changing my glasses

my cousin recently wrote and said that if you change your perspective, it changes your perception.

i don't enjoy being cheated. not many people do. so in a feeble attempt to ensure i only paid 65 cents instead of one birr, i explained to a woyala (taxi helper guy) that i was only going tinnish weudefit. did i still have to pay one birr like he was saying? he smiled and waved me in. when i got out, he told me "don't disappear". sure he was hopped up on chat but hey, i'll take what i can get. it made my week actually.

the other thing that made my week was being part of a radio program called Revolutions per Beat. every other wednesday from 10 to midnight, i will be your host of some kick ass moosic. every week night at that time is revolutions per beat albeit in amharic (perhaps gimash english) but i'm sure you'll enjoy listening to good tunes. so if you don't have a radio, get one.

i'm gonna post a bit of a schedule here because i think it's so exciting to hear familiar, good music. music is essential for the heart and the brain. especially any opportunity for air guitar.

so...
mondays - global fusion (world music)
tuesdays - the breeze (jazz and blues)
wednesdays - alternative wednesdays (rock, pop, some country)
thursdays - riddem and spice (reggae, roots)
fridays - beat connection (hip hop, funk, rap)

i hope with all the punctuation it didn't make it messy. it's been doing that lately.

there's a tentative website too.

cheers.

we're not going anywhere

Ethiopia is a strange place. Sometimes I wonder if it’s this country that’s changed me or it’s my own reaction to unfamiliar circumstances. I’ve always pushed myself to be self-reliant but here I find myself hesitating or all out refraining from just stepping out the door. I’ll be home for hours on end – reading, washing dishes, watching a movie – and I think to myself that I should go for a walk, get some milk from the store, visit friends. But I don’t. I can’t. The second I step out from my house I know it won’t be easy. And just the fact that I want it to be easy makes me feel weak. The language barrier is tough but not impossible. The looks and comments from other people are annoying but not harmful. Ethiopia Ethiopia no. The constant struggle is in my head.

One of my work friends is getting married today. She’s been here a short while and found her love quickly. It’s strange being a grown up. People around me are getting married, having babies. By association, that means it can happen to me too. I never thought I would get married and have babies. But now with the boyfriend, I have no hesitation. If only I’d though of the concept earlier, then maybe it wouldn’t seem so…so (ha) foreign.

Maybe we should just do one of those two things. Help me in my strangeness.