African Tour

As a military acronym refresher, when units change out on deployments, a RIP/TOA is performed, which translates as a "Relief In Place / Transfer Of Authority".  The plan was to go on what New Jersey called an "Around The World" flight to show us as many country airports as possible...our unit referred to it as the "Farewell Tour" which ended up being a 7-day trip to Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda...New Jersey had it right---the only way to learn, was to experience the unique procedures in each country.

Our first stop was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  It only took the drive from the airport to realize there is no possible way I could ever accurately describe the sites and sounds of Africa...the beauty, the poverty, the color, the languages, the culture, the food...everything is different, but somehow we were able to get where we wanted to go.  This picture was taken on the way to the hotel;

If nothing else on this tour, we will all learn patience...everything happens in Africa Time...Slow.  We left Ethiopia and made several stops in Kenya.  Baby, this is where I purchased your initial items of African jewelry...from a tiny girl in the city of Tanga...she had a small gift shop on the airport property...only later did I realize, it would be cool if you could see the people I purchased from, so in the future I'll do better;

Due to sensory overload, I did not take many pictures on this trip.  But one place that was truly amazing was a wood carving shop in Uganda.  The workmanship was incredible and it was all done by hand.  Hopefully these pictures will give you an idea of the quality;