Farenji Fever and the Fishbowl Effect

I draw an exorbitant amount of attention everywhere I go. Fortunately 99% of it is positive. When I approach a suk (shop) to purchase items I invariably run into people when I turn around, because unbeknownst to me a crowd has gathered (sometimes as large as 15-20 people) to see what the "farenji" is buying. As I walk down the very long, rocky, and steep hill to my home, I feel like a fish swimming upstream--the neighborhood kids are running at full-steam, toward me, with hands outstretched. They LOVE to shake hands and it's really cute when a little tyke walks up with right arm outstretched and left hand grasping his forearm to show his respect. I've also learned to budget an extra 10-15 minutes for my walk to town to account for the delay I experience as I am stopped repeatedly for enthusiastic greetings and well-wishes.

Coupled with "farenji fever" is the fishbowl phenomenon. People are not only interested in everything that I do, but they KNOW everything I do, they KNOW where to find me and they apparently KNOW me! On our second day in town, we were approached by a gentleman who said…"my friend told me that you bought bananas at the blue shop last night. Were they good?" Smith and I looked at each other and said…WOW! Last week I was again in the process of buying bananas (one of the few fruits that I can routinely get) in my new neighborhood when an older gentleman approached me and said in fairly good English…"are you Qwisten from the peace corPs? Do you know A. Anderson from Illinois? He sent me a letter and said you were coming." Needless to say, I do not know this A.Anderson, but word in the PC community does circulate quickly. Turns out that A.Anderson is a former PCV to Ethiopia and the gentleman standing in front of me was his student 40 some years ago. That a man in Somewhere, Illinois knows that I am here (my specific name was not mentioned in the letter), and that the man on the receiving end of this news can so easily find me and call me by name is such a weird feeling.

Today, I was at one of the schools that I will be working with. I had met the principal and assistant principal twice before, but I really hadn't had an opportunity to interact with the teaching staff. Anyways, I was sitting in the staff room and conversation was swirling around me. Since it was all in rapid Amharic I was tuned out. By the time I tuned back in I realized that I was the topic of conversation. They wanted to know why I didn't attend church with them on Genna because "we've been told you are Protestant." I was too stunned to respond, but thought to myself… "Really? And you are who?"

Fortunately some of the "farenji fever" is dying down as people get to know us and realize that we will be here for 2 years. It's also helpful that we can now respond in Amharic to the occasional cries of " you, you, you…give me money" with, "I'm not farenji, I'm Ethiopian." I suspect, however, that I should get used to the "fishbowl lifestyle" as that is not likely to die down. I have found a positive side to the fishbowl effect, though. When I'm behind on my journaling (as I generally am) I can say, "thank you, I had forgotten I'd gone to market on Thursday… eaten Ox tibs on Friday at the Paradise… picked up 3 letters and 2 packages at the posta beyt on Monday just before closing… had to stop and rest while walking the miserable hill out of the neighborhood on my way to meet Zeleke at the internet beyt on Wednesday…














My neighborhood fan club. Aren't they just the cutest?!?!