A trip to Addis

I didn't post recently not because of laziness, but because I went to Addis Ababa for an IT conference. A conference like this is excellent news for a person in my situation as a volunteer not in the capital. It offers an opportunity to have regular hot showers, eat food that you can't get in your small town (Gondar's not that small, but the food is limited), pick up some goods you might not be able to find elsewhere and feel some normality in having some degree of anonymity. I say the last one because most people don't shout at you as you go by in the Capital, they're almost used to foreigners there. Except cab drivers... they always shout at you.

"Hey you want taxi?!"

"Taxi! Over here, let's go!"

"Where you go!?"

Things like that. The point is as a volunteer who is in a country who's probably finished touristing around you really look forward to the luxuries (actually just things that you used to have, but don't anymore) if they become available. I had a burrito and a curry when I was in Addis, that was pretty awesome. I also flew in and out of Addis and learned that Ethiopian Airlines is the most hijacked airline in the world. There was apparently a documentary about it. However, despite (or because of) all the hijackings they one of the best reputations for successfully resolving hijackings without deaths, one of the pilots has done it a dozen times. Woo that certainly makes me feel safe. Though I was not intending to test their security I did by losing my photo ID somewhere in Addis. I was allowed on without showing any evidence of who I was beyond holding a ticket with my name on it. Although I noticed someone in front of me got on with a rainbow laminated photo ID that looked like it had been made at Staples and then laminated... actually that's what my photo ID looks like (minus the rainbows).