Dear ECS: Reflecting on Two Years in Ethiopia – our "Best of"

Dear ECS,

Well honey, it is the end of an era.  We have all departed Addis for the last time, as I write this on the long plane ride from our home of two years to Washington, DC.  It has been a journey, with much more good than bad over the two years.  

Time is so funny honey, I can remember so clearly the trip you and I took to arrive in 2017, with your mom going ahead to get things squared away for you, and us.  I remember so clearly the drive from the airport to our house that night – to a house we don’t live in anymore. 

In building off the tradition of our last departure, in 2016 from Nassau, I want to step back and think of the things, memories, people that have been so wonderful.  This is our "best of" from the last two years.

The Best - you

The rest of my life will be marked in time that is pegged to you, which sure fits for the last two years, as the adorable child that arrived in Ethiopia who has grown so so much.  You are tall, strong, so damn smart, a wonderful friend and child and student.  The development you have made is tremendous, and is my highlight of our time here.  We have had so much fun as a family, getting to spend a tremendous amount of time together, traveling, and generally have a great time. 

Also the best – your mom

Tied for the best has been your mom – Muriel has thrived in Ethiopia, she has been able to find the most positive dimensions of pretty much every development, good or bad.  She has climbed hard, made great friends (me too, and you too), killed it at work and been a great partner.  As our keystone, everything we have been able to do starts with her – thanks babe.

Deep thank you – our household

Then, there are the people who have become a deep part of our family – Kebebush, Salem, Medina, Gage, Gash Mamu and Muna.  I know how hard it is for you to have left these wonderful people who have been such a big part of our two years, and are critical for your amazing development.  Just like you are missing them, they are missing you. That is what family is like, absence and departures are hard, we will all have a new norm moving forward and we, as a family, won’t forget them.  Thank you.

Another deep thank you – our friends

Life in Addis is wearing, or at least it can be for the Korol family.  What has been clear from our first weeks here is that there is a deep sense of community, which has fostered magnificent friendships.  This has been the hardest part of our departure, as we are leaving behind dozens of good friends of all ages and interests.  Your bountiful birthday parties are a great example, with so many of your friends, and then mom and dad’s friends all coming together.  We will miss you everyone, and the door is always open in Cairo.

And one more deep thank you – our visitors

Travel to Addis is no joke, I am on a direct flight as I type this back to the U.S. and will be in this Boeing 777 for about 17 hours.  For a direct flight with a fuel up in Dublin.  Many of our visitors didn’t come from DC, elongating the travel to mind numbing periods.  But many of our loved ones, family and friends, came and came for good long times.  My parents came a super impressive four times.   Those that made the trip were up for adventures near and far from Addis and we drew so much love and energy from those visits.  Thank you.

Related to that, our best place to travel with visitors was clearly Lalibela, which we could easily do in a weekend.  These rock hewn churches are wildly impressive, ancient and quite accessible.  We enjoyed staying at the Maribela Hotel (https://hotelmaribela.com/) in Lalibela, with grand vista views from every room and patio.  These churches never got old, and one of my favorite trail runs in the country is on this stunning trail on the nearby butte.  All in all, a great and easy trip, to see deeply held Ethiopian history and the country outside of Addis, which can be a stark difference.

Favorite restaurant in Addis – Bake and Brew

This one is tough to decide, the true answer is probably our house.  Having an oasis in the bustle and craziness of the city is essential, and we had a great one.  The green space, the bountiful garden, my basketball hoop, the outdoor patios, our comfy living space, the space for friends and family, and the much-used fireplace are all things I will miss. 

But in terms of places to go out to, I am going to pick Bake and Brew in Old Airport (https://www.bakeandbrewaddis.com/).  Caleb opened it up while we lived in Addis and it has thrived as an oasis of its own.  It is great place for breakfast and lunch, my favorites on the menu are the bracingly delicious ice coffee and the foul medamaes (good thing our next stop is Cairo!).

My favorite hour of the week – ballet class

My work in Addis was intense and deeply rewarding.  It was also hard and challenging, which made your hour of ballet class on Saturday mornings such a delight.  I put away my phone, sipped some delicious coffee from Robera (https://www.facebook.com/roberacoffee/) and watched you in your absolute element.  From doing the various positions, to freeze dancing, the joy you feel in these classes oozes out of every pore, your eyes are so so bright and the smile infectious.  I feel such pride at watching you in the class, doing complex movements, eager to get it right and wildly flexible and dynamic. 

Best community – Fithiopia 

This community is superlative, so many of the aforementioned friends we met or enhanced our relationship at Ricardo’s high intensity workouts.  It is a korol special, in that we are able to do so many things – you have a play date with great friends, we get to hang out with our friends, and have a killer workout outside.  We are in much better shape in part due to Ricardo’s workouts; sometimes Mu or I would have sore legs or abs for 4-5 days after a hard workout.  We love that soreness; it means we are working hard.

My best game – soccer at the Italian culture centre

As you have already picked up in your four vibrant years on earth, I am a sports nut.  Playing, watching, talking about sports are all beloved passions.  And it was such a gift to be plugged into my amazing community of futbol at the Italian cultural centre, which was thankfully about a mile from our house.  Being able to play in a high quality and pace game on a weekly, or even if I was pushing it with mom, 2x a week was my favorite pastime.  I will miss it a ton, with a close second going to our basketball games at the embassy.

Best Addis day trip

Our favorite day trip is the day up to Portuguese bridge, to the north of the capital.  The drive once you get out of Addis is really pretty, rolling hills, little villages and clusters of houses.  After a couple of hours, you arrive at the bridge, which is a vestige from decades ago and a little hike down from the road.  If you are lucky, there will be some Gelada baboons hanging out on the cliffs, in captivating packs that are worth the trip along.  But there is much more, with a huge canyon below the bridge, more than a mile across and with some steep cliffs and waterfalls sprinkled throughout the valley.  It is a view you can take in for an hour and still pick up something new on your 61^st minute.  And then, there is the famous Debre Libanos church (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debre_Libanos) a few miles down the road, which is one of the holiest in Ethiopia and whose current incarnation was rebuilt by Emperor Selassie.  My rec is to bring your own food and drink – it all adds up to a great day out.

Best weekend trip in Ethiopia – Gheralta, Tigray

This one is pretty easy for me, with our beloved guide Gebre making the time in Gheralta and the Gheralta Lodge (https://gheraltalodgetigrai.com/) so special.  There is a reason we went there for our last weekend in the Ethiopia, with a nice mix of sports on offer such as hiking, trail running, and climbing.  Being up north in this part of the world is an automatic reset, the air is clean and the scenery renewing.  The rock churches up here are contrasted to Lalibela in that they require some good hiking to get to their precipitous perches with commanding views over the farmland below. 

Best hotel – LimaLimo Lodge in Simien Mountains

This one is a bit different than the above, as the splendor of Gheralta is my slight preference to the crazy rugged Siemen Mountains.  But I do like the boutique limalimo lodge (https://limalimolodge.com/) in the Simiens more than any hotel in Ethiopia, it is newer and its design ethos is something we will try to incorporate into our own living space.  We already did that, having twigs of eucalyptus trees in our house based on enjoying that at the lodge.  The main lodge sits on top of massive, hundreds of feet cliffs and the view is grand and spell binding, the food is great and the rooms so comfortably.  Highly recommended.

Our best African getaway – Seychelles

This one is close, with other contenders being Rwanda, safari in Nairobi, the Kenyan beaches, and a few others.  But the Seychelles is one of our happy places as a family – in some small part because it harkens back to the start of our life as a family in the Bahamas.  The Seychelles is transcendently beautiful, with the amazing beaches and swimming contrasted with green, jungle shrouded mountains that a friend recently aptly said wouldn’t have surprised her if a pterodactyl swooped over, and big cliffs and boulders sprinkled throughout.  We have gone with great friends, which is a huge bonus.

Best Korol Euro trip – ski trips

Well honey, your dad is going to cop out on this one.  Being able to head to Europe for family ski trips these last two ski seasons has been AMAZING.  Watching you progress as a skier has only been eclipsed by your excitement at that sport and your progress.  Being able to ski as a family is so much better than I would have ever imagined, as someone who is pretty much always chomping at the bit for steep, fresh, scary lines to ski.  And I have had plenty of those in France, Italy and Austria from 2017 to 2019.  Growing up I would never imagined having so many opportunities to ski in these places I mythologized growing up, places that have hosted Olympics, etc.  And the living is so great with the Airbnb apartments, great food and our time as a close family on vacation.  Lifetime memories.

Well that about wraps it up honey – 2 years well lived with you, your mom and me.  We love you a ton and are constantly proud of you.

love,

dad