At home in Asmara: Part 1

With the first filing over, my life is slowly returning to normal. But what is "normal" for an American living in Eritrea? That is not an easy question to answer. Although my daily life here seems fairly dull and not particularly noteworthy, it in no way resembles the life I lead in the States. Therefore, I thought I would use this post to show you some of the fixtures in my daily life in Asmara so that you might better understand what I mean when I say my life is back to "normal."

I'm not sure which building, my house or my office, is the more important fixture in my life is Asmara. For the past three weeks, it has certainly been the office, but I decided to go ahead and put my house first. So, the photo above depicts the unit Anna and I occupy in a triplex in the Tira Volo neighborhood of Asmara.

Tira Volo is a very nice, fairly quiet (except for the Orthodox church) neighborhood. It is well established but at the same time, not one of the oldest neighborhoods in Asmara. As a result, it happens to be nice without being particularly noteworthy. Some of the older Italian neighborhoods, for example, stand out because of their Italian art deco architecture and colonial history. There has also been a lot of new construction on the outskirts of town, and many of these houses are very nice. They are noteworthy both because they are being bought by members of the Eritrean diaspora to be used as retirement or vacation houses and because they resemble suburban sprall in southern California. (This, of course, is helped by the fact that the climate and vegetation here are so similar to those found in southern California.)

The picture above is the street I live on. It is either called Baqala, Baqla, or Baqal street. I honestly have no idea because people don't use street addresses here. I think I have an address because this small shop down the street has its address posted outside. That's how I have some idea what my street is actually called. But I receive my mail at a P.O. Box, and when I give directions to my house, I tell people that I live between Alfa Supermarket and the Lion Hotel.


This other photograph is of two Eritrean women walking on a street that deadends at my house. These women are pretty typical middle-aged Tigrinya women. I suppose they are out running errands.

The population of my neighborhood seems to be dominated by Eritrean government employees, who live in government-owned houses like ours, and foreigners. As a result, several of the businesses in the neighborhood tend to cater to expats. The owners of Alfa Supermarket, for example, have made a killing ripping off foreigners. But even though I am totally aware of it, I still shop there.

That's all I have for now, but next time I'll tell you a little about my office and its environs.