The awesomeness that was March 14-17 - Part 2

Breaking this into two parts because the internet over here is currently trying to destroy me.

Saturday night was the charity dinner thrown in celebration of St. Patty’s Day. Scott was very happy that we managed to find him a good St. Patty’s Day party. The party was a who’s who of Addis foreigners and rich locals. I even ran into the ATA’s USAID contact there. Given we didn’t know Natasha was coming until a couple days before, we weren’t able to get her a ticket (it sold out quickly). However, she hung around outside and eventually got connected with someone trying to sell an extra ticket (I think she may have gotten the only one someone tried to sell at the event).

I’d been told that the major reason to go is because you get a good steak dinner and as much Guinness as you can drink (they import it specifically for the event) for only ~$75. Despite neither of those things appealing to me at all, it was still a lot of fun. They had an Irish dancing competition that Amandla and Scott participated in, and Amandla won! She got a 6,000 birr (~$333) gift certificate to a local art gallery. Then, they had an Ethiopian dancing competition that Natasha and Scott did. First prize for that competition was a 3,000 birr gift certificate to the same place. Turns out if you throw the ball, you can make the prize for your nation's dance higher :)

Here's everyone sitting at their tables around the dance floor.

Here's the Irish dance competition, which Amandla won.

Here's a low quality picture of the band, who were flown in just for the event and sat at our table. Very cool Irish guys. The guy in the pink/red shirt was demonstrating Ethiopian dance before the competition began.

Here are some of my favorite pictures: Scott and Natasha doing the Ethiopian dance competition. From the blurriness of his hands in some of the pictures, you can tell Scott really got into it.

Here are my friends Amandla and Scott. Turns out sixth time's the charm. It's possible Amandla only knew I was trying to get her in the picture in the last 3 ;)

Sunday after Church, I started walking with Natasha and Scott to a party some SPAs were throwing for Sid’s car. Sid started as an SPA about 18 months ago (employee #16; current employee count of about 160), and somehow he inherited this really old VW Bug a while back. Most cars in Addis are really old due to the taxes here (a story for another time), and this Bug is no different. It was turning 41 (they just picked a random day to celebrate). They call it Britney because every time you think it’s died, it comes back (just like Britney Spears career). However, we got caught in some crazy rain and took shelter under an awning outside some closed stores. Turns out the short rainy season is here!

Anyway, that’s a decent recollection of the weekend. Amandla/Natasha left early Monday morning (back to the McKinsey grind), and Scott went to visit Lalibela (famous for its monolithic rock-cut churches) on Monday-Tuesday. Scott, Nadia, and I had one last dinner together at Facefood (also a story for another time) on Wednesday before Scott flew out Thursday morning.

Next time on the blog: Will Charles ever find a place to live? Is it possible he already has, is moving in today, but is saving that as a future blog topic? Find out next time…