This is an excerpt from a May 2015 trip I took after passing thru strict scrutiny at the Tel Aviv airport en route to Addis Ababa

2015 ManasW

Selam Rachel,

Yesterday I got to see the monuments and ruins of Axum with your friend as guide. It’s sad he can’t go on digs everywhere because he doesn’t have the right degrees, even though from what he explained, he has all the right training and experience.

Anyways, it was refreshing to meet someone like you and I really enjoyed our conversation on the plane. Listening to you talk about archaeology, you are really impressive (Guish said the same, especially amazed you’ve picked up Tigraini), and most of all because you know so much without any touch of arrogance. I was also surprised, pleasantly, when you said you don’t think people are malicious. I guess I agree with you in the end, though maybe a few people are (like sadists or sociopaths?). I should be less quick to see maliciousness where people are simply flawed/imperfect, in many ways for many reasons. Do you know that Japanese aesthetic, wabi-sabi? maybe it can be applied equally to people and artifacts. I feel like as an archaeologist, you’d relate.

So it was nice to meet you. Maybe for you it would be like digging all day and uncovering the faint glimmer of an Axumite coin? lol. I hope your friend is feeling better and that we can continue our conversation one day. 

manas