Saturday  *photo* Getting to the airport in Asosa, then met fellow passenger during flight to Addis Ababa

A funny thing happened on the way to airport today. But I’m getting ahead of my story, so let me back up.

Since Saturday is market day, I went to the Asosa market and took close to 50 pictures. I’m not going to do the hard work of sending them now, though, since I’ll be back home in just a few days if all goes according to plan (as I hope it does!). I am rather sunburned now after spending a good bit of time each day in Asosa walking places, so it’s good that I’ve left there and am now in Addis Ababa, where I don’t spend so much time in the sun because people drive me around.

David and I spent the morning packing our things and securing the house where we were staying, so that it won’t be easy to break into while the owners are away. Then we went to our favorite restaurant in Asosa for lunch—the Intercontinental, where we both had vegetable soup, a big bowl for $2.25. (See picture.) Then we walked back home to wait for the bajaj that would take us to the airport.

The bajaj turned up at the house where we were staying at just a few minutes after 1:45. Anne-Christie had walked over from where she was living, so we loaded our large bags into the rear luggage compartment, then got in and held our smaller bags on our laps. The driver put the bajaj into gear, but the vehicle refused to go. As he investigated the nature of the problem, he discovered that the clutch cable had broken, and his vehicle was immobilized. Time to panic—we were to be at the airport in another 20 minutes or so, and our means of transportation had just broken down!

But God had already provided a Plan B. Last evening, we invited a young SIL couple who are in Asosa for two weeks to join us for supper. They drove to Asosa from Addis Ababa, so they had a vehicle and were living near us. As they left last evening, the husband casually mentioned that, in the event our ride with the bajaj didn’t work out, he would be happy to take us to the airport. We had not expected to take him up on his offer, but in light of the broken cable in the bajaj, we were quickly on the phone to ask Josh if he could come and rescue us. Some 15 minutes later, he had safely deposited us at the airport. Thanks to God for providing that Plan B and to Josh for his willingness to come to our aid!

On the plane, I ended up sitting by a man from France. We talked the entire flight, so it was the fastest one-hour flight I’ve ever taken. (I think that’s the first time I’ve ever carried on a conversation with anyone for an entire plane flight! Granted, the second half of the flight wasn’t true conversation, but rather had us tag-teaming to solve a Sudoku puzzle in the airline’s magazine. But we were talking in French while doing it and having a great time together.)

I am now back in Ethiopia’s capital city, with about 48 hours before my flight leaves for Canada. My flight is scheduled to depart Addis Ababa at 10:40pm local time on Monday. That’s 2:40pm Monday for those of you in the Eastern time zone; I’ll let the rest of you do the math to figure out the time in your time zone. I have a direct flight to Toronto, then change planes to continue on to Charlotte after a two-and-a-half-hour layover.