Written on Jan 19th, 2008 (Saturday)

We made it safely to Addis, but the fate of our 3 check-in pieces of luggage remains unknown. There are a number of possibilities as to when the may have been mis-handled, but for now we are trying not to think of the worse and are hopeful that the baggage will show up in the next day or two. If there isn’t good news tomorrow morning, we will have to do a little more shopping and pick up a few more cheap (15-25 birr = USD 1.60-2.70) comfy cotton, locally made t-shirts, a nice pair of pants and shirt for Marc for going to ENTRO on Monday, and other basic needs.

Our journey started off on Thursday afternoon with bad weather in Washington DC (snow!!) which delayed all flights coming from and going to the area. Since we were traveling internationally, the United agent put us on an earlier flight that had been delayed so much it was now leaving around the time our original flight was due to leave (which by now was delayed 3 hours). This is one possible point at which our luggage may not have travelled with us since they were checked in under the original flight number, and perhaps did not make the connecting flight to Frankfurt. The waiting area was a bit of a zoo, with lots of people on standby and getting impatient with all the delays. We had to weave our way through to board as folks crowded around the gate – we joked that this was a good way to prime ourselves for the disarray we would likely experience in Ethiopia.

Our flight from RDU to Dulles was packed but otherwise uneventful. We arrived in Dulles with 3+ hours to spare before our next flight out to Frankfurt (also delayed!). By the time we boarded the flight after 10pm for Frankfurt, we were both pretty tired since our day had started at 6am. Marc managed to get 2 good hours of sleep in after the first meal, but Shuwen slept fitfully and was pretty grouchy when we landed at Frankfurt. After a good face wash and teeth-brushing however, she felt much better and was ready to tackle Frankfurt.

It was easy enough to catch an S-train into Frankfurt from the airport (once we figured out how to use to ticket machine), which only took about 10 mins. The main train station in Frankfurt was quite large and busy. We picked up a map of the city and went on our way. Walking outside was a great respite from being stuck in airport and airplanes and helped awaken us little. As we walked and wondered what our lunch options were, we couldn’t help but notice the large proportion of Asian (mostly Chinese) restaurants.

With not too much planned, we headed towards the old/historic section of Frankfurt to see what struck our fancy. We picked a low-key home-style butchery/ grill place that made and sold their own bratwursts, had a large selection of salads and cheese for lunch. Marc had bratwurst and a mountain of sauerkraut, while Shuwen had a fish fillet and a ton of brussel sprouts. We just loved that everything in our meals were clearly made from scratch, the price was reasonable too, and the lady there was friendly while she explained their offerings to us.

After lunch, we strolled around the center of the city, trying to stay awake, and took in the restored baroque-style historic square as well as the Dom (cathedral) and another smaller chapel. The historic center of Frankfurt was remarkably quiet, perhaps because most people were working away in office buildings just to the west of us. There probably are not many tourists or other visitors this time of year. We walked by a few museums but did not hazard inside, on account of limited time and the need to remain active. On our way back towards the train station, we came across a very long and narrow ice skating rink on a floating barge on the Main; techno music blared and lots of kids seemed very happy there. The wind was cold by the river, so we turned back into town and came across a wonderful little café with comfortable couches, good cappuccino and free wifi. Shuwen slept in a chair after her coffee, and though we did not take the time to really do much email, we had enough time to clear out inboxes.

We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant owned and run by a Chinese-Vietnamese guy speaking Cantonese, whom Shuwen tried to converse with in Mandarin, which he understood most of. The pho broth is a little different from what we are used to in the US, tasting more lemon-grassish, but was a perfect dish for a cold, drizzily evening. Marc also had a giant glass (0.5L) of Hefeweizen, which he enjoyed immensely, and Shuwen also tasted. We took a walk along the Main river before heading back to the airport via the regional train.

The line at the Ethiopian Air counter was already 300m long by the time we got there and it was full of folks with lots of luggage. Obviously, those coming from other parts of the world are bringing goods back to their relatives in Ethiopia, but this was a whole new level of importing! We also had 2 people approach us asking us whether they could check in luggage under our name, no doubt because all we had with us was our computer bags as our baggage was supposed to have been checked the whole way through (but may have been mixed up with the endpoint luggage in Frankfurt).

After finally making it through the security check, we picked up a small bottle of apple wine and a large can of Pilsner to help us decompress while we waited to board. Apple wine is too sweet for our liking (cidre is far better), and also rather strong (about 20% alcohol content). The pilsner was amazingly smooth and hit the spot after a long day. We were also hoping that the alcohol would make us sleep better on the last leg of our trip.

The flight to Addis Ababa was quite good, with wonderful service, good food and coffee that far outdid United on all fronts except for leg-room (we were fortunate to get economy-plus seats on the United flights). We were amused when upon a slightly bumpy landing, the plane broke out in applause in joy for arriving safely (or perhaps for finally arriving).

After changing some USD for Ethiopian birr and going through immigration, we waited about 30 mins for our luggage before we decided it was a lost cause (at least for today). We reported the luggage problem and went to meet the folks from the guesthouse who had been waiting patiently for over an hour. We were greeted by the youngest son of the family who runs Z’s guesthouse, Kibrum, who spoke perfect English and is currently a student at a private university in Addis. His father, Edesi was waiting for us in the family mini-van. We drove to a small market to try to buy a t-shirt and shorts each for lounging around and sleeping in, but since we were obviously foreigners, we were quoted ridiculous prices and didn’t end up getting anything there. Edesi then drove us to another store which had locally made clothing with fixed prices. There we were happy to not have to haggle and found what we needed.

The guesthouse is not far from the Piazza and the Addis Ababa University and is easily one of the nicest residences in the neighborhood, which is mostly made up of small zinc-roofed homes closely clustered together. The family is clearly pretty well-off by Ethiopian standards, but seems very down to earth. We have not yet met the mother, who is away helping her daughter who recently had her first child. The father apparently has a PhD in Entomology, the older son lives and works in Connecticut in computer technology, and the daughters are all college education (based on some pictures in the living room). There is a female maid who cleans and cooks, but she doesn’t speak or understand English. Shuwen hopes to be able to watch her or the mother cook and learn a few things from them.

The apartment is comfortable, with a large living room and good sized bedroom. The kitchen is a little small, but is certainly good enough for our purposes. What really impressed us was the garden which is lush and beautifully landscaped. There is a large crown-of-thorns plant in one corner of the garden that has flowers and spikes that are twice the size of the plant we have at home.

There is some construction going on a mile from the guesthouse, which apparently has resulted in the telephone lines being cut (so no internet access from the guesthouse for a few days) and the water lines being somewhat spotty. Hopefully this will be resolved in a week or so, but so far these are minor issues, and useful reminders that folks in the US really have it very good with stable access to all sorts of networks and systems.

Kibrum walked with us to the Piazza, where there are numerous restaurants, cafes, shoe stores, and jewelry stores. We took his advice to try lunch at a local place and had meat (we think beef and goat) tibs with injera on the side and quanta ferfir (pieces of injera and fried-lard cooked in spices and tomatoes, wrapped in injera). There was way more food than we could eat, and we wondered what would become of our leftovers. Hopefully someone gets them – perhaps some of the many children who wander the streets selling tissue/chewing gum/candy or simply begging. We had a number of children approach us asking for money, which we had to ignore because once we respond to any one of them we would be easy targets for future accosting. Still we feel bad for these children who clearly do not have much to look forward to in life.

Addis is a city of many smells, mostly not very pleasant. The burning trash (a practical way of dealing with the lack of solid waste pickup), dust and diesel carrying breeze, and occasional anaerobic smell coming from sewage or weakly running waterways combine to give this impression. On the other hand, though, there is a glut of cheap, strong coffee available in places lining the streets, and we stopped for some espresso while on our afternoon walk, which did not prevent us from enjoying a much needed nap when we got back (first time lying down since Thursday morning when we awoke at 6 am). We spent 2 birr each on this little indulgence, which is about USD 0$.20! We also love the fact that bananas are good and cheap (about 1 birr for 1 kg). Marc can get his fix for the year while here since he does not eat bananas in the US.

Tomorrow is Epiphany Sunday based on the Julian calendar. Depending on how things do with the baggage fiasco, we might venture to see what an Ethiopian service is like. The manager/owner of the guesthouse offered to take us to an open field where many parishes get together for the celebration.