You Break It, You Bought It

5/27/09
After a busy Wednesday, Jamie, Sarah and I went walking on Long St to check out the shops. We picked out some nice souvenirs and enjoyed walking in the nice weather. We know to take advantage of them as they will be fewer and farther between as winter approaches.

FYE: While exploring Long St, Jamie showed interest in a small miscellaneous shop. From the sidewalk, there appeared to be a lot of glass items. I announced that this was exactly the type of store I should avoid. Everyone laughed. They soon found out, I wasn't being funny. I actually made it through the entire experience without any incidents. However, as we were getting ready to leave, I stopped at a shelf in the back corner of the shop, filled with comical stationary. I was enjoying them and considering them as souvenirs when Jamie called to me, "Danielle, what are you doing?" My response was shattering glass. I had placed the notebook from my hand back on the shelf and inadvertently knocked over a small glass. I looked at the pieces on the ground and groaned. I heard Jamie and Sarah erupt in an amusingly annoyed laughter. I picked up the pieces and brought them to the register. I presented them to the cashier who frowned sympathetically, but (to my dissapointment) said, "I'll get the barcode." I was certain this small but fancy glass was going to cost me a fortune so my heart dropped when she scanned the code and said, "Shame." She looked up at me and finished, "37 rand." I thought, 'whew! That's not so bad,' but I'm glad I didn't think it out loud because she decided to give me a 10% discount. I ended up paying R33 for a not only broken, but very ugly, and uselessly small glass. I let her keep it and took with me only a good story.

That night we finally squeezed in our Ethiopian dinner at Addis. Doug joined in on the festivities rocking up on his motor bike. The atmosphere was super fun. We sat in low chairs around a small table called a mesob (??). We ordered a meatball and yogurt dressing appetizer and a few main courses. The meal came to us on a giant crepe looking thing. The dishes were placed directly onto the bread. We then used smaller, rolled up pieces to pick up the food and eat it. It was a very intimate and cozy experience. We had a blast trying out the food, which (to no surprise) was delicious. We finished off our meal with tea and Ethiopian coffee.