Greetings!
on Tara's Ethiopian Adventure (Ethiopia), 06/Apr/2010 04:40, 34 days ago
Ethiopians love their greetings! I think I mentioned before that I shake hands with more people in the average day in Ethiopian than I do in the average year in England. However, that is not their only way of greeting each other. The girls in particular tend to greet each other with several kisses on alternate cheeks (similar to the French) and when you are good friends with someone you are likely to add some shoulder to shoulder action to your normal handshake. If you are too far to greet each other formally like this (e.g. on the other side of the road) then the two handed wave is pretty popular too. This greeting in particular reminds me a bit of a scene in Wallace and Gromit but it is made even better by the fact that once both hands are in the air (about head height) then it is normally accompanied by some bowing!The greetings don’t stop there though. I am forever amazed as I sit in my office and listen to the conversations of the secretaries on the other side of the thin wood partition. The conversation is obviously occurring in Amharic but I’ll do my best to paraphrase...Good morning.Good morning.Peace to you.Peace to you too.Good health to you.Good health to you too.How are you?I’m fine. How are you?Fine. Are you well?I’m well? Are you well?I’m well. How are you doing?I’m doing well? You?I’m doing well. Are you ok?I’m ok. Are you ok?Yes, I’m ok. Did you have good night?Yes, I had a good night? Did you have a good night?Yes I had a good night.God be praised.God be praised.This whole conversation may be repeated a few more times depending on how well they know each other...and then of course if they are good friends they are likely to ask the same questions about each other’s families. Once it has been well and truly established that everyone is fine (and of course they wouldn’t tell you if it wasn’t) then they might get onto the business they came for‘ can I borrow some sellotape?’‘ is Solomon available?’ etc.Finally, having got what they came for they say goodbye and this can sometimes take at least as long as the original greetings! I know I shouldn’t laugh– it is after all quite an endearing part of their culture- however, I do sometimes find I can’t help it. I will be sitting on the other side of the partition giggling and thinking‘my Amharic isn’t perfect but even I heard her answer that question three times already...surely you must know she is ok by now?!!’Being white does attract a whole new breed of greetings too! I think I have mentioned the endless chants of‘you, you, ferenge’ as you pass and the fact the some people get so excited to see a white person that they jump up and down pointing, trying to get their friends to come look too. However, on Sunday, even I was surprised by the rather unusual greetings I received in Addis. Firstly, a driver stopped his car to say hello. His passenger translated that he was just so excited to see a white person (in Addis?! Really?!) and wanted to shake my hand. Ok? He then invited me to join them for an Easter Feast. The second was even more surprising... a rather smartly dressed elderly gentleman walked by. We waved a polite hello to each other and I thought that was it. Then, just as he had gone past, he turned round and did a cartwheel back towards me and then jogged on the spot for a few seconds whilst punching his arms in the air a few times. He then continued on his way as if nothing strange had just happened! I was perplexed.