What’s the most bizarre thing you’ve heard described about you? Is it that you’re the spitting image of a famous Hollywood celebrity? Or you smell like raw mushrooms after an hour on the treadmill? Or perhaps you sound like a hyena when you laugh?
Mine, I got when I was abroad. Entering an internet cafe in Dubai sporting a red headscarf and large silver hoops, the attendant happily asked me if I was from Ethiopia, her home country. To be honest, I had to steal a glance at my reflection on the mirror behind her before politely answering, ‘No, I’m Filipina.”
Then it happened again… on three separate occasions! I was being mistaken for an Ethiopian lady by no less than Ethiopians themselves. So I decided to make it my source of amusement. Every time I was out meeting new people who couldn’t divine where I’m from, I played this guessing game with them. Surprisingly, very few would get it right. Probably because I sound slightly American to non-Filipino ears. For those who’d finally give up, I’d then do the ‘shocking reveal,’ declaring that I’m a native of Addis Ababa. Ha! The look on their faces! As it turned out, no one I met there knew much about this predominantly Christian country in Africa (except perhaps that it’s the home of Haile Gebrselassie because he ran and won the Dubai Marathon) that whatever factoids I dished out about ‘my grandparents’ village and the state of economy back there’ were accepted without question.
It was my lovely Ethiopian work colleague who told me that I do look like some of the ladies ‘back home’, which of course prompted me to google some images to support this claim. Ok, I didn’t exactly find one that resembled me but that did not stop me from learning more about this Northeast African nation. When she invited me for an authentic Ethiopian lunch, I jumped at the opportunity.
The meal was a hearty one. We ordered different meat stews accompanied by spicy pastes that were all dumped on a basket table lined with injera, a spongy sour flatbread that you tear off with your hands and use as a utensil to pick up your food. I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed the meal. I felt perfectly at home eating with my fingers as many Filipinos are no strangers to this practice.
And no Ethiopian meal is complete without coffee. Usually, a full coffee ceremony is performed but since we were in a small indoor restaurant, I got to witness only the serving bit of the ritual. My friend showed us how they pour (from a great height!) the freshly boiled coffee, letting the stream of piping-hot brew fill tiny white china cups. Being a certified caffeine junkie and a collector of coffee brewers, I openly declared that I’d love to own a jebena, the Ethiopian clay coffee pot that they had in the resto. And being a truly nice person that she is, she gifted me with one, complete with coffee powder that she ground herself.
Today, I’m marking my birth anniversary with Ethiopian java done from scratch! Thank you Ileni for this wonderful present. With practice, I reckon not only will I continue looking Ethiopian, I may even get to serve coffee like one too. With popcorn!
xxx
Karima
