And here I am.

I realized the other day that if I don't get even a short post out, updating people on what I'm doing here, friends and family will butcher me when I return to the states. Plus, I've been feeling guilty about not updating quite so often as I wanted to.

So here I am, in Addis. It's pretty great here -- the weather is 50-60 most days, and while it is the middle of the rainy season, that's tolerable and my house has only flooded once. The DiploCats have arrived, and are busy tearing the crap out of the house, though they hate the local cat food. Supposedly I'll get my HHE sometime this month. We'll see about that.

About once or twice a week, I get over to the Sheraton hotel, which is a true five-star. The restaurants there are spectacular, although since I started a low-carb diet I mainly tend to go to Summerfields, their buffet. All you can eat beef tenderloin and lamb chops what up!? The meat is Kenyan, which is good because that means it actually is quality; Ethiopian meat tends to be tough and stringy. It's also the place to go do business; you can't go two feet without running into an Ambassador, or a Somali parliamentarian, or some corporate CEO. The nice thing is that they have a fair selection of cuban cigars; and while overpriced, they're well kept.

I've been basically dead this whole week -- 16+ hour days except today, due to having two separate groups of congressional staff visitors in town and somehow I got stuck with all of them. Which wasn't as bad as it could be, it was actually rather fun, but I like to go home at a reasonable hour (8:30 or 9pm is NOT the norm.) I'm looking forward to some much deserved sleep this weekend; although a colleague in Consular tells me they may be roasting a goat at his place and I don't think I can pass that up.