Ethiopia Day 1

Today I saw three donkeys walking down the side of a highway.I saw a naked man next to a bus station. I saw a mini bus being pushed by five fellows to start the engine but stopping regally everytime they pushed their bus into another bus. I saw people strolling nonchalantly across five lane highways and I saw cows being herded with a stick next to the airport. I saw the only two working traffic lights in a city of five million, including one where an old woman just walked right out in front of a green light probably because she'd never seen a working one before.

I drank water out of a bottle, because if I didn't I'd be vomiting out of the wrong end for a week. I saw people carrying enormous steel poles across streets for unfathomable reasons. I saw wooden scaffolding wrapped around a hundred concrete building shells (halfway finished because they ran out of concrete). I saw houses made out of mud and I saw mansions in the hills. I drove past a hole in a wall that turned out to be an off-license. I was patted down by a stern looking guard before entering the post office. Amanda wasn't allowed inside said post office because she had her camera with her.

I learnt that the average waiter earns 400 birr a month (16 pounds). I learnt that beer costs 20 pence. I learnt that the students at university here don't pay any fees or have to buy their own food or pay for accommodation. I learn a lot of Amharic words and promptly forgot them. I ate delicious food in our villa up on Addis Ababa's skyline. I saw a thunderstorm and sheet lightning. We were caught in a freak rainstorm. I learnt that car prices rise the older and more crap your car gets. I heard the sounds of the orthodox church being broadcast across the twilight city. I drank lots of tea and sat on terraces. I broke a chair. I helped change a tyre on a car. I met Frank and Tesfahun. I marvelled at how different life is in this city. I waved at kids who called me Ferenge (foreigner) with smiles on their faces. I ate, fish, soup, pasta, bread, avocado and tomato and I watched the news.

I am now going to bed.

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