A welcome arrival

Last weekend I went back to Addis to meet Calum off his flight from the UK. I was a little apprehensive about how everything would work out but actually it was fine. I was able to get a University car to take me to the airport in Dire Dawa. My initial plan had been to get a line taxi down as my flight wasn’t until 12.20 with a 10.20 check in time but the weekend before, when I went to Dire to get the plane tickets, for the first time since my arrival here there was not a line taxi to be had at 9am on Saturday morning and I didn’t want to take the chance of that happening again. Ethiopian airlines are generally very good and had a very reassuring safety record, but they do tend to send flights at a completely different time to the one stated on your ticket and it’s not always late – one of my colleague’s flights was 45 minutes early! So getting to the airport 2 hours prior to departure is necessary. My flight to Addis was uneventful and following a short trek around the airport car park I managed to find my way our on foot and to a line taxi to Haya Hulett where the VSO programme office is. If you get a line taxi it costs 2.80 Birr, if you get a contract taxi its 100 Birr so it’s well worth the tour of the car park!

On Saturday night I stayed with Miriam, one of the Addis based volunteers, in her lovely lovely house. When I see other VSO volunteers houses it reassures me that we are not being excessively fussy about our accommodation here at Haramaya, because most of the accommodation VSO arranges is of a much higher standard than I initially expected.

On Sunday morning I took a line taxi back to the airport to meet Calum. After a small tussle with the guards at the airport (I resent having to pay 10 Birr to go and meet my fiancé) I was allowed in and we managed to find each other without too many problems. It’s a very surreal feeling to meet someone you know so well in a place so alien to you, but it is also really lovely to see him again and suddenly the last 14 weeks apart are completely forgotten.

We were able to check in to our flight back to Dire Dawa early, which meant we didn’t have to carry Calum’s bags around, and so it was off to the lime tree on Bole road for brunch. One of the things I hadn’t realised was just how central the airport is in Addis. Bole road is one of the main roads in Addis and it’s a bit of an ex-pat haunt as there are nice (expensive) restaurants and several embassies in the area. The Lime tree is a nice but hard to find place on the second floor of a nondescript office block but it does all you can eat brunch, with fresh fruits, yoghurts, eggs, pancakes, cheese, my first wholemeal bread since arrival in country(!)... the list is endless and it was delicious although at 125 Birr per person it’s definitely Addis prices. Still we ate enough to keep our flight grounded and returned to the airport sated.

And so after an only slightly scary sunset car journey home from the airport Calum has arrived at Haramaya in one piece. Hurray!!!