Hilton - Gmz

Addis Ababa has a lot of hotels, but there are two that stand above the rest – the Sheraton and the Hilton. The Sheraton is WAY over-the-top fancy and would easily pass for a really nice hotel in downtown Chicago. The Hilton, on the other hand, is more moderate and has a few years under its belt but still its considered to be VERY nice by all those living in Addis Ababa. So, with that background info, we’d like to give you a tour of our new house, which we refer to as the Hilton Gmz. By that we mean, compared to everything else in this area, we think we have it pretty good!

 

So the tour starts as you walk up to the house. In this picture you can see the solar panel setup on the roof. Inside there are four batteries which are charged by the sun during the day and provide consistent electricity 24 hours a day (that’s more than any neighborhood in Addis Ababa can say). However, with solar power, heavy electricity items like electric ovens, air conditioners, and even washing machines and TVs are not possible with our setup. Nevertheless, it gives us lights and it charges our computers. That’s enough for us. The yellow “jerry cans” that you see in the picture are for collecting our drinking water from the hand-pump well about a ½ mile away.

 

When you walk in the front door, this is what you see. The three doors to the left are the master bedroom, the pantry and Micah’s room. The four doors on the right are the office/spare bedroom, closet, bathroom and kitchen. Straight out the back is our wonderful porch which overlooks the whole valley below!

 

Here’s the view of this same main room looking back at the front door. Ah, we have one of our first visitors who has come to welcome us! (lots of animals roam the grounds near our house – donkeys, cows, sheep, goats, chickens, and dogs).

 

This is the master bedroom. Nothing too special, but good enough for us!

 

This is the pantry. What’s for dinner? Well, you can see all the Indomie (Arabic version of Ramen noodles), a bunch of cans of tuna fish, a big bag of rice, about 5 lbs of dry milk, and a whole lot more. We eat pretty good out here, thanks to Andrea pre-making and freezing several meals before we left Addis (we have access to a freezer in Harry’s house just a short walk away from our house).

 

This is Micah’s first room. Unlike the room he shared with us in Addis Ababa, he now can sleep in his crib (before he was sleeping on a tabletop). It’s funny that this room is painted in baby blue, especially since this is the only room in the house that is painted and its previous occupants were two twin kindergarten girls. Oh well, it fits Micah very well.

 

Here is the office/spare bedroom, just waiting for your first visit!

 

Here is the closet in which you can see the four batteries which power the whole house.

 

This is our co-worker who helped us get moved and settled. Here he is putting up a place to hang our solar camping shower. He, his wife, their son and a friend were a great help and encouragement to us!

 

This is the kitchen with a gas stove, double sink and plenty of cabinet and counter space. The second picture shows Andrea filling our water filter.

 

Finally, here is the patio where we probably spend most of our time. This picture was taken during one of our first dinners while our co-workers were still with us. Outside the window you can see the big 10,000 liter tank which is one of 5 that fill up during the rainy season and we will use steadily throughout the 7-8 months of dry season. The yellow rope in the second picture is part of the clothes drying rack that our guests designed and built for us. It lowers to the ground for loading and unloading and then is raised to the rafters for drying. Pretty cool! We’ll blog about that later, after we get it fully operational.

 

So that concludes the tour of the Hilton – Gmz. Make yourself at home...mi casa es su casa.