The first few days

The journey to Addis ... we were 1 hour late getting out of Ottawa which, in my recent experience, is "in effect" on time. The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful. I was asked to switch seats so a couple could sit together in a row where both seat-back screens worked. The flight attendant was very helpful and scored me a row with the aisle seat empty. Bonus for a trip across the Atlantic. Alas, all was not well with the row I moved to as the sound did not work on my screen. I tried Air Canada's headphones and they did not work either. I was thus, as a result of my helping out others, without the entertainment module in my seat. I did watch Woody Allen's Sleeper in my portable DVD player so all was not lost. That was followed by Roger Waters' the Wall in Berlin. I thought it quite appropriate to be watching this while flying into 21st century Germany.

Something else odd happened on the flight. At one point an attendant appeared, said "Pasta or chicken" to me, and proceeded to give me some food. The optimal word here is "give". I know the carriers are going to figure out some way to either charge for food on long-haul flights or make segments shorter to avoid having to give out anything for free. It reminds me of something Warren Capps told me ... he was once on a US Airways flight where their famous "express beverage service" was so fast he never even saw anyone.

The B-concourse is where I landed in Frankfurt and that is where my next flight was scheduled to depart. I ate and watched more of the Wall. My flight was leaving at 10:30AM so about 9:45 I thought it wise to mosey over to the screens to discover what gate I was at. I was told B41 so headed that way. They were already boarding flight 652 so I was bussed to the next A340 ... a massive piece of aviation hardware in the sardine line of equipment. This line of state-of-the-art machinery is designed to fit 6 people into an area of a fuselage designed for 1. When Sandy and I flew back from Frankfurt to Canada when we were in Italy (2007), we were treated to an older jet belonging to Lufthansa, obviously made before the sardine line became so popular. Now I rank the Lufthansa equipment in the same class as that used by our beloved Air Canada. With that said, the staff on Lufthansa took excellent care of us and I was given some German chocolates by one of the attendants after landing for being such a good sport in cocoon 46C at the back of the plane.

I almost scored my own aisle on the flight to Addis but the plane miraculously filled up at the last minute. I was in row 46, and treated to the smallest living quarters ever designed for an Airbus, probably specifically targeted for the geriatric North American to really appreciate Columbus' work in the 15th century. I discovered the jet was also stopping in Yemen and was informed the Addis touch-down was first. I watched a Vin Diesel movie on this voyage which set a record of more people being killed than grains of sand at Cavendish beach in PEI.

The flight to Addis was long, and I wondered what they were saying in German and whether it directly or loosely resembled what we were being told in English. I did not hook up with Paul as planned at Bole airport. I wandered around for about 30 minutes and ended up enacting plan C which was to taxi to the Hilton and spend the night there. On route, the driver offered to call Paul and we eventually hooked up with his driver. I ended up at the Dorsey household then after a bit was driven back to the Deker guest house which is where I am staying.

I figured out some quirks about the guest house and happily settled in for a remarkably good night's sleep. Top of my shopping list is clothes hangars. I also need distilled water, a SIM card for my cell phone, and an internet card which can wait. Addis is a modern city that is bustling with pedestrians and a plethora of Toyota vans being used for small-sized public transit. The STOP signs here, similar to my experience in Monterey Mexico, actually mean "SLOW DOWN and YIELD RIGHT OF WAY". I have been told the bandwidth on the internet is nowhere close to what we are used to in North America so we will see how that goes. I will post pictures as they become available, probably doing most of my heavy internet work from the office where the bandwidth is supposed to be better.

At 9:20 Sunday morning I was picked up by Dejere, the "driver", for breakfast at chez Paul. We proceeded to another apartment where we were to pick up another few people for the feast. We waited 45 minutes for them then were off to the repast. It was labelled as a "western breakfast" by the host and indeed it was. The couple we picked up was very nice and they have a 4 year-old son who is about a 13 on a cute scale of 1 to 10. The father, Abraha, as I found out, works at Addis Abebe university and Paul is trying to score some work with them for the future.

Dejere brought me back to Deker about 3PM and I lay down for a few minutes. Ha! Two hours later I woke up refreshed. It was raining when I was pondering going for a walk. Speaking of a walk ... I was told that there are not really addresses for anything in Addis. I suggested if I get "lost" that I simply hop in a cab and give the driver my address ... what address? I was told to memorize the name of a location very close to my house and ask to be dropped there then walk the rest of the way. I picked Eden mall building close to Deker and now can walk between the two with my eyes closed.

My walk was uneventful; I was politely accosted by a handful of beggars and marched on as told without acknowledging their requests. The sidewalks here can be treacherous after a rain. They are made from concrete paving stones, asphalt, or slightly-raised concrete slabs. The slabs ... watch out. They are as slippery as moss-covered rocks just below the surface of a fast-moving stream. The footing in general was not great and I will have to train myself to be cautious.

One of the things I was hoping to do is open a bank account for myself here. This was met by loud guffaws from the gang as nobody here has such an invention. I will be getting my expense component of my fees in cash every 15 days. I was told my employer here will gladly wire the consulting fees component in USD to a North American account (yippee!!!).

By the way the birr (abbreviated in the markets as ETB) is worth about 10 cents US. That is easy! The decimal system re-invented ... 500 birr is 50 dollars and 30 birr would be 3.

I had dinner at the Select bar/restaurant near my lodging. For 40 birr I had bottled water, Ethiopian naan bread (I will have to get its proper name), and a delicious stew of beef, tomatoes, green peppers, garlic, and a few other unknown (but scrumptious) tidbits. No utensils as expected and I was a good boy and only ate with my right hand. There was a serving spoon that came with the meal and a few times, when my server was not looking, I scooped some of the food into my mouth with the spoon. I did not get caught once as I would have been banned from the establishment for life.