First of all: Merry Christmas ( too late) and Happy New year to my dear readers!
No newswhatsoever on my case. The school has been summoned (meaning the owners of the school aka die fuehrerin and her Somali husband who proves the Somali reputation right!) which probably won’t help me very much. They were supposed to be at the Human rights office last Thursday so on the 17th. Mrs Mahlet awaited them only to find they didn’t show up. When she checked the summon it seemed this hadn’t been received ( they have to sign upon delivery)due to the fact that it hadn’t been taken there. Grrrr
The Belgian embassy has in the mean time taken more interest in my case and want to help me get correct information. It’s for them I went to the Human Rights Commision ( HRC)where I was told the previous and assured a new summon was written and this time also sent – at least I hope- telling GYA to come on the 24th. Mrs Mahlet was embarrassed and told me to contact my embassy, which I had already done, to help me along. Though when I tried to call Mahlet’s office at 15:00 on Christmas she wasn’t there. I left a message but wasn’t really into pursuing it seeing as it was our Christmas and I had made a deal with myself not to worry about it and focus on my house.
Yes, I left Holger’s at last. I was welcomed really well there and am extremely grateful but feel one shouldn’t impose on friends, especially new friends, too long and 1 and ½ months is pushing it. ( It’s actually exactly half the time I know Holger).
So even if I don’t know about a job yet ( still can’t officially work and am helping Aaron) I started looking for a place to live. I was thrilled to find one near the central square called Mexico but when I took people there to advice me they told me the neighborhood was too bad and I shouldn’t go there. Especially Aaron’s father insisted I’d find another place. So through a broker he knew I found a place within walking distance to the school I am now in with Aaron but not really well communicated. He haggled a lot with the landlady and I got the brand new “studio” for a very reasonable price plus only had to pay for 3 months in advance.( =their way of a deposit). There’s a small living room and even smaller bedroom. A bathroom that defines as tiny and a kitchen separated by the common yard. The kitchen is actually more an empty room: there is no sink or cabinets or anything! Luckily I inherited an electric small fire from the de Lomba family ( my ex colleagues at Gibson who took off shortly after I was fired seeing as they still were able to because their residence permit hadn’t been processed yet and thus their visa unlike mine hadn’t been cancelled). To my the emptiness bearable I also lend some furniture of Mika ( the couchsurfer guy) which he had in storage. I moved in on the 23rd. I’d post the pictures but don’t have a camera anymore after it was stolen from me. As if my bad luck wasn’t enough a mere 2 days later my extremely old but functioning mobile was lifted out of my zip locked pockets when I was drumming to get on a small bus called Kendo to get to Holger’s. I cried my eyes out. So This year my Santa wish list is quite elaborate: Phone (check), 2 mattresses which should serve as sofa ( ½ check), bamboo shelves for the kitchen on which I can place the electric fires ( ordered), all kitchen materials: pots, pans, cutlery, can openers,…( check and a whole lot poorer after), bathroom shelves ( check), and a fridge ( aouwch!). As indicated by all the checks I spent the 24th and Christmas day in the biggest market of Africa. Mercato, indeed the place where David was robbed. This time applying a new technique: tell Mika what you want; go for tea somewhere; let him go, inform and haggle; then go with him and approve of what he shows you and pay =)
Worked out pretty well. When they see me, the Faranji, they just go prize crazy. I tried to buy some spices by myself, Mika stopped me on time, and was charged double of what they charged Mika in the other shop without him bargaining. Not really my idea of fun shopping but the result is a blossoming cosy home. X-mas eve was spent with some of the people I went to Debrelibanos with and ex colleagues from GYA. We went out for dinner and then saw a really nice jazz concert with an extraordinary choice of instruments. Really nice even if I was a tad exhausted. On Christmas I was pleasantly surprised by several phone calls ( Thanks you guys, it was fantastic hearing you!) and had a quiet evening in with homemade stew. My latest addition to my culinary spectrum. It’s been grey and rainy here so perfect Irish conditions=)
You see I did pretty well with keeping the spirits high the last couple of days. Also I have another job interview Monday in a fantastic school -so cross your fingers and on Tuesday I hope to take off to the North, Couch surfing in Bahir Dar or so, with Mika.
Lucretia the nice flatmate has decided to elope. She tried to escape the fascist terror of our school yesterday only to find out shortly before boarding the plane that she couldn’t leave the country without going to the immigration office. Our esteemed fuehrer has us imprisoned in her school and country… I’m beginning to see that if I want to leave Gibson concentration camp I will have to leave the country as well. It’s extremely frustrating because I don’t want to leave Addis and I have nothing lined up for me on the outside… I’ve just started to fall in love with this place.
The solution is getting our residence permit but even though it’s illegal to keep it die fuehrerin is not giving it to me. I need a lawyer or something to put some pressure. This is what I think people forced into prostitution by human smugglers must feel like. It’s awful.
Out of 8 international teachers 2 are on the verge of going and 4 others including me are thinking about it. Most others will probably leave the country though…
This feels crappy. Speaking of which I am sick again… yes diarrhoea which is why I have time to write...
I had a wonderful weekend, went to a place called Debrelibanos. Extraordinary landscape beautiful waterfall. We even found our way behind it ( in between hyena doodles, did you know those are white because they eat the bones…) which gave us an even more amazing sight. It was breathtaking, the view over the valley, the water, the patchwork of crops all over the mountains everything.( They don’t use machines here in there agriculture so they can also plant things on very steep slopes.)
Not unexpectedly I had Holger to thank for this trip, some people of his work organize something similar every month and from now on I’m officially invitedJ. After this splendid visit all of us, 16 or so, went out for a meal. We had “kid fo” meaning raw beef. Now for me it’s not that big a deal, my dad would slice a piece off his steak before cooking it and he’d give it to me and after all in my part of Flanders we are raised eating raw minced pork so I figured I’d give it a go.( Especially after a couple of glasses of honey wine I saw no harm…) We giggled a lot cause Holger and me had to go to the going away party of some Flemish friends (that had cycled up north) at the priest’s house afterwards being all tipsy. Anyway I guess the raw meat or the honey wine on top of the antibiotics for my cough weren’t my brightest ideas ‘cause on Monday I found myself running out of class not do to a number 2 in my pants… After that little incident I figured I’d better go and see the doctor again.
Pictures will follow.
Didn’t upload this on time… We’re already a week later.
The day after writing the previous we had a meeting with all the international teachers and the semi bosses. We had said we’d stand together and wouldn’t leave without our permits. We put up a struggle but they didn’t give in and the others gave up. This whole thing was really affecting my inner tranquillity though so I asked if I could meet with the boss to talk about it.
On that meeting I was fired because I insisted too much on getting what is legally mine. I was without words, left the office, the building and then broke down.
The next day, 5/11, I started looking for other jobs like a mad woman ‘cause I still don’t want to leave…
I’ve also gone to immigration at the airport where they told me that what she has done is indeed illegal. They send me to the main office where they keep postponing my meeting with some boss. I can do nothing but wait which I find really frustrating.
Job-wise things do pop up but everyone is waiting for immigration as well. I may earn less but I do believe I’ll be happier which is worth a lot.
In the mean time Holger my Belgian in Addis Guardian Angel has allowed me to crash at his place. I couldn’t stand being in the Gibson house anymore, didn’t feel comfortable, slept poorly etc. I am extremely relieved to be out of there and this house is amazing: it has beautiful garden filled with birds, sunshine and butterflies. I feel so fortunate I can be here.
Whereas that cow of Gibson concentration camp made me feel so betrayed and lonely other people really have come through for me which means so much especially after only being here for a couple of months and feeling so extremely lousy.
I can’t post this update yet even though I want to because I still have to deal with that cow and don’t want to risk anything to make that even worse. After that she’s getting a bad review on every site I can get my hands on.
I was invited to a huge party ( the king’s birthday or something) at the embassy. It was really cool, all kinds of Belgian cheese and little tasty snacks were definitely amongst the highlights. There was even Belgian beer but no Kriek so I did without. It is really wonderfull to be invited to something like this, there are so many interesting people there and everybody is so laid back. (may be even too laid back: the ambassador of Venezuela (old) actually flirted with me) Still I have never felt this Belgian before I believe.
And this blog keeps on getting longer as everything is postponed yet again. I wonder how much more I can take before I crash…
I finallygot the meeting at immigration only to find they sent me to someone else, a Mr Solomon. His office was the one with the huge queue of course.
So I got in line was granted half a minute of his time on which he based his decision to allow me in his office to wait there while he transferred other people… When it was my turn I had the telephone number of the cow ready which he had asked.
I told him my story and he asked the number but then when I mentioned the name of the school he sighed and didn’t need the number anymore… All of a sudden I was told to go and arrange everything with her and that I should leave the country If she didn’t give me a letter of no objection in order for someone else to be able to hire me… I couldn’t believe it, after all the illegal stuff she did I was at her mercy!
I scrambeled myself together and made an appointment after a pep-talk with Saskia,a Dutch girl who’s married here and actually has a network. I also contacted another school and they confirmed that the way I was fired was illegal and that I should use that to my benefit in order to have some leverage.
At first Mr Asfow, the one put in charge of international teachers by that cow, pretended he didn’t know anything about this letter of no objection and asked who told me this. When I told him Mr Solomon at immigration did he said he knew him and had spoken to him. I could see that being friendly wasn’t gonna get me anywhere so I dropped the illegal firing on him. His tone changed ( suddenly he did know about the letter of no objection) and he told me to write a formal request for this letter to Mrs Gibson. I did, wasn’t able to get a copy of it to show I did because everybody was afraid to give me anything… Then I waited again.
Can you see by now why I haven’t posted anything for almost a month???
Saskia gave me the number of a lawyer and told me to go to the ombudsman ( didn’t know this was the word in English as well it’s Dutch to me!) so I called and the lawyer seemed to think it was a good idea for me to go there as well. On Friday they took my case and told me they’d solve things on Monday afternoon and that I should be there. I was thrilled. On Monday afternoon the phone of GYA nor Immigration seemed to work so I had to go back Tuesday morning. On Tuesday morning I was told they couldn’t take my case after all because I wasn’t a government employer. I broke down then and there and was thus sent to the boss’ office so he could explain me where the human rights and anti corruption ministry was so I could go there. I cried and felt really embarrassed.
I tried desperately to pull myself together and go to this other ministry. It started off all wrong it was on the 7th floor ( no elevator) and I arrived there just as the boss went into a meeting. So I sat there and waited.
Actually going into the building I was spotted by a GYA parent who followed me in to see what had happened to me. I told him my story and calmed down a bit. He wanted to take me out for coffee ( let’s not think he’s hitting on me and just being nice, my mental sanity is at stake here) I refused and kept waiting. Just before his lunch ( 2 and a half hour and some Amharic studying later) the boss took me in and referred me to an investigator, Mahalet or something, who was already out for lunch.
I devoured a hamburger and a juice and returned only to find the investigator had a long lunch and was late. Finally I got to talk to her, she apologised for being late and was very friendly. After telling my story she asked to see the contract I had signed. I told her I had a blanc one but had never received a signed copy of the school. She asked the number and called to ask for it. Mr Asfow told her ( lied I mean) he was out of town so the hole thing got postponed to next Monday whereas it was only Tuesday then.
When I informed Saskia she said human rights tends to take ages and does very little. She recommended I’d hire a lawyer and see how I can make things go quicker. So connected me to a friend that gave me the phone number of a friend with whom I met today only to be told (in an extremely friendly manner) I should contact her friend because he’ll have the time to help me… I’m meeting him this evening.
In the mean time I need to keep the schools that are interested in hiring me waiting. I have however semi started helping some parents with a kid with down syndrome until I get all this stuff arranged. At least that presents me with some distraction.
Monday Human rights…
23/11
I’ve seen a lawyer in the mean time. He told me it is not ok what she is doing and that I could sue her for the wage of the remaining part of the contract plus compensation especially after I get my paperwork arranged with the help of human rights. Don’t know what to do. Today I was told she wasn’t gonna give me the letter I needed. Tomorrow I need to confront her and try to press for the letter at the human rights office.
I also contacted the embassy but they aren’t really allowed to get involved. Pfff. Don’t know, this really is getting me down. I think about my sweet friends in Belgium and Spain, About the big pregnant bellies I won’t see, my cousins first steppes I’ve already missed, My fun conversation in my beloved Bilbao, etcand can’t help but wonder why am I doing this?
Of course I wouldn’t be me if I gave up this soon but I’ll admit I’m tempted. Tomorrow’s a new day, hopefully with new opportunities and fresh courage…
24/11
Good things happen to those who wait!!!!
The meeting at the human rights today. My lawyer had recommendedI’d take someone so I called my friend Ebrushé from Konso ( who lives in Addis) and asked him if he’d do me this favour. He did and he did a splendid job in making me look as the victim and talking in Amharic to the jury about me. Also In giving me the hug I needed when I broke down after. At first it didn’t look good at all, the people from the school lied and told them I still had materials, That I had said I didn’t care about Ethiopian children, that they hadn’t fired me, etc.
I was shocked. But did with Ebrushé’s help keep my cool. After the joint meeting there is an individual one in which they pressured me to return to the school. I asked them how they could expect me to go back after the way they had treated me… Then it was the school’s turn we actually heard shouting and when I asked for translation I was told they were telling them that they had abused me. I crossed my fingers ( so hard they hurt now) and tried to think positive. I kept repeating: what goes around comes around so if she treats me likes this one way or another this will come back to her.
It became 17:20 and the office started closing but they were still in there talking. When I was finally called in they said they had 3 options they would present to Mrs Gibson:
1 I go back there for a limited time and get a letter of no objection afterwards.
2 They pay for my flight back to Belgium ( home for Christmas! But then back with new visa under different employer)
3 They give me the letter of no objection.
I am thrilled number 2 and 3 are best but I could probably put up with number 1. Next Monday they tell me her decision and then I can accept or decline.
An enormous weight has been lifted from me and I feel so much better. Friday I will meet my lawyer he has however already said that even after an agreement with the human rights I can still sue for the way she fired me and get a huge compensation but we’ll see that after Monday.
1/12
Really nervous when I had to go to the meeting. Ebrushé joined me again and has made it his mission to cheer me up. As it turned out I had reasons to be anxious’ cause the GYA people were not only an hour late but also managed to only offer one of the 3 options ( the going back one) stating that the boss hadn’t returned and they weren’t authorised to do more. Luckily the boss of human rights was quite irritated by this as well and did most of the talking after hearing what they said. I was asked if I believed what they said which is like openly showing mistrust and said I did which was true but was also nice of me.
So the whole thing got postponed by yet another week… I was really disappointed coming out of there.
Luckily working with Aaron ( the down syndrome boy) helps me to keep my mind of things and also Holger has been so good. I am still staying at his house and he has someone related to his work coming as from next week onwards meaning it’ll be ages before he has the house to himself again.
Actually more people have been extremely nice to me. Others sadly enough have left again ( Martin, Emily and Marisol). I’ve been hanging out a lot with one of the couch surfers I’ve met called Michael. He has also really supported me.
Also my lawyer didn’t want to charge me ( I insisted) because he felt bad about what happened and felt it wasn’t ethical of him to charge me for his help. It really moved me how he can be so idealistic when he’s a lawyer and also rather old. I wish there were more lawyers like that.
In the mean time the job offers keep coming and I do not really know which one to choose. ( A lot depends on Monday obviously) there are things that are more idealistic and others that are financially as comfortable as GYA and I’m having trouble choosing furthermore I also have to think about my resume and some schools give a better impression if I want to work on this continent next year then others. So it’s tricky but also positive.
7/12
Most of the time I’m feeling good. There are enough fun things happening to me. The Belgian friends who introduced me to Holger also introduced us to the , Indra, of the first secretary of the Belgian embassy, Wout. It has been easier to keep the embassy posted on my situation through them and they also just arrived and are fun company. Holger and me amongst others had a really nice evening at a party they hosted in their house ( on embassy grounds). Amazing people were there. Some people studying Sudan of the university of peace a really fun Walloon journalist working with refugees here, a documentary director,…
Besides the other day was Sinterklaas(Saint Nicolas) which as most of you will know is a big deal to us especially when you’re younger then 10. There was a party hosted at the Dutch embassy to welcome the Sint and there were some traditional cookies. It was brilliant: I took Michael and Holger also came and we explained him this rather extraordinary and so local tradition. In the mean time I also dropped my resume in the extracurricular Dutch school. Even though Saskia keeps reminding me I do NOT speak Dutch but Flemish which always provides us with a reason for laughing whenever we meet.
This morning when I got up I even found a bag with goodies from Belgium with a note from Sint Holger, some Belgian colleagues of him arrived and he shared what they brought for him. Isn’t that the sweetest??? Anyway the final meeting is up in 30 minutes so I have to get going. Cross your fingers!
8/12
And with all those positive thoughts I rushed off to meet GYA at the human rights. The boss who fired me was there this time( the fuhrerin’s husband). The meeting was opened and immediately there was trouble. The human rights boss explained he wasn’t pleased with the fact that GYA brought other people to the meeting every single time and that the commission wasn’t willing togo back on previously made decisions. Gya wasn’t pleased with that at all and before I had even opened my mouth they were arguing and shortly after the meeting was closed. Conclusion GYA didn’t except any of the left available possibilities ( I was said to have refused possibility 1 which I only sort of did) and so Human rights would conduct a thorough investigation of the school. I was baffled and super disappointed. Mrs Mahalet( remember the female investigator in charge of my case couldn’t even tell me how long this was going to take. She merely said she was sorry I had to meet someone like that and then: ‘ the fight begins’.
So now I’m stuck here: can’t even leave the country if I wanted to ( GYA still has my papers) and am not allowed to be hired ( the other job offers I may loose. I mean how long will they wait?). It really makes me feel lousy.
After the meeting I was moody to poor Ebrushé before I took off to see a room for rent ( an Italian girl looking for a flatmate but who’s not sharing at the moment) which cost about half my expected salary ( so unaffordable for me but not too expensive for the UN volunteers it seems) and then rushed home because I had invited Brook, a friend of Holger’s for volevant ( typical Belgian food). Even though I really didn’t feel like it and I cried _quite embarrassingly_ in the minibus back ‘home’ it turned out to be just what I needed. A pleasant evening spent in good company and with tasty food if I may say so myself J.
Today I meet the lawyer again and I also have to pop in at Human rights to give them the Amharic version of my story which my friend Michael has translated.
I guess I have to keep thinking what goes around comes around . I wonder if the fight just started how comes I feel KO already?
9/12
Talked to the lawyer yesterday and he says it shouldn’t take human rights too long. So if he’s positive I should be as well. Hanging in there.
I haven't been updating because things have not been well. I am always told it will be all over next week but it has already taken more than a month. It is not recommended for me to tell everything online for anyone to acces. In other words I need your advice: How can I open something alike to a blog but where one can only enter when you posses the password??? Al info welcome at my usual email.
Things are getting better here socially, luckily for me ‘cause I can’t stand being lonely.
Holger is really fun and last weekend I went partying with him and met some more people, amongst others an interesting German sociologist, Martin.
He also took me hiking with a Canadian girl, Emily. My condition sucks and I don’t handle the altitude well but I did survive. The delicious pumpkin soup that I had afterwards made it all worth while! Emily is also lovely and she then introduced me to a designer friend from NY, Marisol with whom I went to the hills around Addis today.
Once the ball starts rolling… It feels so good.
Yesterday I went out and met Ethiopian couch-surfers that Martin knew and I also got to speak Spanish to other Faranjis at the bar, the honey wine was abundant and today I feel the results… The fact that the stupid mosque called me out of dreamland for prayers at 5am didn’t help either.
So socially all is well sadly enough I can’t say the same for the school. The unintelligent rules and the way they blindly follow them gets to me more every day. From time to time I feel the only way I will be able to stay there and be happy is to care less about my teaching and my students. I am not willing to do that so I’m starting to look for other options and I am not the only one so far 6 out of our group of 8 foreign teachers are looking to abandon ship. We’ll see how that goes. In the mean time cross your fingers.
By the way, everybody that has been mailing me, thank you so much, I really enjoyed hearing from home. Still emailing isn’t easy here so please excuse me if I take a while to answer.
Short but to the point this time also working to hard to have many adventures…
1st The inside of the hut of our guide whom you've seen on the previous pictures ( the one with the traditional clothes in front of the terrasses). Looks fabulous doesn't it? His wife,whom he married at the age of 17 or so, does all the nifty handywork... When he graduted university here she left the village for the first time to see Addis ( wearing traditional clothes). He's forcing her to finish High school while she takes care of their home and 3 children... 2nd Ibrushe the guy that helped us out ( our friend) and us in front of reproductions of the statues the people from Konso used to put on their graves. With tourism increasing ( you have to stop in Konso to go and see the other tribes such as the hammer people in the south) the statues were being sold or stolen. Now they are trying to unite them in a museum...
1st A lady with traditional dress trying to make a living.
Oops didn't turn these, you'll manage right? did however as you'll have noticed by now, find a way to make them smaller and thus easier to post!!!
2nd Konso is one of the few places here where they do have terrasses in order to get the most out of their land. ( our guide and me)
3rd a traditional house in a village near Konso. This is actually the community house which means all the young men between 17 and 37 say sleep there and not with there wives. It's a way of being able to mobilize them easily and of contraception because they can hardly provide for themselves let alone a lot of kids...
4th They grow their own cotton for their weaving. So that's what it looked like before it became your t-shirt or so...
1st me in the truck which is how we made our way from Arba minch to Konso. 2nd the Irish blokes our guide and us near the '40 springs' where we went swimming. 3rd speaks for itself no... 4th huge one and we came pretty close in that little boat of ours...
1stKathleen with our guide in Nechisar park. 2nd one was like the zebra playground... our guide told us there were always zebras there. others are views... amazing place.
zondag 11 oktober 2009
Oh my, how could I forget... Yesterday I conquered my fear and did it... I went to the hairdresser. My once beautiful Basque haircut had resulted in a chaos of inequality, meaning my hair went where it wanted, so I thought it was time to be able to have my hair down again hence my haircut. I came in asked the price ( check if I had enough money on me) and had to wait a bit. Finally a girl comes and takes me to wash my hair. A short conversation. what do you want? A haircut short style? Ok but I need to be able to have a pony tail... OK. And that was that... 20 minutes later I had what in Dutch is known as a 'Carreken' ( in English a page boy) the same hairdo I had when I was 6... Eventhough it's quite innocent I do think it looks pretty ok.
It’s been a while hasn’t it? Let me see…Oh my since the long weekend! Well, not too many things happened. We have been teaching fulltime no breaks except for the weekend which here just like everywhere is always too short. My body is still adapting after the diarrhoea I have a big cold now but I guess things will get better once I get used to this. Everyone is school seems to be getting fed up with the ridiculous amount of rules and I am grateful that I didn’t have the best job ever in Spain so I’m sometimes more willing to put up with it all. My direct boss ( called a unit leader, she’s responsible for KG), miss Mazareth, seems really pleased with me and tries to accommodate things for me. One of the other unit leader follows the example of their boss: the dreadful Miss Mulu who’s at the school every other day and is a real pain. The unit leaders suffer most but so does everyone else in the compound. She’s rude, horny with power, implements stupid rules to the dot so really a plain nuisance. Luckily she has nothing to complain about when it comes down to me so I am left alone by her. One of my foreign-teacher-colleagues is not so fortunate and is considering quitting so as not to have to deal with her. Mrs Mulu is the big boss’ right hand and personal friend so there isn’t much we can do about her. Anyway I’m doing ok, it isn’t paradise but I didn’t expect it to be so either. This week I had my first Amharic lesson. I wanted it to be in a ‘school’ and have fellow students. It was pretty hard actually, especially since the other had already had 1 lesson and it goes really fast. It seems an interesting language. I don’t expect to be able to speak it fluently by the end of the year but it would be nice to be able to order, haggle prices, and do some other stuff by then. Also I love the different alphabet they use. You should google it it’s very pretty. Some of you will have a fit knowing that I’m actually studying at the ‘Alliance Française’. Hahaha. It’s cool though because there are so many languages spoken in class, the teacher constantly speaks Amharic English and French and then other people speak Spanish as to communicate with the Italians… It’s really nice, there was a French Spanish teacher sitting next to me and a French Basque girl but when I told her ‘gomez’ was like ‘oso ondo’ she didn’t understand so her Euskera is worse then mine… When I told the teacher ( in Amharic with gestures) that I was teaching at Gibson he asked me if it was ok ‘cause he heard the boss is a mad women… . So go figure. Last weekend I was feeling kinda blue. Missing everyone, feeling a bit lonely… On top of that I was supposed to meet some tourist we had met in Konso to go to the museum and he stood me up etc. Monday however a friend’s brother in law, Andreas, arrived whom I had met once a long time ago. He’s here cycling with some buddies and had emailed me so we could meet up. Turned out I wasn’t the only one he’d emailed and I found myself sitting with a small Flemish congregation at the table. It’s so nice to meet up with your kin and I left with various phone numbers and a piece of Camembert, a real treat you can’t find here. Adreas and co set off to the north the next day and will be back in Addis on the first of November. I met up with one of the other Flemish guys yesterday, Holger, he’s not boyfriend material but really fun. We went with a friend of his to a traditional restaurant. Now these usually have live music and dancers some of whom will pull you on stage but last night everyone actually got on the dance floor voluntarily: I’m talking other foreigners, middle aged Ethiopian couples, etc. I’m not kidding the whole restaurant danced with the singers!!! I had my first portion of honey-wine which helped to make me feel less embarrassed. It was so much fun! Holger really reminds me of my friend and rock Roel in Spain, he’s actually also into playing board games and stuff. It’s good to have found someone like that here. Today I was supposed to be going to THE event of Addis: Teddy Afro’s first concert since he was realised from prison. Teddy is the national hero, managed by amongst others Bob Marley family, he sings poppy reggae and is said to be a good guy. Only last elections he wrote a somewhat critical song and that’s why the authorities were out to get him. It is said he ran over a bum who was sleeping in the middle of the street and ran but the court case was fishy and he was released earlier then he was supposed to and is giving this concert to the benefit of homeless children. Anyway I’ve been trying to get tickets all week but they only went on sale today. So 2 hours ago I was standing in line cause I was told you can’t buy tickets for anyone but yourself when it started pouring down. I was feeling how the water was penetrating my raincoat my shoes and everything else in less then 2 minutes (‘cause that’s how hard it was pouring...) when I ask the girl in front of me ,all dressed up with teddy earrings and Ethiopian colours and stuff, why they didn’t sell tickets earlier. She explains the organisation is afraid of fraud ( hologram tickets or bar codes or something are too exotic I suppose) and that there won’t be any tickets at all today. Meaning you pay, you get a stamp and go into the stadium ( aren’t allowed to leave) and wait until the concert starts. It was 12 o’clock at that moment, I was absolutely soaked and noticed the stadium is not covered. In addition I know the concert isn’t supposed to start untill 18… Conclusion I’m back at home under my blanket in my pyjamas… I’ll admit the atmosphere in the queue was great, everybody was really excited, teasing the poor cops who try to keep things orderly, singing dancing and all of this despite the rain, but me, I am happy where I am now.
dinsdag 29 september 2009
The last one is a view of Addis from near Washa Michael the first one is part of the national park ( more will follow) and then there's a fisher's boat. Can you believe he uses that in water where there are pretty huge crocodiles!?! But then off course some people also walk in that water...
As I said in the last update (the one that didn’t get posted until now) there was a long weekend! We were supposed to go with 3 but Jennifer the Scottish girl told me she wasn’t going when we went for our work permit so it was only Kathleen and I in the end, which wasn’t exactly what we wanted because we are not always on the same wavelength ( to put it friendly). Anyway I had understood from Kath that she was ok with a couple with whom I work joining us so I kept them up to date and got a barking for it because she didn’t want to put up with their 3 year old which she hadn’t told me. We weren’t off to a great start nor was it a splendid ending but we managed ( a lot of patience was involved) and what we saw most definitely helped!
We took the bus early morning ( 5ish) on Saturday to arrive in ArbaMich ( literally 40 springs) at 21:00. A colleague of Kath helped us find the right bus but we had to take a detour seeing as it was a holiday for many people and the direct bus was already packed. He bribed a guy in the queue to get us on and then made the guy in front of us promise he’d help us onto the next bus and with finding a hotel upon arrival.
This guy is called Ibrushe and is really nice he lives in Addis but grew up in Konso! He showed us where we could brunch at a friends restaurant and got us a cheap and clean room in Arba Minch, he even helped negotiating the price for the tour we wanted to do in the Nechisar national park.
Sadly enough the next day when Ibrushe was with his family we got ripped off anyway, such is life I guess. We ended up joining some Irish blokes ( Kath was very happy with that) on their boat-tour and guided walk. It was incredible! We saw zebras, antelopes, albatrosses, flamingos, hippos and lots of crocodiles! Especially the crocodiles are quite scary when you get close to them in your little boat… ( They kill various people every year, not surprising if you see the boats of the fishermen, some people even just walk around in the water to spread their nets) we were in awe.
Actually it is the only time in my life I sulked about being a non-smoker, because our guide bought some fish on the boat and we were supposed to grill it on the shores of the reserve but nobody carried fire so we didn’t.
After returning we took a bike ride to see the 40 springs ( tiny springs really) and to swim in the pond they lead into. The Irish even drunk the water but I was afraid of stomach ache and didn’t. The swimming was really refreshing after baking ( and burning) in the sun all day. No privacy caused me to shock some kids when changing but hey they’ll survive. All of this was supposed to be included but wasn’t in the end.
In the evening we went to a rather posh restaurant to have the grilled fish and almost finished off the money I had taken with me. Kath had left with her mastercard only and I had been lending her. You can imagine the shock when the next day her card ( nor mine which was to be expected) didn’t work!!! We had to call around to try and get people to wire us money so we could continue our trip and not have to abort it then and there. We had a couple of options to solve the problem ( people in Addis amongst others Tony that were gonna help us) so we headed out to our next destination, Ibrushes village, in the afternoon ( supposedly we’d go in the early morning but due to the bank trouble we ran a little late.
In stead of taking a minibus we got a ( paid for) ride in a truck. Really slow uphill, and an unexpected unloading break in the middle but other than that fantastic! When we arrived we found Ibrushe knew the entire village and everybody was thrilled to see him cause he hadn’t been home for 4 years or so… He took us for some kick-ass food ( big juicy chunks of meat) and then dancing in a local tiny pub. It was really authentic and I turned out to be able to do their dances quite well. (The dances down south are somewhat different from the ones we get to see in Addis).
At night Kath woke me up saying there was someone in the room ( her dream= obviously there wasn’t) which caused me to scream my longs out and to be scared for a couple of hours more. What surprised me the most and also freaked me out was that nobody had come to check what the noise was about, especially since the hotel was rather posh ( we got local price thanks to our buddy).
The next morning we paid a friend of our buddy some money to take us to the tribes around Konso. We didn’t have the budget for a car so sadly enough we only got to visit one village near the town. It was fairly cool but it does make you feel a bit as if you’re going to a zoo. I was happy to see the weaving of their traditional colourful skirts there. We also had a meal for that price: a sort of corn dumplings ( that tasted like sand) served with the leaves of some sort of tree and 1 egg. I went wild on the leaves which were very tasty and as a result my intestines are now upset… ( my cold has gone btw)
The south is reall interesting I definitely need to return,the hammer tribe reside there ( the ones that whip their loved women in a ceremony ) ,there’s also a tribe with lip plates, etc.
When we were about to take a minibus back I stopped a jeep with other faranjis (=foreigners or at least white people) wondering if they could take us.Not only did they take us, it turned out they were Flemish freelance TV-producers ( they made ‘ broodje kannibaal’) so I had a wonderful chat!
We arrived back in ArbaMich sooner than expected and thus tried the bank again: Kath’s card miraculously worked! Relieved we decided to meet up with the guy who was gonna borrow us our bus fare and so ( Getinet) anyway partly because his wife is Dutch and is involved in education here and because he sees really interesting. It was a nice evening were it not for Kath’s dislike of the restaurant she send the food back and was too demanding (in my opinion). Some friends of Getinet offered to take us for the bus price half the way ( they had to be there) to Addis meaning we didn’t have to get up at 4 am.
Sadly enough our luck had changed because after the direct bus had left we got a phone call that they weren’t going after all. We ended up having to take 3 buses and no lunch break to get in Addis some 12 hours later… Pfff hell, we were even lucky we made it.
I guess that busride is partly why I am not feeling too good today ( I had to teach) but I’m hopeful tomorrow will be better. Especially now that I made myself a good portion of oats porridge for supper. On that note I’ve noticed it’s 21:00, in other words bedtime!
It’s pretty exhausting and I tend to go to bed around 21:00 or earlier. Hopefully I will get used to it soon and thus be able to have a bit of a life in the evenings.
Sunday ( after updating my blog) was great. Kathleen and me set out for the Entoto hills that surround Addis to see the Washa Mikael church or at least what is left of this rock hewn church. Not that pretty but still very impressive. It was quite a climb and I was totally out of breath by the time we got there ( my cold doesn’t help, nor does the smog) afterwards the guides took us to a viewpoint: nice view of Addis. We finished off by going to my new favourite burger place….mjammie.
On Monday ( 1st day of school) they made us foreigners responsible for the new kids that cried or fought too much to be able to keep them in class. Not exactly fun in all honesty especially because these kids don’t speak English yet and thus feel very frustrated by someone like me who doesn’t understand Amharic. Tuesdays things were a bit quieter and I started teaching. Being a bit out of it and not having a clear idea of what these kids can and can’t do it wasn’t much of a success. Today, Wednesday, it went better though and I felt pretty pleased with myself.
The kids are so incredibly cute! All of the girls have the funniest and most creative hairstyles.
Sadly enough the school drills them ( more then I like may be) a lot, they have to walk in straight rows boys with on one side the girls the boys on the other. Also they need to sing the Anthem every day. Whereas I have songs to get them to class they march on: AFTER I EAT and the I is often left out here which makes the thing besides not fun also incorrect I WASH MY HANDS AFTER I WASH I GO TO CLASS…Or BE EXCELLENT TODAY, BE EXCELLENT TODAY,… .
Anyway even though some things are quite different when I get out a teddy bear and play with it the kids are mesmerised all the same which is nice. They are quite shy and often what they say is hardly a whisper which as communication teacher who wanted to try peer correction isn’t very handy but I guess they need some time and I’ll find ways around it.
This weekend is another long one ( some Muslim holiday this time) and were planning to go away somewhere with some of the teachers so there’s much to look forward to.
1st one is one of the monkeys in Sodore, you know the hot water springs... One just like it stole my jelly sandwich... 2nd one is a church under construction near Nazareth/Adama. Doesn't it look like an illustration of an Arabian night fairytale?
The first picture is Tony and Kathleen in Nazareth /Adama with one of the juices I've been talking about. The second proves that it can and will hail in Africa during rainy season.
Sunny day today and I have started the new year well! On the eve I went to have some beers with an ex teacher whom I met on the bus once and one of his friends. It was pretty funny to see their face when I asked a Fanta lemon and mixed it with my beer (=Pica). Some things of Bilbao I am not willing to leave behind. Even if Fanta is kinda different here. On new years we were invited by an African American who also works at the school to his house. James was also the guy who picked me up from the airport, he’s from Texas and a bit of a cowboy from time to time. He’s here for the second time, this time in a manager function and with his wife and their 2 year old son. They are so amazing, they beam with love. At the dinner we had the other day James was talking about how much they had enjoyed having their son ( Jamsie). At the ‘ party’ there were some people of their church ( Baptists) where both of them do a lot of voluntary work including preaching. They’re also learning Amharic to be closer to the people here. These other people were missionaries who have dedicated their lives to preaching and have lived all over the world, various years in South Africa during apartheid in a mixed church, now they are involved in Sudan,and here. Really interesting to talk to, also because they love food and cooking. We’ve been invited over to their house for Christmas and I get hungry just thinking about it. Non traditional food is a real luxury and delicatessen here! Besides it’s always impressive to meet people who are so passionate about their faith and seem even better people because of it. It was a really interesting afternoon and I had so much of the scrumptious pot roast that I didn’t eat in the evening ;-) I did however make some kalimotxo (=cheap Ethiopian wine and Pepsi) before going to the traditional restaurant where other teachers (who weren’t at James’) ate. Luckily I was somewhat tipsy because one of the traditional dancers at the restaurant pulled me on stage to try and dance with her…..AAAARGGHGH . Their dances are so amazing, they do these expressive rhythmic movements with their shoulders, it’s wonderful to see ( and hilarious when you also try it)! Many people wore traditional clothes and had head jewellery or different kinds of braids then the regular during the celebration. Really impressive and a feast for the eyes. Yesterday I finally got round to going to the National museum where you can view Lucy the pre-human they’ve found near Addis. Incredible she was only 1,1metre tall even though she was an adult! There are also all kinds of clothes, crowns and other stuff there from their emperors really strange to see, I felt like in a fairy tale, curved swords and velvet outfits. I’ve also learned there are an incredible amount of different cultures here, people with lip plates, and markings included but these are found more in rural areas and I haven’t seen them in Addis yet. These people still use oxen and wooden instruments to plough… . It is so different here. I just finished Paolo Coelho’s ‘The Alchemist’ and this also has made quite an impression on me. Lucretia brought it and told me I should read it because it applied on us being here. If you haven’t read it I recommend you to do so.
Yes, today, on the 11th of September Ethiopia with its different calendar, celebrates new year (2002)!!!! Their slogan is 13 months of sunshine but so far it’s still raining here in Addis. I can’t wait for it to stop. It’s pretty chilly and you never know what’s on next. We’ve finished our training and all of us especially me are extremely tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. My GYA ( Gison Youth Academy) school is very focussed on rules which doesn’t really help their efficiency. But I guess if I wanted efficiency I should have stayed in Belgium or something. Some examples: we are supposed to be there at 7:45 but even in the planning it doesn’t state we’ll start before 8:30. Obviously people aren’t very motivated to be there on time hence a lecture every morning about being on time whereas they only started ‘the meeting’ at 8:47 or so instead of at 8:30… . Being bored when I could have slept a bit longer drives me up the wall so I tried to do something useful but they wouldn’t allow me to get any material until 8:00 which then obviously means 8:15…I don’t know who I’ll need the most patience for: my little kids or the office. Turns out I only teach English conversation to all Kindergarten classes ( not to pre-KG nor to Prep) it means I’ll have the full 219 students ( in 7 groups of more or less 31) all of whom with the most impossible names to remember. I spent all Monday writing nametags of different colours for each class that’ll go on a necklace. I expect to be needing them for quite some time. The good thing is I prepare only 4 lessons a week all of which I teach 7 times . Also even though I stop teaching at 12:00 I can’t leave the school before 15:30 so I have loads of time to make them absolutely fabulous. I’m starting to teach on Monday and my holiday is officially over! The African colleagues ( all of them girls) seem ok although they keep more to themselves or in their little groups which make sense. I had bad luck because the foreign couple o that also teaches in the KG department( just like me) have been absent often. Jose and Carmelina with their son of 3 have had some problems adapting and finding a home. Seeing as they are a family they aren’t allowed to stay in the guesthouse where I live. It must be hard if you have people to take care of to go abroad. When they are there however it’s fun, they actually have a Latin background and speak Spanish as well so it’s our complain and gossip language.
I came down with quite a cold and am sniffing all the way through this update, so the weather and smog of the city finally got to me as well ( Carmelina has been to the hospital twice and is on all kinds of meds). The smog is actually unbelievable, more then once a car passes you by and 30 seconds to a minute later you can still smell the vile black emission. Gross!
Furthermore I am lowering my intake of dairy products ( my homeopath would be so pleased): I haven’t seen cream here yet, the milk is not as good as in Europe, and yoghurt is tricky to find. Also with the power-cuts you don’t know if it’s going to be any good. I’m starting to drink a lot of tea now which they prepare with loads and loads of sugar…mmmm. I bought 4 eggs the other day to make some mashed potatoes and French toast and stuff and each and everyone of the was bad: one was green, the other had a recognisable foetus,… . So I told the housekeeper and asked her if she could get me some eggs and that I’ll pay her and she got me 4 perfectly ok eggs. You really have to watch your every step here because if they can and you’re white they will haggle you! The other day I was waiting for someone who was late in front of a central police station. I think I got an idea of what the first immigrants went through. Everyone but literally everyone stared at me. Various men felt they needed to slow down or ask me if I was fine. A bunch of boys tried to sell me some chive and a police officer came out to ask me what I needed. I was there for a mere 11 minutes. It is so strange to be this different I am constantly reminded of it. Beggars cross the street to ask you for money, or become even more persistent. One time the whole minibus was watching me to see if I would give this old man some money so he’d bugger off. A guy stepped up behind me and put his arm around me, some others will grab your arm when you walk into a bar and make a kiss symbol,… . I am convinced giving in to this is making things worse or keeping them that way so I give my change to people who are asleep who didn’t bother me or I leave it as a tip in the bars. I feel the best thing to do is spending your money in small establishments so it really gets to the people. The guy from the juice bar/ fruit shop up the road knows me by now and tries to teach me new Amharic words every time I go there. He also greets me when he sees me walking. This really gives me a nice feeling. Kathleen had a guy from an internet café across the road ask her for her mastercard. She pretended not to understand and walked away, she had gone there to try and make a long distance phone call, a service he didn’t provide. The next day as she is walking home this guy is standing outside another shop and starts shouting at her ‘ you bitch, you stupid bitch’… . she was pretty shaken by the whole thing and even reported it to the police. I am pleased I don’t look as young, slim and blond as she does and that I am more or less left alone. I hope things don’t seem to negative when I write, I guess at first it’s always a bit difficult and I am enjoying discovering this new place a lot, I am still happy to be here. So far for now. Talk to you soon.
First the arrival of Kathleen, a new Irish colleague( 26 and quite the character but then again so am I) , who immediately started planning a trip to somewhere. I said I’d join her so later on her first day we set out to try and book a bus (seeing as the internal flights were above my budget). After a long exhausting day, we were dropped off somewhere we didn’t want to be and we were trying to find our way to the bus station asking some people that weren’t very useful when all of a sudden a Rasta with a British accent (Tony) helped us out. When he heard what we were up to he actually recommended another place and asked if he could join us. That’s how a day later then we had originally thought we ended up going to Nazareth/ Adama. ( 2 names= The second is African and the first one refers to the Ethiopians relation to king Solomon through their ex-emperor Haile Selassi a prophet to the Rastas). It was quite fun, Tony can be a bit much at times and Kathleen moody but we had fun. We stayed in a quite horrible budget hotel which didn’t even meet Ghana’s shoestring-standards but it was only for the night so we did survive. We went there amongst other reasons because there were some hot springs accompanied by a resort with a pool. Pretty cool floating in hot water ( too hot for swimming especially in combination wit being even higher up) and in a beautiful setting including monkeys that nicked my breakfast jam sandwich. I went all out on juices which were even less expensive there…. Sheer pleasure. At a certain moment I lost my company which was a bit scary and annoying but the Ethiopians are good people and when they saw I was lost they honestly wanted to help which made me feel even more frustrated and embarrassed. We had taken the bus back to arrive ‘home’ we found nobody had any news about the following day which was supposed to be our first day of training. After ringing almost everyone without answer we got hold of someone who told me he was going to ring me back as soon as he knew what the plan was. That was at 6 AM!!!! He woke me up to tell me we didn’t have training until the next day! Grrrrrrrrr We are all getting a tad frustrated with being kept in the dark about things regarding us. In the mean time another girl arrived in our home ( we are now 4). Lucretia is great! She is such a ray of sunshine and giggles at absolutely everything. She’s 35, American, worked in the army to pay for college, has lived in Korea and seems really on my wavelength about a lot of things. Can you imagine, there was a mix up with her arrival time and no-one was there to pick her up ( after a 17 hour flight). So she tried to call but nobody answers their phone here it seems then she changed the only money she had on her ( 20§) and got in a taxi to the main office and when that was closed ( lunch) she went to the American embassy and then back to the main office….. OMG ( for my mum this means: Oh My God ;-)) and all this she tells with a smile on her face after you’ve been introduced…. I would have died! Today we had our very first day and got to meet the other staff international and regular teachers. We’re not as many as we were led to expect, a mere 8, 6 of which in Kindergarten teachers ( not all with experience or training) separated over both campuses. It was quite funny because all of us feel we aren’t getting paid enough: the school is very profitable and other schools are offering double from time to time to their international staff. So I hope we can arrange that. Things aren’t expensive here but they had told us the 250 euro would permit us to live comfortably and it’s more of a money managing budget since prices have tripled in the last 3 years ( I notice this a lot in my travel guide and also there’s a staff member who taught here a while ago and the price references he gives are so surreal) … Cross your fingers we can get united and receive a pay raise. The boss, Mrs Leea Gibson, a converted American Muslim made a cliché speech and we had to applaud and shout yes!!!! PFFFFFFF Nothing interesting this far, a lot of importance being given to paperwork which has never benefited a single student but that’s no different in Belgium. I hope tomorrow will be more enlightening at least as to what I am supposed to do in class. David has been told that he will teach in the other school and has to move out tomorrow to move into the bole house. I lose a nice flatmate but gain the room with on-suite bathroom, enough closet space and balcony. Every cloud does have a silver lining;-) seeing as it was raining he spent the afternoon packing and I moving my stuff and then we played some scrabble which I am happy I brought along. Nice and homey…
Big hug, thinking of you all. Take care and all news is very much appreciated!
By the way I can be reached on 00251 113714222 landline Or on 00251 912488366 mobile And you can write to me on Gibson Youth Academy PA Corine Huyghe PO Box 15564 Addis Ababa Ethiopia
After various days I hope to finally get this stuff online. I didn’t realise how much I rely on the internet to fight my homesickness. This is really annoying, I can read stuff, download the pictures of my little cousin,etc but I just can’t reply or send anything out… I feel as if I got tele-transported to the dark ages. Anyway all is still well although it is still raining. After all my exploring the city is starting to make sense. I finally found a supermarket (hm you wouldn’t call it that if it were Europe) that carries chocolate powder. I had been missing my morning chocolate milk terribly. This morning our housekeeper, Arakesh, called us down for some coffee. Now I don’t drink coffee which is a shame if you live in the land of coffee, but did not want to offend her and had a try. It does really taste different here, not what I would call nice, but different from the one at home. She really is a lovely lady as are the guys who guard our gate day and night. Now it’s Ramadan and there is constant chanting broadcasted from the mosque in front of our flat. Also a different not entirely pleasant experience. I am really counting the days until our training begins, I want to know what level of kindergarten I will be teaching and get to know the colleagues. ( David’s nice and quite interesting but I’d also like to know some people that are just a tad younger). Anyways I am supposed to start training on the 1st and for all I know now I will have up to 40 kids in a class.( TOO many). I’ll keep you posted.
