Wow, my visit is over half over–it’s Wednesday night already and what a busy day today! This morning, we met with the VP for Academics to briefly discuss our vision for the partnership. He was on board and let us know that he looked forward to reading the concept paper that will outline the overall goals of the project. This is something one of our Addis colleagues will be working on with us over the next couple of days.

One of the highlights of our visit was lunch at the home of another Addis colleague–he and his family welcomed us to his home for a delicious vegetarian feast! We met his wife and daughters and pets! We had a coffee ceremony after lunch–it’s a beautiful ritual in which the coffee beans are roasted using charcoal, ground with a pestle and the coffee is freshly brewed. Incense burns as the coffee is prepared… such a beautiful ritual. Also, we were treated as honored guests–lovely flowers were placed lovingly on the floor… This was one of the most moving experiences I’ve ever had and I am so grateful to our colleague for this experience.