Guten tag!

dear friends,

I have arrived back in Germany, as I have been in Ethiopia for 2.5 months now.

It was full of crazy awesome times with the group of 16 we were, and all the Ethiopians we met along the way.

What I am most shocked about coming back here, is that it is HOTTER here in Herrnhut, than it was in Addis Ababa(the city we were in for most of the time).

Here are some things I like about Ethiopia:

1. it's the year 2002 right now, they have 13 months in their year, and it's like a week behind ours...not quite sure what that 13th month is called, it's hard for us foreigners to say.

2. a donkey cost about 400 - 500 birr, which is like 40 bucks! This I found out when I asked our driver what happens if he were to hit a donkey on the road...Donkeys, cows, sheep, goats, and horses just roam freely everywhere. I would have thought that if we were to hit one with a vehicle, the owner would just have to deal, nope, you hit it, you pay for it :)

3. The chai tea is great, super super super sweet. Sad thing is they only serve it in like a one ounce little tiny cup. the amount of sugar in it, I could have a cup the size of like 2 venti Starbucks cups(no joke, this stuff is sweet)

4. There is this great coffee shop called Kaldi's. It's basically an imitation of Starbucks. green aprons, similar sign, frapps are like 17 birr, which is one euro. So we enjoyed quite a few of those :)

5. Ferengi....is like foreigner in their amaric language. we heard it every single day, hundreds of times a day.

6. Mango's are excellent in Ethiopia. I didn't like em at home, but loved them there.

7. the van taxi's should fit 11 people, but they can cram 20 into one.

8. there are no road rules, or if there is, no one follows them...i saw 2 sets of street lights in 2.5 months. Huge, and I mean HUGE intersections, you go through, and hope you come out alive...and we did come out alive :) praise the Lord.

9. The countryside is AMAZING! beautiful African tree's.

10. The people are so friendly.

11. We are sitting in a restaurant, which is really just a tiny house, and all of a sudden these cows are trying to get through the door. As people are trying to hold the doors closed, I think oh they must be trying to keep the cows out. Nope. Well ok they were keeping them out so they could move the tables and get us out of the way for the 3 cows who have come home. They were done roaming the streets of Jinka and had to come home for the night. COWS coming through a home during supper. So weird. I am so glad I experienced this.

thats all I got for now folks. As I have just arrived home, I will now try and cure all my beautiful African bug bites, and relax.

adios.

-katie-