Bole road by day

I got out of the office today right at 5:30 so there was still some sunshine. I got back to the guest house, dumped my clothes, put on civvy's, and headed out down Bole Rd. The streets are so much more friendly when the sun is up. I heard a woman behind me teaching her child some English. She said "I love you" and the baby responded with "Idjjhem,s". She said "no no, I Love You" and the baby responded with "Iafmjdfsj". She tried this many times and the poor child kept getting it worse. He could have been no more that 2'ish. I then figured out why she was doing this. Beggars walk up to you and say one of:

- I love you
- Hello
- Hungry

They are very persistent but I found a trick ... find at least two people walking the other way and just before you pass them, cut across their path. Make sure you do not come close to bumping into them. More beggar children disappeared after I did this. One child walked beside me with his hand out for a good 5 minutes ... "Mister, hello, Mister, hello, Mister, hello, Mister, hello, Mister, hello, Mister, hello, Mister, hello, Mister, hello, Mister, hello ...". If you tire and give in you will never get rid of them. I am determined my last day in Addis I am going to give them 10 birr (about 85 cents US) each.

I met with one of my two counterparts at MoFED today (Tagel) and he is very nice and I think he understands about 80% of what I say. I try to speak slowly and enunciate. Paul has been trying to get a chance to speak with my boss, Ato Mussa, but keeps getting ignored. I offered to tell Mussa that I cannot start auditing until Dr. Paul's people get some more tasks accomplished. Paul must settle an issue wrt. de-centralization of the new system before his people can carry on with further development efforts. I think when Mussa finds out I am on hold, he will beg Paul to spend some time with him :)

Even though most of my walks have been in the area of my hotel, every day is a new adventure since the biggest site in Addis is people, people, people. I bought some Provolone cheese at a deli and a pineapple for breakfast in the AM. I am meeting with someone in the AM tomorrow to discuss opening Golden Palace Addis ... dinner tonight was a beer and a lovely beef rib/spinach mix for a whopping 51 birr or ~ 4.50 USD.