Today the weather is mostly cloudy and I expect it to rain. Alan has been in meetings all day today with financial officers and purchasing departments. He is getting frustrated at how this operation gets bogged down, because of our miscommunications mostly. Everything is so green and beautiful here in Addis and the temperatures are very mild. Even though it is gray outside, it is still warm enough for me. However, I do see that a lot of the local people here get very cold if it is cloudy and rainy. They're not used to dealing with harsh weather conditions.
Today I went out with Tedi, a driver for the company and Nadi, a finance clerk and teacher who works with us on the farm in Beltu. We went out to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables to send back to the farm with Nadi when he goes. I first went to Bambi and then to Friendship which are more American type grocery stores. After that, we went and found some souvenirs to take home with us. I shopped for Bracken, because he says he has no idea what to buy for his little girls. I just think Bracken does not like to shop. As we wove in and out of traffic I felt that several times we were going to collide with another car or mow down a pedestrian. Amazingly we got to the stores and back without any mishap. I had to just sit in the back and try not to gasp or scream as we tore down the streets and darted in front of other drivers. The driver told me there is no electricity for the lights to operate. I asked him if this was common, and he said “yes, they never work.” Too funny! You honestly don’t stop at any intersection, you just go through honking.
Last night when we got here I had a hot shower! I’ve not had one in over a month. We all felt happy to go to bed clean. When I awakened in the morning I felt like I had been unconscious for 10 hours.
Bracken’s flight was canceled out of Addis to Frankfurt due to the valcano eruption in Iceland, so he has been sending emails to our travel agency haranguing them for any itinerary he can get to go home. Finally at about 7:30 p.m.here, he got an itinerary. He leaves Addis at 9:35 headed for Khartoum Sudan, then to Cairo Egypt, then to Rome Italy, then to Madrid Spain, then to Atlanta Georgia and then finally on to SLC, Utah. He was very excited, but then realized how difficult it was going to be to make all of his flights and he got somewhat worried. He decided to pack one carry-on just because he knew with so many flights, that his luggage would be lost for sure. He got ready in about 20 minutes, and he took off tonight for Sudan. Bye for now to Bracken. I hope he makes it OK. We are hoping all will be well for our flight tomorrow to Frankfurt.
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