ENFIN.

ENFIN: French, adv. At last; finally. Ex: «Enfin, nous allons au Niger!» “Finally, we are going to Niger!”

In just over a week, we’re taking off for Niger! Enfin, amiright?!

Long story short, when this whole State Department adventure started, Delta (code sharing with AirFrance) had the US Government contract for flights from DC to Niamey. One of the benefits of flying these long routes (anything more than 14 hours, start to finish), is that State Department direct hires and their dependents can take a 24-hour(ish) rest stop at a logical stopping point (or get a pass to the business class lounge) enroute to post. With AirFrance, that’s Paris. Due to the troubles between the new Nigerien administration and France, AirFrance has lost its landing rights in Niamey. So, instead of flying AirFrance via Paris, we’ll be flying Ethiopian Airlines via Addis Ababa. Which means that instead of a 24-hour rest stop in the City of Lights where we’d planned to visit with our friend M from orientation, eat baguettes and croissants, drink wine, and take pictures, we’re, instead, looking to fill a day in the political capital of Africa, the City of Humans, አዲስ አበባ, Finfinnee, and literally “new flower city.” (It should be noted that Ethiopian’s DC to Niger itinerary via Addis Ababa takes more than 20 hours. By contrast, AirFrance via Paris took 14 hours.)

Ethiopia is known for its coffee culture; Ma has it on good authority from Chef Endalk Mekonnen of Nazret Ethiopian Restaurant in Falls Church, Virginia that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia and that there’s none better anywhere else in the world. She admits he might be biased, but has to agree that it’s really good. So we’re looking at coffee rituals, food tours, and tours of historical sites within the city’s limits — all guided because (and I know this will shock you) Ma doesn’t speak Amharic and needs a facilitator/guide. Shocking, I know!

We negotiated Ma’s pack-out (enfin), squeaked past a potential government shutdown, and I managed to keep Ma calm enough long enough so she could take her end-of-course French test on Friday. She has to wait until Tuesday for the results, but at least it’s out of the way. She even managed to keep it together long enough to negotiate the DC Metro to abandon her diplomatic passport to the tender mercies of the very nice folks at the Ethiopian Embassy to apply for our visas! I make it sound like she’s a blink away from losing it, but the fact of the matter is that it’s all really REAL now, and it just hit her that she’s leaving the family behind for who knows how long. Yeah, she’s got me, but we can’t even take Bitch Kitty with us due to the length of the flight and her advanced age. (I give Ma a month before she takes in some fosters.)

At any rate, I’m distracting her by passing along the fun of planning a mini-vacation in Addis. If you’ve been there, and have any must-see or must-do suggestions, please let us know in the comments!