More on Addis Ababa: You really can carry this kind of a load on your back

But who would want to?

Yet they do, the women, every day, up and down Mount Entoto, which overlooks the capital. I saw women - begging women - hunched over to this extent who weren't carrying large loads of timber on their back, and spotted a sign for The Former Women's Fuel Wood Carriers Association.

One of the best parts of the trip was the stuff I wouldn't normally get to see

As I said, my friend works in development. So one day while I was in Addis Ababa, we visited some of the programs her organization is funding, or considering funding.

This was a drop-in centre for kids. They were watching Babe when we came by and from what I could tell, loving it. And, as a friend of mine pointed out, they were also sitting on plastic lawn chairs. They were super cute.



We then went on to visit one of the families who has a child attending the drop-in centre. That child wasn't there, nor was the mother, but a sister, a little one and a neighbour were. This is actually a bar (their home is behind this room) and like many of the homes in Addis, the walls are of constructed from mud, or cow dung, and the roof is made of sheets of metal.

You can see the bottles of booze to the left - light and dark - and I can only describe the smell as "nostril hair burning-esque."





This cup, hanging outside, indicates the home is a bar.



In both places we visited, the ladies of the house had papered over much of the walls with old newspapers. Two, I noticed, were from Abu Dhabi (which I thought odd). I had a moral dilemma with these visits, though. For me, they were perfect: off the beaten path, a glimpse into life in Africa not seen from the Hilton. But I felt terrible about it, like I was along for a game of "let's cluck over how terribly poor you are. And I'll even take pictures to show my friends back home."

I didn't give them any money either. I'm not sure why - because it would have been awkward? The least I could have done was bring a gift. I still feel bad about it.

All the municipal workers in Addis Ababa wear these floppy hats

This is a picture I am pretty sure everyone who has visited a market in Africa takes

From the Merkato market

Images of Ethiopia explained: the donkey

This picture I call "the unhappy donkey."



I had to photograph him, simply because he ran past our car bleating loudly. Something had really gotten him quite out of sorts. I would blame the hay, but really, I think this is his lot most every day. So it had to be something else. Here are a few of his friends, from behind.



Maybe next time you have to carry something, and you don't have enough hands, wrap yourself in it?

I went to Ethiopia last weekend

...which is a little hard to believe right now, sitting in 44 degree heat (will I stop complaining soon? Or will I pass out on the road whilst hailing a cab? It's hard to tell which will happen first).

My best pal works in development and just happened to be on a mission to Africa over the last month. We started talking, sort of 'could we?' 'would it happen this soon' and then when we figured she was going to be in Addis Ababa over the last weekend, and I realized there is a flight that would take me there and back, and my new boss kindly approved the extra days (five weeks after starting the job, he's a gem) I booked the ticket, which had managed to double in price while all that went on.

Never mind. What an experience. One of the top reasons I took this job in Abu Dhabi was for the travel opportunities. A person in Canada cannot go to Africa or India without significant time off work and a lot of money. And the flights! Have you ever spent 24 hours changing three planes? It's inhumane. So, figuring it took three hours and 15 minutes to fly home from Ethiopia, I hope this is not my last such adventure.

Here are the snacks we got on the plane.



The snacks which just cracked me up so much I couldn't even eat them. Cheese planes! Are you kidding me?

I was the only white woman on the Ethiopian Airways flight there, which stopped briefly in Bahrain. The rest of the plane was full of mostly Ethiopian women. These women are a) absolutely beautiful b) prone to staring openly c) not shy about starting a conversation and d) extremely touchy.

As for the last one, I can't really describe it other than you know when you are there. The women on both sides of me had no concept of respecting the armrest. When we encountered one another in the aisles, they would just brush past but with what seemed to me to be a maximum attempt at body contact. As I waited to disembark, one woman, crowded up behind me, laid her hand on my back. For someone who has a deep respect for personal space, namely my own, it took some getting used to. But that's what travelling is all about. As for the 'not shy about starting a conversation' thing, mostly their intro would consist of "nationality?" Really cuts to the chase, huh? I had lovely chats with everyone. After the segregation that exists in Abu Dhabi (more on that later) their warmth and sense of humour was a breath of fresh air.

Now that is some promotion

The road outside our newspaper building. Martin Newland, the editor-in-chief, just confirmed that The National will go to seven days a week this fall. That means a lovely, thick Saturday paper with lots of fun sections and a magazine. This may be a bubble, but it's pretty nice to be away from all the doom and gloom associated with the North American media industry.