Here's a snippet of sms's I've received while in Dire Dawa.
*WARNING: may contain goat*
14:01 24-03-10: Sorry, went for nearby injeera. yes come over here - need your help.
15:52 24-03-10: Will it have a goat eating chat on it?
12:21 25-03-10: Focus on gender, you will not see bugs!
16:12 26-03-10: Did you lure it in with a trail of rotten bananas?
10:37 26-03-10: Hi! No more sleeps til your journey begins! :-) WIll you come to workshop at all today? So sad ou'll not be at party tomorrow.
11:38 26-04-10: Hey! Welcome back" I would love to have lunch but i am in dire dawa. Coming back tomorrow evening... Wednesday?
18:07 27-04-10: Haircut in addis after month in normal world? adventurous. I need it badly and waxing too (found one wax place in dd but lady too busy with preparing brides, and was opening disappointed when told her i was not getting married. Tom dinner with damien and mark. get ready!
14:04 28-04-10: Sorry for z inconvienince.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Addis haircut
After work last night I walked to the Boston Day Spa on Bole. It's the only place I know in the city that offers the spa amenities like pedicures, massages and hair care.
I booked an appointment with a junior stylist, which was 40 birr cheaper than a senior stylist. For a first timer, maybe I should have gone for the senior stylist, but I'll admit I wasn't 100 percent confident in their familiarity with "white" hair. All the customers I had seen sitting in the salon were Africans except for the odd male going in for a shear.
As is the custom anywhere else I've had a haircut, the shampoo and conditioning/head massage is always the best part. The hair wash lady was more than adept at her job, but my actual stylist seemed to be having some issues with my fine, tangly hair.
Her technique was pretty similar to the time I cut my hair in the bathroom in my apartment in Aarhus when I combed it all out with a fine tooth comb and cut straight across, all the way around. She did manage a bit of layering but after having been in the shower this morning, their execution is a bit questionable.
After the cut, I got a "style" which was pretty much blow-drying it out on a round brush and sweeping my growing out bangs over to one side. It wasn't the best style ever, a little matronly perhaps, but a relief to have months of dead ends taken off.
After paying the 140 birr + 10 birr tip at reception (11.50ish) dollars, I headed upstairs in the building to the Lime Tree for dinner where I took this photo on my mobile, ate a vegetable curry and enjoyed a macchiato before heading back to my hotel for the evening.
So this is the day after... didn't wash it, for fear of a repeat with the bar of soap incident from yesterday, but after wetting it and in the shower and letting it air dry, the wash-and-go-ness of it could be worse. I've left my hairdryer and straightener back in Denmark, determined not to use them here. I'm sure my hair is thanking me for this, but out of pure vanity, I could be tempted to see if I can pick up a cheap hairdryer at "taiwan" the so-called conrtraband goods market in Dire Dawa.
I booked an appointment with a junior stylist, which was 40 birr cheaper than a senior stylist. For a first timer, maybe I should have gone for the senior stylist, but I'll admit I wasn't 100 percent confident in their familiarity with "white" hair. All the customers I had seen sitting in the salon were Africans except for the odd male going in for a shear.
As is the custom anywhere else I've had a haircut, the shampoo and conditioning/head massage is always the best part. The hair wash lady was more than adept at her job, but my actual stylist seemed to be having some issues with my fine, tangly hair.
Her technique was pretty similar to the time I cut my hair in the bathroom in my apartment in Aarhus when I combed it all out with a fine tooth comb and cut straight across, all the way around. She did manage a bit of layering but after having been in the shower this morning, their execution is a bit questionable.
After the cut, I got a "style" which was pretty much blow-drying it out on a round brush and sweeping my growing out bangs over to one side. It wasn't the best style ever, a little matronly perhaps, but a relief to have months of dead ends taken off.After paying the 140 birr + 10 birr tip at reception (11.50ish) dollars, I headed upstairs in the building to the Lime Tree for dinner where I took this photo on my mobile, ate a vegetable curry and enjoyed a macchiato before heading back to my hotel for the evening.
So this is the day after... didn't wash it, for fear of a repeat with the bar of soap incident from yesterday, but after wetting it and in the shower and letting it air dry, the wash-and-go-ness of it could be worse. I've left my hairdryer and straightener back in Denmark, determined not to use them here. I'm sure my hair is thanking me for this, but out of pure vanity, I could be tempted to see if I can pick up a cheap hairdryer at "taiwan" the so-called conrtraband goods market in Dire Dawa.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Back in action
What has it been? A month? I do apologize for my absence but I’m back – in Ethiopia at least. I landed at 5:51 am Monday morning and met my driver on the other side of Customs at Bole Airport just before 6:30.
The air still crisp and cool, flowers blooming in the beds surrounding the airport and the sounds of the city waking up met me as we walked to the car. I had missed this place more than I thought.
Four weeks ago I sat on a series of five consecutive flights and 7 airports to get to Winnipeg, Canada to spend some time with my family. My brother’s wedding the occasion, I had taken three weeks off work to spend time with my long-lost family in Canada.
It’s amazing to be a part of their world, but it’s much different than my (former) little universe in Copenhagen and the life I’m living in Dire Dawa. A trip of that nature usually also involves a series of practical tasks, things to be accomplished while in Canada – renew my Canadian driver’s license, check up on my banking, wax my eyebrows, get a haircut, etc.
The trip back was a little more eventful; set to be the reverse (more or less) of my five flights a little volcanic eruption on Iceland disrupted everything from my travel plans to the supply of Norwegian salmon in Hong Kong (I have very reliable intel to confirm that last bit). Winnipeg to Chicago was no problem, but in Chicago our flight was re-routed to Olso as Danish airspace was still closed. In Oslo they put us on busses and shipped us some 10ish hours through the Norwegian and Swedish countryside to the airport in Copenhagen. In the midst of all this I had missed my connecting flight to Brussels, which had been cancelled anyway, and left wondering how I would continue on the next part of my journey.
Rumours had it they were bussing passengers from Copenhagen to Brussels, a thought I couldn’t bear after the bus ride from Oslo. Luckily after a little bit of waiting, I managed to rebook my flight to Brussels, but my airline couldn’t reserve me a seat on my connecting flight from there. A little phone chat with Ethiopian Airline’s office in Brussels and they had remedied my predicament and I was all booked and confirmed for my flights to Addis Ababa April 25. Luckily everything on the way “home” went off without a hitch and I was Ethiopia bound.
I managed most of these tasks leaving just one undone. The haircut. I’m trying to remedy this tonight, before I fly back to Dire Dawa tomorrow afternoon. I figure my chances here in Addis Ababa are better than in the double d. I booked an appointment with a junior stylist (40 birr cheaper than a senior stylist) for this afternoon. I just need a trim, but let’s see how this goes. I went to the one place in this city I have heard of: Boston Day Spa. It’s in a building that houses one of the favourite café/restaurants for the ngo worker/ex-pat crowd here and has a jazz bar that’s rumoured to be nice. It seems to be a the safest bet…
Before I head back to Dire Dawa on the afternoon flight tomorrow, I’ll be running a few errands to the ex-pat grocery store as well. Mosquito repellent and a French press are on my list of things to get.
Sorry this update isn’t more exciting… one would expect better after such a long silence, but alas I’m out of the rhythm and falling asleep in front of my computer.
The air still crisp and cool, flowers blooming in the beds surrounding the airport and the sounds of the city waking up met me as we walked to the car. I had missed this place more than I thought.
Four weeks ago I sat on a series of five consecutive flights and 7 airports to get to Winnipeg, Canada to spend some time with my family. My brother’s wedding the occasion, I had taken three weeks off work to spend time with my long-lost family in Canada.
It’s amazing to be a part of their world, but it’s much different than my (former) little universe in Copenhagen and the life I’m living in Dire Dawa. A trip of that nature usually also involves a series of practical tasks, things to be accomplished while in Canada – renew my Canadian driver’s license, check up on my banking, wax my eyebrows, get a haircut, etc.
The trip back was a little more eventful; set to be the reverse (more or less) of my five flights a little volcanic eruption on Iceland disrupted everything from my travel plans to the supply of Norwegian salmon in Hong Kong (I have very reliable intel to confirm that last bit). Winnipeg to Chicago was no problem, but in Chicago our flight was re-routed to Olso as Danish airspace was still closed. In Oslo they put us on busses and shipped us some 10ish hours through the Norwegian and Swedish countryside to the airport in Copenhagen. In the midst of all this I had missed my connecting flight to Brussels, which had been cancelled anyway, and left wondering how I would continue on the next part of my journey.
Rumours had it they were bussing passengers from Copenhagen to Brussels, a thought I couldn’t bear after the bus ride from Oslo. Luckily after a little bit of waiting, I managed to rebook my flight to Brussels, but my airline couldn’t reserve me a seat on my connecting flight from there. A little phone chat with Ethiopian Airline’s office in Brussels and they had remedied my predicament and I was all booked and confirmed for my flights to Addis Ababa April 25. Luckily everything on the way “home” went off without a hitch and I was Ethiopia bound.
I managed most of these tasks leaving just one undone. The haircut. I’m trying to remedy this tonight, before I fly back to Dire Dawa tomorrow afternoon. I figure my chances here in Addis Ababa are better than in the double d. I booked an appointment with a junior stylist (40 birr cheaper than a senior stylist) for this afternoon. I just need a trim, but let’s see how this goes. I went to the one place in this city I have heard of: Boston Day Spa. It’s in a building that houses one of the favourite café/restaurants for the ngo worker/ex-pat crowd here and has a jazz bar that’s rumoured to be nice. It seems to be a the safest bet…
Before I head back to Dire Dawa on the afternoon flight tomorrow, I’ll be running a few errands to the ex-pat grocery store as well. Mosquito repellent and a French press are on my list of things to get.
Sorry this update isn’t more exciting… one would expect better after such a long silence, but alas I’m out of the rhythm and falling asleep in front of my computer.
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