Ethiopian Day

For our anniversary we spent our day "Ethiopian" themed. We started out going to an Ethiopian market, called the Maru. We bought a CD, David got a shirt, and I got a card that I framed. Then we went and ate lunch at a place called Addis Abba. The food was really good. We took pictures that I will post later. The lady that served us showed us how to eat the food since we had never had Ethiopian food before. She also helped us decide what to order. I loved the potatoes and cabbage, David loved the lamb and beef. It was all really good and we decided we could eat the food on a regular basis. Next we went downtown to see Lucy at the Museum of Natural Science. They had a bunch of Ethiopian things and a couple of video's. We of course saw Lucy but the best thing for us was just getting to see the culture more. We went to the gift shop and had fun looking at all of the Ethiopian merchandise. We bought six Ethiopian stamps. I have framed three of them and am looking for a good frame for the other three. They are really old and really neat.

David's Take:

I guess it’s time for me to update some of my thoughts and feelings in regards to our adoption…since Chelsea has been doing the majority of postings lately. First, we had an awesome “Ethiopia Day!” We did this in conjunction with celebrating our 4th anniversary. For this we had to head out of our little town of Shepherd and drive a whopping 1.5 hours to Houston’s SW side. We had a little trouble finding the Maru grocery/market a) we thought it would be bigger, b) there were tons of shops around it, and c) it was closed on New Year’s Day. Go figure! That’s okay because it gave us time to scope out an area that is not exactly familiar to us. We decided to call it a night and enjoy our mini-vacation (compliments of Marriott Rewards!) – which was swimming, scrabble, Vietnamese food, and Marble Slab.

The next day we left with an air of excitement – we were going to eat Ethiopian food, shop in an Ethiopian market, and go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to see Lucy on loan from Ethiopia for the first time ever! Needless to say we were very excited. Turns out that the Ethiopian restaurant did not open at exactly 11am (so maybe we were overly excited!), but that did give us time to hit the Ethiopian market/store/grocery called Maru. We’ll just say it was small. We could have cared less though, because we were so excited to see all things Ethiopia. I was super excited to find t-shirts and books about Ethiopia. Chelsea was excited to see the cards and cd’s available. While we were there about three customers came in – speaking Amharic. That’s right the lady (whom I’ll assume owns the store) and the customers we’re talking in Amharic. They sold books, cd’s, dvd’s, magazines, and t-shirts all in Amharic. I decided that I would try to decipher some of the language in an English/Amharic dictionary. I’ve got two words after that experience: hard language! So we made our purchase of a t-shirt for me, a card to frame, and a cd that the lady recommended. Not sure what the singer’s name is or the album name, or what any of the songs say, but the music sounds good and the voice is good as well. Ethiopian music sounds very free to me. Needless to say, if you hear something strange in our car, it’s probably our new favorite cd!

After spending way to much time in the shop (if you new how small it really is, you’d understand), we headed back to the restaurant Addisaba Ethiopian Food. The outside isn’t very exciting, and once you get inside it’s not very exciting. They had a few paintings, light and airy paint on the walls, tables everywhere, and wait, what’s that – a little nook with Ethiopian tables, stools, pictures, and crafts. There was a younger man (younger than us I’d guess), and a middle aged woman. The young man was obviously Ethiopian and we assume the lady was as well. We had no clue what to order and needed assistance immediately – to which the woman was quick to do. She suggested a plate of food that was a sampler that allowed three meats, two vegetables, and injera. Once the food arrived the woman said she figured if we didn’t know what to order, then we probably didn’t know how to eat either. She left quickly and returned with two extra plates, silver ware, and a plate of food with injera. She said that they just pull off some injera, wrap up some food in it, and eat – then demonstrated. Alright! We were excited to eat what was brought out – chicken, lamb, beef, collard greens, potato, and cabbage. If you look above you can see what it all looked like. The colors were spectacular, and the aroma tantalizing! It makes American food seem soooo incredibly boring. The best thing was that the food not only looked and smelled great, but it was fantastic to eat as well. Chelsea soon figured out she liked the cabbage and potatoes best, and she loved that you didn’t have to use silverware to eat food with. She was surprised by how elastic feeling the injera was (it’s super spongy and was served cool), while I enjoyed the collard greens, lamb and beef. We ordered only one plate and were stuffed completely. The plate of food cost about $9.15 with tax. Not bad at all! The pictures and our little write up do not do the food justice.

From here we proceeded to the Museum to see Lucy and all of the exciting artifacts from Ethiopia. Perhaps the coolest thing about the exhibit to us was not so much the bones linking us to primates (as the videos imply), but all of the pieces sent with Lucy. We got to learn about the different regions of Ethiopia, famous places, famous people, the supposed resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, and some culture. For a place we never hear about beyond famine – Ethiopia has a lot to offer. They are some of the strongest people I have ever heard of, and they were never colonized like many of their counterparts. Truly this is a magnificent place. We look forward to learning more, and the continuing process to Our Land of Hope!