November 14, 2008

It’s so hard to know where to start. The process of changing worlds is always a shock to the system. It feels more like changing planets than countries. I left Ethiopia around midnight on Wednesday. The first thing that seemed strange to me was that the airport was playing Christmas music in the middle of summer. Then I realized that just because I left my world in summer you didn’t stop the calendar for me. It is the Holiday season!!!!

I arrived in Paris and thought of Carrie in “Sex and the City”. In the season where she traveled to Paris she wore designer clothing and made sure she arrived fresh. I realized a few days before I left for Europe that I forgot to bring any warm clothing. So I pulled out a bright green raincoat that I keep in Ethiopia. Then I tried to get my hair fixed before I left Addis. I made it to the part of getting it washed but the electricity was turned off by the government for three hours….. So I left Ethiopia with wet hair, a green coat and off I went. Now don’t forget Paris is the fashion capitol of the world and there is not much I love more than following fashion so it was a bit humbling to be in the chic city with my bad choices.

But I flew on into Spain and Elena, Patricia, and Maria met me at the airport. When you feel loved everything else doesn’t matter. We’ve already had a wonderful time. I feel so clean and I’m so amazed to have everything so easy again. We met this morning at the ministry of Foreign Affairs office to thank the department that has funded our Phase II project (the one that trains women for their next step of self independence). What sweet people!!!

Now I am in the office of Mundo Coorporente. It’s wonderful!!! They have my schedule quite full for the next ten days. I’ll let you know all about it.