Good old Ethiopia...
Finally, after postponing my flight once cause my visa did not arrive on time, and almost twice cause my laptop did not arrive on time I'm finally in Ethiopia!!!! It was sad leaving Egypt, leaving my friends, and most especially Tom.... a couple of tears rolled down my cheeks as I looked out of the airplane window and saw the hustle bustling lights of Cairo, thought of all my friends, memories and realizing that I am heading to Ethiopia!!!
The flight was smooth, we had an initial scare as Michelle, my manager who was accompanying me lost her boarding pass, but thank God the Egyptian friendliness and helpfulness came in use.... We slept all throughout the flight until we landed.... and that is when the initial shocks began...
The airport is almost as big as the Maltese airport, and almost as nice and modern... it did not feel as though I was in a developing 3rd world country which just came out of war and who - according to my 24yrs of life, only had starving children..
The people at the airport were really nice and helpful, obviously expecting to get a big hefty tip from a white person with massive luggage...
The second shock came in soon after when we walked out of the airport and found a big fat limousine waiting for us!!! Ahhh my first ride in a limousine!!! I kicked off my shoes and put my feet up on the seat in front of me enjoying the 20min ride in luxury!!! And what luxury!!!
We then arrived at the Sheraton in Addis Ababa, which apparently has won the best hotel award for the past five years, thus making it the best hotel in Africa, but this was not all.... as soon as we got to the reception desk we were told that they were sorry, but there were no rooms available... so the hotel was putting us in an Executive Suite each!!!!!
Ahhh the Suite was massive!!!! bigger than my apartment in Egypt!!!! 2 toilets, a bureau, a bath with a Jacuzzi, a shower, a sitting room, a dining room, a kitchenette, 2 TVs, a sound system in every room.... ahh what luxury!!! The bedroom was massive, bigger than two bedrooms in the house in Cairo, the room had an exercise cycle, a massive bed that could fit 4 people, 5 big feathered pillows and much more...
It was 4am when we got to the hotel.... it was 5am by the time I got to bed... can you imagine I spent 30mins trying to find the light switch, my simple mind could not comprehend the complicated technology of all the buttons in the suite... until I totally gave up and decided to turn off the power of the whole suite so I could sleep in peace..... and slept thinking ahhh what a good start.
The following morning I woke up to a lovely shower, a nice soft fluffy bath robe and the view of Addis...... which was, I must say quite contrasting.... on one balcony I had a view of the slums of Addis, houses made out of metal and dirt with little metal roofs, and children playing football, on the other balcony I found greenery, limousines, people dressed in suits and luxury.
Michelle and I had a nice luxurious breakfast and thus headed off to my first day of work in Addis, the people in the office are pretty interesting, I got to meet the Ethiopians as well as the expats, and got to enjoy a nice Italian lunch of spaghetti carbonara - with bacon!!!!! Ahhh I can't believe there is pork, the people on the table were mainly Arabs and thus did not eat pork, so they were pretty shocked when I picked up the menu, and asked in astonishment 'Does bacon mean pork?' and as they replied 'Yes' I exclaimed in joy 'Yeah good old Ethiopia!!! It has pork!!'
The day was pretty hectic, I was a bit hard getting used to the altitude, I had a splitting headache all day, and Michelle even exclaimed that she felt light - thinking that she might fly - for those who are not aware, Addis is 2400 above sea level, and thus the air is pretty thin, making it hard to breathe at first.
The day ended with a really good briefing... I'm really exited to start working.. the work here is pretty challenging, due to the Ethiopian culture as well as the people working there - but I'm definitely up for the challenge.....
I've now just returned from a place called Milky House - strange name for a pub, where I sat with some Swedish, Irish, Lebanese, Moroccan and Egyptians having beer (gosh!!!! 6 beers cost 12Birrs - 8Birrs is 1$ so I guess you can make the maths!!! cheaper than Egypt!!!) - again what luxury!!!!
I'm now lying in my new room (we have been moved to a normal room now) where I can at least find where the bathroom and the light switch is, nonetheless with the same luxuries in the suit.... Good old Ethiopia - how about that for a 1st Day!!!

ps- internet connection is shit!!! and my new number is +2519503032