The STOP training marathon is over and I am on my way. First a quick stopover in Halifax to make final adjustments to the luggage and official move-out of the apartment! I will be flying out tomorrow morning and will meet Tammy in Ottawa tomorrow afternoon; we will fly through Washington Dulles to Rome and onto Addis Ababa. We are booked into the nicest hotel in the city for the first few days of our stay but will soon find ourselves out in the Ethiopian countryside.
There were 45 people in STOP 28 assigned to interesting areas around the world including the Solomon Islands, Zanzibar, Haiti, Krgystan and area, Pakistan, India and many countries in Africa. Most of the folks are going to support field surveillance of measles and to participate in Global Polio eradication programming with a smaller number assigned to Data Management. The trainers from the Global Immunization Program and WHO did a good job of informing and motivating us to support our assigned country colleagues. We had the opportunity to meet people who have spent time in our assigned countries; I was so pleased to meet many Ethiopians in our course as well as in the hotel (2 lovely ladies in the Starbucks who gave me lots of hints!)and our taxi driver.
My roommate Marit (shown studying over dinner in the hotel) was great company for the past week. We are looking forward to sharing experiences with our colleagues over the summer, including those moments of culture shock which we have been told are inevitable. I also met a young woman who just returned from Ethiopia - STOP 27 who had a great time and didn't want to return. So, as our Ethiopians friends have told us - we are the 'lucky' ones to be assigned there and on that note, will talk to you next from somewhere in that country.
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