house hunting

House hunting in Addis is not an easy task. The city's population is rapidly increasing, growing at a rate of almost 4% annually since the mid-00s. Now assumed to be well over four million people, there is simply not enough places to live or enough roads and public transport to travel on.

The city is trying to address these issues as quickly as possible - new roads, a new light rail system, countless new private housing developments- but it is all still a work in progress.

For the most part, financial privilege means that expats in the city don't need to join the never ending lines to register for the government sponsored condos that are being rapidly constructed in every corner of the city. But they do have to compete with the never ending flow of foreigners that make Addis the third largest diplomatic city in the world. Adding to the countless embassies, NGOs, the African Union, and UN agencies will be the recent arrival of a newly merged UNDP Regional Office for Africa. Staff from both Dakar and Johannesburg are all moving to Addis in the next few weeks and every housing broker in the city knows it.

And so with all that, I feel very fortunate to have found a home in only a few weeks. The added bonus - it's with two fellow Canadians who are here through the Coady Institute. It's a cute little house - or villa as they like to call them here, sharing a compound with the landlord's home. While the decor is a little dated, it has some character, is comfortable, and in an accessible and interesting part of the city. It also has a little garden that while a bit overgrown, is very attractive to our neighbourhood monkeys :)

tell about it

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do 
with your one wild and precious life" 

I've had these lines from Mary Oliver running around in my head for the last six months or so - a reminder, or comfort, that each new change is just one of many that has so far contributed to a pretty wonderful life. 

In the past six months, I ended a year and a half of living in rural Lesotho, had one month of travel adventures in Tanzania, and found myself back home in Canada after being away for more than four years.

But my homecoming was quickly cut short by the opportunity to work with the UNDP in Ethiopia for six months. And so now I find myself in Addis.

This opportunity marks many firsts. My first time in Ethiopia. My first time living in the chaos of an African capital city. My first time working with the UN.

And while I've had the opportunity to live and travel in many wonderful places far from home, this will be my first time blogging these experiences (much to the happiness of my family!).

And so I can think of no better way to start than with a little more inspiration from Mary Oliver.

"Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it."