Addis Ababa

I made it to Ethiopia, which I've been looking forward to for the past six months of my trip. It doesn't feel like home, I guess, but the idea of what home feels like is something I'll need to redefine anyway, so that shouldn't be surprising. Instead, it just feels normal. I got off the plane and felt normal, I met my dad and sister and some other friends at the airport and felt normal, and we drove to familiar places and ate familiar food, and that felt normal too. It was amazing.

Being back in Ethiopia has been great so far. Normally, this is a very difficult country for people to travel in. It remains extremely un-Westernized, few people speak English, and it's a very atypical country in general, even by African standards, with a very distinct culture, language, and geography. I've found that the language has come back to me very quickly, and I can understand most basic conversations, though my ability to articulate lags a little behind. I'm able to read about 75% of the written language, too. I'm also fortunate to have a number of connections here, which has already been very helpful in accomplishing some of the things I was hoping to do.

There are two ATMs in the country, and I figured out which one actually works the other day, which was great. ATMs have sort of spawned like rabbits in the rest of the world, and I've never had trouble finding one until now. I'm glad they have some here... otherwise, I would've had to like...wire myself some money. That's right - wire. Does anyone even do that anymore? It's on par with sending someone a message by telegraph in my mental technology hierarchy. ARRIVED ETHIOPIA STOP SEND CHOCOLATE STOP

You would think some things might change in 10 years, but Ethiopia's internet connectivity really hasn't. For some reason it took me threedays of trying various connections (and listening to the modem sound... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeagaaaagghghhhhhhh deeeeedodeedodeeeeedooooooo blaghghghgaldkgkdgjk) before I could connect to my Gmail account and try to catch up a bit. This is what happens when public services are controlled entirely by the government. I guess DSL lines technically are available, but they cost about $350/month for a 128k connection, and you can only get one if the phone company feels like running a cable out to your house. The government has also seen fit to capriciously block various sites, which they probably started doing when they realized that they could and that it might be fun, which means I can post to my blog, but I can't actually go and read it.

Further complicating my life is the fact that all of these computers use Internet Explorer 6, which is the software equivalent of a tin can and string telephone. I'd download a different browser, but that would take about two days. Maybe I can get someone to mail me a new on a floppy disk. The end result is that all of the web pages I load look like what happens to a birthday cake when you leave its box on its side and then sit on it. It's a disappointing thing when you have to wait five minutes for that to load. It doesn't look like I'll be putting up new pictures anytime soon. I'll try to stay in touch when I can.

The joys of Ethiopia are not its technological capabilities, but there are many other things to keep one entertained. I remember when I moved back to the US from here as a kid; I was annoyed that I could never find a rock to throw at things that I needed to throw rocks at. These are the natural pleasures of man - rocks and trucks and dirt and food with lots of meat - and they're all available here. After a few days of worrying about not being able to keep up with my urgent online life, I realized that nothing in my life is actually urgent. Life moves much more slowly here, and it's nice to be able to kick back and go with the flow. Trying to do something other than the flow is really the only thing that'll get you in trouble here, so I guess I don't have any other choice.

I remembered a scene in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness when the main character, Marlowe, visits a doctor before preparing to leave for West Africa. The doctor advises him to avoid irritation more than exposure to the sun. Nothing produces mental darkness - the kind that creeps up on you without you realizing it - like prolonged irritation does. To be honest, India irritated me immensely. Ethiopia doesn't. I'm realizing how hard the five weeks I spent in India really were now that I'm out.

I spent the last week with my dad and sister, and was able to spend a couple of days attending the leadership training my dad was doing with local Christian church leaders from a number of denominations. It was a very interesting thing to be a part of. Prospects for the rest of my two months here are looking good so far. On arrival, I was fortunate to find that a good friend of our family is going to be spending two weeks traveling around southwest Ethiopia, and leaving on Thursday. He's planning on visiting some of the furthest places accessible (accessible is a generous term) by four wheel drive to encourage Christian evangelists in those areas. Southwest Ethiopia, near the Kenya/Sudan border, is one place that remains 'real' remote tribal Ethiopia. You may have seen pictures of tribes like these - try a Google image search for "mursi tribe" and you'll get some idea. My family used to live that area, and I've been dying to go back and take another look since we left some 11 years ago. Incredibly, he was looking for a buddy to go along on the trip with him, so I'm going to be spending those two weeks visiting all the places in the south that I had hoped to go to. I was hoping to visit one or two of them if I got lucky.

PSA: I'll be out of touch with technology (correspondingly very in touch with the real world) from the 12th through the 26th. If the world ends you can get a hold of my parents. They'll try to get in touch with someone in Addis Ababa, who will try to get in touch with someone relatively near me by short wave radio, who will try to get in touch with me if I show up at their place in the next couple of days.

Following my trip to the south, I plan to spend at least a couple of weeks in northern Ethiopia. Northern Ethiopia remains predominantly Ethiopian Orthodox, and I'm hoping to spend some time in traditional rural areas as well as the historical heart of Ethiopian Orthodoxy in Axum and Lalibela. No one does Orthodoxy the way it's done in Ethiopia, and it should be fascinating.

I love this country. The coffee is incredible, and if I could describe it properly you would be jealous. Unfortunately (or fortunately for you) it wouldn't make any sense unless you've actually been here.