East vs. West

I am surprised at the number of similarities between East and West Africa.

To some people it might seem obvious or expected. But considering the vast distance this continent spans, and the lack of infrastructure connecting the two coasts they are almost worlds apart.

But the affinity for gaudy, 1980's-style velvet furniture shared by the two regions is uncanny.

The insistence on hand-shaking at every opportunity (and the preference for shaking a wrist if the hand is "dirty") is also common to both coasts. As are the greetings that last several minutes (asking about health, family, life, etc each time).

Drinking tea with friends is another common tradition. And although Ethiopia was under British rule for a while, this certainly cannot be the explanation in West Africa where many of the countries are former French colonies. Additionally, the tradition does not simply refer to the drinking of tea, but to the tea brewing and insistence on 3 cups of tea as well.

In one post I mentioned Nido, Omo and Magi - powdered milk, powdered bleach (used to clean everything from clothes to dishes) and MSG flavor cubes, respectively. They seem to be a staple everywhere from Asmara, Eritrea to Pama, Burkina Faso. Sure, powdered milk will be in many places where electricity is hard to come by, but the same brands? including the soap and the flavor cubes? Even the plastic buckets are the same brand.

One thing in common that is not surprising is African ingenuity. We were joking before I left that you could probably get a mobile phone illegally "unlocked" and a SIM card exchanged a lot easier in the middle of Africa than you could in any major city in the US. But it's comforting to know that almost anything can be fixed here. I blew my surge protector the day I got here (don't ask me how). And wouldn't you know it - the man who was selling outlets and other similar electrical devices that I brought it to - fixed it. (Now I'm not sure it will function as a surge protector anymore, but it certainly lets me plug in my computer and my Treo at the same time and charge them...)

In fact, the only major difference I have found is the food. In both places food is a communal affair - people eating with their hands from a common dish. But the food itself is vastly different.

In Burkina the staple food was "Tô," a congealed solid made by boiling millet powder (think grits left out over night), with a sauce usually containing among other things over-cooked okra and dried fish. I simply could not stomach the stuff. At one point after I had been cooking three meals a day for myself I decided to get food from the school cafeteria for lunch. The only meal I could ever stand was black-eyed peas with rice (to which I added vinegar and tobasco sauced).

But here the food is amazing. The injeera (a spongy, thin bread-like food) is more sour than what you find in the states. But the meat and vegetable dishes are delectable! Almost everything has just the right amount of spiciness and the flavors are so rich. Add to that the many Italian restaurants and the isolated Indian restaurant and I'm a happy camper...