First Official Week in Addis (or when amoebic dysentary isn't the worst thing that happened this week)

 An overdue update following our final blog in Tanzania. If you are following us regularly, you know that we just officially moved from Tanzania to finally settle in our new home in Addis Ababa, after about 4 months of transition with Rebecca and I switching off on stints in Addis each month while the kids finished school in Arusha. 

Rebecca completed the last Tanzania blog on the 2-hour flight between the two cities. There really was no time before our actual departure to write a word. The final days were a whirlwind of social activities and selling off all of our assets. It was both draining and melancholic. It was not really until we are on the flight leaving Arusha that we actually had a moment to reflect on the finality of it all. 

Given the momentousness of the change, the short flight seems almost anticlimactic. We left in the early afternoon and arrived in Addis before dark. We had about a dozen bags in tow and paid a hefty $600 to bring everything we did not want to leave. (We did have to leave a couple of packed suitcases for friends to bring.) We arrived in Addis around 8pm and found the airport and immigration to be relatively empty. We moved through the processes quickly, found all of our bags, and were not stopped even momentarily in customs. We found Wondeweson, our logistics officer waiting for us in the parking lot. He had wisely arranged to have 2 vehicles there since we had 12 bags and four people. I drove one of them and he drove the other. The drive back to the compound was uneventful and we arrived to two very enthusiastic dogs who were particularly happy to see David again. 

Yeshi, our cook, had left a fully prepared Ethiopian meal on our dining room table, which I partook of enthusiastically. We were actually 'home' for the final time, with all of our stuff. We settled into our rooms and spent our first night in our respective bedrooms. Admittedly, David was probably the most enthusiastic about the move as he had really been looking forward to seeing the dogs again. 

Since we arrived on a Thursday, we had our first full workday in the Addis office on Friday. We had a staff meeting with three of our staff in the morning and caught up on activities that were happening on the ground. We are extremely busy with a number of projects at critical points as well as a number of social events highlighted by the upcoming wedding of Eyerusalem our accountant. 

After a day of work, it was good to have the first weekend to regroup. One of the answers to prayer which we received was to find that a family of Brits from the church we have been going to in Addis (when we are here) had moved into the house next door to us. He (Peter) teaches at a theological college in Addis. She (Katy) is occupied with homeschooling their kids. Two of their kids are around David's age and we do see some chance for support in homeschooling if David is not able to get a place in the school before the beginning of the semester. 

We had a chance to have an evening with them on Sunday along with a young German couple who is staying with them. It was great to have such an open friendly family right next door to us. Oren also has an immediate friend connection in Barcutt (English spelling?) a guy Oren's age who is the son of one of our staff. He and Oren have a lot of common interests around certain computer games as well as chess, and they spent several evenings together. 

It is rainy season in Addis and the weather is cool and clammy. We found ourselves using the fireplace several times a week in the evenings. Electrical power has also not been completely dependable, so a fire at night is both a source of warmth and light. 

Sadly, I found myself feeling a bit under the weather on the first weekend, and by Monday morning I had a fever and felt really bad. My first suspicion was COVID as our last week in Arusha was very difficult to keep social distance with all the goodbyes and Tanzania is entering its third wave. I went to a clinic on Monday and got my results back by evening: negative. It was a relief but did leave my spiking fever all the more mysterious. 

On Monday, Rebecca had to do the work in the office for both of us as I could not get out of bed, and since it was the time of financial reporting, she and Eyerus were very busy. By Tuesday though, I still could hardly get out of bed and this time I asked her to drive me to the clinic to see a doctor. We were relieved to find it pretty empty on Tuesday morning and I was able to get in. Despite the lack of stomach pain, the doctor suspected amebiasis, and a stool sample confirmed his suspicion. I got some antibiotics and spent the rest of the day in bed sleeping. 

Amoeba is a common problem in Addis, but we had only been there 3 days, so it seems unlikely I got i there. Looking back, I suspect it was the Mt. Kilimanjaro trip that gave me that parting gift from Tanzania. Truthfully, the fecal-oral burden of disease on the 7-day Lemosho route would have to be quite high given the scarcity of water to wash vegetables, or even hands after using the bathroom. I am actually surprised we did not get sick sooner. Fortunately, I felt well enough to return to work on Wednesday and was able to finish the week strong. 

I would have thought this would be the biggest challenge we faced during the week, but I was going to be proved wrong. On Thursday, we had planned to go to the immigration office with Wonde (our logistics officer) to get residence permits for Rebecca and the kids. (I already had mine). It is good to prepare mentally for a long process as bureaucracy moves slowly in these contexts. From Tanzania, we are also used to failure even after a sincere effort to comply with every 'jot and tiddle' of the law. 

I was not prepared, though to spend the whole day waiting to be served. When we got there, at about 9 am, there were already many people sitting around in the seats of a large atrium that resembled a bus terminal. After going to the window to register, we were given a number: 212. I looked and saw that they were at #50, but had about 4 windows serving people. I estimated that at 1 person a minute, we would be served in about 3 hours (We had our masks on and did our best to stay as far away from others as possible). Then, within a minute of being there, 3 of the windows closed and service slowed to about one person every 5 minutes. At 1pm, the entire office closed and everyone went to lunch. we were at about number 80 then. We decided to return to the office and came back at around 3:30 pm. There were on about #150. Oren and David were not happy about spending the entire day there, and I did worry about not getting served before 5pm. Long story short, we waited until 5pm, and right on the hour, our number was called. 

We got to the desk, the clerk reviewed our extensive documentation and said: "It looks good, but where is your cover letter?" We had not prepared one. So after waiting the whole day, we were sent home without completing the task. It was frustrating to not know we were missing something and were not able to even have our documents checked without waiting 8 hours. We rewarded the kids for their patience by going to Coldstone Creamery that evening (a surprising offering in Addis--but super expensive).

The next day we went extra early. We brought all of our documents and cover letter and waited several hours again. (I multitasked by having a meeting with our food security manager at a nearby restaurant while we waited.) We again got to the front of the line and hoped to complete. This time though, they looked at the kids' birth certificates and said that since they did not have authentification from the Ethiopian embassy in the US, they would not accept them as authentic. We left again without completing and were considerably more frustrated. 

Fortunately, we have planned a 30-day home leave and could add authenticating birth certificates to our list of things to do. I would be apoplectic if this kind of problem had not been par for the course for the entire time we have been overseas. Tanzania was particularly challenging, so Ethiopia should feel easier by comparison, even with this setback. 

Saturday was not a day off. Rebecca planned to orient our IVEPers. These are one-year volunteers who will spend a year in the US. We gave two young women a cultural orientation during the day, including sharing a meal and talking about what life in an American family would be like. It was an interesting experience. 

Sunday, we were able to go to our church, where Peter, our neighbor was leading an adult Bible study. It was a really nice service and good to see friends we had made in the past several months. In the afternoon, we tried out one of the local malls known for having entertainment including climbing walls, trampolines, escape rooms, laser tag, and several floors of arcades. Our family did an escape room together (failed miserably), then spent a few hours in the arcades. We did our best to avoid crowds and stayed masked the whole time. We did not want to risk COVID on our last 3 days. 

The following 3 days were kind of a blur. I was very busy with financial reports coming in from partners while Rebeca worked on packing. We went in for our n-teenth COVID test as a family in preparation for flying. The kids occupied themselves playing with new friends, playing monopoly, and doing a puzzle when there was no power to do anything on the internet.

Rebecca had taken on the project of packing items that the former Reps had left and were hoping to have someone bring back, as well as wedding gifts for the son of our Ethiopian subletters in the US. We were happy to bring gifts from relatives of our friends, although it ended up being about 4 suitcases all said and done. (Fortunately, we were packing light for our return trip.) Rebecca had unbelievably hectic days right up to the last minute, including going to an art gallery to get pictures taken off frames, and running around town to meet relatives of our Ethiopian friends in the US. On top of all that, we also hosted Eyerusalem and her fiance Moses on Tuesday for a lunch reception with MCC staff. Thankfully we have our excellent cook who prepared a very nice Ethiopian meal for us. 

After a full day of work on Wednesday, we finally headed to the airport in the evening to catch the 17-hour non-stop Ethiopian flight from Addis to Dulles. Happily, the travel went off without a hitch despite the plane being completely packed. We arrived about an hour early, but Dave Sack was there to meet us and take us directly to a pharmacy where we had an appointment to get vaccinated.

It was honestly a great relief to get the vaccine. It is scary worrying about COVID in Africa where we have been in countries where even oxygen is often in short supply. 

We are now back in the US for a month and will give an update in the weeks ahead.