by: Abebush

well…..dunno how many of you live in DC and LA or any other big city with the Ethiopian population somewhat high, and complain every day how you hate seeing Habesha everywhere. Could I remind you that for the most part of your life, you lived in 100% habesha environment. So, why is that all of a sudden you develop a phobia l'ager sew??? Well let me tell you something, yebasse ale'nna agerhin atelQeQ…..oh yeah…

I live in Austin, Texas. According to Money magazine, it has been rated one of the best cities to live in the US for the last so many years. Don’t let that fool ya….oh yeah. It’s a trap; it can be best for John and Heather but if Abebush and Abebu move over here, better pack the Prozac, Zoloft, Zantac, Paxil, Celexa, lithium and its kind because you will definitely need them. Those will be your best friends for the years to come!!

Well, three kinds of Ethiopians live in Austin: the students who never really know the city that well for the campus can be easily be mistaken as the city. You can easily live four years in Austin and not really know the real Austin. UT is bigger than big.

Being a student at the second biggest university has its moments. If you were popular in high school, UT has a way of Mechelessing weha on popularity; before you know it, you just become, hey, a nobody. Basically, no one gives a hoop and you better deal with that. It will take some serious effort to be recognized by someone until the end of your junior year. Your biggest scream wont even amount to a slight whisper. There was this incident one day where this graduate student shot himself upstairs while I was in class; the professor stepped out to check the situation, came back and casually announced “a disgruntle graduate student just shot himself” and went straight back to the lecture. That did it for me…..wey ageray…wey emayiye. You can survive the four years somehow. On campus its easier to forge some sort of a social life. You know there is a way out at the end……. unless ….

Unless your guardian angel has held YeQoye Qime, and by some curse u manage to get a good job in Austin.

Then comes the second type: the single working class Ethiopians

Well that’s when you really get to know Austin. Oh Austin, the beloved Austin!!! You know most people want to stay here after graduation. I have to admit that for Texans it's heaven but for a typical kid like me, its gehannem…ere gehannem…before you know it u will become a regular at the local pharmacist, thanking arabaratun tabot for bottling happiness in a pill…….

If you are single and slightly desperate to find the Mr. adequate (note: I said adequate for adequate is good enough to get u thru the lonely, empty days.) That is unless u want to date Americans. As much as it sounds tempting, the idea of walking down the isle with your typical Texan, think Mr. George debiliya Bush, imagine him in a tux next to u at church, is a chilling thought….ere gedam…gedam bilewal seweyew. For the single females, the chances of Qomo meQret in Austin are up there. Every single ET guy in Austin, if there is any left, has a prospective wife tucked away somewhere, ready to move down here anytime. So chances are you will never meet your Mr. adequate in this town, well atleast I have not, so let me hang on to my bottle….

Then of course there are the married couple who love Austin and couldn’t possibly understand why you whine so much all the time. How could they??? Atleast they have someone to go to at the end of the day; besides, with the rug-rats running around, they don’t have the time to think about where they would be spending their Friday/Saturday evenings.

Weekdays are fine, with work keeping you busy, you come home all wiped out. Nevertheless, when Friday sneaks up on you, you wake up with an anxiety attack wondering what the heck is wrong with ya!! Then you reach out for that Paxil bottle because ur weekend will be spent either with some of ur Quasi ferenjie friends or getting a grub on at the ET couples place -- all you have to do is pretend that you adore their brats. After a while that gets old, too, and your weekend will be spent cleaning your place for the zillionth time, moving the shelf from one end of the corner to the other with the books u have accumulated from Barnes and Nobles (yeChigir Qen mesheshegiya). Oh, the days you call your friends in big towns, you have a cocktail…three pinks…seven greens…and one white ones..

How you long to have someone, someone with same interest or even a non Texan American who you don’t have to explain that Ethiopia is not a city in India. The Texans have mysteriously missed the 85 Live AID program. I have been tempted so many times to tell them ‘no Ethiopia…you know, the country known for poverty’ but why bring that upon myself and why even bother….

Amazingly though, Austin is loved by most. If you ask your typical American, they will give you tons of reason why they love Austin. If you imagine it to be flat and dusty like your typical Texas city, no, it is a bit hilly with different shrubby looking things that can be easily mistaken as trees. There are different yefernje activities such as lakes, mountains but that gets old after a while. At the end of the day it’s the company that counts. There is a huge Indian, Mexican, and Vietnamese population but I guess enesu yalgebubet gudguwad yelem and they stay within their own circle. Over all, it's still dominated by the WASP. Unfortunately the last I checked, I am an ET and there are not a whole lot of us here; if u have to narrow it down to age/interest/etc, forget it, that is a little on the meQenaTat side!

I ain't asking for much: just the option to see my peeps whenever I want, the chance to show up at my friends’ place unannounced, and occasionally to run into someone I know at the grocery. If possible, knowing my neighbors’ name, the one I have not seen for almost three years now. The anonymity is a killer…‘yes sometimes you want to go where everybody knows ur name’ somehow I feel deprived of that, manenetay tewito liQer new meseleNe!

People are nice and accommodating to some extent but considering to live out my life here…….wait.. wait…there is a need for a Paxil here, sewirenne…sewireene. As a friend of mine always says, Austin is “Hulay ehud yehonbet ager”; so if you are considering to move here, make sure your significant other comes down with ya, or I can refer u to my druggiee……