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...

Rock hewn church by the name of Washa michael!

It’s been too long!

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 Arba Mich ( 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 Arba Mich 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!

Midweek of my first workweek.

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 ( 1^st 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.

more pics

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?

pics

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.

Lucy

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.

Happy New year!

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.

pics

Ok so that's the monkey from the bar and our housekeeper Arakesch en 1 of the guards drinking coffee in our kitchen.

Busier

A lot has happened over the last couple of days….

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