Arrival in Addis…
Alex September 14th, 2008
Touched down in Addis Abeba at about 2am this morning, after a slightly delayed flight. The plane was pretty full, but we stopped in Amman (Jordan) where most people got off, so there was pretty much only VSO volunteeers left on the plane for the last leg, plus 10 or people from Vision Aid.
So far I think I’m the only person whose bags weighed in at under 20kg, our limit was 46kg each and there was no way I was bringing that much, though some people even manged to be over this limit. I’m wondering if there’s either lots of stuff I’ve forgotten, or they’re nt used to travelling light(ish)?
After a bit of faffing around with loading the bus up with our bags (maybe the weight of them had something to do with it!), we arrived at the Ethiopian Red Cross Training Centre at 4am, so almost straight to bed, though I didnt feel that tired, good job too as was woken up almost every hour by various things going on in the street outside, firstly call to prayer, then dogs and cockerels, and finally a football game in the street outside.
The rooms here are nice, clean and comfy (even hot showers) and we’ll be here for just over a week on our ‘in country training’ course, then the IT volunteers have a 2 day workshop before heading to our placements around 26/27 Sept.
The training center is in a little compound, so I took a little walk earlier as hadn’t had chance to see much from the bus in the dark. Have figured that we’re in the south east of Addis and quite near Bole airport. The streets around seem fairly chaotic (though nothing like I’ve seen in Cairo or Hanoi), reckon you could buy pretty much anything you want or need within a few minutes walk. I know the stereotype is for Africans to carry things on their heads but I didn’t expect to see a guy carrying a single bed on his head, followed by another guy with a mattess. Not sure if this is coincidence, good planning or worrying, but the local fire extinguisher shop is between 2 petrol stations.
I still feeling quite calm and relaxed, looking forward to getting up to Mekelle, which I guess is a good thing!
The internet connection is incredibly slow – 3 of us are sharing a 33kbps connection – so not sure how regularly I’ll be able to keep blogging!!
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Alex Little. Licensed under
I’m hooked: keep blogging and twittering. Hope you have a good onward journey!
Yo Alex!!! Great to hear u got there ok, we will be following you with interest. I am very very jealous, what an adventure!
p.s. u will be missed!!!
Glad you’ve arrived safely and settling in, GOOD LUCK!
Hey!!
Good to hear you arrived fine!
You know… after all, the head is not just for thinking.. it’s also good for moving home, etc. If you had used your head like this guys do, I reckon you could have brought up to the 45Kg limit
It’s really nice to read these anecdotes so please try and keep blogging about your experience!
Take care and all the best,
Carlos
Glad you arrived safely and hope the training goes well!
Lathe is working well.
Hope the training is going ok. Looking forward to the next update!
Glad to here you got there okay, sounds great, the beginings of an adventure! Keep posting as you have a growing audience, it’s even been distributed on Alan’s list
Hope the adventure continues with more enjoyment than hassle.
My Aunt who did 4 years with VSO in Kenya in the 60s was discussing this morning buying a fold up boat – so I guess the adventurous spirit will never leave you. I hope not – “Boldly go …” and all that!
Cheers,
Martyn