Pagumé/The Thirteenth Month

13 Months of Sunshine 

Time, I’ve learned, is relative—especially in Ethiopia. It’s fitting that there’s a thirteenth month squeezed in right when I reach my official one year of service. It’s like a few extra days to slow down and reflect on what has passed, while preparing for the Ethiopian New Year (it’s going to be 2012), a chance for new beginnings, to start over fresh. 

I spent most of Pagumé in Addis after seeing my parents off. I don’t spend very much time in Addis, the city feels foreign compared to my small town that I’ve become so accustomed to—that I’ve learned to call home. My time in Addis was like a transition, in a sort of in-between place, to collect myself before the second year of my service. 

Addis is a sprawling city under constant construction. Rusted rebar sticks out like a shipwreck from structures once started and since abandoned. New concrete buildings are being erected while eucalyptus tree scaffolding enfolds them like a delicate skeleton. In the mornings, the streets are jammed with cars—a sleek black Mercedes, a blue Lada, a white land cruiser, and some make of Toyota all swerving through traffic. Beautiful mansions give way to small homes with tin roofs. Afternoon rain showers quiet the city as everyone seeks shelter from the rain. When describing Addis, one might want to write words like juxtaposition or incongruous as there is always a sharp contrast—but this is just the way Addis is, I think, a complex metropolis encompassing opposites and contradictions.