Addis

On Addis: I wanted to add some photos, but I can't seem to up load them. Painful! But a brief description of Addis: I live in a fairly rural suburb of Addis, about 10km from the center of town. Every morning, I walk down my badly pot holed street, dodging the knee deep puddles and the horse and carts sprinting down the road. At the end of the road, I take a minibus ("Blue Donkey") along the main road towards a massive roundabout where I switch minibus and head towards Addis Ababa University. Once squeezed onto the bus, I get stared at non-stop. But people seem more than happy to give up their seat for me (like I need it!), even despite my protests.

Addis itself is quite a crazy place. Everyday, I pass a melange of beggers, loonies, lepers, and street kids. People are standing in the street, with megaphones shouting something about God. I also pass numerous Toyota Landcruisers, colorfully dressed orthodox priests (who hand out crosses for people to kiss), and many, many, many coffee shops. The coffee here is a) cheap and b) excellent. Coffee seems to be a real social and cool (areft in Amharic) thing. Many of the streets are very well tarmaced, and given all the rain, greeney lines every road. There is a central street which connects the Prime Minister's house to Sidist Kilo (where the university is). Everything to the east of this central road is quite plus and rich. Nice pavements, wide streets, that type of stuff. Everything to the west of the street is more "edgy". Streets are smaller, the density of people to space increases, and I tend to keep an eye on my wallet a little more. I'm still to visit Mercato, the biggest market in Africa, which takes place everyday in West Addis.

Writing this in haste, so not the best description. Sorry. But the best way to get to know Addis is to come and see me.