Jane's Journal

On my way to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Feeling pretty rested after the 14 hour flight from Melbourne direct to Dubai. I'm really thankful for a fairly unfilled aircraft and a whole row of seats to lay out on to sleep. Got to watch  the movie 'Spotlight' that had been on my 'to view' list. The Qantas staff were outstanding.

 Right now I am sitting in Departure Lounge 21 waiting for my next flight to Addis Ababa. I'm chatting with some young people and learning how to greet Ethiopians in their language, Amharic. If I want to say 'Hello' to a female I will say Selamnesh. If I am greeting a male I will say Salamne. I have no idea if the spelling is anywhere close, but the young people I'm chatting with don't know the English letters to correct me and Google Translate is not helpful. I did find a blog that has helped me with 'Thank you'. It's amaseganalehu. It might take me a couple of days to get my tongue around that one, but I'll need to master it.

The young guys I'm sitting with are soccer referees who have just been to Mauritius to referee the game between Mauritius and Ghana and right now they're on the Hillsong website listening to music. Good company, but our languages are not overlapping a lot :) Good practice for the next three months!

Just in case you're interested in the weather in Addis Ababa, just click on the blue link. Seems like mid-twenties during the days and cooler at night. Think I can manage that as I think of my friends and family back home in winter temparatures .

My free hour on the internet is about up so I'll hope and plan to be back here in a couple of days.