A Regular Addis Ababa Sunday in the Rain

The Rainy Season in Ethiopia is an entertaining time of year full of surprises, new adventures, and thousands of millimeters of Mother Nature’s rain. Most Expats (aka foreigners) disappear from the Addis Ababa social scene and retreat back to where their hearts are, home. Of course, one only has so long for a vacation, but if you’re working for one of those government organizations, your vacation could be anywhere from 3 to 8 weeks. Crazy eh? So stragglers, like myself, working for local or private organizations, depending on how you see it, “choose” to rough it out in the never-ending pouring rain. Many of you are enjoying the beautiful sunny summer in Toronto, while I’m spending my summer months in damp and cold Africa…well, Ethiopia at least … no need for pity. Not exactly what people had pictured. I guess I just have to look on the bright side, when it’s minus 30 degrees (Celsius) without wind-chill back home, I’ll be enjoying sun, SUN, and oh-so-plentiful SUN! Last year, when I first arrived in Ethiopia, I managed to luckily catch the tail end of the notorious Rainy Season. I was seriously thinking, “Wow, thank goodness I’ll be gone by the next rainy season!” hmmm … guess not.

Just to give you an idea how “rainy” the Rainy Season is, here are just a few common highlights and attractions you will come across in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:

1. Unbearable damp and cold nights (a fireplace or space heater is definitely needed, even in Africa);
2. Cracks of lightning too close for comfort;
3. If you’ve got an aluminum roof (most homes and factories), reduced hearing is quite possible after hearing pounding rain drops *PLOP*. It’s like you placed your ear right beside the base drum of a drum set. Yikes.
4. You’ll see rain droplets so GINORMOUS that you’ll see an ample amount of severed dragonfly wings on your window ledge. Poor insects, they probably didn’t even know what hit them!
5. Did I point out this was flea season?! And, as I have mentioned before, I am unequivocally the preferred insect meal!
6. Every single “good” road flooded during downpour….poor drainage planning (some roads become impassable with 1 m deep water). Just imagine the “bad” roads?!
7. Ethiopian women wearing stilettos struggling to jump over mud puddles. It’s quite funny actually because you can totally see them trying to figure out the optimal way of crossing a puddle;
8. People standing bizarrely under a stranger’s roof waiting for the rain to end. Even if they need to wait an hour knowing they will miss an important meeting, they will wait. Another common rain cover location: doorways to buildings;
9. Plastic bags on heads…have to protect that new perm or weave!
10. Hail…yes, HAIL. Hail so big it hurts! (Ethiopians call hail “snow”…they need to visit us in Canada);
11. And of course, the drought ending! Yay!

But, as fast as a sudden downpour comes, that’s how fast it ends. Usually, even on the most depressing and gloomy-looking days, after a nice street-cleaning downpour, the beautiful sun will cast its rays for a couple of hours before it rains again. Just long enough to cheer you up and dry you off before the rain starts again.

You know, whoever came up with that phrase “13 Months of Sunshine” to describe Ethiopia was seriously lying! LYING! Haha I’ve just been spoiled with amazing weather for many months, so a little rain won’t hurt. Just a little.