King Tut Grill

My parents and I went out to lunch today. Perhaps in honor of my trip to Africa, my dad chose a restaurant called King Tut Grill, a South Knoxville establishment run by a really friendly Egyptian guy named Mo. We went around 2:30, so we were the only ones there, if you don't count the toothless, elderly gentleman who hangs out there all day and tells jokes. We had the Egyptian sampler which included falafel, baba ghanoush, koshari, hummus and, my favorite part, water served in huge flower vases (see picture of my parents below).


The walls were covered with bumper stickers and little signs that said things like "Children left unattended will be sold to the circus," "Danger - men cooking," and "Driver carries no cash - his wife and kids have it all!" It was great Middle Eastern food and a pretty entertaining atmosphere, so if you're in Knoxville, you should give it a try. Tell Mo I sent you.

Oh, and this is what happened when Mo noticed that we were taking the top picture outside.

One thing I’m sad about missing while in Ethiopia is my favorite season. Fortunately I was able to get a little taste of Fall this weekend...it looked a little like this: An obscene amount of bright orange. 100,000 people singing the chorus of Rocky Top. Kids with orange and white mohawks. Southern accents so thick it’s hard to say if they’re actually speaking English. Yep. It’s football time in Tennessee. My brother and I went to the UT/Arkansas State game Saturday night, so I don’t have to completely miss out on college football this year. It was a nice night, and Arkansas State had the good manners to lose. A good time was had by all.

M-I-C-See you real soon...

I’m in the Orlando airport, where I was eating gummy bears for dinner until I starting reading the back of the package that says "product of USA or Mexico or Brazil or Czech Republic or China or Indonesia." How can they not know?
I've been here since Monday with Doug and Kathryn (from my office in DC) and Abraham (who Doug referred to as “the special sauce of Ethiopia”). We spent some time with a group visiting from Kenya and some Orlando folks who have been really involved with one of the four school projects.
It was a great bridge between DC and Ethiopia because I was able to hang out with Doug and Kathryn and then have a slumber party with my former roommate Cris who was coincidentally in Orlando for work last night too. And I got to spend a lot of time with Abs and riddle him with my questions about Addis, his family, the schools near Axum, and the other projects we will be working on. It sounds like I will have a lot to do, including getting to spend a lot of time with the kids at the schools and group homes and writing about the projects…so that’s exciting. The only disappointing part of the trip was not being there when the Kenyans hit Disney World on Tuesday. Just picture it.

Fun with Books

Because of all the traveling time and the lifestyle in Ethiopia, I'm anticipating some good reading time. I'm going to post about some of the books I'm reading, so you can either pick up a copy and read along with me or just make a note of recommendations for later. First up, I just started reading Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux.

He decides to start in Cairo, Egypt, and travel overland all the way down to Cape Town, South Africa, documenting as he goes. Twenty-six pages in, I'll venture to say Theroux seems a little cynical but probably pretty realistic. The mix of historical background and travel anecdotes makes it an interesting way to get an overview of a bunch of different countries. Let me know if you are joining this little international book club or if you have a suggestion for a future read.

Happy New Year

I've gotten a few requests for blog updates pre-Ethiopia, so here's a little tidbit. Ethiopia uses something similar to the Coptic calendar, so there are 12 months of 30 days plus a little bit of leap year craziness. Because of their calendar today is the last day of 1999, which calls for a big celebration (minus all the Y2K nonsense). Rumor has it that Beyonce and Fergie are both making the trip.

What does this mean? Well, I may or may not be traveling back in time when I leave in a few weeks, you should all check your area (especially if you're in DC) for festivities, and we all have one more chance this year to wonder what "Auld Lang Syne" really means.