Never in the history of ...

I am going this afternoon at 2PM to the bank with someone from MoFED. They are depositing my expenses into a local account in birr. As recently as last week, I was told that a local bank account is unheard of so it should be interesting to see how this goes. Based on my experience at the mercado Saturday, I have stopped carrying around my passport. More than likely the visit to the bank today will be derailed by my not having my passport with me. I have started carrying my driver's license with a list of emergency contact numbers including the Canadian embassy.