Globetrotter

During an unbelievably slow-going meeting with a bureaucrat at the
Ministry, I couldn't help but to let my mind wander slightly as I
listened to him tell my coworker that he had spent six years in Cuba
during the 80s. I thought of all the different places in the world and
their connection to each other. Ah yes, in the 80s, Cuba, Soviet Union,
Ethiopia, China... such countries were all in idealogical cahoots with
each other.
My mind wandered further. I thought of the computer software Google
Earth and how it allows you to spin a globe on your computer screen and
then zoom in on any country, or even any city. It's similar to focusing
on our own bodies, first bringing our attention to our arm, then to our
hand, then zooming in on one point on our pinky finger. Where we are on
that globe at any one moment is just a small speck in the scheme of
things. Yet, places on this planet are all connected; all we have to do
is search our minds for those connections and soon we are mentally
globe-hopping.
We discussed ideas to visit different regions within Ethiopia--Tigray,
Amhara, Oromia--like a Harlem globetrotter basketball star: he faked
left to Jijiga city then passed up court, a teammate catches Mekele and
spins it on his finger before rolling it down his arm behind his back,
another player catches it and passes quickly to Bahir Dar, the capital
of Amhara near Lake Tana. He shoots and scores. That will be our first
stop on our trip to the vocational schools in Ethiopia. The meeting
comes to an end and people stand to their feet to shake hands. Good game.