Made it to Ethiopia in one (sleep deprived) piece.

I will write about the daily adventures and experiences in Kenya, I promise. But for now I am just going to continue with the present so I don't get further behind... After a 1am Nairobi departure and farewell to Christine and Sheneka (who were headed for a day visit to Istanbul), a cup of airport hot chocolate purchased with my final shillings, and a short 2 hour flight, I arrived in a stupor to Addis Ababa around 5am this morning. Got my 20 dollar tourist visa and picked up my bag with little hassle. Then, fell asleep with my handy Virgin Atlantic eye mask in the dim airport baggage claim area only to wake up about a half an hour later to Kwazo yelling, "Handu!". Success! So, the post-year-one of med school summer adventure continues. A quick money exchange and 250 birr (1 USD is about 17 birr) took us to your Buffet de la Gare hole in the wall accommodation, but we were so happy to drop our big bags that we were just glad the place Lonely Planet led us to actually existed. Eyes half shut, but happy for our East African Handu/Kwazo reunion, we set off to find coffee (which turned out to be a huge glass of milk with a small side glass of espresso and very delicious), and some food. We decided on the egg burgers. Next time we'll make sure to keep the meat out, but it was good anyway. The language barrier is more intense than we'd imagined, but we will start looking up some key phrases when we have a little more energy! Today our plan is to get our bearings, make an itinerary for the rest of this trip, and see at least one of the museums or sights here in Addis Ababa. Tomorrow we'll probably explore here more, and then we'll probably head north. Let me close with some first impressions and comments from Ethiopia - the taxis here all have fake fur in them, dashboard and behind the back window, in every color and "animal" you could imagine. The childrens sneakers seem to all be in varying shades of neon. And the people are beautiful. The language barrier is definitely present. There are very few street signs, so maps have limited utility. The coffee is wonderful. Arriving to a planned destination, not to mention seeing a wonderful old friend for the first time in a year and a half, is always such a relief and adrenaline rush no matter how tired you are.