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Back to \"normal\"

So I've arrived safely back in Addis Ababa, and am starting to settle back into life here. I was really only in Addis for 5 weeks before I had to leave again, so I probably hadn't settled properly into life here, definitely not long enough to put down roots. I think that after 3 weeks back at home, I was beginning to settle back into life in Ireland again. It's been a fairly unsettling couple of months! Anyway, I'm very thankful that it's all sorted out now, the SIM staff here seem confident that all is well regarding visas and work permits. So praise God for that! Its nice to be back here in the sunshine, especially seeing all the pictures coming to me of the snow and cold back home. Although I'm having to adjust once again to the high altitude so I feel very tired a lot of the time. Also, the internet has been down for a week or so apparently, and only really started working properly now. Small problems, relatively speaking :-)
It was very nice to be at home over Christmas, I definitely enjoyed being able to catch up with family and friends. I also took full advantage of the opportunity to bring out some more things from Ireland that I didn't have room for in November. Currently, I'm enjoying a lovely coffee from the espresso machine I stuffed into a suitcase. Thankfully, once again I didn't have any trouble at customs! I was also very thankful to be allowed on the flight out here on Sunday, as it turned out I wasn't booked on it. I had needed to change the date due to visa troubles, but the guy on the phone changed my flight to the 11th Dec 2015, rather than 11th Jan 2015 like I'd asked him. I didn't pick up on his mistake until I arrived in Dublin airport, Sunday morning at 3am. After a very anxious call to Lufthansa, (who thankfully have a 24 hour line) I managed to have it changed to the correct day, with no extra fees. Phew!
Yesterday was my birthday, and a few of my friends and neighbours here organised some baked goods from a cafe round the corner and found some candles for me to blow out. In language school today, I attempted to talk about what I had done for my birthday. In an attempt to say that I blew out some candles, I came out with "I exhaled on my shoes." My teacher keeled over laughing, it took a while for him to recover to tell me my mistake. Language learning keeps you humble, anyway!!
Niall

Posted at 14 January, 2015, 7:36pm

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