Blog Entry
Posted by Loren Alldrin on December 22, 2009 to Adoption blog
(click any image to enlarge) Traditional Ethiopian Band and Dancers The Ethiopian instruments were foreign and the dance moves incredible. Traditional Ethiopian Meal The girls enjoy (Wow--did they ever!) their Ethiopian food. Ethiopian Food, Like it's Supposed to Be Injera bread, chick peas, beef, vegetables, berebere spice, hot sauce, yum! Sorry, folks, for the late blogging. Our laptop is completely dead, so I'm up at 3:30am in the lobby of the guest house. At least I have the lobby computer (and the slooooow internet connection) to myself. We were blessed to take the big girls (ours and two others) to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant Tuesday night, with a band and dancers. The whole environment was so different and somewhat overwhelming, even for us adult kids. The music was loud, the dancers were mesmerizing, the food was wonderful. Incense was burning... It was truly a memorable night. The dancers did things with their heads and bodies that almost defy description. The men popped their heads, arms and shoulders with sharp, rhythmic movements. One of the ladies swung her head around in huge, rapid spins. Her hair looked like it was everywhere at once--you couldn't even focus your eyes on her face. I was convinced her head was going to snap off and roll across the stage. Amazing! I enjoyed the band, with their complex rhythms. The instruments were all completely foreign, though they made sounds that were somewhat familiar. There was a bass, something that could sound like a sitar or an electric guitar, and a drummer. The instrument that really tweaked me was bowed like a fiddle, but had only one string suspended in the air. The musician touched his fingers to the string to change the pitch, and the instrument could sound like a flute one instant and a fiddle the next. (I actually found these for sale at local street vendors, but the few I found made very little sound. So I bought a drum.) The girls loved the food, and each ate more than Kristen and I combined. They're clearly not used to the "all you can eat" concept, so they ate until their bellies stuck out. We finally had to tell them "ah-AY" ("no") and "finish" to get them to stop. They had a wonderful night, and got to stay until about 9pm (an hour after their usual bedtime). Then the driver took all four back to the transition home. Do you think those girls were feeling like they were living in a wonderful dream? The rest of us stayed for another hour or so, until the loud music and incense had given us wimpy westerners headaches. Bed felt great, and we just marveled as we debriefed after our eventful day. We had spent hours with the kids, and would actually get to take them for good the next day. Back to: Adoption blog We Visit a Traditional Ethiopian Restaurant
