New Feature: Monday Round Up
The clock keeps on ticking and the weeks are flying by. After 10 weeks of somewhat-long, heartfelt posts from Addis, we’ve had enough requests to circle back around that I’m adding a new feature - the Monday (Addis or Elsewhere) Round Up. The aim being shorter spins around subjects new or already introduced. The amount of new material we’ve encountered certainly calls for a punchier bundle of shtick. So in no particular order, here goes:
Taken at the ISSEA Track and Field Championships in Kampala, Uganda by an uncredited photographer (thanks for sharing).
Maya’s back from Uganda. The entire ICS team performed brilliantly, as we’ve heard recapped from multiple sources. The headlines include an overall Team 1st Place the Girls, and overall 2nd Place for the Boys. Individually impressive stories across the board. Maya may well give a better recap (her storytelling abilities are definitely not “trash” - the term that’s recently come to dominate the 9th grade lexicon). Her backlog of homework takes priority. Rest easy knowing that she scored (in the top 8) for all three of her events. She’s exhausted. It was an epic trip.
Our U.S. Embassy “whistleblower” look. And, yes, that is a microphone expertly hidden on the frames of my glasses.
Sarah and I attended our first semi-official U.S. Embassy outing this weekend. People really go all out for their annual Halloween Costume Party. We went as the previously unidentified “whistleblowers” (see every U.S. political headline since mid-September). We tracked down two coaches whistles at a small sporty store in our neighborhood, which was the best 7-ish bucks we’ve spent in ages. We danced a bunch, I took a ton of horrible pics, and a staffer dressed as a cowgirl gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up after being told what we were meant to be. Mission Accomplished.
We moved late last week from one apartment to the other on same floor of our building. We’ve upgraded, as a result. It’s a bigger, better place with a new array of largely-comical construction issues. All cared for by the same generally sweet crew of people. Unlike many of our “ferengi” friends who are posted in Addis for longer stints, we’ve gone the easy route of getting a newly-built, furnished apartment instead of a house full of quirky potential. Furnished or not, we’ve continued to acquire possessions where we’d hoped to downsize. We’ll face nothing like shipping a “container” full of possessions to the next posting when we pull up stakes next summer. But we will still have to figure out how to ship some stuff.
Speaking of shipping, I haven’t ventured back to get my postal service mailbox. But now that Sarah’s gotten her work permit and resident ID, the time for that update is coming. The wheels of bureaucracy grind slowly here. They do, however, sometimes actually turn.
For those more concerned with the complex political and security concerns facing Ethiopia as next year’s election approaches, we are monitoring the news steadily. I thought the opportunity might arise last week to cross paths with the NYTimes reporter working in Addis. I’m also hopeful that the most prolific reporter for The Economist/Guardian/etc. might be approachable. If they come across this, please take me up on the open offer of a coffee anytime/anywhere. The reality is that Addis is insulated from the broader concerns in other parts of the country, especially in the parts of the city we frequent. Here’s hoping that continues to be the case through May’s national election.
We’ve booked some trips for the next few months. As Africa’s biggest airline, Ethiopian Airlines operates regular routes to a massive wish list of places for us. Next up for us will be Kigali, Rwanda in November.
My biggest disappointment so far is how little time I’ve spent out with my new camera. I’m planning to rectify that soon by hooking up with a group of folks who go out shooting most weekends. The photo projects I most want to pursue are:
Collecting portraits of the myriad of taxi drivers we see and use regularly (waiting in an unofficial taxi stand area near our apartment building on Sarbet or Pushkin Square). I’m fascinated by the way the blue and white taxis (or “blue donkeys”) are decorated with a combination of religious iconography, loosely drawn corporate symbols, and random stickers with all sorts of meanings. There’s also sticker of a young punk’s spiked-haired profile that I want to learn the provenance of at some point.
The rusty, ragtag array of TV satellite dishes that we see from our apartment windows (look at the main photo on this post) represent but a small sample of the millions of dishes in Addis. My photo holy grail will be a dish dump and/or supplier. Consider me on the hunt.
Our latest Sunday run up in hills around Addis took us back to Millenium Park. Our guide, Mezgebu, told me a few weeks ago that he generally runs 30-40 km a day. Most of which surely in the hills around 3000m elevation where we’ve been running around 10km on trails. I have yet to see Mezgebu sweat. He’s recently run marathons in Norway and France. He’s a machine. And super sweet to all of us weekend warriors. Speaking of which, Sarah and I are running the Great Ethiopian Run’s International 10K in November. It starts at Meskel Square and loops around Addis. Last year’s race drew 44,000 runners from all over the world (it’s the biggest 10K in Africa). Just getting a chance to see the super-elite runners buzzing out front will satisfy one of my goals while we’re here.
Sarah’s become a big All Blacks fan, not just for their thrilling “haka” performances before matches.
