Friday, February 4, 2011

word of the day

Today's word of the day: Patience

We finally made it to Addis Ababa, after a short refueling stop in Khartoum, Sudan.
There were two, small, adorable children kicking the back of Lauren and I's seats much of the way. I finally turned around and gave them each a small beanie baby stuffed animal (which I always have in my backpack for moments like this). Unfortunately, I think they started fighting over who wanted the the purple lizard, and both immediately began to cry. Oh well. I tried.

When we got to the airport, the security officers demanded that I leave my video cameras in their storage area until morning, when I could bring them back a letter from the Ethiopian consulate approving the filming permit. I tried every trick in the book in asking if I could take equipment with me. We spend nearly an hour arguing over options. (At least I thought we were arguing over options. In reality, the ONLY option was for me to leave my equipment there). I even told them I would bake my famous chocolate chip cookies and bring them in the morning. Didn't work.

Tomorrow will be another long day.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

on the road again

Hi everyone!

Welcome back to lisa's world piece. Obviously, I'm not great at updating my blog, but I do my best to bring it back to life when I'm traveling. It's February 3rd (February 2nd for my West Coast friends), and I'm sitting in the Amsterdam airport waiting for my flight to Ethiopia. I'm shooting a story for World Vision, documenting their water projects in south western Ethiopia. I've been to Ethiopia before, and am anxious to catch up with my friends living there, but more exciting for me is that my niece, Lauren, is traveling with me. I can't wait to see Africa through her eyes! We'll be in Ethiopia for 8 days, and then will be heading to Kenya for a short safari in the Masai Mara before returning home.

This is Lauren....

She is an amazing young lady, and a really awesome photographer. I'm looking forward to seeing where her eye takes her on this trip.



The flight to Amsterdam was uneventful. We sat in the front row, so we had lots of leg room.






















And our stewardess, Sherry, was very entertaining. She told us where to buy stylish boots in Amsterdam, where not to eat in Shanghai, and how to stay away from Zombies in Ethiopia. Apparently, she just read the oral history of the Zombie War. I'll be sure to stay away from anyone grayish in color with really big teeth.


After arriving in Amsterdam, we headed up to the KLM lounge for internet and cappuccino's. After plugging in all my mac gadgets, I looked up to see a guy in a green kilt sitting at a desk across from me.

Be glad that this photo was taken after the fact. The first time I looked up, his legs were open. Let me just say that he wasn't wearing boxers.