Monday, 31 October, 2022 – Elias accomplished two good things today: he sent home his winter clothes and he ate Ethiopian food, quite a bit, from the sounds of it.
He corresponded with me about the shipment home. He thought, and I agreed, lugging around a winter coat and sweaters in 80-degree Thailand was unnecessary. He has his rain coat and some sort of pullover, in case it gets to 65 degrees in the mountains at night. (That’s another thing Elias has the hang of: translating Celsius to Fahrenheit quickly.) It is hard to know what the hostels will be like for him to store his stuff and how much backpacking he will be doing. Having a lighter, smaller backpack on the trains and buses will be a good thing, I am sure.
The Ethiopian food he wrote to David about. They had a conversation about the challenges of baking injera, the right sort of flour, how to get the right consistency, etc. Had Elias written to me, my incisive commentary would have amounted to, “Ooooh, I love injera!”
I am not sure what else he did today; whatever it was, he sounded good. Here are the pictures he sent.
Based on the pictures of the menu and restaurant interior, I think he went to Ethiopia Restaurant. That’s the name – can’t get clearer than that, right? It is about 2 km from his hostel and very affordable.
I know eating with your hands is not everyone’s preference. If you can get past the no-utensils thing, the food is unlike any other food I have ever had, in a good way. There is a place here in Downtown Overland Park, called Elsa’s, run by Elsa and her family. I thought for sure it would not survive the pandemic, but it did. I cannot remember if Annika has been there. I remember distinctly going there with Elias because he was only 13 and impressed Elsa with his enjoyment of her food. (Elsa takes the orders, tells you what you should eat, and then comes out to ask you what you liked about her food. She’s very warm, friendly … and direct.)