http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Ethiopia , Addis Ababa Region en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:51:57 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:51:57 +0000 Going HomeOn the last morning I have a few hours to kill before I have to go to the airport. I have not yet seen a fridge magnet or a local football shirt anywhere so I set off into the center of Addis by turning left out of the hotel in search of these. I think it's a sign that the Ethiopian tourist industry is only just starting that they haven't started making tacky fridge magnets yet. I th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-454831.html Museums Monuments Cathedrals and the Pink School MuseumsAll the group is here now the last 3 people arrived during the night. We are supposed to meet at 9a.m. for a tour of Addis Ababa but there is no bus yet. We wait in the hotel reception while Baty organises a bus. The film Zulu is showing on the TV in reception seems an odd choice for Ethiopian TV to showEventually a bus arrives and http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-453877.html My mom has informed me that my blog entries are overly negative or always end on a bad note so I've resolved that this one will be only good...which is easy because I can't think of anything bad that has happened in the last week. In Kampala I stayed with a young Rwandan man who grew up in Uganda and had strangely worked on the film crew of Last King of Scotland and so had pictures with all the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-451684.html Sevastapol At breakfast on Sunday we are joined by 2 more members of the tour group who have just arrived from the airport. Matt has not slept in over 24 hours but still decides to join us for a stroll around Addis Ababa. Jane votes for sleep.Nick and I have both read Philip Marsden's book The Barefoot Emperor about Emperor Tewderos. We are both very keen to find the replica of Sevastapol th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-450241.html Hotel AwrarisOn first appearance the hotel seems a bit shabby but it's just about what I expected. The hotels I'll be staying in are described as midrange but that is midrange by Ethiopian standards. The room seems to be clean and the staff here are really friendly. I have one of those showers where you can never be sure if you're going to get wet or get electrocuted when you stand under it. B http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-450232.html Flying to Addis Ababa The first daygetting from home to Addis Ababa was always going to be a long one. But it's even longer than it needs to be because of the choices I have taken. The cheapest flight my travel agent could find was with Emirates so I have flown further East than I needed to in order to spend some time waiting in Dubai before coming back West to Addis Ababa.Secondly I've broken http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-449944.html The past weekend was a religious holiday in Ethiopia. Meskel is the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration commemorating the discovery of the True Cross by Queen Eleni Saint Helena in the fourth century. The day is spent preparing for the evening service where people gather firewood for their bonfires buy daisies for decorative purposes and typically dress in white clothing. It is generally a peaceful http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-440825.html Not a drop to drink. Ethiopia is considered the birthplace of coffee and legend has it that Kaldi the shepherd first discovered the effects of the illusive drink in the ancient province of Kaffa when his goats became strangely hyperactive after feasting on the red cherry. Nevertheless despite its heritage and reputation as one of the worldrsquos finest producers the coffee in Ethiopia leaves a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-439891.html Dette er s mit frste officielle indlg. Jeg er blevet bedt om at stte mig ind i hvordan det hele fungerer INDEN jeg tager af sted hvilket giver mening. Tak far. Under mit ophold vil jeg s ofte som det er muligt holde jeg underrettet om hvordan jeg har det hvad jeg laver om jeg stadig lever og om hvor meget jeg savner jer alle sammenStay tuned xDMaria. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-439367.html Photos of our trip to Babogaya Lake and surrounding area. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-427397.html I returned to the states about 2 weeks ago and Susie and James returned about a week ago. Since returning back I have settled in at home spending time with my mom and visiting friends and family. I have also had a chance to process the lessons I've learned in Ethiopia and how I can apply those lessons to medical school. Perhaps the biggest firsthand realization I had is that I am not the own http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-426014.html Ruta writing...It is always fun to see the joy that donations bring. Here are photos from the distribution of donations of shoes and socks from my colleagues in Accenture. Upon seeing some of our past pictures from Ethiopia on their own initiative Rob and Beth organized a shoe collection drive. They gathered sports shoes cleats and baby shoes. These children live in tin shacks in our area or th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-417343.html Lukas writing...At home America when we went to Lithuanian school on Saturdays we learned how to dance some Lithuanian folk dances. Here in Ethiopia people dance very different. Here people mostly dance alone but sometimes they dance with two people in pairs. When people dance in pairs usually there is one man with one woman in front. They look at each other first over one shoulder then ove http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-416835.html Kovas writinghellip It was a tough day at my summer job teaching at the Somalian School. On my way home my head hurt and I was physically tired. As a taxi finally arrived I got into the front seat and waited to get to my destination. Our taxi driver stopped at the side of the road to drop off a few people. Since there was a parked car in front of him he had to veer into the left lane of t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-416750.html Kovas writinghellipNo I didnrsquot feed a sibling to the hyenas at the city of Harar but I did hand feed the wild hyenas meat. It was crazyThere is actually a man whose job it is to feed hyenas in the walled city of Harar in eastern Ethiopia. Every night he goes to a certain place and shouts a continuous call to attract the hyenas. He throws meat to them. Courageously he also hangs the s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-416734.html Just some observations...Traveling on the other side of the world shows you how things can be so different then what we are use too and also shows you how many things are exactly the same.These are just a few observations that I found interesting. Bottleshellip glass returnable bottles that some of us remember from our youth. You actually need a bottle opener to open them. They are totall http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-414791.html Kovas writinghellipAt fifteen years old my first job is not caddying or working at McDonalds but itrsquos teaching Somali citizens displaced in Addis Ababa. I have been working for over a month. I like it and Irsquom good at it. I am a teacher at the Shiloh International School which has students from Saudi Arabaia Egypt Dubai and many from Somalia. This is one of the few schools they http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-414766.html Black LionThe largest hospital in all of Ethiopia is Black Lion. I again was granted unlimited access to video and photograph the conditions of this public facility. Black Lion is the last referral hospital in Ethiopia if your illness requires more care then what they can offer the next place you will go is Nairobi Kenya and from there to South Africa. This hospital sees approximately 37000 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-413351.html I must write this quickly since I am to be downstairs to head to the airport 4am. First today was a happy day at the hotel American couples just arrived back from meeting their children for the first time which they are adopting. Many happy expected parents walked the lobby with joy on their faces. Most of these couples I talked to were adopting older children between 4 and 6. Those are the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-410259.html Today is June 11 here 2001hellip yes that is right 2001. The Ethiopia calendar has 13 months and all the months have 30 days except a short month that has 5 or 6hellip Yes confusing.Tonight I went to dinner with my very good friend here that helped me start on this quest to save the world. So I blame him for all these pie eyed ideas I have. Anyway he ldquotriedrdquo to explain the E http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-409943.html