Long Live The Sar

Returning to Addis has been like becoming reacquainted with an old friend, but something has changed and you can't quite put your finger on it. The city still looks the same (minus the rampant construction) and there are still dirt roads, beggars, and muddy sidewalks galore, but the city has an indescribable energy. I have no idea what the countryside is like and think it's an interesting policy move to export energy to Djibouti before providing energy to the country's rural populations, but I'm blindly trusting that Meles and crew thought this one through...) The changes were readily apparent the moment I stepped through immigration, looked at my phone, and found I had high-speed wifi. Whoa. I kind of looked around to make sure I was actually in Addis; in 2008, there was maybe 1 quasi-high speed internet cafe. Turns out there are a smattering of high-speed places that are a significant improvement over the dial-up days of yore. I spent most of my day in the Bole ...

I have been relaxing for the last 3 weeks or so, taking it very, very, very easy (including blogging). I hope to pick it back up once I get back to GSO, but I am currently vacationing in Southampton, NY (not too shabby). But driving by the Hampton Coffee shop I was overwhelmed by the smell of coffee being roasted and a flood of memories came back - coffee ceremony, macchiatos while rain pounded the tin roof, Abebe, and a million other images. Funny how a smell triggers these intense memories. On another note, saw this editorial on Foreign Policy's website discussing how African countries that don't have oil or other major natural resources may be better off in the long run "Sudden cash flows in unprepared countries, he says, lead to unsustainable public consumption, rising inflation, soaring inequality, trade protectionism, and a real danger of civil war." Ethiopia doesn't have to worry about any major sudden cashflows but they most certainly fit into the ...