Karma

If I were someone who believed in signs - and sometimes I am - I might think this trip to Ethiopia was not a good idea. Why?

1. I was only home for 10 days between trips and that time was filled with the joy of proposal writing, so it was never going to be fun, but I arrived home with a vicious Afghan (Taliban?) bug and spent my first three days at home in bed.

2. Last night I went out for a fun dinner with friends but at 11 pm when I went back to my rental car I discovered that someone had tried to steal it and had smashed in the window and busted the locks. However, instead of viewing this as bad karma, I chose to look at it as good karma as it could have been so much worse. They did not steal the car. I had a friend with me who was a great help. And most amazingly, my laptop was in the trunk of the car and they did not steal it! Very lucky! I called the police, but decided not to wait and it took them an hour to show up. (I know because they called to find out where I was). We went to the station and filled out a report, I drove to my friend's house and left my car there - I could not leave it on the street in my neighborhood with an open window. Instead of an early evening, I ended up getting home at almost 2 am!

3. I had a very nice Afghan cab driver take me to the airport and on our way, we had to pull over to let a cop car pass. As soon as they passed us the car screeched to a stop in the middle of the road and two officers jumped out. Suddenly there were police everywhere chasing a guy with a backpack who was trying to get away, but very quickly realizing it was futile. The police cornered him and he put his hands up then lay down in the middle of the street in front of us as 6 officers hand cuffed him. It was my own private episode of Cops. (And just to be clear, this did not take place in my neighborhood!)

So it has been an interesting departure, and I am sure it will be an interesting trip. I am heading to Ethiopia to evaluate the HIV/AIDS aspects of a development program. The program is based in Tigray in the north of the county and that is where I will be spending most of my time. Of course I have not actually read any of the background documents, so time to get to work. Thank goodness I am flying business class for the first time in my life (even if it is Ethiopian Airways), so hopefully I will both get some sleep and get some work done.