Wow - its still hard to believe that we are actually in Ethiopia!!! It has been such a long time coming and we are stoked to be here. Today we began SIM field orientation with a tour of the guest house (more affectionately referred to as "HQ"), then we met many of the SIM Ethiopia field staff, and made new friends from Switzerland.
One of our tasks in orientation is to obtain Ethiopian driver's licenses. Knowing we are now in Africa we anticipated this task to be a process. Before we set out on our excursion for the day several missionaries were asking us about our plan for the day and once we told them we planned on obtaining driver's licenses, smiles spread across their faces. These smiles told us one thing - they were joyous that it was us getting the driver's licenses, not them!!!
Our goal was to simply use our U.S. driver's licenses to get an Ethiopian ones. To accomplish this we were informed that there were 3 crucial steps we must follow. Step 1: Go to the U.S. Embassy - while there fill out a piece of paper, pay a fee, get the paper stamped. Step 2: Go to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs - pay a fee, get that same paper stamped. Step 3: Go to the Ethiopian Roads Authority - hand over that precious piece of paper, pay another fee, hand over copies of our passports & licenses in addition to passport photos. Oh did I mention these 3 offices are on opposite sides of the city?!?
We made it to the U.S. Embassy during the 2.5 hours they were open and we successfully left with the special stamped paper. On our way to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it began to hail and pour rain. The streets fill with water, making it difficult for our driver get us close to the office. So all three of us ditched the car and attempted to share one broken umbrella and walk the rest of the way. Upon arrival our driver splits and we receive a very thorough pat down. We are ushered into a covered area with about 150 Ethiopians who all appear to be waiting - some of them are sitting in chairs in what look to be a holding que. We are pointed to the corner and proceed to stand there for a while. Nothing happened until the rain let up - then the craziness began. From what we could gather one at a time each row of seats was sent across a small parking lot to an official's offices. Every time a row was excused, there was a mad dash to snag a seat!!! It reminded me of musical chairs when the music stops and everyone pushes and shoves to try to grab a seat. If anyone got up from their seat to ask the guy organizing the chaos a question, their seat was snatched and they had return to back of the line! At one point our driver came in to check on us and gave us the thumbs up when he saw we had finally found a seat! After surveying the craziness for about an hour or so I had developed a plan to expedite the process. As soon as a row was excused I would pretend like I were leaving the covered area and then jump in the back of the line without the guy in charge noticing - I had seen several Ethiopians try this tactic with great success. Bryan said that was a great plan except for the fact that we were the only white people in the crowd - so my brilliant plan was scrapped. Thankfully, we were able to obtain the second set of stamps with no issues :) Step 3 will commence bright and early tomorrow morning!
