FINAL DESTINATION: Garden of Eden

I have FINALLY ARRIVED!

While I was waiting at the gate in Addis, a man came running to the security check out line (the 2nd one at the particular gate, not the main one at the airport entrance) screaming "please! please! please!" His flight to Lagos was still sitting on the tarmack but as he screamed, they began pulling away the ramp. I felt so awful for him. Essentially, this is what happened to me yesterday - minus the audience. I turned around to start up a convo with two girls behind me, explaining what had happened yesterday. I eventually discovered that they had backpacked throughout Nigeria for 2.5 weeks and were now flying to JRO to climb Kili. I explained my situation about getting to Arusha (and realizing - too late - that I had no idea what the address was or had a number to call in case of emergency). I hoped that they too were going to Arusha, but oh well.

Once we boarded the plane, I turned to the young guy sitting next to me (Jerry from Canada) and asked him what he was doing. He, too, was going to climb Kili with friends. They had gone to the Middle East (Israel, Egypt, etc) to see Bethlehem/Jerusalem, visit Petra, and go sandboarding. After climbing Kili, they plan to go to South Africa to, among other things, go to a World Cup game. Now, I'm not a soccer fan AT ALL. But GOD I would love to go to a game in South Africa this summer. Just sounds too amazing to pass up. Though he wasn't going to Arusha, I gave him my/MW's contact info so he could FB me and ask MW about couchsurfing.com for his backpacking trip alone throughout Europe. Best of luck, Jerry! I'm super jealous of your travels!

And then, four hours later, I was woken up by the loud shake of the plane as it landed at JRO airport. Even at the airport, everything was so beautiful and green and lush. It was humid and I was tired, but I cannot express to you how happy I was to finally be here. Checked through immigration without problem and then went searching for my luggage (which had been sent to JRO on yesterday's flight). The guy said that it just kept going around and around on the belt and he thought about sending it back that day. Since he kept it, he thought I should give him a present. At first, I thought he was joking. As he kept insisting though, I realized that he really expected me to give him a tip for doing his job. I told him I needed change so he took me to the currency exchange place (1390 - $1, not bad) and I wound up giving him $5. I figure, even if he unfairly take advantage of me, I'd rather pay him the $5 than piss him off and get into a taxi with a friend of his not knowing what to expect.

As expected, the UN did not show up to get me at the airport (though, as I found out later, it didn't pick up AJ or other interns either so it was nothing personal). I got into the taxi and prayed that he was legit and a) would not harm/extort me and b) actually knew where he was going because I did not.

The drive here was gorgeous. The trees were so big and green. It definitely looked like something out of the movies. I simply have not seen scenery this vibrant or rich in my life. I took pictures of what I could (hopefully I can figure out how to post them here, but, if not, check FB).

When I saw Fire Rd, I knew everything was okay. Though he drove too far and stopped several people to ask where our house was, we eventually arrived and BM came out to greet me. The driver asked for $50 USD, which I told him at the airport I could not give him unless he allowed me to stop and get change. Instead, I gave him 70,000 Tsh (Tanzanian shilingi), which converts to about $53 USD. He kept insisting that I give him an extra 5000Tsh but I told him that the exchange rate wasn't that high, I just converted my money and only got 1390 for $1 USD and the shilingi I gave him was more than he requested. Honestly, I could gave him a few thousand more but I think I was still upset about his friend at the airport forcing me to "tip" him and I had done the conversions to make sure I didn't get cheated. He walked away looking so sad, which, of course, made me feel bad. Thankfully, AJ, Hinji and Mike showed up and insisted I put my stuff upstairs and grab food with them so off I went.

I grabbed 18000 Tsh, which I (now) realize is a lot, but since I wasn't sure how much money we'd spend on lunch, I'd just bring more than I needed. As we walked down to a local restaurant less than 2 minutes away, PG (an intern living at Guta Apartments) came running up to us, letting us know that two of her roommates had just been mugged/slightly beaten up at knife point. Their money, jewelry, cameras, etc were all stolen. We immediately turned around and headed back to our house. Everyone still being super hungry, we just put our valuables away and brought very little cash with us. The yellow lab then walked our group down to the restaurant. We ordered Chips Maaya, which I think is just french fries and cheese melted together with cucumbers and tomatoes on top. It was actually pretty tasty.

While eating dinner, Eddie and his friend, Evans, came up and sat down with us. Everyone was freaking out because he had just shaved his beard and went from looking like Jesus to a young boy. Eddie was super nice and pretty funny. He demanded that I finish my first Chips Maaya or else risk ending up like "Jimmy," who couldn't find food that tasted good and withered away after refusing to finish his first Chips Maaya. I laughed and finished the meal, though I left most of my beer there (it was double the size of bottles in America).

We came back to the house and everyone decided that they wanted to watch Die Hard. I decided to take a shower (with HOT water :)) and then a quick 20 minute nap. Of course, that turned into a 2 hr nap and everyone is now asleep. Tomorrow at 9am we're going to go to the ICTR to watch one of the defendants in a trial testify. I also hope AJ and I can set everything up to start work next Tuesday (badges, etc). After, we hope to go safari shopping with Mike (or Hinji?) for a short safari. We originally planned ona 6 day safari, but I think doing a 3-4 day one now plus a weekend one later will be fine. Especially for half the price we originally agreed to pay. I also hope that I can get a wireless stick and cell phone tomorrow so I can write home and let everyone know that I'm safe and sound.

Some cool things I learned today:

- In addition to the French classes the UN offers for free, they also have a free shuttle that you can take to/from work and a gym with kickboxing/step aerobic classes for $10 month.

- I chose the right area to intern. Apparently Chambers is good but inconsistent with the amount of substantive work they have to give interns. The prosecution/defense, however, get to work on upcoming trials so it's more like a typical litigation team.

- Apparently the UN runs trips to Rwanda every month and they give away tickets for any empty seats to interns. I *really* hope that we get to go.

- It looks like we may be able to do safari + Kili + Meru + Zanzibar + weekend excursions to nearby countries after all. It will be a lot of money, but I just don't see how I can turn down such amazing experiences. Oh, and speaking of Kili - everyone made it to the top! They were freezing and tired, but they did it so I'm looking forward to taking my picture with the "Congratulations - you made it!" sign up at the summit as well. :-DDD

I think this is the first 24-hr period where I have not spoken to MW at all. It makes me sad. I miss him terribly and wish he could be experiencing all this with me. That being said, I'm glad I'm forced to do this on my own for now. I'm sure that someday we will have our own African adventures, and I will be a much better partner than I can be now.

Good night!