Every once in a while, during a conversation with an Ethiopian, I come across something
I am completely unable to explain. Often I am reminded by the incredible varieties offered
by our culture. Alternately, I am confronted by the sheer absurdity of some aspects of
North American life. Either way, these moments offer insight into the vast differences
between Canadian and Ethiopian culture.
The Top Ten Things That Are Impossible To Explain To An Ethiopian
10
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The Easter Bunny - "Well, it’s like a rabbit, but it’s not real, and it
hands out chocolate. No, I don’t really know what that has to do with
the resurrection of Jesus".
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9
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Snow - at least in the volumes that Canada gets. I always get the feeling that
they humour me by pretending to understand, but really just think I am wildly exaggerating.
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8
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Other ways to cook chicken - there is only one way to cook chicken in
Ethiopia, doro wat. When I say that we don’t have doro wat in Canada, often
people say "Why? Don’t you have hens?". Then I try to explain that we roast or
fry chicken. They seem baffled by the idea.
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7
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How to buy a book on the Internet - some Ethiopians know what credit cards are,
but no one has them, and they don’t really understand that we can buy things
with a computer.
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6
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That some people choose not to have children - this is simply not a choice here,
and I haven’t been able to make anyone believe that it genuinely is in Canada.
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5
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Digital cameras - when we take pictures around Awassa, people always ask
us for copies of the photos. We try to explain that the picture doesn’t
exist on paper, but I suspect they think we are just trying to weasel out of
giving them a copy.
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4
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Drive Through Fast Food - there is no fast food here, no take-out, most people
don’t have cars, no one is in a hurry; four good reasons why this is
impossible to explain.
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3
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I was a Kindergarten teacher with a Masters Degree - the Ethiopian system holds
that the younger the children, the less qualified the teacher should be.
Most grade 1-4 teachers have basically failed high school.
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2
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We are volunteers, not motivated by money - in a country with a history of
very unstable governments, poor health care and social security systems, everyone,
even the middle class, is always trying to make more money.
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1
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Michael Jackson - is he black? is he white? what happened to his nose?
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I hope all is well in your part of the world!
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