LONDON
We arrived in London after a long red eye flight from Montreal. After 24 hours with no sleep, we were a bit tired but didn't let that stop us from spending the day touring around London! We took the "tube" into the city and walked down the "mall", the street leading up to Buckingham Palace. Being the day before the royal wedding, the streets were lined with tons and tons of people, some of whom had been camping there for numerous days! They were all dressed in colors of the Union Jack and some even had fancy hats on. Many had flags draped over their tents, while others didn't even have tents, just some camping chairs! As we approached the palace, BBC news radio asked if they could interview me as a Kate Middleton look alike! We had been standing near a man with a Prince William mask on, so they interviewed the two of us. Here is a link to the picture they took!
It was pretty funny. After we walked over to Westminster Abbey and were surprised to find it was even more packed with patriotic flag-wavers then the mall had been. There was security lining the streets and it was very difficult to walk around through the crowds of people! There were huge temporary media towers set up facing the church and palace, it looked a bit tacky and took away from the beautiful settings. We also visited Big Ben, Tower Bridge and a few other popular tourist attractions. As excited as I was, it began hard to keep my eyes open by the end of the day. We went back to Heathrow airport and waited for our flight to Ethiopia. Being so tired, we thought it would be easy to sleep on the next 7 hour flight..easier said than done. I have decided that airplanes are the one spot I am truly unable to sleep on! We arrived in Addis Ababa around 7:20 am Ethiopian time (which is 7 hours ahead of Ottawa time for those of you reading this). Uncle Michael picked us up from the airport with their driver and brought us to their beautiful home near the Canadian Embassy.
Addis Ababa
The streets in Addis are always packed full of people. People walking around, selling things, socializing and just having a good time! They are very relaxed and seem to be quite careless! People walk right into the streets without looking, and the driving is actually nuts! There are tons of blue vans which are a form of public transportation, and they take over the roads. No one ever uses a signal, and a person has the right to cut in front of you...being in the car is quite an adventure in itself. Aunt Meaghan is quite brave to drive
here! We visited my cousin's private international school where all the foreign kids go, it is quite pretty! I have already tried some Ethiopian coffee, it is the first time I drank a full cup of coffee ever! It is quite good! We also went to a church bazaar where they have lots of local crafts and jewelry on display. The stuff is very nice and well made!
I was not as shocked as I thought I would be after seeing all the poverty. There are many people sleeping on the streets, but many also have nice small houses and seem to be quite alright. Running water is obviously an issue, but most of them have a place to sleep. There are a few public schools for the local children where they teach them English and Amharic. The downtown is becoming quite developed with big tall buildings, which was a surprise to me! We visited the Mercy Ministry Happy Children's home for the first time this afternoon. I met Hannah, the other girl I will be volunteering with. She has been here for a month already, so she gave me the tour and told me what it is going to be like. The place is a pretty new building and it is very clean! We have a room full of bunkbeds for us, and the children sleep on the main floor in other rooms full of bunkbeds. The classroom is small and filled with chairs, some tables, a shelf with a few books and two whiteboards. I am super excited to start teaching! Tomorrow I will meet the children and start volunteering, and tuesday will be my first day working at the food shelter!
Next weekend I will have more stories about the orphanage! Talk to you then!
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