On The Road: The Norms of Ethiopia #BloggingAbroad

Blog Challenge Day #4

I was just visiting my family in America for Christmas.  Coming back to Ethiopia, I was instantly reminded of how different Ethiopia is and how different normal things in Ethiopia are in comparison to the norms of America.  There are so many norms that are different.  For example, the culture, language, food, driving, etc. are all different.

Norms of Ethiopian culture, language, and food:  lots and lots of coffee.  Religion is also a huge part of Ethiopian culture.  Unlike culture in America, religion is a crucial part of culture for people in Ethiopia.  It is also very common to greet people, ev en people you don’t know very well.  If you were to see two people greet each other, you would think that they knew each other very well, even if they are practically strangers.  And of course the language is different.  There are 80+ languages in Ethiopia.  In my town, languages spoken are Amharic (national language), Oromifa (regional language), and English.  It can be a lot to juggle at times.  When I walk down the street, different people often greet me in all three languages.  When seeing people eating the local food, you normally will see them eat injera with whatever food they ordered and will eat with their hands.

Any normal day in Ethiopia as you walk down the streets, you are likely to see donkeys, goats, sheep, cows, horses, dogs, and cats roaming around.  Sometimes you will literally see them walking down the middle of the road and cars have to drive around them.  It seems as though these animals own the streets.  Depending on where you are, you may see monkeys and camels hanging around.  The most common types of pubic transportation (the often have to avoid running into these animals) are mini buses and small vehicles called bajajs.

This donkey had its own rain "jacket"

Sometimes I will have children run up and great me only to have old ladies yell at them for bothering me.  Then there are times when I get harassed by men and have no one help me.  Then there will be the ladies on the side of the road who try to sell me vegetables and fruits.  And there are those days when I walk down the street and smell something that reminds me of BBQ only to realize that it is burning trash.

Despite how different Ethiopia is from America, it begins to feel normal after two years.  When I went back to America, I felt a bit of culture shock but quickly fell back into what felt like normal life there.  It was strange coming back to Ethiopia after having spent three weeks in America.  It was strange to come back to a country that is so much fuller of chaotic movement after coming from a place that was so full of order.  But the feeling I felt being back in Ethiopia was a normal sort of strangeness that has slowly felt just normal again.

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