Merkkato, Museum, Mead
The weekend was very relaxed with a busy morning @ the mission on Saturday. Saturday afternoon we (Jake, Zev, Berhanu, Ilana, and I) went to the Merkkato. A sprawling complex of stalls, shops, indoor "malls," and with more people than you can shake a stick at, it was a little overwhelming. The size of the area, the number of goods being traded, and the never-ending shouts of "hello" and "faranji" were enough to make one go insane. If I were to try and answer everything shouted at me, my head would surely fall off from the constant snapping side-to-side to answer everyone. In general, it was less like a market and more like too many stores crammed into pillboxes and stacked together. Two hours there was enough to make me want to go and sit in my hotel room for hours, simply so that no beggars, shoe-shine boys, vendors, or random people could bother me. So that was my saturday (topped off w/dinner in the hotel). The first item on the agenda for sunday...