Blogs from Addis Ababa Region, Ethiopia, Africa - page 5

Selam! 13 hours later we arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!!! We are in the airport waiting for out connecting flight to Nairobi, Kenya. It smells just like I remember :) i am sitting here looking at the mountains in the distance, the sun is bright and burning off the morning fog. What time is it? Haha. Flight was great! Got to watch the African sunrise out the plane window as we were landing. Wow. It didnt even look real. God was flexing for us. :) Was entertained watching all the beautiful children running up and down the isles during flight! Their beautiful honey brown flawless skin, big brown eyes, giggles, and adorable hair styles......I just want to scoop them up and take them home. That sounds creepy. It is so cool how the whole plane looked ... read more

We were up before 6 o'clock to get the bus out of Lalibela, but unfortunately this wasn't early enough. We were hoping to get to Addis Ababa in one day and this wasn't a good start. We had to get a Land Cruiser to take us to Gashena, which meant we ended up catching the public bus. We got on this bus, which was to take us to Dessie. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the bus and it struggled to get out of 2nd gear. At Woldia, we had to change to a minibus to take us the rest of the way to Dessie. This minibus was a lot quicker, but it started to lash down rain and made driving conditions pretty difficult. This didn't deter our driver from overtaking vehicles as we drove on ... read more

Our time in Addis got off to a rough start with a delay in our flight from Lalibella which caused our luggage to be put on the next flight! I spent about 45 minutes in that stressed-out state that frequent travellers know well: Watching fellow passengers gradually pick up their luggage and leave until you are the last one, then watching the empty carousel go round and round before finally coming to terms with the fact that your luggage is not going to appear through the plastic flaps. We were flying home toCanadathe next day and I have no idea if our luggage would have made it without us to transfer it. Thankfully we didn’t have to deal with all of that because it showed up on the next flight just as we were starting to ... read more

Happy holidays to everyone reading, I know its been a while since I updated, seems to be a reoccuring theme doesn't it? Everything here is going great, the second quarter is coming to a close and Ethiopian Christmas is quickly approaching(January 8th). With some of my classes I get the feeling like I am just a permanent substitute to the students. Not that I blame them, can you imagine a 3rd grade spanish class where the teacher only speaks in spanish?? In a way it is very good for the students as they have had to develop a good ear for listening to English, but still it can be frustrating at times. Their behavior is very poor some days, and since all I can do is yell at them in English(or use the few Amharic phrases ... read more

FACES OF ETHIOPIA. My interest in portrait photography started during travels in China and got serious in Tibet. I learnt a lot about sensibilities, effect and results. Not conversant with their languages...other than the odd line that would open doors...I developed a technique that I have used ever since...to encourage the subject to connect with the camera. I have taken photos of people surrepticiously or with consent. You can tell from your photos...portraits taken of someone who does not want to be photographed...they don't come out...not pleasing in the result. Then there are those that just look at you...and those that connect. I love Ethiopia...the people...the cultures...the amazing history...the music ...the dancing...the vibe. I am conscious of what I must represent as a mizungu...a white man...with a camera...on their turf...not mine. I unfortunately have that... read more