Alpha Blondy;970324 wrote: inabti, i was playing hard to get, ma garatay? i knew you'd reject my invite so i decided to snub you before you'd snubbed Alz. it's my way of doing things, these days. it works ee sida uula soco. gacmo furan. mar kasta iyo meel kasta. Waad mahadsantahay huuno, and it's not a snub dee, my reasons are genuine and I certainly will take you up on the offer next time I'd like to go back to Jijiga this weekend if possible, but relatives may push me into staying a full week. But still some stuff to do in the kilil and my trip is coming to an end soon, scheduled to fly out on August 10

Alpha Blondy;970314 wrote: it would've been great to have taken Saffz around the town. you know, to show her the sights and the underbelly of the city . i could've done with the company too, really. balse, its Ramadan......and like i said many times, i couldn't really meet her, maybe next time. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL Aww next summer when I'm here longer I'll take you up on that, maybe I'll start off with a visit to SL before heading to Ethiopia so I'm not here during Ramadan

Alpha Blondy;970290 wrote: a character, yeah? Haa hay

Nin-Yaaban;970286 wrote: Safferz, did you meet Alpha in Hargeisa? What is he like? LoooL Nah, I only got here this afternoon and I doubt I'll be able to see him or any other non-relatives I know here this trip, since my time is short and I have a lot of family here that have plans for me. But I'm back each year, maybe I'll see this Alpha character next time

Alpha Blondy;970283 wrote: haha........... you're an illegal and i might have to capitalise on this vulnerability, ma garatay?. you could've called me and i would have spoken to the guys at Wajaale for you. too bad, ma istidhi? yaa ka masuul ah while you're here, inabti? Don't make me dig up the post where you refused to pick me up :mad: I'm at my ayeeyo's place for a few days, but I probably won't do a whole lot besides make the mandatory rounds to see family members and take advantage of having internet access (and running water, a hot shower, electricity after midnight, not having to walk outside with a flashlight to use the toilet, etc etc). Then it's back to kilil 5 for my last two weeks

Alpha Blondy;970280 wrote: afur was very basic. 5/10. I'd also give my afur a 5/10, and I'm being generous because I'm glad to be in H-Town. I wasn't expecting the tuulos in kilil 5 to outdo caasimada

Will do, nuune Alpha Blondy;970246 wrote: :D fiican fiicaan indeed. xalaada? soo dhad dhag maha? illegally? no SL plated GT car, miyaa? #welcome to Hargeisa. where players pray and we read them thangs like everyday. big beats are not allowed, gangsta's hardly roll. and parties usually stop before Ramadan (commercing thereafter:p) : I did have an Ethiopian government vehicle get me to Wachale, Ethiopia dee, but from there I walked myself and got to the Somaliland cars to Hargeisa. In hindsight probably not the best decision since I'm going to have to do that again to re-enter, since I don't have any documentation of ever having left Ethiopia and entered Somaliland. Good to be back in SL

Alpha Blondy;970238 wrote: alla hoogey oo ba’ayeey waa Saffz :D:D :D Ma fiicantahay Alphow? I'm here illegally, but I am here.

Alla hooyoy waa Hargeisa :D

Alpha Blondy;967523 wrote: at this rate, you'd meet anyone, anywhere, anytime, ya? some people have lost sight of reality, ya? cajiib. wax yaahas waa laga ficaanyahay. waana iga taalo. I'm not meeting you dee I'm out as well... hope to be in Hargeisa around August 1st, you guys will hear from me then. Ramadan kareem everyone

Reeyo;967517 wrote: Saf, no worries, I personally like the little white buses but most western folks find them difficult. Inshallah I might be around next year, Do let me know if you're around Next year is my learn Amharic properly mission lol

Alpha Blondy;967512 wrote: ^ why are you using it, marka? :mad: Horta we've only ever established who my reer abtiyaal are, but how do you know my other half is not OG, or HAG, or Habesha for that matter? Reeyo;967511 wrote: If your travelling my bus, stick to skybus. Otherwise hire a driver and car, it's cheap, especially if you get people to pool. Avoid the little white buses, especially if the driver say's we driving at night. ILLEGAL and all high fools. Otherwise I pray you'r enjoying Harar, please tell me you went to Shiekh Abdar's place and met the Somali sufi order there. Best people. I took the little white buses, and sat squished at the front between the driver and another man, so I had a wonderful view of the cliffs we'd roll off as the driver sped down the mountain. I'm afraid I didn't get to see Sheikh Abdar's place, I didn't spend nearly as much time in Harar as I should have, but I'll be back next year and each year since Harar is where a lot of important archives are located for the region.

Alpha Blondy;967504 wrote: ^ what is this ''agah'' ? is that an inside sort of joke? You're not familiar with agah, Alphow? It's an expression of surprise that you only hear from OGs lol

Haatu;967490 wrote: Safferz, I dare you to use Agah when you're in Hargeysa. Let them think you've gone mad with your time in the Hawd. Will do

Alpha Blondy;967480 wrote: isn't your ayeyo's house infested with cockroaches and other such unpleasantness? balse, one things for sure.........those cockroaches will be eating this Ramadan, ma istidhi? LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL Agah, you seem to have forgotten the pics of the house I posted in the SL photo thread a while back, and she owns several Ayeeyday caadhi ma'aha dee.

Alpha Blondy;967472 wrote: you're just being ridiculous now. i bet y'all will be having 2 samosa's per person at your ''ayeyo's house'' for the first 28 days, then 3 samosa's per person thereafter. can you confirm? also, like i said, i'll be going into seclusion, for the purposes of observing the fast (6 samosa's per ONLY person ), this year. that is ALL you need to inaad la socotid. nothing else. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL What are you trying to say Alphow :mad:

Alpha Blondy;967466 wrote: aar bal tan eega? i beg you send me the abstract of your fieldwork. i would love to read it for purely amusement purposes. it probably reeks of 19th century colonial 'othering' . LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL :D

Alpha Blondy;967465 wrote: don't bother coming here with cheap excuses. kulaaha ''ayeyo''. inabti, miyaad isku xishootid and STOP the pathetic excuses for once in your life, ma garatay?. Wanaag Farista iyo Xuman Reebida will be roaming the streets of Hargeisa and will probably catch you in the act, as you in indulging in your 'western-isms''. shameful. stay away you little goat. :cool: I had a week to shake off my Western/reer magaalo needs in Harar and Dire Dawa dee. Hargeisa is a good mix, not nearly as traditional and conservative as some of the places I went in kilil shanaad, but of course I behave accordingly Plus it's Ramadan, I will probably just spend a few days with my family and NOT hanging out with you, ee sida ula soco.

I booked a flight to Jijiga tomorrow morning because of my terrifying experience on the bus between Harar and Dire Dawa, with a driver who sped and tried to pass trucks on the road winding down the mountains around Harar. I didn't even take photos of the beautiful landscape because I was certain that it would distract the driver and send us tumbling over the edge. Never again :mad: Going rural again, so I'll probably be offline for another few weeks until I'm back in Jijiga, or in Hargeisa. Ramadan Kareem y'all

Tallaabo;967399 wrote: You should have consulted me before you bought your ticket Saffy :mad: I would surely have told you to buy your ticket directly from the airline via their website. I know it because I learned my lesson the hard way (losing $750 after missing a flight). Damn It's a pain in the @ss for sure, and their staff were really clueless and unhelpful when I went to the Dire Dawa office this morning, they probably shuffled me around to six or seven different people before they told me there's nothing they can do. I don't think I've ever heard of an airline that won't let you change your ticket for a fee, but EA won't let me upgrade my domestic ticket to an international one.

Arghhh Ethiopian Airlines won't let me switch my Jijiga-Addis flight to Berbera-Addis, and they won't refund the ticket so I can buy another one since I bought it from a travel agency originally. So now the question is whether or not to go to Hargeisa for a few days and come back, and when. It's a hassle, it's Ramadan, and it's a rough trip, but I'd like to go see ayeyo

Alpha Blondy;967229 wrote: ^ i was desperate ee naga daa......... balse it appears that this particular shukaansi failed, ma istidhi? Not at all, internet is just really crappy here and for some reason I'm not always able to access SOL. I think I'm going to leave Dire Dawa on Tuesday, I'm getting bored here and the men are awful

^^ the channel that Hargeisa receives is ESTV, Ethiopian Somali TV, but I was referring to the national channel ETV that features everything including Somali music. But you're right, ESTV is an interesting and often strange channel to watch, you can see how the state is trying to integrate Somalis into the national fold and the Ethiopian nationalism can be a little unsettling at times. I like dhaanto a lot though, I even made this my ringtone (Somaliland Allow Dhowr was last summer's tune for my SL SIM )

Alpha Blondy;967059 wrote: gartay. i'll be officially going into seclusion for the month of Ramadan inshallah, ma garatay? i'm afraid, i wont be able to meet you Huuno ee sida uula soco. That's too bad So I've been watching a lot of Ethiopian TV (ETV) these last few days... they feature traditional music from all of Ethiopia's ethnic groups, and I have to say the Somali videos are BY FAR the best, although I must admit I'm also quite fond of eskesta. Dhaanto y'all.

Odey;966942 wrote: Tune in for statistics on the "fat child" syndrome in H town. Not everything is development! At least western countries can afford healthcare as a result of explosion in obesity linked diseases such as diabetes, hypertension etc. but H town and Somalis in general cannot afford such healthcare. What should be encouraged is eating healthy and fighting "Fat". If I were a resident of H town, I would protest this development! Traditional Somali food is also full of sugar and fat, perhaps even moreso than most Western cuisines. The difference is that people back home stick to three regular (and unprocessed) meals a day, most people do not have a fridge with food sitting around to 'graze' from and snack on constantly, and Somalis are generally more physically active than Westerners in their everyday routines.