I was gonna clean my room but then I got shay.

I was gonna clean my room but then I got shay.

My room is still messed up and I know why. 

Because I got shay, because I got shay, because I got shay.

For those of you who do not and never have lived in Ethiopia then let me explain the concept of shay buna to you. Shay is the Amharic work for tea and buna the Amharic word for coffee. To say that here in Ethiopia shay buna is taken very seriously is an understatment. I don't think a single day has passed  that I have not been invited for shay buna at least once if not multiple times.  Often  while I am on my way to the office someone will stop me and ask me to join them. I will then get derailed spend an hour discussing nothing and end up going somewhere that is not the office.  In Ethiopia all true business is done over shay buna.  You can spend hours in meetings or simply invite people to join you and have something taken care of in a matter of minutes.  I can probably blame most things that I have not completed or done when I wanted to on the fact that I was pulled away from what I was doing ( sometimes quite literally pulled) and made to drink shay or buna. Now don't get me wrong these are usually great experiences. Yes there are times when I really just want to sit at my desk and work on a training or lesson plans but usually I am always up for free coffee. Really who wouldn't be? Especially if you have ever had Ethiopian coffee made in the traditional jibena.

 

On a side note this is my 4 year old friend Koki. I call him Koki monster.