Layover in Addis

Good morning from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!

I have just finished the first leg of my trip to Zimbabwe - 4 more hours until I arrive in Harare (the capital of Zim). The first leg was 13 hrs on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 789. It was a pretty light flight, an empty seat next to me and plenty of space throughout the cabins. I spent the plane ride eating, sleeping, listening to the BBE and 2nd movements playlists on Spotify, writing some outlines for intersession (more below), attempting to (but unsuccessfully) download Mindy Kaling’s Why Not Me? audiobook, and trying to get rid of a horrendous emerging pimple under my nose. Dad ran out to the store before leaving for the airport to grab some pimple patches - I don’t think I really understand how they work, but am unbothered. 

This past week has been extremely busy with packing, saying goodbye to friends and family, and finishing off the several shows and movies that I have been meaning to get to. I have now been to Oakbrook Mall a few too many times purchasing clothes and have a few too many packages from ordering gadgets and trinkets. Mom helped me stuff everything into one big suitcase and two-sized medium suitcases: clothes, snacks (including this fantastic cardamom chai that is pre-sweetened with powdered milk - Jainith introduced it to me a few months ago while I was studying with Hannah in Xan), toiletries and meds, and miscellaneous items like a mini iron, mini water kettle, mosquito net, clothing line, and you get the idea… I also brought along a backpack, a violin and mbira, and camera to document my travels.

A major challenge with pre-travel has been preparing documents for my visa. When arriving in Zim, US passport holders can obtain a visa for $35 USD (they use USD in Zim - more on that later). The visa lasts for 30 days and can be extended for 2 months. While on the visitors visa, I’ll be applying for a residence permit and a temporary employment permit. These permits require a lot of documents (diploma, transcript, police clearance, birth certificate, resume, other stuff I cannot remember off the top of my head) to be certified and authenticated as true copies by the Secretaries of State where the documents originated (California, Illinois, and New York) and then by the US Dept of State in DC, which takes around 12 weeks in total to complete. Needless to say, it’s been difficult to follow-up with these departments to check on the status of authentication. 

On a brighter note, I’m looking forward to teaching a 3-day (8 hrs per day) course for intersession in two weeks! I’m arriving to the school at the beginning of finals week, and following that week is an intersession period (much like IMSA and MIT) where students take a non-traditional class on something they may not encounter otherwise (at IMSA, I took an intersession on Rubik’s cubing and cooking. Other people did European knitting, photography, etc.). The head of the school, James, wants me to create an intersession to get use to teaching - and also because the students go on break before Term 3 which starts in late August. My initial ideas for the intersession are: creative writing (telling your narrative), textile crafts (crocheting, quilting, knitting, embroidering), gardening, introduction to R,  music composition, introduction to epidemiology (disease detectives … it would be fun), filmography/photography, something engineering-esque (mousetrap vehicle/egg drop/make strongest bridge or tower). If you have any other ideas or strong opinions about what I should do, comment or message me, please!

I don’t think I’ve fully realized that I’ll be abroad for a year yet. Some things that solidified it a bit more were: making my bed yesterday morning for the last time (and allegedly the first time since I’ve come home - sorry, mom), having the gate attendant say “See you later” even though I just met her and will likely never see her again, and not understanding the Amharic announcements on the plane.

Anyway, off to Harare xx

Picture of moon from plane.

Addis Ababa from plane - red roofs remind me of a familiar Taco Bell styled architecture.