Musings...

So after arriving in Addis we have been doing mostly conference stuff so there is not large amazing realizations to write about so I’ll dig back into the trip and throw out a few things that likely didn’t get mentioned.
1.) Our team member Alex got malaria while we were here. His host in Kampala kept forgetting to get him a mosquito net for his bed and therefore he slept with the mosquitos each night. He was fine, tired for a few days but that was about it. He got tested early, got the meds and is all better now
2.) My dance skills have greatly improved over the course of this trip. I am not a dancer by any sense of the word but for some reason Africa just brings it out of you. We had the opportunity to see Ugandan and now Ethiopian dance and then jump in and participate. These dances really are fun and can get you quite a work out. So I am not trying to say I am good, just better as a result of this trip. That is what I think anyway…
3.) No one buys new cars in Uganda. Almost all vehicles are imported used from Japan and then purchased in Uganda… In Ethiopia all of the taxis are these tiny little Russian cars. This is likely from the long stint of communism and Russian influence here from mid 70’s to 1991.
4.) The Swedes. As mentioned we had the opportunity to meet up with the Swedish GSE team here in Addis. They are great and we’re having loads of fun as one large group of 11. Their trip in Tanzania sounded very different from ours in Uganda. Their stays were with many Indians, European Expatriates and some Tanzanians. They did a bunch of tourist stuff (2 safaris, visit to Zanzibar island and such) While their exp sounds amazing I must say I am very happy and appreciative of our REALLY in depth cultural exp in Uganda (although a posh safari I would have not complained about!!). There were many more headaches and frustrations but I feel like our cultural learnings were really rich, I feel like we really saw more of the “real Africa” by living in a town that used to be totally ravaged by war and taking bucket baths on a regular basis. Would I have eaten chicken liver for dinner twice and would my team member Peter have eaten a bowl of grasshoppers if we stayed with Europeans? Likely not. But it was great meeting up with the Swedes, I already have hopes to travel to and an open invite for a place to stay in Sweden in the coming years to do the Swedish Vassaloppet cross country ski race a 90K ski race in Sweden
5.) And last but not least… Ethiopians are very attractive people. Not sure if you have heard stereotypes or rumors, but they are true