Matt and I are spending most of our time in Jimma. So after spending a lovely week in Addis we flew to Jimma. The African Union’s 50 year celebration is occurring this weekend. So many world leaders and representatives are flying into Addis for the celebration and meetings. The day of our flight to Jimma was the same day John Kerry was flying in. So all the roads to the airport were blocked off. To get to the airport, our taxi driver had to drive on the wrong side of the street, swerving through traffic. Matt says it was very similar to driving in the video game of Grand Theft Auto. But don’t worry! We got there safely and even arrived 2.5 hours before our flight. It was really cool to watch all the diplomatic private planes fly in.

After a short flight, we arrived in Jimma and were met by Abreham, the biomedical technician at Jimma Referral Hospital. He dropped us off at our hotel and drew us a map of Jimma.

That weekend, Matt and I explored Jimma.  It had rained the night before and we misread the map.  So we chose the muddiest road in all of town to walk down first.  I got mud all over my pants, some on my shirt, and some even on my face.  The locals seemed very perplexed at seeing a pair of foreigners trooping around in the mud.  One old lady laughed as if the it was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life.  Every single little kid we met wanted to shake our hands and practice their English.

We wandered all over Jimma.  The roads are mostly paved and are much less muddy once you get into the downtown area.  Walking around was a very good way to learn the town.  However, we quickly learned that Abreham’s map is a connection map not a geographic map.  But it is still very useful because it has all the “safe” restaurants and important landmarks are labelled.

As you can see in the above pictures, the connection map and the geographical map are very different.