On Friday, I moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to work for the ATA - Agricultural Transformation Agency (part of the Ethiopian government established to serve as a catalyst for transformational and sustainable change in seeking to achieve the interconnected goals of food security, poverty reduction, and human and economic development).
Leading up to this, I had several conversations that went a lot like this:
“I’m moving to Ethiopia for a year.”
“Oh, that’s cool. Are you going to have a blog?”
After that happened at least a half dozen times, I decided to cave to the peer pressure (someone tell 5th grade me that it's a good thing in this case) and start a blog.
My sisters Emma and Careen have been blogging for years and have set the bar very high, which makes it easy for me to walk right underneath it.
I will try to keep it at least moderately entertaining. However, given my lack of children, I will be at a significant disadvantage compared to my sisters’ blogs. Seriously, their children are highly amusing (sometimes intentionally).
For example, when my sister Careen’s 2-year-old (Dillon) ran around the atrium at my grandfather’s retirement community in just shoes, a diaper, and a bowtie (video below for your viewing pleasure), everyone thought it was hilarious.
While I considered doing the same during my layover in the Frankfurt airport, I’m pretty sure airport security would have gotten involved (and they carry automatic weapons over there). All I’m saying is with the lack of entertaining little people this could be the most boring blog ever (which would be impressive considering the setting). Expectations set sufficiently low? Great, let’s begin:
Packing is the price the universe requires you to pay to go cool places…that and getting shots for 35 different diseases that will kill you in gross ways.
Travel immunization clinics really have it good. Talk about a great business model – tell people about how they’ll die if they don’t get a yellow fever vaccine, and they’ll beg you to stab them in the arm and take their $115 (if you’re ever on The Price is Right and for some reason the yellow fever vaccine is one of the items, that is the actual retail price).
Once you’ve been scared into purchasing a bunch of shots, then the real fun begins as you get to learn all about the other 10 diseases you might get for which there is no vaccine.
It’s like the end of the pharmaceutical commercials where they mention all the side effects: “Warning: Ethiopia may cause tuberculosis, traveler’s diarrhea, African trypanosomiasis, dengue fever, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, and death. Please consult with your physician before taking Ethiopia.”
Key takeaway (consulting jargon warning): If you’re looking for a profession where you get to scare people, stab them repeatedly in the arm, and get well paid, have I got a job for you ;)
So anyways, back to packing (get used to this tangent from the tangent thing because it’s going to happen a lot; if we even get to Ethiopia in this post, I’ll be shocked). I took full advantage of my baggage allotment. My sister Emma and her family moved to Abu Dhabi at the beginning of the year, and they took 23 pieces of luggage (see below) for 5 people. While I didn’t beat that straight up, I do think I won the per person battle – 3 checked bags max of 70 lbs each (mine were over 50 lbs each), 1 carry-on bag, 1 personal item (backpack), a plastic grocery bag full of food (I learned as a consultant that they’ll let you take that even though it’s technically above your item limit; I assume it’s to encourage people to buy stuff in the airport), and I “wore” a hoodie and a coat.
Emma & co. baggage:
My baggage:
Next time I promise I’ll actually write something about Ethiopia (spoiler alert – the other ex-pats working for the Agricultural Transformation Agency are awesome and have been super welcoming), but I want to end with a huge thank you to all my family/friends that I visited over the last few weeks before coming to Addis. I’m so glad I got to see a bunch of you (and sad I couldn’t see everyone).
I know I have the best friends because not only did they open their homes to me, but they also kept giving me free stuff :) Seriously, in the last few weeks I got a global Droid phone, a Kindle, a C.S. Lewis book, a trip to Disneyland, and a Sony eBook reader (thanks to Chris/Nikki *2, AJ/Polly, Kenny/Darcy, and Luis respectively).
Anyways, you are all of course welcome in Addis anytime, and let’s hope I actually keep momentum and this thing lasts more than 2 or 3 posts.
Leading up to this, I had several conversations that went a lot like this:
“I’m moving to Ethiopia for a year.”
“Oh, that’s cool. Are you going to have a blog?”
After that happened at least a half dozen times, I decided to cave to the peer pressure (someone tell 5th grade me that it's a good thing in this case) and start a blog.
My sisters Emma and Careen have been blogging for years and have set the bar very high, which makes it easy for me to walk right underneath it.
I will try to keep it at least moderately entertaining. However, given my lack of children, I will be at a significant disadvantage compared to my sisters’ blogs. Seriously, their children are highly amusing (sometimes intentionally).
For example, when my sister Careen’s 2-year-old (Dillon) ran around the atrium at my grandfather’s retirement community in just shoes, a diaper, and a bowtie (video below for your viewing pleasure), everyone thought it was hilarious.
While I considered doing the same during my layover in the Frankfurt airport, I’m pretty sure airport security would have gotten involved (and they carry automatic weapons over there). All I’m saying is with the lack of entertaining little people this could be the most boring blog ever (which would be impressive considering the setting). Expectations set sufficiently low? Great, let’s begin:
Packing is the price the universe requires you to pay to go cool places…that and getting shots for 35 different diseases that will kill you in gross ways.
Travel immunization clinics really have it good. Talk about a great business model – tell people about how they’ll die if they don’t get a yellow fever vaccine, and they’ll beg you to stab them in the arm and take their $115 (if you’re ever on The Price is Right and for some reason the yellow fever vaccine is one of the items, that is the actual retail price).
Once you’ve been scared into purchasing a bunch of shots, then the real fun begins as you get to learn all about the other 10 diseases you might get for which there is no vaccine.
It’s like the end of the pharmaceutical commercials where they mention all the side effects: “Warning: Ethiopia may cause tuberculosis, traveler’s diarrhea, African trypanosomiasis, dengue fever, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, and death. Please consult with your physician before taking Ethiopia.”
Key takeaway (consulting jargon warning): If you’re looking for a profession where you get to scare people, stab them repeatedly in the arm, and get well paid, have I got a job for you ;)
So anyways, back to packing (get used to this tangent from the tangent thing because it’s going to happen a lot; if we even get to Ethiopia in this post, I’ll be shocked). I took full advantage of my baggage allotment. My sister Emma and her family moved to Abu Dhabi at the beginning of the year, and they took 23 pieces of luggage (see below) for 5 people. While I didn’t beat that straight up, I do think I won the per person battle – 3 checked bags max of 70 lbs each (mine were over 50 lbs each), 1 carry-on bag, 1 personal item (backpack), a plastic grocery bag full of food (I learned as a consultant that they’ll let you take that even though it’s technically above your item limit; I assume it’s to encourage people to buy stuff in the airport), and I “wore” a hoodie and a coat.
Emma & co. baggage:
My baggage:
Next time I promise I’ll actually write something about Ethiopia (spoiler alert – the other ex-pats working for the Agricultural Transformation Agency are awesome and have been super welcoming), but I want to end with a huge thank you to all my family/friends that I visited over the last few weeks before coming to Addis. I’m so glad I got to see a bunch of you (and sad I couldn’t see everyone).
I know I have the best friends because not only did they open their homes to me, but they also kept giving me free stuff :) Seriously, in the last few weeks I got a global Droid phone, a Kindle, a C.S. Lewis book, a trip to Disneyland, and a Sony eBook reader (thanks to Chris/Nikki *2, AJ/Polly, Kenny/Darcy, and Luis respectively).
Anyways, you are all of course welcome in Addis anytime, and let’s hope I actually keep momentum and this thing lasts more than 2 or 3 posts.