Quote:
What amazing pictures!! That was a real adventure, Wow. That place seems like going back in time, donkeys and carts and oxen.
Kinda, dear Zoe (peace to you!). I've spent time in Baja and Mexico mainland, though, so not really, to me. "Third world"-ish, though, yes.
Quote:
It seems very barren and the landscape is so dusty and drab and brown.
I don't know if barren is accurate, dear one, although the pictures do make it seem that way, yes. First, the land IS very rocky (I KEPT hearing the parable about the seed that fell on the rocky soil... and wondering, "Wait! Is THIS the kind of soil my Lord meant?"). Second, Addis Ababa is 7700 ft. above sea level and Axum is even higher. So, it may have seemed liked we were in "high desert" (like Reno, Nevada, here... or maybe Nepal/Tibet, etc.). BUT... we were there during the DRY season (which is November through May, I think), so everything was brown and dusty looking, yes. However, Ethiopia is VERY mountainous and has an extraordinary "wet" season (from June to October, I think, when our guide said that everything is a lush green), hence, their number one import is coffee (and they sell to Starbucks, folks!). We actually flew over VAST amounts of green land flying into Addis! Just fields and fields... and it did look like coffee terraces. Machu Picchu-ish, even, in some places.
Quote:
The people seem very nice and I noticed they wear green a lot.
They were awesomely gracious, actually, yes, but green was mainly the school kids' uniforrm (which also comes in purple, orange, and light blue, if not more colors). On occasion you might see a man in full green (like the one priest and the man walking with the fly swatter brush)... but I think that might just might have their choice of outfit for the day - LOLOL! Because you see them in full other colored outfits, too!
Quote:
The stewardeses are beautiful women, what perfect features they have.
Those I shared pics of were, but actually they weren't even the MOST beautiful among our stewardesses. The even more lovely ones were either napping, busy running up and down the aisles, or too modest/shy to have their pic taken. And I begged the latter, yes, but they didn't think they were "worthy" of the camera in their "working" state (i.e., flushed, hair "mussed", makeup a bit smeared due to the long work hours, perspiring from the exertion of work, etc.). I couldn't stop staring and commenting on their looks, however; they just blew me away!
Quote:
Oh Shelby I would have done the same thing about the rocks, I love collecting rocks, they were beautiful, amethyst is my favorite. So sad they took them from you. How did they know to look for them.
Well, girl, I had them in my baggage and so they were detected in the screening machine. Hadn't thought anything of packing them because, again, I had been told two were fine and, again, I hadn't listened when my Lord told me I would not allowed to take them out. Perhaps I should have kept them on my person but that might have looked like I was TRYING to "smuggle" them out, which I wasn't, and could have gotten me personally detained... or even arrested. In AFRICA, girl?? Ohhhh... no. Ain't NO rocks worth THAT, not even a diamond that large ('cause prolly would'a resulted in MORE time in jail!) LOLOLOL! No, I just should'a listened, girl... and not bought them in the first place. Stuff like that happens EVERY time I
don't listen... which is why I listen as much as I do! Forget "Murphy's Law" - this is about "Jah eShua's Law" - LOLOLOL!
Quote:
Bastards lol, I can't see what the harm is in a few rocks gone, they have to ,any as it is.
No, actually I get it, luv, and I'm not mad at all. Well, not any more - I was at first but only because I was told I COULD take them out (either someone didn't know (yeah, right)... or I was scammed (and THAT is what made me "mad")). But I have no problem with the law about it. Africa in general has been pretty much raped by the world for her treasures for at least a millenia, from her gold, silver, and copper, to her precious gems and minerals (diamonds, rubies, emeralds, opals, amethysts, etc.), her ivory and rubber, her oil... and at one sad time in man's history, her very people. In regard to most of these things she was once the richest, and still is one of the richest, continents on the planet. Yet, while the rest of the world got rich off HER natrual resources and children... HER children died... and still die... mostly in stark poverty which foments disability, deformity, disease, low infant mortality, and reduced overall human mortality. Many were and are enslaved even now... and have died and still die... either working in the mines and fields... or for refusing to do so... so that the wester world can have these things.
I know this and it is because of it that I only own one diamond, my engagement ring stone, and when we bought it I made SURE it was a "conflict free" stone. I think my daughter would have disowned me if I hadn't - LOLOLOL!
Quote:
So you had to sleep with mosquito netting? OMG I would not have beeen able to sleep with it so close to me like that.
Well, we THOUGHT we had to. Actually, most of the information we gained from research BEFORE we went was totally off. We only saw 3-4 mosquitoes the whole time we were there and 2 of those were when we landed in Djbouti (and they opened the cabin door - talk about a natural sauna! I personally have never felt such humidity and heat, not even in the deep south USA! Had to go back and sit in my seat where the vent was blowing on full! LOLOLOL! We were also misled as to clothing. Everything WE researched said to dress "modestly", with arms, shoulders, and decolatage discreetly covered and skirts/pant below the knee. But... nope.
First, we noticed a few Ethiopian women at SFO and Dulles that dressed pretty much as we do. Some even more "fashionable" that we do. I had on fully yoga togs and my hot pink sneaks, and dear Mom (peace!) had on jeans and a light hoodie over a t-shirt, so we felt we were dressed okay. Then we noticed that the flight attendants dressed western "business casual", in matching slacks/skirts, blouses, and jackets, with very smart-looking aprons during meal service. THEN we noticed that the women in Addis Ababa dressed the gamut: western all the way to full traditional, either as christian or Muslim (some in full burka/abeya). Just depended on their devotion (or parents/husband), I guess.
Then on to Axum were we thought SURELY the women THERE would dress in the traditional christian-cum-Muslim garb: skirts below the knees, if not to the ground, not only arms/shoulders/decolatage but HEAD fully covered, etc. Well, imagine OUR utter surprise (no, shock!)... when, in getting into the taxi from the airport to the hotel... we found we were not only riding with the driver's female relative with us in the backseat... but sister girl was bustin' out ALL over!! LOLOLOL! Brown spaghetti-strapped T... with lacy bright pink bra... and all KINDS of decolatage in plain view! LOLOLOL! Yep, a little "brickhouse" riding RIGHT there with us... in ALL her glory! LOLOLOL!
Dear Zoe, there were SO many things that dear 'Mom and I found were NOT as the tourguides had warned, at ALL, that we kept saying we had to write a blog or post to one and "update" folks! My dear, any one of us... or our young daughters/granddaughters could visit Addis Ababa AND Axum... just as they dress now. Well, maybe not "goth" or "punk"... but pretty much everything else - LOLOLOL!
Quote:
Thank you both for sharing, I am in awe of this.
You are QUITE welcome, my dear... and our pleasure! It WAS awesome, I am STILL "blown away" that I even had the privilege AND was able to go (praise JAH!)... and even now miss it and am wondering how long it might before I return again. Hopefully some time before those we had the privilege to meet have left for one reason or another.
Peace!
YOUR servant and a slave of Christ,
Sheldiana
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
[/url]
...OUTLAW