In this guest post, Lella will be talking about her trip home. Lella has been living in Chengdu for about 5 years now. This year she decided to learn more about herself, her culture and her country. Welcome, Lella!
January 7th – January 17th, Ethiopia
This particular trip back home was by the far the least expected, least planned and yet the most anticipated one. I have been back home every year since I moved to China 5 years ago. I have lived in Ethiopia for 18 years of my life before I went abroad. But for the life of me I have never actually traveled in and around Ethiopia. Not sure why, but maybe because it is my own country, and took it for granted. Typical.
Recently before my travel, I had what I like to call ‘a better understanding of life‘ than ever before so I decided I needed to see my own country, find out more about my roots, and about the country itself. Living abroad for a while now you meet people who sometimes know more about your country than you do, and that is something I wanted not to have in my life anymore. I know very little. So it doesn’t even take much in-depth knowledge to know more than I do. Another reason why was; where can be the best place to test out your new self but home with family (I got nothing but love for them though). Not to mention the last but never least reason was my superwoman friend Meg was also going to be in Addis same time I was for her East African trip. So I obviously packed my bags and left.
My flight was Jan 6 from Chengdu and landed on Jan 7, 6 AM in the morning also known in Ethiopia as Christmas Day Morning. That reminds I was also on a mission to have meat free Christmas with my family hence the timing of the trip. Needless to say I failed. Failed as in if had I really wanted that to happen I should have planned my trip at least a week earlier as opposed to the morning of Christmas. Perhaps failing isn’t the right word.
After spending Christmas day eating and making merry, me and my friend who is visiting decided that our travels in and around Ethiopia should start January 10, Tuesday. Our plan was to go from Addis Ababa (our current location) to Lalibela, from Lalibela to Gondar, from Gondar to Bahir Dar, from Bahir Dar, to Addis Ababa, a total of 1,767 kilometers in a time frame of one week.
Lella Misikir 木兰
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