Arrival in Addis

Hello traveling friends!

As many of you have already heard, I’ve arrived in Addis Ababa safely and I’m ready for the adventure to continue. My flight from Toronto to Addis was fairly unexciting. One highlight was during the 6 hour layover in Heathrow (London), Eric and I left the airport, hopped on the tube and went to see the parliament buildings, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. It was pretty fun. Though after the 2 hours of travel time on the tube we only had about 50 minutes to explore above ground. Regardless, it was great to get outside, walk around and enjoy a bit of London.

Arrival in Addis was early on the morning of the 14th (local time). I haven’t quite adjusted to this time zone yet. It’s about 9 hours ahead of Manitoba time so it’s a bit of an adjustment. Life is different from Canada but so far I like it. The relationship is much more important than the task here. Watching out my bedroom window, I can see a bunch of people working on what looks like an apartment building. No one is working alone. There are always at least 2 people working side-by-side and chatting away. Sometimes it would look by western standards that they are standing about doing nothing, but the job does get finished. There was visible progress between yesterday and today so their method of work is definitely effective.

Just incase anyone is wondering, the weather is beautiful out here. It’s nice and hot in the sunshine but a refreshing breeze blows over you in the shade. I am amazed by the array of vegetation growing in Addis. It is very different from Manitoba (especially when the ground is covered by snow!!). There are many exotic smelling and looking flowers that I am enjoying out in the garden within the compound that I live in.

I will be working on getting pictures up on this blog soon, but I have yet to take pictures of Ethiopia. I was instructed by some people who have been here before to just take the first week or two to get used to life and try to build some relationships before pushing a camera in everyone’s face. So please be patient with me. Pictures should be coming soon.

I’m sure there is much more that I could write but I’m still feeling the effects of jet-lag and I want to save something to share with you all next time I write. Hopefully tomorrow I will learn more of what my place will be at Deborah house here in Addis.

Bye for now!