One Year Older, One More Country

If I went back and tried to count the birthdays I’ve spent about to travel, traveling, or in a country I don’t live in, it would be a lot because A) I’m old and B) I like traveling. Though since I’ve moved to Chad, all my birthday travels have been work-related, which is a bit less fun, but still an adventure.

This year I was in Malawi. A new country for me is always fun. I keep a list of everywhere I’ve been organized by continent and length of stay. I like to add to that list, so I counted it as a birthday present.

Of course traveling by plane in Africa is often as complicated as trying to fly between two random cities in the U.S. Let’s be honest: airline scheduling is intentionally inconvenient for everyone regardless of the continent, but it is particularly expensive and not all airports you get stuck in sell good candy.

 Most of my Africa trips have me going through Addis airport and often I have to stay the night. The good thing is that Ethiopian Airlines has a policy that gives you a free hotel if you are in the airport over 8 hours. The bad thing is that the hotel could possibly worse for sleeping and comfort than spending 8 hours in the airport. Once I had a hotel where a drunk guy screamed outside my door all night. I did not sleep. Another time my hotel was right near a pack of dogs having an all night concert of barking. My biggest issue with these hotels is that there is never enough drinking water for when you come off an airplane all dehydrated. I bring a water bottle, but there aren’t any water fountains in the airport, and there isn’t a place to buy water before you’re at the hotel. I also try to convince the hotel to give me extra water. Sometimes it works, usually it doesn’t.  My other frequent flyer friends and I are keeping track of good hotels we get sent to in Addis and the bad ones. The best one I’ve been in is Destiny Hotel, but they don’t let you request the one you want, sadly. On my next trip, when I’m flying to a country on the opposite side of Africa, I still have an overnight layover to get me home to Chad, and the likelihood of me getting a terrible hotel is quite high. But if they have consistent electricity, they are already better than my house right now, so I’ll probably survive. The best news is that the Addis Airport now sells Haribo gummies and various types of chocolate. So I know that I will have sustenance.

Anyway, all that unsolicited extra info about Ethiopian Airline hotels aside, Malawi was a pretty fun trip. I got to hang out with people from all over Africa who are doing biosand filter projects in their respective countries. I ate blood. I petted a puppy. I tried some new junk food. I met my bro in law’s African doppelganger. Sat through a tribal dance that made me extremely uncomfortable. And finally opened all the birthday presents my family sent with me from the States after Christmas.

Then on the flight back, while in the immigration line in Addis, on my way to my transit hotel (it was the worst), I was pulled out of line to translate for a lost lonely French woman who was meeting a tour group. They heard me talking to a guy from Burundi in French, and they appointed me the designated translator. And then I was really worried for this sweet little old lady who seemed a bit naïve about her little African adventure. I missed my hotel shuttle (maybe my originally assigned hotel would have been better) to make sure that she found her guy. We ran all over the airport looking for him. I really hope the rest of her group includes some French speakers because outside of francophone Africa, French is not much help. Fortunately, the Ethiopian Airlines lady knew I was helping the French woman so she put me on the next shuttle she saw heading to any hotel, when she noticed me standing around 30 minutes later. But that is the excitement of traveling—you never know who you’re going to meet or what language you will be speaking.  Or what kind of Haribo gummies they will sell in their duty free shops.

Robinson and I walked at least one way to the meetings every day
from the hotel--5+ miles. This isn't Robinson in the photo with me though.

My sister picks the perfect wrapping paper for me.

My birthday cake!

The goat's blood that Robinson was super-excited to cook for us.

This is what it looks like cooked.

It tastes a bit like liver.

My favorite drink! Coconut pineapple soda. Yes.

They look the same!

The photo of Joe sleeping by my empty chair that my staff
sends me whenever I'm gone to remind me that he misses me.

Cows ruin traffic everywhere.

I will do anything to get out of meetings, including riding in the back of a truck
in the middle of the day. Was very sunburnt, but it was worth it.

Malawian puppy. So tiny and cute.

Stopping to talk to some school kids.

She shared her cheetos with me. That is true hospitality.

The beautiful Derlinie cooking up some meat in a traditional barbecue.

We had no rope to stack chairs on the car, so we got creative with bits of cloth.
Some of the guys were offering belts, but we didn't end up needing them.

The dance, which started to make fun of the colonists (valid)
but it involves dancers wearing masks, and I'm not gonna lie--
people in masks kind of freak me out. Like those creeps that dress up like Mickey Mouse.
What is really under there?

I was the one white foreigner sitting and watching the dance
and they kept running up and dancing in my face.
It was very stressful maintaining an awkward smile while keeping myself
from running away screaming. Those are survival skills you develop living overseas.
A skill that comes in handy when you're eating blood or bugs too.

My wonderful friends made me a gummy bear cake the next week for my birthday.
My parents and friends also all gave me gummies. It's so easy to buy me presents!
And they were all surprised at how fast I ate them. I guess they don't know me as well as they pretend,,,

Reunited with Joe. We are happy together.