Updates from far away

Dearest Me in the future,
Wow!
I don't know where to start.

So I arrived in Addis on Thursday morning, after a very long flight through Canada, England, Dubai then Addis ... The airport officials made life so much harder for no real reason and I had a decent size fight with one of their officials prior to leaving the airport ..
Seeing my mother was so wonderful after such a long time albeit a bit less emotional than I expected. I sensed her surprise outweighed her emotions when she saw me and inside something locked within me ... I dont know why ... but anyways, I was so happy to see her .
We stayed the first couple of days with a family friend , Meriem, and she is a very kind host. Her place is in a suburban part of Addis and life is a bit tough on the streets compared to Addis downtown. My mother seems to be happier there, which is good.
The first few days, I spent most of my time at home. Each time I went out, I felt depressed and a bit depleted since the streets weren't in a general sense filled with happy things. People are going about, crowds, pollution, litter, and homelessness ...
Homeless children, elders, and beggars with newborns fill the streets of the city ... People have gotten used to this scenery all over the continent and I guess whether we like it or not, it wont go away by some miracle in the next years ...
I feel helpless and felt the hopelessness of the situation that I left six years ago in Sudan...

But I must say, Ethiopians are such friendly and simple people ... They don't complicate life, they live in the present moment, an ability that the rest of the world would envy ...They are less aggressive than anyone I have yet been around whether its Canadians or Sudanese people ... And what was remarkable was how women are treated. Not once have I seen women being teased, disrespected in anyways, or limited in anyway possible ... There is no gender bias in Ethiopia and it was so satisfying to see females doing anything and everything that males are doing.
Now, I am more social, with a couple of friends who speak English and I managed to get out of my funk at last ...
I have been to traditional dancing places several times, and a couple of night clubs and even managed to go to a mall and see downtown Addiss where the University is located.

On the family side, I think my memories of my mother have dominated my thinking about her, and the same goes for her. We haven't been with each other for a long time, and it affected how we perceived each other.
This was shocking and quite sad for me ...
The distance in thinking, positiveness, and how we view the world is quite different... But I think it is alright...
I think I should stop here and leave some to another night