhood laundry. Spent half a day there before taking a taxi back to the Sofitel.  It rained almost everyday but it didn’t stop us much though we have many photos taken through raindrops on the bus window. 

The Sofitel is a beautiful hotel with an amazing spa on the floor below reception (basement to us less classy).  The pool is more like a river curving and meandering into an open area complete with waterfall and a pounding jet which gives a great massage.  It also has a steam bath, sauna, herbal mediation room, and water foot massages. Plenty to keep you busy on a rainy day.  Unfortunately I didn’t bring a swimsuit.  Dennis loved it so much he decided he would give me a present—a new swim suit! How about a charm? Small, easy to pack, don’t have to try it on.  He frowned, saying, “That’s very ungracious.”

I thought he would change his mind when I told him it would probably be at least $100 since it is out of season.  NO, he was not deterred.  Off we went to a department store unlike any I’ve seen. Really big, lots of suits, had no idea what size to try. I found a chair for him so he could be comfortable and then I began pawing through the racks. Started with a 50 G cup, way too big, 48 D, way too big, xx B, just right but $119.00 and showed every bump and bulge and cellulite ripple. Left the dressing room and there on a rack was a xx B on sale for $54.00. Got that one and after that excruciating horrible experience, he had the nerve to ask what took me so long????

I will add that he also bought a wrap for me because I am not going down into the area without something covering me.

The spa was wonderful and the sauna was dry, hot and soothing, burning the stress right out of your pores—yes stress.  When’s the last time you sent an hour taking all of your clothes off but your socks (black ankle, not pretty), putting them back on, and repeating the process because after you’ve given up, you find one on the sale rack??

Selamta: Forever Families

Cindy’s Notes:
Selamta is an organization that I discovered by chance.  You can find out more about the organization itself, its mission and work at http://www.selamtafamilyproject.org/ and they are on Facebook. Last May, Dennis, my friend Sue, and I did a cocktail happy hour party as a fundraiser for Selamta.

In September in Chicago I was lucky enough to meet the USA Director, Marisa with some of the staff and Tamrat the Director in Ethiopia.  On this trip I was able to actually visit the Center in Addis, meet some of the children, moms, aunts, and have coffee in one of the homes.

I also loved meeting Kalkidan and Etsegenet who were co-presenters in the workshops.  Kalkidan and I worked with the students who were interested in forming a book club. Etsegenet and I worked with the moms and aunts. We used the book, A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams and the book Haile Gebreselassie: The Greatest Runner of all Time for the book for older students. We used a few cooperative structures with both groups so that conversations could take place and anxiety about who this stranger was, might be eased.  Both groups have great senses of humor.  For the moms and aunts we need to use a picture book which can be used with the younger children and a book that is appropriate for older students. Each mom left with a copy of the William’s book.

The students had the book by Lois Lowry, The Giver but had not read the book.  It made the questions a bit irrelevant but in April they should be able to dig into the book.  Marisa is going to be checking with them. They set up a format for their group and a time and meeting place. I hope it will get off the ground especially because  a few of the students really want to try this. One of the boys reads a lot and his ideas were such that I think he may be a potential author. Once home, I’m going to try a trial run with a few books and the US Post Office.  It may take a while but if the books go through it will be a wonderful thing.

Watch this young man—potential author!

After the workshop with the moms and aunts on Monday we went to coffee at one of the homes.  This is a really wonderful neighborhood in Addis. The homes are spacious and have plenty of room for the kids, the whole family. The mom had prepared a traditional coffee complete with popcorn.  It was wonderful!  I need to find new vocabulary because  I overuse wonderful and amazing but Ethiopia and Selamta are both.

I left my notes and resources with the Center so hopefully follow-up and questions will be easy.
The coffee was not just delicious but also very fun.  Dennis did a great job with photographing our workshops and he enjoyed being with the students and the adults from Selamta very much.

Heading East

The World According to Dennis:
We flew from Lalibela back to Addis with Cheru to begin the last leg of our Ethiopian adventure. Since we had already driven this route north (a full day’s drive) we decided a one hour plane ride for about $50 was more in order. We relaxed in Addis at the KZ Hotel and prepared for a flight east to Dira Dawa and Harar. It felt good to kick back for a day.
After breakfast in the morning, Cheru, Cindy, and I left for the Addis airport around 9 for a 10:30 flight to Dira Dawa. We got in the air around noon and arrived 45 minutes later.
A driver was waiting to take us to lunch and then on to Harar. It took about 1 1/2 hours on good roads. The area is arid, hot at 90 degrees +, and flat. After touring the city a bit, we checked into the Wonderland Hotel and rested for about an hour and then went for a walk with Cheru.

After the walk we met our local guide for the city and got back in the van to head for tonight’s entertainment-- a man feeding raw meat held in his mouth to wild hyenas! We arrived at a spot outside the old city walls at around 7 (dark), along with about 20 other tourists. A man sat on a rock illuminated by the headlights of the vehicles. He had a large basket filled with chunks of raw meat. As he called and whistled, he tossed raw meat in a semi circle around him. After about a half hour of chanting, he managed to call in about 5 hyenas who circled around him, snatching chunks of meat and waiting for more chunks of red meat. Sure enough, he finally put some of the meat in his mouth, and one of the hyenas snatched it away. Our guide in Harar, Noam asked if I would like to join the man for a photo op of me feeding the hyenas.  I got all caught up in the moment and said, "Sure!"

While Hyena Man finished feeding the "dogs" I had second thoughts. I remembered stories of tourists in the USA trying to hand feed grizzlies in Alaska and Wyoming. That turned unpleasant when fingers, limbs, and other body parts were lost and those were the lucky ones. The unlucky ones exited as bear shit. So I said to myself, "Do I want to be the first American to lose his face to a wild hyena in Ethiopia?" I don’t think i chickened out, I think I used sound logic, fundamental good sense, and then...I chickened out! Do you see the difference? I remember being bitten by a garter snake when I was 6 years old and it really hurt!! Tomorrow we see more of Harar, then head 50 kilometers to see Dira Dawa. Stay tuned...
More of Harar:
Still Dennis’s World:
After a good night’s sleep, I awoke at 6:30 to have a shower, breakfast and was ready to greet Cheru and our driver, T’lahoun. The water heater in our room was off so started the day with a mighty quick shower. Cindy?  As fast as she was, I think she simply held the soap close to her body and “divined” it to be clean. At 8:30, off we went—Cheru, T’lahoun, Cindy, me, and Noum, our city guide. Wherever you go in Africa, you’re required to have a local guide so now we had 5 in our little group. Don’t get me wrong, I’m cheap but I understand I also have to do what’s necessary to help bolster the local economy.
Our first stop was Haile Selassie’s (last emperor of Ethiopia) honeymoon house. Guess what?  We needed a museum guide to take us through the house. Now there are 6 of us and Cindy is seething with what I’m writing. (Cindy’s note: how quickly we forget, our Rick Steve’s tour in Italy and going to Pompeii and other places where we had to have a local guide. Or how about Viet Nam? We just left there and guess what? More local guides. Grrr. We’re in Africa so learn to respect that.)

Back to Dennis: okay, okay. I get it.
Harar is a walled city with (I believe) six gates, allowing people in during the day. At night the gates close to all except residents. It’s predominantly Muslim so there are small mosques in every neighborhood with one major mosque. there is a huge market with small tunnels snaking through it where only one or two people can pass at a time, just like you saw in the old movies. Meats, live animals, fruits, vegetables, spices in 100 pound bags (many I’ve never heard of), pottery, cloth and clothes—each gate had a special market, so one was just spices, one was meat, etc.

Dennis feeding the kites at the Camel Meat Market 

Another thing that is abundantly available for sale is “chat.” Apparently it’s a weed that is cultivated and legally grown by farmers whose wives then bring it to market. People (especially men) chew it as a stimulant. It’s a problem because it is addictive and  some chew it all day, as they age, they lose their teeth, and then mix it with sugar in a cup and continue to chew it but are now unable to work. I’m gonna have to read up on this. And no, we didn’t try it!
Cindy spent some time with a Catholic priest who runs a church, a school, and an orphanage.  Very nice man, appointed to serve here by Pope Francis. She made a donation of the money she had in her pocket at the time, so that ends her shopping for today.

We drove up into the foothills to get a view of the city that was awarded a Peace Prize by UNESCO. Then we said good bye to Noam and headed for Dira Dawa and our return flight to Addis tomorrow.