Travelling

We expected the travel from Philly to Ethiopia to be exhausting but we didn't expect to encounter as many crass Americans as we did on our first flight from NYC to Amsterdam. Shortly before takeoff, our seatmate called his lawyer and, in a voice loud enough for the whole plane to hear, demanded he get his citation for public intoxication dismissed. Halfway through the flight, in the middle of the night, a woman and the man seated in back of her started screaming and cursing at each other after she had adjusted her seat backward without warning several times and he had shaken her seat in retaliation. It seemed they would come to blows before a steward stepped in to calm them down. Flying certainly isn't glamorous- at least not in the cattle car!

We were more fortunate on our leg from Amsterdam to Nairobi and sat next to a nice Kenyan American who had attended high school near our site in Kenya and now lives in Coatsville.

After five hours of travel from our house to JFK, two hours in the airport at JFK, a seven and a half hour flight to Amsterdam, a five hour layover, another seven and a half hour flight to Nairobi, an hour search for a missing bag and another hour trying to get a cab to our hotel, we finally got to bed. 

I was very happy to be back in Kenya. I had missed Kenyans-their smiles and friendly greetings

The next morning, we were back at the airport again for our flight to Addis Ababa. At the hotel, we met one of the math teachers, Danny from England, and explored some of the city. We went to the National Museum to see Lucy as well as some of our other, even older, ancestors and had a fabulous Ethiopian meal of tibs wat, dora wat and a bean stew all served on injera.

We saw this little girl and her parents outside the museum.

Outside the museum with Danny.

Lucy's bones.

Haile Sellasie

The next morning, we were back on a plane to Bahir Dar, now joined by David, the math camp organizer, Szuska, a math teacher from Slovakia, and Danny.