Written in caps

Frenji Once More

When I moved to Ethiopia in 2006 I started a blog to keep my family up to date on what I was doing, and what it was like to live and work in Ethiopia as a foreigner. I called it the Ferenge Addis Blog. A "ferenge" is a white foreigner in Amharic (the official language in all of Ethiopia and the lingua franca in about 1/3 of the country). I was surprised by how many hits the blog ended up getting, usually more than 100 per day. It was used not only by Mom and Dad, but by foreigners who wanted to know about life in Addis Ababa, and Ethiopians who wanted to give their opinions about foreigners in their midst.

When I moved back to the US and was no longer Ferenge, I started this little blog (Written in Caps), to keep family updated on my frequent travels through many of the world's capitals. 

As I posted a couple of days ago, I recently accepted a position in Amman, Jordan. In the spirit of the Ferenge Addis Blog I decided to start a new blog about life and times in Amman. I was happy to see that there are already a few blogs in a similar vein. Bibs, Babs, and Bobs is about a family with a baby and a stay-at-home mom. Apricots Today is about a four-person family from the US Midwest. I feel that there's room for our new blog as well: about a childless couple working in development in Jordan. Imagine my happiness to learn that one of the acceptable translations of "foreigner" in Arabic is "frenji." While the romanization of the word is slightly different, I think it's safe to say that I'm frenji once again. 

See the Frenji Jordan Blog, here. We'll start posting some info about what it's like to move overseas, and then start from Jordan next week (!).

10 best/worst things about living in DC

I'll soon be moving away from DC for 18 months (more about that tomorrow). Contemplating the move has made me contemplate what I've loved/hated about living here the last two and a half years.

Top 10 things I love about living in DC (in no particular order):

• Public transportation
• Bike lanes that get respect.
• Traffic planning goals to make it easier for pedestrians, not cars
• Zip cars 1/4 mile from my house, max
• Great restaurants, shops, bars, all a 10-minute walk away.
• A virtual visit to Latin America by walking up Columbia Ave a couple of blocks.
• Meridian Hill Park
• Dog-friendly outdoor restaurants
• Museums and galleries
• Beach Drive on the weekend

-

Top 10 worst things about living in DC (in no particular order):

• Noise: jackhammers, back-up beepers, drunk fratboys, family riots at the projects across the street, boom-boom stereos, shooting at the crack house on the corner, helicopters, etc ad nauseum
• Traffic
• Metro's customer contempt and the resulting refusal to repair out of service escalators, train car A/C, water leaks, etc. I could go on for pages. But why should they care? What are you going to do, use the *other* Metro?
• Bicycles on crowded sidewalks (usually right next to the bike lane).
• Tourists on the Metro
• Tourists anywhere, really
• Politics as local news
• Housing prices
• Making reservations three months in advance for the best restaurants
• Noise (repeated for emphasis)

One trip, seven capitals, three weeks

On my most recent tour of Africa for fun and profit I may have set a record for capitals (the places, not the typing):

• DC, capital of the US (noisiest)
• London, capital of England, the UK, and Great Britain (worst weather, best beer, worst food)
• Nairobi, capital of Kenya (worst traffic, best hospitality)
• Lilongwe, capital of Malawi (least developed, cheapest)
• Johannesburg, capital of South Africa (best airport posing as shopping mall, most biltong)
• Mbabane, capital of Swaziland (smallest, best scenery)
• Gaborone, capital of Botswana (most fun compatriots, most boring city)