Moving to Addis: What to Bring and What We Wish We Brought

Moving overseas to work in an embassy always involves a bit of guesswork as far as preparation goes.  In all likelihood (in Africa at least) you're Unaccompanied baggage (i.e., Air Freight or Express Shipment) may not arrive until a month or two after your own arrival and it's anyone's guess as to when your household goods will arrive. Now, we have it easy at the embassies since our homes come with furniture and a welcome box of kitchen essentials and prison sheets and comforters. But there's still a fair share of things you can bring in your baggage or ship ahead of time that will make things easier for your arrival

So below you will see the list of things that we brought and a list of things which we wish we'd thought of!

A lot of these things can be found on the local economy but let's face it, you likely won't have a car for weeks or months and it's nice to have these items without having to bum rides from people to go find them.

Glad We Brought:

• kids' art supplies 
• kids' favorite dvds
• night lights for kids
• noisemakers for kids
• unlocked phones (getting online is a major morale boost)
• Tupperware 
• Dish Scrubbing Brush
• Dawn Soap (they do carry in commissary here)
• Nice bath towels 
• Our own sheets
• pillows (if you're particular)
• A router, with wifi-extenders (see our post here for the specifics)
• Converter plugs
• Keurig coffee maker and k-cups and truvia
• Alexa!
• Basic common spices
• aluminum foil (good for cooking but also as cheap blackout curtains to keep the kids' rooms dark)
• Duct tape!
• basic tool set

What We Wish We'd Brought

• More converter plugs! Most homes have a woeful lack of outlets.
• Full size Cutting Board
• Good kitchen knife (the welcome kit one is so dull its downright dangerous).  We found some good knives locally at Gara Mart.
• books for the kids
• candles
• step stool for kids
• mesh kitchen sink strainer (there's no garbage disposal and it's next to impossible to find a right-sized strainer locally) 
• meat thermometer