April 3 -
I got to spend the whole day with Lulit, who lived in
Ethiopia for one and a half years. Background on her, she’s family, who I’ve
never got to spend time with “for real for real.” We randomly talk via social media
here and there and her energy spoke volume (based on what she shared). I can’t say how much of a
blessing it is to “meet” someone who’s such a breath of fresh air. I was told
we look alike which is a complement since she’s absolutely beautiful! She’s the
Lynn to my Joan (I don’t know who Maya and Toni are).
She is in the process of starting up a center in the
neighborhood that we grew up in. And her vision for the place is just so
incredible I’m so proud to be a part of it. Check out her website to get the
full details on the place, the history and the vision.
So needless to say today was an absolute adventure. I met
her in Bole which is like the Americanize part of Addis. We went to a café to
eat and I saw how local Lulit got when the server didn’t come to our table and
she went and had to talk to them… I’m gonna get there one day. After got out
picture taken by a playground by a guard who was pretty awesome he even
included his index finger in a few of the shots lol. Funnies moment wasn’t even
that passing cars were making comments one asked if we were taking pictures for
facebook and she told him it’s for him, then a guy tried to hit on her by
asking if they could take a selfie. Priceless!!!
Then two diasporas tried to take a cab to Piassa which was
impossible since all the ones that came were full so then came Sheger, one of
the newer buses in Addis. It was going where we needed to go so we got on and
made our way there. I got a hard
hit of where we are as a county on there. An older lady came on the bus (old
enough to be my mom) she was about to sit on the floor and not one single
youngen got up. I took pride on our culture for the longest saying how
respectful we are to our elders, and for us in the States we still live in it
since that was what we knew. With the new updates to the country this is one of
the things that I guess has decreased. My heart hurts a little.
Going on we went around our childhood neighborhoods with my
two amazing tour guides who have shown me around Addis since I’ve arrived.
While we knew we were family they knew exactly how.
At the end my cousin was telling me how I have such a
wonderful friend and how great she is for adapting to her surroundings. He
asked me how long we’ve been best friends I told him we’re family and that this
was my first time hanging out with her. He found it hard to believe. It’s
almost understood that when we’re family we’re family.
Can you tell how excited I am? More adventures to come.
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| Our new ride |
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| We look serious with that walk |
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| She took a picture of me taking a picture |
