One of the things I enjoyed the most in Ethiopia was the food. Now that I am back in Spain I can really appreciate how amazing my experience was. Food is very different there. Tasty, with different textures, colors and combinations.

We could taste so many fresh salads in the lodge... The cooks cooked really well. They prepared for us every day a different menu. Here you are some examples:

The one you can see on above these lines is a fresh salad made of tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, beetroot and beans.
 

 
Fresh salad with egg, potatoes, onion, carrots and tomatoes.

 
This dish is called schich kebab, typical in Ethiopia. It's a brochette with veal meat, onions and tomatoes, with some rice with tomatoe sauce.

 
Some handmade biscuits with chocolate.

 

Fresh salad with lettuce, beetroot, onion and tomatoes.

 
Muffin with melted chocolate.

Ada Pérez.

I remember with a big smile on my face the first day the staff saw us with our NH Hoteles T shirt. They were really surprised because they thought NH was a fashionable brand in Europe!

When we explained to them that it was the chain of hotels we work at, we told them that we have more than 400 hotels around the world, more than 17000 employees, all of them said that they want to work for NH Hotels, so….. Who knows?

 

Ada Pérez.

This morning Asmara came to the hotel at 07.00 to pick me up to show me around  Addis Abeba. What a chaotic city! There were only a few traffic lights, there are no traffic signals. I don’t know how they can drive without crashing. The seat of the car was not fixed well to the car and I felt as if I was on a roller coaster.

I could see many churches, we could see one where they were “singing”, Asmara sang me a religious song. There were hundreds of people walking down the street. They were going to either school or to work. I could see many people carrying heavy packages, pieces of wood, kilos and kilos of fruits on their head…, as in the rest of the country.

As I have not had much time to visit the city I’ll do it when I come back.

 

Ada Pérez.

What a hard day. Today it was my last morning at the lodge. Hellen and Tirhas were finishing some kunanos they didn’t finished yesterday because they didn’t have rubber bands.

It’s time to say goodbye. I could not contain my tears. Everybody told me that they feel very lucky to have met Giovanni and I, and to have received our training. I think that we, Giovanni and I, are luckier than them. We have spent one wonderful month with all the staff. They are very professional. Their enthusiasm and their desire to improve made us work even harder.

 I’ve seen a very big change from the beginning until now and I feel so happy. I think we’ve done a good job, and the best, we have many new Ethiopian FRIENDS. I will come back to visit them, for sure. I promised them. After saying goodbye I went to Mekelle with Teresa, Chapela and the manager. They came with me to the airport to tell me goodbye. No more tears ;)

I spent the night in Addis Abeba, where a taxi driver called Asmara, recommended by Teresa, dropped me off to do the last Christmas purchases in Ethiopia.

 

Ada Pérez.

 

Today I’ve been working with Desta the manager to check again all the procedures I’ve been teaching him during this month. Now I think Desta is very well prepared to manage the hotel. He has received training during one month in administration and in service quality and he knows exactly what to do in every moment.

I’ve finished my training with the manager. We have had a meeting with Teresa, Desta the manager and I to explain to him the shifts for the staff. Teresa and I organized the shifts for all the departments regarding the schedules for the different services offered by the lodge (breakfast, lunch, dinner and bar) for all the departments. We had  to organize a method of transport for all the staff because the lodge is located 5 km from the city Adigrat, and it’s very dangerous for the staff, mostly girls, to go on foot from the city to the lodge. Finally Teresa and I were happy with the shifts and when we explained it to Desta he also agreed, so…fantastic!!

As we had some free time before lunch, some of the staff decided to give me some kunanos (braids). We had a great time, with 7 or 8 girls surrounding me and touching my head and my hair….wow, so relaxing!!! They explained to me that I was like a bride before getting married. In the rural zones, like in Adigrat when a girl is going to get married, all her friends braid the brides hair.  
In the evening we had a meeting with ADCS in order to inform them about the real situation of the lodge. In my opinion the lodge can open once they have solved some maintenance issues they still have. Regarding the staff, they are very well trained, they are motivated, and they want to start as soon as possible. They have a lot of excitement and they can offer a very high quality of service. Desta, the manager, is very well prepared also and he can manage the hotel with very high quality.

 

Ada Pérez.

Today, Teresa, Chapela and I, visited two Rock Hewn Churches.  Desta, the accountant, came with us because the driver is deaf and he only speaks tigriña, so we need someone to help us with the communication. It was really interesting to imagine how the people could build that constructions.

The first one we visited was called Saint Mary of Sion, in Wukro, a city located approx 40 km far away from our lodge.  We had to take off our shoes before go into the church as a respect symbol. Teresa of Manos Unidas recommended that I should not leave my socks because there were millions of flews jumping around.

The priest, very peculiar, showed us the church, he explained that it was “built” in the IV century and we could see that it had been burned under Queen Judith’s order under the orders of Queen Judith in the Middle Ages. All the Rock Hewn Churches in the area, more than one hundred were burned by Queen Judith. He showed also an instrument similar to our bells.
 

 
The second church we visited is called Abraha at Baha, in Abraha at Baha village. Another rock hewn church. The landscape was marvellous. A very big red rock ahead welcomed us. When we went into the church, also burned, we could see a lot of frescos paintings of biblical passages in Eithiopia are very typical in Ethiopia. When we left the church many children were trying to sell us marine fossils collected in the area. Hundreds of years ago there was a sea.

After that visit we went to a Lodge situated one hour from Adigrat to have lunch and we came back to the Agoro lodge. We could see little groups of houses made of “stone blocks”, lots of animals eating grass, and we could also see fantastic landscapes with big rock mountains.

 

Ada Pérez.

 

Yesterday Giovanni left the Lodge. After 22 days together, waking him up every morning, knocking at his door at 7.30, today I’ve knocked and no one answered. I miss you, Gio. We have had a really nice experience with all the staff from the Lodge, the colleagues from Manos unidas and Chapelas, Teresa’s friend. We will not forget this month in Ethiopia. I’m so sure!

I start my countdown. I leave on Wedenesday… In the morning, a few minutes before Giovani left the hotel, we could take a picture with almost all the staff (some waitresses, cleaners, receptionists, cooks) Gio, Chapela, Teresa and me. Could you recognize us?? ;))

 

 Ada Pérez
 
 

Today I’ve visited a new pottery market in Idaga Hamus. I’ve gone with Chapela and Desta, the accountant. Teresa could not come with us because we were expecting a visit from some new plumbers. After waiting for them for 5 days, they decided to come just today!
 
The market was smaller than the one we visited in Selkelka last weekend. There was an area with pottery sellers, an area with plastic shoes, an area with spices, an area with clothes and an area where we could find millions of typical foulards.
 
Chapela and I were the only white people in the market. Children followed us and people asked us for money. Sellers and buyers of the market watched us with curiosity. I liked the market we visited last weekend much more because today the local people tried to sell us their products at a higher price. Desta the accountant helped us to communicate with the sellers, because they only speak tigriña, the language of the region.

 

Ada Pérez

 

Ethiopia is the only country in the world where they use a different calendar. They use the Giuliani calendar instead of the Gregorian, which is the one used in the rest of the world. They have 12 months of 30 days and 1 month with 5 or 6 days (every 4 years) which is called pagumen.

Today I’ve gone to the bank with Teresa to change some money and I could see that in Ethiopia yesterday it was the 6th of April 2004!! They also have different time. When for us it’s 6.00 AM for them it's 12.00 AM. When for us it’s 07.00 AM for them it's 13.00AM…..Really it seems as if I have travelled in time. The markets are as the ones from the Middle ages, people walking everywhere, goats and cows eating grass in the middle of the street, horse drawn carriages…. Ethiopia is really different. And I like it!!!

 

 
Last Wednesday the staff decided to give us a surprise. After our lunch in the restaurant they prepared for us a new coffee ceremony on the terrace of the lodge. As usual they prepared the ceremony on some leaves. We could eat some popcorn, oranges, biscuits,  there was incense, the coffee pot... during the ceremony we danced Spanish and tigriña songs –typical songs of the Tigray’s region.  We laughed a lot. They dance moving their shoulders. Really fun!

Ada Pérez

Every 3 days I go to the Mercato with Timnit, the chef, to buy some vegetables. I have been there many times but every day it surprises me because of the confusion and the ambiance I can see there. The vegetables we can buy there are of good quality and they are very cheap. For example, 1 kg of tomatoes costs 15 birr, about 0.70 euros, or 1 kg onions, 16 birr.

Here you see the kitchen and the staff working there. Timnit is the chef, who cooks very well, and the other 2 cooks are Alemash and Hiwot. The first week was very stressful because their working rhythm was very different from ours in Europe. But after a few days, they started to work in a more European style; that is, a bit quicker. They can understand the precooking concept to offer a quick service. I’m really happy to work with them. I can see Timnit has been working in a kitchen.

“Mise en place” is the most important task in the kitchen because it helps you to give a good service. The first day they were not thoroughly acquainted about the precooking and about the service. They, overall Timnit, know only cooking. Nowadays they are learning what precooking means and the reason for it. We practise it every day, but we can only practise it for 6 people. I can see their improvement because in only two weeks they have reduced sharply the time needed to serve a full meal: starter, main course and dessert.

Last Monday I went with Ada, Chapela and Timnit to the Mercato. Apart from buying some vegetables, we bought a chicken….alive!!!!! It was really funny to transport the chicken in the car. We could hear it cooooc coc coc cooc. When I arrived to the lodge it was not funny anymore because they told me that I had to kill the chicken (in Ethiopia only men can kill animals, and after women clean them…..). I was not able no kill it, so finally Desta the accountat did it. Poor chicken, so beautiful. in the picture you can see Timnit preparing the chicken. We ate chicken soup, pasta with chicken and chicken pizza.

Penny left on Monday. We will miss you Penny!!!

Giovanni Arrigoni