Monday, January 3, 2011

African music

Ah, what a day! I love this country already and I have only been here for less than a week.

I didn’t blog yesterday because there was nothing interesting to talk about. This does not mean that I didn’t have fun. Even though the days are the same and you basically do the same thing, you meet so many interesting people everyday that it makes your day worth it.

I won’t make this blog post long since I need to go have dinner now that we came back after a long day at the exhibition.

Today, I want to talk about music, and African music in particular. In the exhibition, there is music all around during the whole day. This is nothing special since music is played even in the exhibitions that take place in the Middle East. However, what I noticed was that people over here react to music in a very different way. All over the exhibition, I noticed that as soon as the music would start, people walking around would start dancing! It’s amazing! They dance with each other and smile to everyone around. People here are really happy. On the other hand, in the Middle East, people just walk around and there is no reaction at all! No one is dancing or doing anything. I know that you may say culture plays an important role, but atleast a smile makes a difference. And this is just my own opinion, so don't start hating!

Most of the people here in Ethiopia are not as rich as the people in the Middle East but they still seemvery happy with their life. This really made me realize that money can buy you lots of things, but it can’t buy you happiness!

I am really enjoying my time here and having a blast. I am sorry that I am not posting any pictures or talking about the beauty of the country, but this is because I am really busy helping out my brothers and finishing up the work I came to do here.

I promise that this won’t be the last time I visit this country because soon, I will be calling it home…

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Ethiopian Women!

Sorry I didn’t post a blog post yesterday, I know you were all waiting for it (lol). I could lie and say that I didn’t have internet access or there was no electricity, but the real reason was because I was sleepy! I slept from 6pm to 12am and it was amazing. Woke up at 12 and wished my self happy new year and went back to sleep. Yea, people dont celebrate new years that much over here.

Today started off early, at around 7am. I woke up to the beautiful chanting of the church right in front of our house. With all respect to all the Christians around the world, this guy was really annoying. He was chanting from 12am until 9am! Who does that!!

Since it was Saturday, there was no dropping the kids to school. We went off to work at around 8ish. My work with my brother is helping him out at an exhibition which he is taking part in. It’s really awesome since I get to meet a lot of local people and interact with them. I learnt a few words of the local language (Amharaic) as well.

We got back home at 8pm after having dinner at a local burger restaurant called tik tok. They have good fresh burgers, (just in case you come to Ethiopia and want to try some good food).

That was all what happened today, however, I want to share with you some of the observations ive seen here in Ethiopia which made me rethink my life in the gulf region.

Being here for the past 3 days made me realize how much I was dependent on the internet. My life revolved around it from the minute I woke up until I went to sleep. Facebook, Twitter, and Gtalk were all I did all day long. Coming here and being in this (almost no internet) country, I realized how much time I have that I could spend doing something useful. I am not saying that social media is a waste of time, I am just saying that too much of it is a waste of time.

Another thing I realized here was when I talked with my cousins about their life here in Ethiopia. All they said was it is boring since there are no malls or places to go out. They said that the only thing they have is trees and rivers and mountains. This was kinda eye opening to me because coming from the Middle East, we always complain that we don’t have natural beauty and all we have is malls and tall buildings. Its funny how you realize the importance of the things you have when you don’t have them.

I will end this post now because I am really sleepy. I just want to say once again that Ethiopian women are very beautiful! I really can’t believe how an entire country can have so many beautiful women! Its amazing.

I will dedicate this blog post to every beautiful Ethiopian woman out there! You Rock!