Fitting into Dangila

There have been several incidents last month that happened in my daily life here that make me think, “I can do this. Dangila really is my home now.” Just writing that is sort of scary actually, admitting this town in Ethiopia is “home,” but I am loving life here for many different reasons. This blog is going to be several recent stories from life in Dangila before IST.



Coffee on the Porch

Last weekend the wife of my landlord came home for a visit. She goes to school in Bahir Dar and is rarely in Dangila, so I was happy to see her walk through the gate on Saturday morning. Within a couple of hours of when she arrives home, she usually prepares a coffee ceremony and invites a couple of neighbors over. I was not surprised when she came knocking on my door late that morning telling me to drink coffee. I was surprised that the coffee ceremony was on the front porch of the house. I thought to myself, “what a fun change of scenery!” The front gate of the compound remained open for the incoming neighbors, and plenty of people passing by the gate turned their heads as they walked to stare at my unusual presence.

A couple days later I was meeting with my Amharic tutor when he said, “You drank coffee on the porch.” While he meant this as a question, he said it as a statement. I began thinking, “He’s never been to my house. Does he even know where I live? How did he see me on the porch? Maybe he walked by and didn’t say ‘hi?’” I was puzzled to say the least. Finally, he says, “Yes, it was St. Mary’s birthday. It is customary to have a coffee ceremony on your veranda.” I celebrated St. Mary’s birthday and didn’t even know it!

I Am a Funny Girl

The HAPCO office where I work has three other employees: my supervisor, my counterpart, and our secretary. One day we were using the town’s car to visit five different primary schools in Dangila to assess their Anti-AIDS clubs. We had driven out to a very rural area to start, and made our way back to the urban-most area of town. It was just my supervisor, my counterpart and me, along with the driver, and since my co-workers speak decent English, I tend to speak in English to them. In the middle of our trip we were driving on a bumpy dirt road when my supervisor, Tilahun, points across a field to a dirt road no different than the one we were on and says, “The school is over there on the dusty road.”

I look perplexed and said, “Tilahun, which road is not dusty?”

They laughed and laughed and laughed. Almost every day at work now, a month later, Tilahun will tell me, “When I think of this day I always laugh. ‘Which road is not dusty?’ You are a funny girl!”

Dryer Sheets

I recently requested my mom to send me some dryer sheets in the mail. I have no dryer, or washing machine; I hand wash and line dry each item of clothes I wear, trust me. I made the request because my puppy always has a static-cling thing going on, so the dryer sheets come in handy to make sure she isn’t a complete dirt magnet. I have been using them for a couple weeks now when I examined the box I have been pulling the sheets out of—it pictures a clothesline drying clothes. I think to myself, “whoa! Can I use these with line-drying my clothes?” Oh, silly me… no, you cannot. The only instructions on the box are for a drying machine.

I have come to the conclusion that this advertising was suppose to appear as quaint or charming. I would not usually describe my washing days are charming, but there is something delightful about looking at a clothesline full of your clean clothes, admiring your work. I still am not quite sure why you would put this picture on the packaging though. I suppose it is more appealing than the picture of a dryer?