Well, we have just finished up our second day in Addis. Here are a few highlights:

We went to the embassy bright and early to register and start the process of obtain Ethiopian drivers' licenses. It took us half an hour to go less than 10 km in the morning rush hour traffic. Now in AA, rush hour does not mean bumper-to-bumper cars -- it means throngs of people walking in the middle of the road, donkeys loaded up with wood and packs, and masses of sheep being herding along by their owner. And in the mix are a lot of old cars and trucks -- minibus taxis (like minivans painted with soccer stars on the back), old private taxis, and personal cars and vans. Oh, and everyone is always beeping their horn, at all humans, vehicles and animals.

Getting things done at the US embassy was just like any sort of bureaucratically line-waiting scenario. Following signs, showing passports, filling out forms. Then I realized I didn't have my US driver's license; Daniel had a manila envelope with all of our important documents in it, but he assumed I had my license on me. Whoops! So, then we had to go back to our driver Kassahoun and another guy who was helping us (forget his name), and explain that we needed to go back to Bingham basically because Betsy was dumb and forgot to get the one document that was the most important.

One hour of AA driving later, we arrived back at the embassy, swore our statements of driver's license legality, and we off to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There we handed off documents, took a number, and waited for our turn in line. Actually, it felt a lot like the US DMV, where you go in knowing you will be sitting patiently on a hard bench to fork out your money to people are just trying to move you along. The interesting thing is that we sat outside under a corrugated metal pavillon, as the Foreign Affairs people had windows that reminded me of a fast food drive-thru window. Oh, and there was also a TV outside playing CNN news which was covering bits from Bush's State of the Union Address. After we bumbled through the lines and had our papers soundly stamped, we were back off to Bingham.

After a light lunch, I met with Jacqui to 'go for a shop' in Addis. She is doing all the cooking for the 7th grade retreat this weekend, so she took me to several different groceries. First we went to a place that a lot of locals go to called 7/11. It is run by a muslim man and has the best fresh fruit and vegetables. I learned a couple of things:
1. The grocery workers don't want you touching their produce; you tell them what you want, they pick it off the shelf, give it to you to inspect, then they weigh it and they place it in your trolley (cart).
2. The grocery clerk handed Jacqui and I macchiatos (strong ethiopian coffee and milk) as we shopped; it was quite nice, but makes shopping difficult as you carry around your demi-tasse and saucer.
3. Never hand something to an Ethiopian with your left hand. It is considered rude; I kept forgetting this as I struggled to fish Ethiopian Birr out of my zipped up purse.

Jacqui took me to a meat shop, another grocery which caters more to ex-pats, and a cafe called Chocolata. At Chocolata women who have come off the streets are given a job making pastries and nacho chips (sorta like tostitos) and homemade salsa (which they freeze in weird jugs). It is a really cool place to support since you are helping people to have jobs who would ordinarily have nothing.

It took quite a while to get all the shopping done, but I got home just as Daniel was getting out of another meeting. Then I spent time bleaching vegetables and rinsing them before we had dinner at a neighbor's house. Tomorrow we will be our first day at the HIV project.

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and prayers.

If you have any interest in sending anything to us, our address is:

Daniel & Betsy Collins
Bingham Academy
P O Box 4937
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Hope everyone is doing well!