As promised our friend Liz has secured housing and a cell phone for us while in Addis Ababa...And from the description of our new home it's more beautiful and more than we could have imagined. Upon Liz's arrival and through friends of friends we are renting from a woman who works for the UN and is leaving for the summer. It's 5 minutes from public taxi access, and quick 20 minute walk to the commercial area of Bole. With 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a garden, and a nice big hangout area- it sounds absolutely perfect. It's just good to know that we will have a wonderful home base...Liz, you never disappoint!!
In addition to finding fantastic housing, Liz has been busy. She's managed to meet up with some friends at Cherokee, an old friend from college, one of Elena's friends, and even made it to an ex-pat party. Judging from her e-mail typed at probably 700 words/minute punctuated with exclamation points and vague references to not being able to sleep due to her excitement- our friend Liz is outdoing herself :)... She's also collected some key pieces of information: Bring shower curtains, towels and a hairdryer.
John has arrived despite a long journey and with half the team safely getting settled I am counting down the days until I will join them. We'll miss Liz, because she'll be back in Durham just as we leave, but maybe we'll cross paths in the air!
The other half of the team prepares...This weekend we went to DC and at the Smithsonian Museum of African Art and amidst the extensive Tishman/Walt Disney Collection gathered some ideas of what types of handicrafts sell in the US, in addition we saw Kenyan coffee beans packaged with hopeful stories of the growers printed on the bags and the hamsters on the wheel started working overtime...Picked up a new book called 28 stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolen, at only67 pages in it's already hearbreaking and powerful.
More updates to follow...
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Nice post! I am reading a beautiful book called "Three cups of tea" about one mans journey to brings schools into the isolated parts of the Himalayan mountains in Pakistan. A nice view into the culture and how one spiritual framework (Islam) fits within the harsh environments of the Himalayans. I also read another wonderful book called "Ancient futures" that describes life from the Ladakh perspective (Budhist).
This one is cast more as a hero's tale. Well written.
With warmth:
-John
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