A typical commute to work is about a ten minute walk from our house, and then a ten minute minibus ride towards the office. Part of the walk to where we pick up the minibus passes by a very large Ethiopian church. The sidewalks in front of the very large church complex (note the fence with crosses) are often lined with beggars and what appear to be homeless. Many of them know little English, and you can hear here what is a common greeting, especially from children - "Hello Sister"
After our walk, we hop on a minibus, which is essentially a communal taxi on a set route. They are blue and white vans (you will see others passing by in the video) and they are run by a driver and usually a boy or young man who will stay in the back and hang out the window calling out which route the minibus is going. In the video you will hear him call "hayulet" for our route on the way to work. In addition this second worker will collect money from you once you are on the mini bus and also let the driver know when to stop when called out by a passenger - if not at a standard spot. Legally, here, these minibuses are meant carry up to twelve people, but you will often see many more crammed in. They are definitely an affordable way to catch a ride with our one-way fare being somewhere between 1-3 birr (the currency here), depending on how far we go, with 1 birr=$0.06. You will see that the private blue and white taxis are also common, but much more expensive, comparatively, costing about 50 birr for the same ride. Also, you may see that traffic is a bit crazy! Since I've been here aside from some non-working stoplights...I have seen one "functional" stop sign. Crossing the road on foot is always an adventure.
Hope you enjoy the videos and get a bit more of a feel for my daily commute!
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