This is going to sound a little strange but Ethiopians, on the whole, dress better than we do. Women typically wear skirts and nice shirts and men wear slacks and button down shirts or polos. Everyone was also wearing coats, which seemed strange to us. The weather was very nice. At home we would have been wearing shorts and T-shirts, but the Ethiopians thought it was cold. Some young men wear jeans, but stylish ones. Several men I saw had many layers on, like a T-shirt, then a button down shirt, then a sweater vest, and then a sport coat.
Dressing us
We wore khakis and button down shirts or polos. We didn't bring any jeans, khakis are lighter to pack and we fit in better. I wore T-shirts a couple of times, but I felt uncomfortable when I did. I wore running shoes most days. Not the most fashion savvy thing, I know, but practical. We didn't do a ton a walking, but we did stand for a while at museums and churches and stuff. It was also muddy in some places, like the merkato. I brought my brown running shoes, so they didn't stand out too much. I did bring some nicer black shoes mostly just to wear to the embassy, but I think I ended up just wearing my running shoes there. (They can't see your feet from the window.) I only wore my black shoes 2 days I think. I wanted to bring 2 pair of shoes because we went in rainy season and I was worried about one getting muddy and not drying out in time to wear the next day. As it turned out it only rained once during the day while we were there and we were at the hotel. We did each bring a sweater and I wore mine a couple of times at night.
Dressing the baby
I never saw an infant on the street with anything more than its hands and face exposed. Sometimes you could hardly tell someone was holding a baby because it looked like a big pile of blankets. Ethiopians really bundle babies. I had a hard time finding enough long sleeved outfits that didn't look like sleepers (as it is the middle so summer) so I put long sleeved onesies under short sleeved outfits with pants. I also bought a couple of outfits that had coats. I either put a hat on the baby's head or the hood from his coat. I put socks and shoes on him, but just socks would have been fine.
Dressing us
We wore khakis and button down shirts or polos. We didn't bring any jeans, khakis are lighter to pack and we fit in better. I wore T-shirts a couple of times, but I felt uncomfortable when I did. I wore running shoes most days. Not the most fashion savvy thing, I know, but practical. We didn't do a ton a walking, but we did stand for a while at museums and churches and stuff. It was also muddy in some places, like the merkato. I brought my brown running shoes, so they didn't stand out too much. I did bring some nicer black shoes mostly just to wear to the embassy, but I think I ended up just wearing my running shoes there. (They can't see your feet from the window.) I only wore my black shoes 2 days I think. I wanted to bring 2 pair of shoes because we went in rainy season and I was worried about one getting muddy and not drying out in time to wear the next day. As it turned out it only rained once during the day while we were there and we were at the hotel. We did each bring a sweater and I wore mine a couple of times at night.
Dressing the baby
I never saw an infant on the street with anything more than its hands and face exposed. Sometimes you could hardly tell someone was holding a baby because it looked like a big pile of blankets. Ethiopians really bundle babies. I had a hard time finding enough long sleeved outfits that didn't look like sleepers (as it is the middle so summer) so I put long sleeved onesies under short sleeved outfits with pants. I also bought a couple of outfits that had coats. I either put a hat on the baby's head or the hood from his coat. I put socks and shoes on him, but just socks would have been fine.
1 comment:
You are so funny! I've never heard of someone stressing about their shoes as much as you do. :)
Post a Comment