The Shops

In the 3-plus weeks I've been here, I've grown out my beard. I'd
brought an electric trimmer with me, but failed to notice that the
adapter is for 120V, whereas Ethiopia is 220V. My face was getting a bit
overgrown, so I asked Dereje if he knew a shop that would carry an
adapter that might fit my trimmer. I tagged along and we went to the
shops just before lunch. The third place we checked looked promising.
They had a 220-110V transformer that I could plug my existing adapter
into, but we tried it out at the shop and it wasn't charging at all. It
had started raining a little, so we ran to the next shop. Just as we got
there, it was starting to come down pretty hard, but we managed to avoid
getting drenched. Luckily that place had an adapter with various plugs,
and one that fit my trimmer. We tried it out and the little red light on
the trimmer came on and everything. By the time Dereje was done haggling
with the shopkeeper, the rain had stopped, so I passed over 50birr and
we headed out, mission accomplished. Later, back at the hotel, I got a
full charge and put it to the test. It's nice to feel a little more
civilized now.