The first few days driving around Addis Ababa were overwhelming on many fronts. From the traffic congestion to the economically challenged environment, to the street surfaces ranging from new and smooth to literal axle-busting. But the two most challenging aspects were the rapid gas/break lurching caused by the reactions to the stop-and-go traffic (and lack of traffic signals at most intersections) and exhaust inhalation (which can cause instant nausea), plus the near vehicle/pedestrian collision occurring at every intersection. Wow.

We saw plenty of well-dressed professionals mixed with school children and shop workers scurrying to and fro. We also saw the traditional morning street sweepers, loads of blue taxi's (Lada's from East Germany - where do they even still get parts?) and the street hustlers selling all sorts of wares. What we didn't see was beggars, with the exception of a few truly lame people on crutches.

In the center of the city you might see a few goats and the occasional stray bovine, but as you get out in "the neighborhoods" you'll see many more animals being herded to the slaughter houses, and when truly out in the country, whole herds of 30 or more cattle, donkeys, goats and sheep will calmly step in front of your van traveling 100 KPH, or nearly so, making your driver's split-second decision to stop or go a very hairy one!

By the end of our week of constant van touring, human nature kicked in and we stopped being shocked - and start seeing past of all of the infrastructure challenges and took notice at the shiny new buildings rising up, the safe and fun nightlife, and the hustle and bustle of a proud city with great energy, beautiful people and hopefully a bright future.

-Mike


The extra few days that we have spent in Addis Ababa waiting for our visas to India were a blessing in disguise.  We would have come to this city, toured the highlights and moved on to our next destination. Having a few extra days to explore, run errands and get some work done (i.e. Visas to India) made the city a little less foreign to us.  We were no longer just visitors but we felt part of the city.  It could have been our hosts and their graciousness, or it could have been our lack of urgency to 'pack one more thing in' that allowed us to slow down and really enjoy our time here. 

We were also lucky enough to be guests of the US Embassy at the African Union for a presentation of the Grammy Award Winning Harlem Quartet, a string ensemble from New York.  They joined us for dinner at an authentic Ethiopian-Italian ;) restaurant to share food and wine and some spectacular conversation, like old friends. One of the highlights of the trip. We hope to have a chance to see them in the states when we return.

-Suzanne

The first stop in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, is always recommended to be the National Museum, proud home of Lucy, the Australopithecus hominid discovered here in Hadar in 1974. She dates back 3.2 million years and is treasured both because of the vast amount of intact remains found, and for the evidence of upright bipedal movement at such an early stage of hominid development.  I believe we were looking at the original remains and not replicas, but I am unsure?

Also prominently displayed, is of course, the history of Haile Selassie, famous Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He was a messianic figure both in Africa and the world, for more than a half-century - and even sparked the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica.

It was interesting being at the museum in another way as we were somewhat an attraction ourselves - as the only blonds in the crowd. However, I am not sure we were suspected to be Americans as we have been mistaken for German or Australian several times on this trip as those are really "global traveler" countries.

And speaking of discoveries, we also learned that coffee was first discovered here in Ethiopia. From Wikipedia: The coffee plant, Coffea arabica, originates in Ethiopia. According to legend, the 9th-century goatherder Kaldi discovered the coffee plant after noticing the energizing effect the plant had on his flock, but the story did not appear in writing until 1671. And do they ever take their coffee seriously here with formal "coffee ceremonies", where all five senses are included. And the coffee here is amazing...and does not need sugar or cream.

I went to a local coffee chain here (named Kaldi's after the first person to discover coffee, see above) and asked for an "iced coffee" - and was literal laughed at. They have never heard of iced coffee, nor even iced tea. And, I learned they also have no word for 'snow' in their native Amharic language (most common of the 80+ dialects spoken here).

Red wine in Argentina and coffee in Ethiopia; can life get any better? I submit that it cannot.

Did you know that there is only one lake in all of Ethiopia that people can swim in?  Lake Langano, a quick 4-hour drive south of Addis Ababa is in what is called the Rift Valley. Leelie took us to an overnight excursion to a lodge and resort area.  Maddy put together a little slideshow for her class that we have included above. 
The next day we visited the BornFree Animal Welfare and Conservation site north of Addis Ababa.  The kids LOVED it.  There was even a little horse-play with the lions. Don't worry, they stayed in their cages and we stayed on the outside.  Enjoy!!

Friends and Facebook.  Say what you will about the social media site, but we have Facebook to thank for allowing us to experience this amazing country. 

Back in August 2013 I saw a post from a high school friend, Leelie Selassie. She was announcing the appointment of her husband, Reuben, as the new US Ambassador to the African Union and they would soon be moving to her home country of Ethiopia from Virginia.  Africa had not been a selection on our original list of destinations but I thought I would reach out just in case we could make something work.  We already had plans to be in Dubai for a few days and would then travel on to India, but no tickets had been booked.  Most people would have received my email and politely agreed to meet us for lunch while we were in town. Not Leelie.  Plans for us to stay at a hotel were rebuffed with an open invitation to stay at their home. A couple of days has turned into a week. This amazing soul has shared her home, family and her country with us and we couldn't feel more blessed! :)

The Selassie-Brigety family has only been in the country for 5 months, but seem like natives to us. This connection has allowed us a light into areas of the city of Addis Ababa that we would never have seen staying at the Sheraton. Mike and the kids visited the National Museum and saw 'Lucy.'  You know, that 'Lucy.'

Staying in the Ambassador's home has allowed us a few of the comforts of home that we would not have had otherwise.  We have a driver that knows the city like the back of his hand and does his best to keep the ride on these crazy streets as smooth as possible. The kids are making themselves at home and Maddy and Redda are now the best of friends. As we wait for our tourist visas for India to be approved we are getting a true taste of Ethiopia. 

World's largest artificial island. World's largest hotel (complete with the world's most expensive cocktail). And of course, the world's tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa. It's big. And I mean, really big. It looks small from the ground at a distance, but when you're in the air, up close, or at the observation deck - especially the observation deck - it's huge. The observation deck was only about 2/3 of the way up and it looked like you were a mile above the ground. It was really foggy when we were up there, and cold too, but it was OK. There was a gift shop selling collectables and chocolates. The elevator had two buttons - ground floor and floor 124. There was a mini-museum showing how it was designed and built. Overall, it was pretty interesting, and I would go there again (we were there for a half an hour). So, yeah. That's all.

-Ben

If ever there was a place with streets truly paved with Gold, it might be Dubai. The opulence and specter written about in countless articles can almost not be over-stated. It is what one might come to envision (especially in hindsight), if a country had almost an unlimited supply of money, flat buildable land and affordable immigrant labor, all on a warm-weather seaport.

Most everything is under twenty years-old, and designed and built by the greatest architects and real estate development companies from across Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Each building is more unusual than the next.

It has the over-the-top hotels of Las Vegas, combined with the ocean-front condo high-rises and attached yachts of Miami, all with a growing appetite for Orlando-sized theme parks, water parks and massive entertainment complexes. But there is no gambling, and alcohol only in the hotels that service western tourists (and even then, no alcohol can ever leave the bar areas).

Over half of the cars seem to be luxury brands of Mercedes, BMW, Rolls Royce, Bentley and Aston Martin (mostly in white), and the very formal dress-code and service-levels are extremely crisp, professional and almost intimidating.

But, is it a place to stop on a "cultural and educational trip"? Perhaps not, but we were passing through on the way to a more humble Ethiopia (tomorrow) and had to see it for a day or two. It definitely teaches what money can buy - but what about culture, history and a soul?

The rich Arab tradition can mostly be seen in the full-length dress codes of both the men and women of the native Emirtis ethnicity, the food of lamb and mutton rich with spices, and the ever-present Arabic flute music. Otherwise, it is a maze of every luxury brand from Europe the U.S. and England perched prominently on perfectly manicured boulevards.

Ben and I did witness an evening call-to-prayer with the men rushing to remove shoes and prostate before Allah on great carpeted floors, but only after a quick whole-body sink bath. 

Personality-wise, it is an interesting mix of a highly educated upper-class Arabs (20%), and the immigrant service (Indian) and construction (African) population sector which make up the remaining 80%. Their commonality is that English is the universal language and everyone is extremely well-mannered and polite.

Would we ever come back here? Maybe if one had a high-powered business meeting, a celebrity Pro-am golf tournament, or was just showing your family what "over-the-top" really means. Otherwise, I wished we had time to go inland or even just to near-by Abu Dabi, the other large city in UAE, to experience more traditional Arab culture, as it seems as mysterious as what is underneaths all of those tunics and burkas.

My new favorite family picture of us on a 90-minute boat tour around the famous Palm island development (Palm Jumeriah) and the "sailboat hotel" the Burj al Arab. Both built on land-fill like the new World Islands currently being completed. The picture was taken right at the top pf the palm in front of the $1,500 per-night Atlantis hotel. The girls had a blast in the bouncing boat! Below are some pictures from the ride and the famous Dubai Marina from where we departed.

Thank goodness it was a fancy plane or I would have died of boredom on the 18 hour flight we took from BA to Dubai.

The plane had 3 seats on the sides of the plane, and 4 seats in the middle per row. It also had good food. Plus, if you like movies you would never get bored.  They had a screen  on the back of the seat in front of you with almost all the movies you could watch.

My favorite part was when it was night time. They gave you blankets and socks and on the ceiling, there were little lights that looked like stars. Also, when we took-off and landed, they showed you live video from the front of the plane so you can see from the pilots view.

So next time you go traveling, I say you should chose Emirates.

-Maddy


Thank goodness we only paid for coach/economy tickets and Maddy was that impressed. Business Class looked like Domestic First Class and International First Class passengers each had their own little room!

18-hours in the same small, squished seat is a record for both Suzanne and me, and I've never been on a plane so long that you see both a sunrise and a sunset and you've never moved. I think that was our longest flight of this trip (or at least I'm hoping).

But I did get to watch 4-movies. I felt bad though that the individual entertainment units make it too alluring to want to read a book. And I totally loves me some Captain Jack Sparrow!

- Mike

...the truth is, we have to leave you! :(

Sorry. Yes, I went there. And we went here - and stayed for a month! As we packed-up and prepared to leave the new-found rhythm of our local apartment, with the exception of daily consumption of the Mate tea, we now feel a little like Porteno's.

Some final thoughts on Buenos Aires:
- The people are warm and wonderful when you get to know them, but until then, they give you polite space. We always felt safe and respected (and pretty much perfectly ignored) even when in economically-depressed neighborhoods. But we’ve also met a few new friends along the way

- It is a very beautiful and proud city wistfully holding it’s breath and wondering what will happen to it’s economic future. As our new friend Mariano stated; “We have everything here, from un-ending agricultural land, ports and waterways, a world-class city, great wine and food and beautiful women; why are we not a bigger economic player in the world?

- The Americano perception and obsession with all things Evita, Tango and Gaucho’s would be our course similar to the tourist in the U.S. focusing on Marilyn, Elvis/50’s Rock n Roll, and Cowboys. Fun and interesting cultural icons, but nothing to do with current everyday life. But sometimes, you just have to be a touristica! :)

- It was good that our first stop was a complete month, but we’ll start shortening our visits to 2-3 weeks going forward. We hope to get the “gist” a little faster and move along. While we got to know B.A. pretty well in the first few weeks (especially after getting off of the tourist track and renting a car for a week), it would obviously take years to know it like a local. So going forward we’ll try to “speed learn” new cities and take advantage of this unique trip and see more of the world. I think we are finding a good balance for our family as we go.

Off to the Middle East. Ciao!

- Miguel

It always happens. You make a list of the things you want to see and do when you are traveling and somehow a month goes by and you still have not done them. 
This was the case for the MALBA; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires. Just a 20 minute walk from our apartment we passed by several times but didn't get inside until our second to last day in BA. 
Similar to the MCA in Chicago and MOMA in NYC, the contemporary museum the has a lively feel that excited the girls and even got Ben interested.  We have posted a few of our favorite pieces below, the most impressive being a famous Frida Kahlo (left) and several Diego Riveras. 
There were also a few exhibits that left us scratching our heads, including, but not pictured, the potato clock??  Check out the Eco-friendly King Kong, the wooden bench that turns into noodles, the exploding fire extinguisher.
We will also give a shout out to all of the kids art and science teachers over the years. There was not a piece of art or sculpture that our kids could not identify the materials used and the simple concepts behind them.

-Suzanne

The third or fourth question out of everyone's mouth when we would tell them about this trip was: 'What about school?'  My answer: Unschooling.  Mike's answer: Homeschooling.  We have been at this for about 4 weeks now and I am happy to report that we have successfully combined the two concepts and created our very own Traveling School. 

We have broken the 'school day' into 3 - 4 subjects per child.  Each works on their appropriate level of math for about 45 minutes. Mike brought the Algebra I book for Ben so that work on a new section each day. The girls are a bit less structured but have been spending many hours on Khan Academy Dashboard acquiring Energy Points and Mastering new skills each day. We partner this with the IXL program that D181 uses. Using both has allowed the girls to advance quicker and move father ahead than they would have at school.  It has also increased their problem solving skills. Getting stuck on a topic means researching the topic to find a method that makes sense to them. This may or may not be the first one they encounter. They also help each other a lot more.

Rosetta Stone is the online language course that has worked the best for us.  A bit on the expensive side but amazingly effecting is teaching the languages and keeping the kids on track  Ben is studying Swedish, Izzy Spanish, and Maddy French.  I'm working on my Spanish too but not quite as often.  After being in BA for a month each of them is comfortable asking if the person they are talking to speaks English, ordering a drink, reading their menus, and telling the taxi driver their address in Spanish. It's a beautiful language, one that I am very interested in continuing to study.

Reading is a love hate relationship around here.  Some people love it. Other don't.  Ben's ELA teacher recommended a great website, Shmoop.com, that downloads a reading guide along with the book. Mike & Ben enjoyed Shakepeare's Twelfth Night together.  We are now reading Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne as a family and using the online resources at SparkNotes.com.  Maddy has read the most finishing The Book Thief and The Alchemist in addition to the family read.  We are not doing as much writing as they would have in school.  The discussion periods are much more vibrant though.

Social Studies is the most active of subjects around here.  We have studied geography, climates, currencies, economics, politics, art history to name a few.  The fluctuation of the Peso while we have been in Buenos Aires has been interesting to watch. The existence of a black market for currency exchange is a very new concept for the kids.  It will be interesting to see how many more times we see that as we travel to different countries.  (Travel tips for handling cash will come in another post.)

This just might be the world's longest field trip.