I wrote this yesterday

Arrival in Addis. 1^st Meskrem 2004 Happy New Year.

So I arrived in Addis without too many problems. Most of us came in on the same flight and had started talking long before the plane left Heathrow. The flight was okay, although there wasn’t much time for sleep so I’ve been a  bit of a zombie all day.

We’re staying at the Red Cross Training Centre in Addis Ababa, which is a really nice compound in the South east of the city. Its been a very gentle introduction to Ethiopian Life so far, as everything has been organised in a most impressive way for Africa and we haven’t really had chance to mix with the locals other than a couple of the VSO Ethiopia staff. Just a had short introduction this afternoon to what to expect over the next 10 days of in country training, and a session on communications ie mobile phones and how to get them ( VSO staff will buy a SIM for us) internet dongles (again taken care of). There is a wireless service here is Addis but because it’s a holiday today (New Years day 2004 – brings back a few memories) it’s not working. So back to full working order tomorrow then....

On Wednesday we have an Ambassador’s reception at the British Embassy (cue lots of thoughts of fererro rocher!) although in reality I’m told its just plenty of nice wine – hard life this volunteering!

Hugs Jo x