Our piece of Time Square is the new KID in town is this BIG SONIC Screen located in on the far corner of Meskel Square. The presence is very timely just in time for the World Cup. Every bar, restuarant, Tej bet and Cafe hooked or Occupied the public for 90 minutes of ball rolling for 3 weeks of Foot Ball.. and Meskel Square was no exception. Game nights were occupied with city residents parked on the sides ever since this Huge screen came into place. Top of Buses, Taxi's, personal cars were all used as lounging space for game nights . Now all the hoop-la has calmed down since last weeks ITALY's victory over FRANCE that the fate of the Screen is not known.. Until then ADVERTISEMent anyone??? Meskel Square blog did a piece on this as well for more pictures and commentaries.. Until then Flickr On for the new pics!!!!

QURT (Pronunciation Key (Qurt)
n.

1. The edible flesh of beef or goat, especially that of mammals as opposed to that of fish or poultry. Served raw accompanied with hot awaze peppers mixed with mustard sauce.
2. The process associated with the cutting or slicing of edible flesh endemic to Ethiopian eating habits and cultural practices.

[Modern Ethiopian mequret]

What the fac--TOR you ask.. Well having been to so many occasions in Addis the one thing you realize is that there is a lot of meat everywhere. Meat hear and meat there, ox hear , sheep there and so on so on.. At the same time there is a wide consesus of complaints of how meat has become an expensive commodity. Yes commodity because it gets exported to other countries like coffee,and the country is suppose to make money out of it. Now you would assume we must have plenty of beef going around that we might as well ship em out and at the same time make everyone happy at home but no the price of beef has increased from what I have seen 3 years ago..The price of lamb sky rokected to Mars when Chicken on the other hand hmmm. lets say "tenbun telwal" when it jumped from 28 birr to 8 birr .. Because of a wide spread chicken paranoa that is still afflicts everyone since Easter , lucky for the chickens no one dares to eat them.. Maybe the Chinese calendar got the animal all wrong when they said 2006 is the year of the dog. Speaking of dogs emm where should I start.. But I will save that for the next issue.. Regardless of all the whining, people still dine on good quality 'qurt'. Wheather you go to Senga Tera, or Haya hulet. All the places that serve you beef and its various kind are always full. Kind of makes you think , well maybe it isn't quit expensive as people make it to seem be. From what I have noticed the best and easiest way to treat a large mob of people is to go hop around to the nearest tebs bet.. and everyone will love you for it. Well before you run out of it go get your shareNOW!!

THE WEYALA SERIES




WeraJe Weraje!!!! Yes yes.. I needed to get off not only from the taxi but a lot of things .. Jokes aside Yes I am back.... I am still getting acclimated with the word "weraje" so you know i had to spit it at you with my word of the week. Well yeah... That is the word you have to say to tell the ever amazing taxis and its abundant weyalas that come with it when you want to get off. This week i am featuring the lives and hustle of weylas in a small, small, small pictorial part i have experienced while i was on the several taxi's near stadium, Mexico, Arat kilo and more . The weylas for those who don't know what it means!!! ..I say go the nearst taxi driver and ask if they need assistants..As odd as it sounds that is what they are. They are basically the middle men that get riders for the taxi drivers and/or they are like the assistants.. Shouting 3 to 5 destinations at you get ready to tune your ears to their lingo and ways of non verbal communications .. They are by far one of the most Hard working people i have seen in Ethiopia with their shrewd business style as well as Witt and humor you ride can be a joyous or sometimes madness. So without saying much go to the " Mexico Stadium Yemola " cab but make sure you Say "WERAJ" before you finish..!!!!

p.s. come back and check the pics in few days for more of the taxi series

ADDISSHEGER--FINEAABABA

06

SHHhhhhhhh........

Jeettttt laggeedddddddddddddddddddd...........or just jet LAG.....yes yes i know I know what u are thinking i have beeen away to ADDIS and i forgot about all the DSL and CABLE serviced internet Junkies , although i did i still got around to think of you all JUST now.. JK!!! what do you expect having been bouncing around between family, weedings, jet lag, dealing with Weyalas, drinking macchiato, eating tibs and the hustle and bustle of ADDIS i just didn't get around it. Oh did i forget the Slow Internet. One thing i learned since i got here is that patience is a must. The internet at least is much better than the last time i was here. So don't panic if you come to Ethiopia if you happen to find open your Hotmail emm taking about 5minutes.. It is a vast improvement from the 30 minutes i waited when i was here 3 years ago. Yahoo and Gmail works just great ..Before i go Tele Bashing , let me shut my mouth since the internet is provided none other than Telecommunication Corporation..and i am sure they are seeing this :))...

But Yeah.. Addis is a melting pot of everything and anything under the sun which need to be understood with its own way and Having to capture it in images has been a great challenge as well. Why you say ??? well first having to lag around a big ass camera as i learned is not the greatest idea of taking candid pictures.. with everyone stairing at you and the camera being a touristy Ethiopian looks very weird to a lot of people . And ofcourse with the big business of mobile phone robbery going on here.. One piece of electronics would just open a new market for someone in need of opeining a Wedding Picture business.. Well thats what they tell me here although no one has yet done try to take my camera...

So what is new in Addis , well there is a whole lot of construction and more construction and expansion and urban sprawll going on with tremendous speed. The city is trying to be the next HONG KONG by next year.. with all tall buildings and semi sky scrappers covering the landscape... More Buildings and expansion and more Koroconch to drive on.. VIVA KOROCONCH!!!The people are more the same in all levels. It seems everything that happened last year hasn't happened. However, individually people will disclose to you more about their lives in reflection of last year.

Ok let me get to the point...Before you throw anger tantrums at me for the lack of Images on this blog.. you should go here with the few Pictures i was able to take from where i am volunteering at. So until i get the balls to take any pics i want in the middle of Addis enjoy .. i will be back in a few.. days that is..

BMW Anyone???

B.M.W

Bus. Metro. Walk

Available at your Local Stops and Pavements

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Been around the world .... Ayi ayi yaaaaaa I can't find My.....Ehhhh OK enough with the Lisa Stansfield tune..... But yeah that is what I have been feeling lately.. The sole reason for my lack of posts..But here I am again.. So what's been happening lately with me, you and everyone.. ???

A. a bunch of things
B. a bunch of things +1
C. a bunch of things +2.......
D. a bunch of things +3 + launch of Bernos.org..

if you have Guessed D to be the answer, Ding , Ding , Ding...You Got Your Self a Bernos T-Shirt:)))).....and of course its UNSPONSORED By tankwa.......Your better if you opt to go to www.bernos.org.. Hurry this SesKy shirts are running out ..rejuvenate your seskyness for the summer .......cause it did wonders on me...and also so that you don't just become an online shopping junky, bernos folks have enough material to keep your self busy learning a lot about music.. and other stuff.. that you need to find out on your own......Now find out the blast from the past ....... Below

Street Drummers, 2005


Temaru Temerameru, 2002














2005,Liberty Island , NY

















water, water, 2002

















2002, LOOK INTO MY EYES








For those of you who have seen.. it....already Toooo00 Bad.. Look at it again.. Observe it, close your eyes and meditate and say oohhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmm tilllll your hear the fat lady sing...... good nights..

What was happening in DC in the month of April???? Well the above as u can see and guess where i went to when i got my camera.. none other than the CB FESTIVAL... As long as i have lived in this area, i have never actually paid any attention to the festival nor tended to the trees need to be looked at. At least this time i had a reason to go... It was particularly interesting to observe peoples obsession with flowers and having to take pictures of themselves around, above, next to yade yadda to anything that has a petal.. . Apparently it is rooted in Japanese tradition to celebrate the coming of spring every year people get together to experience the cherry tree.. (although i disagree with the color.. is it me or are they white!!!)... . and as a sign of friendship , the Japanese decided to give Washington.. the cherry tree..and what follows you can see.. until they come next year.. enjoy!!
p.s.. did i say they only last 5 days .. then there is nothing special about them.. Just another tree..