Addis to Nairobi

So the day of the trip to Kenya started early. I could not keep my eyes open l last night, so crashed about 9. No wonder I was wide awake at 6AM. The church started broadcasting about 5AM just like it does every Saturday morning. The churches here do this each morning about 6 except for Saturdays. I put the last few things in their respective bags, some stuff coming to Kenya other stuff staying behind at Deker Inn. Dereje picked me up about 8 and off we went to the airport. There was a guy at the bottom of the ramp that asked to see my passport. Dereje was able to carry my bags inside the terminal. Then there was the first x-ray machine at which point the bags were handed off to a porter of sorts. I approached the empty checkin counter at Ethiopian airlines, and the attendant asked me if I had a doctor's certificate to travel. Say what? I have a bruised ligament in my left foot not a set of 12 stitches in my chest as the result of a gunshot wound!! I was told if one asks for a wheelchair, it is company policy that they must ask for this certificate. They told me it was up to the captain if I was allowed to fly without the proper certificate. I politely but firmly voiced my disapproval, and declined the wheelchair. I figured ... no wheelchair, no need for letter from their doctor. I waddled through immigration whom you have to see as well on the way out of the country. I then went upstairs, sharing the elevator with a few guys from Egypt Air who thought my story as ridiculous as I did. We were bussed to the jet about 30 minutes late and off we went. They had back-of-seat screens with movies and the like. The flight was only 100 minutes so it would have been impossible to watch a full movie anyways. I decided to poke around, and everything I tried was "not available for the moment". I settled on watching some of the Taking of Pelham 13 but after selecting that flick, I found myself in the middle of something with Adrian Brody. Never mind, I must have pushed the wrong button on my remote, so selected something else. I ended up in the same Brody movie so gave up. I browsed to one of the online surveys they offered, and decided to see what an Ethiopian survey looks like. It was on checkin and boarding. There were 5 questions and they looked like this: E5 E5 E5 E5 E5 I guess it was not working very well. That's actually a good way to ensure that no negative results are tabulated ... make sure it doesn't work. During the pre-flight announcements I thought I heard something that needed clarification (keep in mind this was a flight less than 2 hours). The attendant said they would be serving lunch ... lunch!!! On such a short flight in North America they stopped serving meals over a decade ago. Air Canada ... you listening? We landed in Nairobi on time then I was wheeled to the immigration area where I bought a visa for $25 USD. There were 2 people who helped me and they were very nice. I dropped a nice tip on them. The car from the Fairmont never showed so I took a $20/20 minute cab ride to the hotel, Guess what ... she is (BIG TIME). We had a too expensive lunch and ST is napping for a short time. She loves her onesie and the silver earrings/necklace set I got her. She also loves the Ethiopian flag shawl as we anticipate it may be cool at night on safari. Initial impressions of Kenya are that it is not as poor as Ethiopia, the people are nice, and they are not as religious. I see lots of women on the street in Addis who keep their heads covered (orthodox Christianity) and have seen none of that here. I saw the Nairobi version of the Addis blue bus ... it's white. They drive on the British side of the road here which I did not know. As of tomorrow at 7:30AM we will be on safari; do not pass go, do not collect $200. By the way the Kenyan schilling is 72 to the US dollar. Also, the "e" in Kenya is short. My next post may be with a giraffe or elephant (zebra or wildebeest EVEN) less than a few hundred metres away. The parks we are going to insist that safari vehicles are docked by sundown so we will not be out much past 8PM if even that late. Thank-you in Swahili is "asante". Asante for reading this out there in BLOG land, and this is both of our first trip south of the equator. There is no whirlpool in the toilet here so I could not verify that it goes counter-clockwise as opposed to clockwise in the northern hemisphere.

Sayonara soon for 7 days

While we are in Kenya, I will not be able to post to the blog. I will batch all the posts since I am taking my EeePC with me. I hope all yaz there out in BLOG land will manage without me :)

The countdown continues

Just over 24 hours until she arrives. She mentioned they messed up her names on the ticket. I guess they thought she was Mrs. Sandy :) That is exactly what happened to me when I first flew to Addis and back. But that ticket was purchased in Addis and her ticket to Nairobi was purchased on Orbitz; not only that, when I bought it I picked her name from the registered list of travelers in my account.For me it was a mess since the first time the Aeroplan computer tried to give me credit, it could not find a hit on Mr. Abbey Michael. I had 4 flight segments that trip and have successfully received credit for 2 of them. My trip from Addis to Frankfurt to Ottawa on September 18 is still missing. I am just about packed for the safari. I will put together a few last minute things after work. There is still a huge amount of interest amongst the locals when ferenge waddles around using the crutches. It has been nothing but sunny and windy here for many many days; the mercury rises to low 20's by noon and the breeze is very refreshing. In the sun it's probably more like 25'ish. What ideal weather.

Hobbling around Addis

Well, it's been different. I was lying on my bed last night watching Gandolfini play the sort of role he was born for. I am now almost done season 5 and can't wait to see ____________. Those underscores are for the sake of people still viewing season 5. For those of you who know, there is quite a turn in one character towards the end of season five. I realized while reclining at Deker that at least for the next 3.5 weeks, I will be spending at least 2.5 of them in my room most of the time. The other week I will be in Kenya with the wife on safari. Beauty, eh? She leaves Ottawa late today and will be in Nairobi Saturday about 7AM local time. She is spending 12 hours on a layover in London so going into town for 8-9 hours of those I expect. Good old Helena gave her an itinerary to follow as ST has never really been to London before. Helena is an old school chum of Sandy's from Montreal (she's not that old really :)), and they are a very bad influence on one another and therefore get along great! I got sign-off for another deliverable at work today, and anticipate getting another one tomorrow. If all goes well, there will be a third next Tuesday. I am away next week, so will prepare the paper work and leave with Tagel for execution. The cast is a nuisance but with properly sized crutches it is not as much of a pain. Four days down and 24 more to go :) People are VERY very nice to ferenge on crutches and very accommodating; not to detract from the way they treat non-crutched ferenge. I have done some packing for my trip with the help of someone at Deker and will finish up tomorrow when I get home from work. I am getting picked up at the guest house Saturday about 8 for a 10AM flight. I am too excited ...

Poor timing, but WTF?

So here we are 6 days away from the safari, and ferenge has a cast on his left foot and is walking with crutches. Only for 4 weeks too :) I went to Yordanos for my regular appointment  today at 2PM. The technician Friday mentioned I would see the doctor today as well which I did. He was not happy with the way the foot was healing (or in this case not healing). He ordered the cast and I managed to score some crutches to rent for 150 birr for however long I need them. Usually the plaster team in emergency puts on casts, but the doctor did mine and one other person's arm. What poor timing but, heh, what can I do? I spoke to Ato Taye who owns the guest house, and he spoke to the woman that works days here. I am going to get up in the AM and get dressed, then she is going to assist "getting stuff ready for work". As well, she will be staying for all the time required Friday after work (she gets off at 6:30 PM) and help me pack for my trip. I have notified both the safari company and the hotel we are staying in about my "condition". The crutches I rented from Yordanos are not the right size, so Tagel will take me in the morning to get some proper sized ones, interestingly enough, at a building supply store ... they specialize in aluminum goods and we know what modern crutches are made of :) This cast is going to put a huge cramp on my activities but "dem dere's da breaks". Melaku came up tonight and we visited after working on his resume for a bit. I told him he could have the guitar while I was away next week if he wanted but he should let me know so he can get it Friday. Metasabya will help me pack up everything I am not taking to Kenya and 2 suitcases, my CPAP machine, and maybe my guitar will stay here during the trip.

Safari preamble

The excitement builds ... everyone who knows what the Sweet Thing and I are up to next week is pumped. I prepared a list of stuff I am taking to Kenya. I will pack my EeePc in my knapsack to offload pictures from the cameras and to pump text into files to upload to the BLOG when we return.

We are bringing very little cash and were told by the safari outfit that US currency dated earlier than 2001 is next to impossible to use in Kenya. I just emailed the form to Nairobi to make the second payment for the trip. I keep hearing as well how unsafe Nairobi is and naturally we will only go to places "approved" by the Fairmont.

I did miss seeing my ST in person October 12 (our 6th anniversary), though we did speak/email/text a gazillion times. I still cannot figure out what to get her to commemorate that magic day, so will probably just get her two oranges and a banana :)

I spoke to Naddy/Lindsay and Ben Abbey yesterday; Annabelle was napping and unable to come to the phone. Ben was on his way back to Toronto and Naddy has been very busy at school. The trip to Toronto for Lindsay for Xerox training was draining but productive. We all must wish her all the best in her new employ :)

Another classic at Edna Mall

Went to see District 13 at the mall for the 2PM show. It was yet another classic ... believe it was originally French and dubbed to English with Arabic sub-titles. That was quite a mix :) Alongside Surrogates that I saw a few weeks ago, this is two-for-two for bad (but not time wasted) flicks at Edna. There was a LOT of violence and swearing in the movie, the theatre populated by no less than a few dozen very small children amongst many adults.

I am finally ready to announce the 2 major differences between Canada and Ethiopia:

1) The size of the people; it is apparently only common over the past 10 or so years to see ANY local here anything else than a "perfect body weight". I would not be surprised if the assimilation of some western delicacies (e.g., hamburgers, french fries, and deep-fried this and that) is a contributing factor.

2) Nobody uses car seats here for their children. I have been told there were a number of initiatives to fix that, but the seats cost too much for the masses to afford ... close to 2,000 birr. I see 2-year olds being held in a parent's arms (in the front seat no less in a "new" car with airbags!!!!!!) as well as very small children standing up in the back of the vehicle or between the 2 front seats.

If I were a philanthropist with money to burn, I would negotiate with the feds here to import 3-5 million newborn car seats, 8-10 million car seats, and 10-12 million booster seats. In bulk, shipped by the slow boat to Djibouti this would probably cost somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2 billion USD but would be money well spent. Who has that sort of money? Not too many people :) This initiative could easily be repeated in all African countries as colleagues here have informed me they are probably not in use anywhere on this continent.

Friday off #2

So the second of a number of Fridays off started with French toast at Parisienne. I took a fleece and a pair of jogging pants this time as it was very warm yesterday morning but chilled off big time as the day wore on. After breakfast, I decided to go see the big church that is so kind most mornings to broadcast as early as 5AM with readings from the bible and the prophets. I called Tagel to see if one was allowed to take pictures outside a church here and he told me to go for it. I took a lot of pictures then while leaving, I turned around for one last shot and the security guard scolded me.

They were out with their hands open around the church looking for money. There was even more of them per square inch than in other areas of Addis I have traveled. I walked down Cameroon almost as far as the airport, then cut over to Bole road. I grabbed a blue bus for 2 birr to Dembel mall. My mission at Dembel was to look for a gift for the Sweet Thing (yes I am writing this deliberately since she knows I am bringing treats next week to Nairobi and it is KILLING her trying to figure out what it may be :)) I had a look at a few things at Dembel but could not decide what to get, so got nothing. I then strolled down Bole towards Meskel square, uncertain where I would go from there. I ended up turning right out of the square, down the same street where we go to chow down at the China Bar. Just as I rounded the corner, I was "accosted" by the idiot who is the subject of the previous post. I heard the kids were going to Island Breeze in piazza for lunch. I was told to take a taxi and ask the driver to drop me at the old post office. I flagged a car about 12 noon and the driver asked for 50 birr, I offered him 40, and off we went.

Island Breeze is basically a burger joint, the most western-like I have run across. I had the jerk chicken burger and gave my french fries away. I have vowed to stop eating these (again). After lunch, I rode with Habtamu back to MoFED to drop off the kids, then went to Yordanos for ultrasound. The bag of red licorice I gave them at the hospital today was a big hit and it was close to finished when I left. Habtamu dropped me off at Friendship mall where I again looked for something for the Sweet Thing with no luck. I walked back to the guest house and played with the computer and chatted with another local who lives next door. I bought a tee shirt at Friendship and that was pretty much all I bought today outside of what I picked up for my love. I bought Metasabya, the woman that works days at the guest house, a pony tail holder with the 3 colours from the Ethiopian flag. Plans for tonight ... maybe music somewhere with Melaku but not definite.

Tomorrow night I am going to Dr. Paul's for movie night. We are going to watch "And the Band Played On" and Bladerunner or Yellow Submarine. We may go for tex-mex to the Family restaurant depending on how Dr. Paul feels. He came back from the US a week ago feeling punk (sore throat and then some) and started taking antibiotics yesterday after a hospital visit. I had dinner with the ferenge from DC and am now going to play my guit-box and try to finish memorizing the words to Amie by Pure Prairie League ...

Merkato money to the max

So many many weeks ago when I first went to merkato, I was fumbling with my knapsack at one point, and I felt a hand go into my left pocket. I slapped the hand and it was removed before the aggressor got anything. Had he succeeded, he would have been the proud owner of a Canadian passport. Since then, for my other trips to merkato, I have kept my mullah in a breast pocket. I decided to make some "merkato money". I went into Powerpoint, got a clipart of a hand with the middle finger stuck up, and printed a few sheets with 10-12 copies of the "bird" on each. I then cut the paper into birr sizes, and rolled them up to look like a wad of cash. I then put a 1-birr note on the outside. Hence ... the birth of merkato money. Today, I put my money in the inside pocket of my green MEC vest and my merkato money in my left pants pocket. I am walking out of Meskel square, and someone reaches out and grabs my upper right arm very hard. He knew I would use my left hand to wrestle his hand away. Lo and behold, the next time I checked my left pocket, it was empty. F%(& you buddy! That is exactly what merkato money was for and it worked. I had lunch with the kids from work and the first time I asked them if they wanted some merkato money, they all said no. Guess what ... I now have orders for some which I will make next time I'm at work.

Seems like Friday

That's because I am not working tomorrow. There seems to be some progress on the foot though when I was there today, the pressure he put on the site with the probe was quite painful. I will get there tomorrow even though I am not working. When I was coming back from breakfast today at the Parisienne, the garbage cart guys were emptying the refuse from Bilo's pastry which is below the guest house. The garbage, at least some of it, was sitting uncovered in their cart. They were feasting on some of the edible food that was sitting on top of the pile; part of me said "yuccccchhhh", but you know, the other part said "why not". I feasted on deep-fried talapia for lunch with Burhan and Hanna. I weighed myself on the way back and the 10 or so pounds that I seem to have lost is still off, which is a good thing. Tagel mentioned something to me today in passing about a contract extension, so I told him if anything surfaces in Ottawa I will speak to him before committing to something in Canada.

Sunshine sunshine

I must say, when it does shine here, it's amazing. There is not a cloud in the sky, and the mercury is about 18 degrees. I know ST would Love this weather, as I know most Canucks would especially at this time of year as we creep lower and lower all over Canada. I am contacting people in Ottawa regarding contract work for the new year when I am back in Ottawa. I have sent out feelers to MoFED through Tagel to have a 3-month engagement back here in Addis from February 1 through the end of April. But, as is the case at home, nothing is a sure thing until it's a sure thing. I am having lunch with my star pupils and Tagel today and hope to got to my favourite fish place in merkato. The safari looms ever more high on the horizon with each passing day. I have noticed since the kids started school again, that I see them as young as 7 or 8 years old walking to school unaccompanied on the streets of Addis. Shauna, are Paddy/Sean walking alone now? Off to training ...

Again on Friday I ...

I am going to take this Friday off as well. Most of the deliverables are going to hit in November and December. I have been working away madly with Hanna and Burhan on the DBA piece and we are making a lot of progress. I would rather the deliverables hit earlier, but so be it. This is not a problem from my perspective. I am not sure what I will do yet Friday, but will probably continue the trek I started last Friday. I did not go to Churchill street to see the shops and I may look into a museum, if any are indeed open at a convenient time. I will still go to Yordanos for 2PM and am supposed to remind the technician to see about booking an appointment with the doctor when I go Monday. The foot is feeling much better, and not anywhere close to as tender when the ultrasound scope passes over the effected area with a bit of pressure.

Kenya trip

I left it too long to go to the embassy here and get the Kenya visa. If something were to go wrong like they lose my passport or it takes longer than 10 days, I would not be able to go to Nairobi. The Sweet Thing got hers in Ottawa; I will get mine at the airport. She is making arrangements to get the Fairmont to pick her up at the airport as she gets there 5 hours before me. I am assembling surprises for the Sweet Thing in Kenya and am bursting at the seams with excitement. I hope she is as excited to see as I am to accumulate :)

Spoke with my favourite tennis opponent in the world and he and the wifey/kids are all fine ... affectionately referred to as Bakes by yours truly. Off the MofEteria with the kids for our morning machiato. I have training with Burhan and Hanna at 9 then with a larger group when I return from Yordanos at 3PM.

Back in business

All the stuff I brought over to Addis for Dr. Paul has paid off. I got my new Casio Exilim camera gratis. It was a busy day at work but OK. We went Chinese for lunch which worked for me. Dr. Paul was not feeling 100% and wanted to leave work early. I convinced the others to do the same so I was home by 5PM. What a treat and the traffic is so much less earlier than later. I had dinner with Bill, a guy in the guest house. We went to Rodeo Addis, a supposed tex mex joint that he had been to before. The only thing tex mex about the place was the cowboy hats worn by the staff. I had a steak sandwich with fries (2 food groups ... red and yellow) then we cabbed it back to the guest house. I am pumped about having a camera again and will try to get a shot of me in 1) a white sports jacket 2) a HUGELY bright orange dress shirt 3) a white tie 4) black pants 5) Pink Floyd DSOTM running shoes Running shoes are the most comfortable with my foot in a tensor bandage. As I collect pictures from Tagel for our trips to Weliso and Awassa I will get some stuff up to Facebook.

Awassa great weekend

So Tagel calls me late Friday afternoon and tells me he is going away to some place to work this weekend and would I like to go with him. He did mention something to me about a trip out of Addis this weekend. He had not said anything to me for a while so, along the lines of what I have said before, I did not want to ask him about it as he does so much for me. He needed to go somewhere that is 270 km from Addis, and was leaving early in the morning Saturday. I figured by early he probably meant 8 or 9AM ... no he meant 6AM. He also asked if I still wanted to go even if 2 other locals were going. I love meeting new natives, so naturally I'm in. He arrives about 6:15AM Saturday with a guy in the car whose name is Germa. We drive to the other side of Addis and stop the car. A few minutes later a guy comes out whose name turns out to be Facile (sp?). We hit the road, heading south, and I recognize the scenery from my trip to Debrezieit with Tagel in August. They speak mostly Amharic in the car but include me in the conversation often. Lots of laughter and heavy heavy Amharic banter sometimes at very loud voices. We stop at the officer's mess in Debrezeit for breakfast then head out of town a few kilometres, and turn west. We travel for about 3 hours and arrive in a town called Awassa. As it turns out, these guys are wiring a new resort for internet and satellite TV and they are going down to see the site. They have done work before for this guy before who as it turns out already owns 2 hotels and a restaurant in Awassa. We go to the resort first. It looks like it is 4-6 months away from completion. I made a post yesterday from Awassa about the resort. After inspections and discussions go on for about an hour, we go for lunch. After lunch, these 3 guys go back to the resort under construction and I end up at the place next door where I made that post. Jump ahead about 2.5 hours and the guys come trotting over. We sit on the porch of the establishment we are at (where I sat while they worked) and chat and laugh and I end up getting out the guitar. They all pose for pictures with the axe and we have a lovely time. Tagel starts giggling with a few locals on the porch and we head out about an hour or so later. Next stop is one of the resort owner's hotels. I ask Tagel if I could stay at the hotel they are staying at as it is 175 birr whereas this guy's newer hotel is 300. I mention to Tagel that I am still paying for Deker Saturday night so he arranges for me to bunk at the same hotel as them. We sit under one of the tents and gab and chat then Tagel disappears then Germa does the same. The last 2 of us sit and at some point a guy named Ileacal (sp?) joins the 2 of us and he obviously knows the gang from other meetings. As it turns out he is an economist who owns and runs the Ibex institute ... yes that same hotel management school of which I spoke in previous posts. We eventually move into the restaurant portion of the hotel and spend the better part of 2 hours there, again the 4 of them speaking Amharic mainly but breaking into English for my benefit on a more than polite/considerate interval. We try to pay for dinner only to find out it's on the house. Sweet :) The next stop is a traditional night club. Awassa has quite a large number of clubs either traditional or western-style and we opt for the former. The musician is playing an Ethiopian instrument that I have seen in the stores but its name escapes me. He makes a big fuss over ferenge, and light humour about ferenge causes the locals to break out in loud and boisterous laughter many times. A woman comes to the mic and takes over on top of the guy's music and a large African drum. There is a strain of traditional Ethiopian dancing that mainly involves the shoulders. One of the guys in our entourage is HUGE at doing this dance and from time-to-time his chest up to his neck are a blur. This was beyond fascinating and there were a few others in the joint that did the same. We leave after about an hour, and return to the Hotel Lewi, this entrepreneur's lower end hotel and we all turn in. It's a classic what-I-thought-an-Ethiopian-2-star hotel would be but it's fine. I had one of those nights where you're not really sure how much you actually slept. We all were up by 7 and off for breakfast. They ordered lamb tibs and scrambled eggs on injera, as well as what appeared to be a talapia stew, heavy on the fish. All of it was great and there was some wonderful green hot sauce smothered on everything. We then went to a park for a bit while Ileacal got ready to leave and picked him up. It was a little cramped in the car, a Toyota Corolla designed for 5 passengers but a stretch. We drove for about an hour then stopped at a resort on a lake for a while. There were some heated discussions amongst the locals and 2 servers at the spot (not an argument) about the bill and we were eventually refunded 100 birr. Then we were off again and got back towards Addis about 3:30. We stopped at a clothing outlet and Tagel and Germa bought onesies. I was so jealous! We dropped Facile at home then headed to a car wash near Deker. Germa took off then and Tagle ended up getting the car washed. We then went to a photo shop where he got the pictures from his Sony Cybershot transferred to his computer. Why Sony (Olympus and Panasonic as well!!!!) do not use a standard SD memory card is beyond comprehension. Tagel then drops me at the guest house and it all ends ... what a weekend. Two days with 3 sometimes 4 locals doing what comes naturally. I had a salad next door at Blue Drops and life goes on. Back to MoFED in the AM and looking forward to seeing Dr. Paul who returned last night from the US. He brought 8 cameras for people here and they were confiscated at the airport. Tagel told me whenever you bring anything electronic into the country in a quantity above what seems possible for personal use that it is seized. You then have to go back to the airport during business hours to pay the required duty and you get your goods back. Rumour has it that duty can be as much as 100% of the cost of the items. They are worried that you will sell the stuff in Addis and they want their cut ... hence the duty.

And on the sixth day I shopped

Another take on that famous saying. I headed out Friday to a very sunny and windy day that required my taking a fleece it was that cold. I started at Bilo's, the pastry shop below Deker Inn. I wanted to find a cord today to record the sound from my digital recorder to the PC. While sipping machiato and munching on a banana bread, I noticed yet again the difference between the haves and the have-nots. I believe it is even more pronounced here than in the west. Two very high end Mercedes SUV's which must cost over 900,000 birr left while I ate. The vehicles were dressed up to the max (i.e., every possible option on the outside) and could indeed have been more than 1 million birr. From what I was told by one of the drivers I use to get to work and back, it would take him 50 years to save that kind of money and that would allow him NADA for living expenses. I was proudly wearing a MEC fleece vest with inside pockets, and pleased that my money was well concealed. I was carrying what I call my "merkato money" which is a wad of bills where only the bill that is showing is a birr, a one birr note at that. The rest of the money shows a hand with the middle finger sticking up. I hope someone steals it some day. Also, while at Bilo's, I noticed the parking ladies placing the familiar small pieces of paper on windshield wipers as people munched at Bilo's. As I recently found out, ALL property in Ethiopia belongs to the government and, if one even builds somewhere, the land stays with the feds and one pays rent. Hence, what even appeared to be "private property" at Bilo's was strewn with vehicles with these same pieces of paper on them. These parking people are very quick and sometimes as you click your remote to lock the car, the paper appears on your car. When I was at Yordanos hospital yesterday for ultrasound, Dereje the driver paid 50 birr cents to park for 30 minutes or so ... 8 cents an hour! I took the blue bus to the intersection of Gabon and Selassie, and found myself in the porcelain/ceramic section a block west of Kazanches street. Toilets, plumbing apparatus, and every other thinkable thing made from ceramic or concerned with the bathroom was in this block and then some. I cut over to Kazanches and stopped at a joint to get my hair cut. Here are the highlights of that experience: 1) She put a paper gasket around my neck, similar to what was done to me when I was very young and getting my hair cut. I call it a gasket since it provides a better seal for the gown that is wrapped around you when the haircut is done. 2) She pulled 2 small pieces of cotton batten off a large swab and stuffed them in my ears to protect me agains the sound of the clippers (I guessed :)... very thoughtful. 3) The guy beside me was getting his hair washed after his cut and helped a bit with the translation of the instructions. They wash hair here using a portable plastic sink with a hose attached to the drain, trailing into a bucket to catch the water from the sink. They use a plastic milk container to pour water over the client ... hey it works :) They also shampoo beard and mustache as well as the hair. 4) At the end of the 30 minutes or so she spent on my hair, a plate with some orange stuff on it appeared. It turned out to be warm washcloths, one which she wiped my face and neck area in preparation for the gown removal. I did not have a clue what the price would be and was shocked to be asked for 10 birr ... less than 1 dollar Canadian! I gave here 20 birr and both she and I were pleased. I saw a sweet kitchen supply store near the first Total gas station on Kazanches; it reminded me of the Great Glebe Emporium. I did walk into an electrical appliance store and asked for an alarm clock. The proprietor looked at me like I was from another planet (i.e. America) and said no. I went into a few other stores and asked for alarm clocks, all with the same inter-planetary responses. Then I figured it might be called something else here; Tagel told me to say "alarm watch" instead. Lo and behold, the next few places I tried, the clerks blurted out NO before I even finished asking :). I bought a bright orange dress shirt on Kazanches; the guy wanted 250 birr and I got it for 200. I figured, hey, when in Africa, do as the Africans do. This thing is so bright it needs a volume control. As I left the store, I spotted a man sitting on a makeshift stool with a pair of nail clippers. I wonder what a clip would cost ... perhaps a real clip joint :) I turned a corner, familiar to me as we pass it every day, and saw the Brook pharmacy which is usually getting opened as we drive by on the way to work. There must have been some structure beside Brook which I do not remember because about 10 days ago, whatever it had been was now a pile of eucalyptus branches mostly 8-10 feet long in a huge pile. Over the past few days a couple of guys with very weird (and very dull) axes, have been cutting up the wood to be sold as firewood. Tagel called to tell me a memo had arrived from Ato Mussa regarding my first of 17 money transfers for my audit work. They are transferring money in Canadian dollars not US; I will take that up with Ato Mussa on Monday. Granted, there ain't much difference between the two currencies now :). I hailed a cab to Dembel mall a few minutes later. Obviously Dembel would have what I needed in an alarm clock, excuse me, alarm watch :) I looked around and there were a few possibilities. I did round out my white jacket outfit by adding a white tie to the mix for 150 birr. I walked down Bole and the sky was clear and blue ... by the way I have written a song about Addis and that line is in the tune.  I walked to Ethio-China, looking for onesies for the wife and I. I ended close to the Yemeni restaurant I had made plans to meet the kids from work. I sat across from the restaurant for 20 minutes. People stopped steadily trying to sell me anything and everything. A guy eyed me for a while peddling some movies, but I managed to look busy and he left. Guess what was busily busily busily patrolling Ethio-China ... you guessed it, a parking control lady :) The Yemeni lunch was designed to be a farewell repast for one of the guys from Istanbul. He did not show up with the kids, so missed his goodbye lunch :) I ordered some mixed pickles, hummus, and tabbouleh. They were all great. There were cucumber slices, turnip slices, and beet slices, all a deep burgundy and nicely pickled. I had a few, then re-arranged them on the plate so the kids would suspect they just showed up before they did. They served tap water from jugs on the table which I had not seen before. I got Dereje to drive me to Yordanos for ultrasound. The guy who does it for me is very chatty. He is going to a town near Debreziet to see a grown child this weekend.  I then got Dereje to drive me to piazza to continue shopping. The section of piazza that I was about to walk was one I had driven through many times, so the walk was eagerly anticipated. I was shown 6 to 8 onesies in one store and it appeared that the guy was losing his patience with me because I did not yet commit to buyiung. Fortunately my cell rang which allowed me to walk out of the store immersed in a heavy conversation :) I would not buy something from this guy since they almost all had zippers at the bottom of the pants, meaning they could not be hemmed. I did buy a blue striped shirt at one store, then called it a day and cabbed back to Deker. For those of you who know me well, my memory can be quite a sieve. How, you may wonder, did I manage to recount my adventures with such detail some 2 days later ... ah, the wonders of modern technology; I have started carting around my digital recorder on such events for this very reason. My trip to Awassa this weekend will be documented in the morning. I also will be getting the pictures from my trip to Waluso with Tagel a few weeks ago as well as the stuff from the Awassa trip which was very very nice.

Out of town again with Tagel

So I was up at 5AM and downstairs to meet Tagel at 6. Addis at that time of day is still pretty dark and somewhat cold. Once the sun comes up, the mercury starts to rise. He showed up about 6:20 and "sent me" back upstairs to get my computer and guitar. Then we went to pick up Falyse (spelling?) and headed south from Addis for about an hour to stop in Debrezeit for breakfast. I had a very nice omelet. We then drove another 230 kilometres to Awassa, our final destination. We went to the site of a soon-to-be 5-start resort. There are 14 cottages in brick and granite as well as a 24 bedroom chalet overlooking a large lake. I met the owner, who also owns another hotel in Awassa as well as the restaurant where we ended up eating lunch. The resort he is building was a swarm of workers until just before noon when they all washed up and broke for lunch. We stopped at my $27 hotel room which was very nice and in this guy's hotel. The resort he is building has been going on for a few years and it is anticipated that it will open in 3-5 months. Tagel and some colleagues are doing all the network and (I think) satellite TV installations. More to come ... just when I thought I had Ethiopia figuired out, I discovered another difference from the west. Their clock is 6 hours ahead of Canada. Thus, they work from 2-10PM, sleep roughly from 4AM until noon, and so on. I will look into why this is so sometime on the internet.

Off the big hill

I am going with Tagel and two other people out of Addis for the weekend. We are leaving in 40 minutes. I am not sure where we are going but it will be HUGE. I still do not have a camera so he is bringing his for me to trap the event. More news and hopefully pictures (on Facebook) to follow when I return.

The first top 10

I have now been in Addis Abeba for 9 weeks ... actually been away for 10 but 1 week was spent in Ottawa. Since it has been 10 weeks since I left, it's probably time for the top 10 reasons for loving Ethiopia; here they are: 10. The interesections; they are like bumper cars at the fair, except no bumping. 9. The traffic lights on some intersections are so small one cannot even see them. 8. The taxi drivers; a breed of navigator that one could only dream of being some day. 7. The rain; you think we have storms in Canada; here it's like turning BOTH hot and cold on full at the same time. 6. The kids (and then some) running amuck all over the streets and sidewalks; kids ... young goats in this case. 5. The currency; it's aromatic from the day it is printed (and dispensed from a bank machine) to the day it ends up in your hand looking like it has been dragged through a charcoal bath. 4. The way the women dress; sometimes you run into a gaggle of young or old females that look like they are on their way to meet the queen of England and they are going to the local coffee shop for a quick croissant. 3. The hot green peppers that litter just about everything they eat; they are jalopena peppers on steroids and delicious in large (like me) or small doses (like many others). 2. The children are beyond cute. They must take cute pills in utero that allow their looks to mature somewhere between birth and 20 (or so). With a little chocolate sauce or honey, they would be more than delicious. 1. The people; they are so kind and helpful. The most important thing is family, THE most important thing.

The NHL on ETC

ETC is the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, responsible for many tech items in the country including internet. I was sent a link to look at a few days ago where it described a country (I don't remember which one) that was enabling legislation requiring a high-speed connection for ALL citizens of the country. This right was going to be entrenched in the legislation that governs rights of citizens in many other areas. I imagine the ISP's in that country will fight that one unless the same exorbitant fees are then submitted by the government rather than individuals for the service. With ETC, the bandwidth is so poor that watching streaming video is out of the question. As to why the infrastructure is so immature for internet is unclear and it is not worth blaming any one organization ... that's just the way it is. With that said, the SlingBox route to watching hockey is out of the question, not to mention the fact that 7:30PM games at home start at 2:30AM here :). So my only choice is to watch the scores on TSN the next morning. The NHL web site is so busy it is not low-bandwidth friendly. On a scale of 1-10, the NHL site is about 2 for low-bandwidth countries/locations and TSN is about a 9. Also, the section of the page containing scores that appears as one goes to TSN is painted first whereas on the NHL it is next to (if not the!) last to be displayed. I figure that I could wait the 2.5 hours for the scores to appear at the NHL site which, in a time span, is very close to the length of time the game took to play. Ottawa 7 Tampa Bay 1 ... sweet! A hat trick for Michalek! David T. ... so sorry about the sweep. I have sent you a handful of text messages but you may not pay any attention to them in the midst of your depression caused by said sweep. I just went to the MLB site for some details on the post-season and the SAME behaviour as the NHL site. ON TSN I did notice that the Phillies beat the Dodgers in game one. For me, just desserts would be the Yankees losing to the Dodgers in the world series with Joe Torre at the helm for LA :)

A mental health day Addis style

I am not going into the office Friday. I need an extra day off. There has been lots going on this week and the 3 day weekend will be HUGE. I will go to Yordanos hospital for 2PM for ultra-sound. I will probably take a cab to either piazza or Churchill avenue and (yes on the heel of my left foot Sweet Thing to rest the foot) walk around and get a few presents for family and friends. The ultrasound seems to be helping as is the rest. The guy that does the work at Yordanos on my foot says the swelling (as minor as it is) is diminishing each day. Someone I work with from the USA was contacted by the US embassy and asked to drop in for an information session today. As it turns out, she did not register with the US web-site where citizens are encouraged to inform the authorities of their travel to Africa in case they need to be contacted in an emergency. The interesting thing about the whole affair was trying to answer the question "How did the embassy know of her being in Ethiopia?" That question still remains unanswered though it is possible the information was obtained via Ethiopian customs documentation. The odd thing about it is she was sent a text message on her cell phone which was the way the existence of the session was communicated in the first place. At the session, the attendees were given a pep talk about what not to do and where not to go in Addis Abeba and there was a Q&A as well.

More Amharic

It's probably time for me to make the effort to learn some more day-to-day Amharic. Yet again at a restaurant this morning I ordered something that never arrived. The servers at many of these establishments understand very little English. They do what a lot of people (myself included) tend to do when asked something in another language ... nod with approval or acknowledgement even though they do not have a clue what one just said to them.

Music at the Sheraton was good last night, except it was the same band I had seen a few weeks ago. Melaku and I are supposed to go somewhere to see music tonight.

As I suspected ... trash containers for Addis streets

Tagel told me this has been tried a few times in the past. The problem is that the containers keep disappearing almost as quickly as the authorities put them out ...

Other country's customs

I do find it intriguing how they do some things in Ethiopia. It was similar when ST and I were in Italia a few years ago. I LOVE the way they park for example all over Italy ... if it fits, then it's a parking spot. There are cars strewn all over the place and, unless they impede emergency vehicles, the "authorities" could care less. In Ethiopia, at a restaurant, the bill is not brought until you ask for it. We noticed this as well in Italia.

While chowing down on French toast today at Parisienne, I noticed the way people would walk up to the newspaper vendor and get one or more papers to read. There was no money exchange. A while later, that same person would return the paper to the vendor and then some money would change hands. As it turns out, if the paper is returned to the same vendor, there is a half price charge for the privilege to read the paper. What a concept ... half price reading and no unnecessary litter left behind.

When greeting in Ethiopia, there are a number of things people do ... you often see the kiss on the cheek; not the double kiss we are used to seeing, but three kisses. I am not sure of the reason it's 3 and not 1 or 2. Also, they often dip their right shoulders to one another as they shake hands. When one's hand is wet or dirty with something, instead of extending a hand to shake, one extends the wrist in consideration for the other person by not getting them dirty or wet. Something else I see is people who take their left hand and grasp their lower arm while shaking hands. This is apparently a sign of respect.

I have made posts before about how much the locals take pride in their city and how it is kept so clean. I also noticed recently how happy they are to drop trash on the ground all over. No wonder there is a collection of rubbish in the gutters. Then today while at Parisienne, I noticed there are no trash receptacles on the street ... zilch, none, zero! I am not sure why someone has not approached the city with the suggestion that they utilize local contractors and manufacturers to put garbage cans all over Addis. They would have to chain them to poles so they did not disappear and these same cleaners who sweep the streets could collect the litter for disposal. Maybe I will speak to Dr. Paul upon his return; I already have a name for the garbage cans ... "garbeba" cans (a mix of garbage and Abeba).

It ain't Queen Mary road

I thought that Queen Mary had to be the worst I'd seen for potholes. I am sure one could drive on QM 15 minutes after it was paved and the potholes would already be back. I also thought I had seen Addis' worst road but one I was on tonight took the cake. I had dinner with Melaku at an Italian place. The road we took back to Bole after dinner was nothing short of a gravel base littered with large seemingly sharp rocks that protruded above the landscape. It was littered with deep holes, and one of them looked like it was a 6-8 inch drop to the bottom of a small valley.

A few weeks ago when I went to a beer garden, there was a ferenge with us who now lives in Kampala Uganda. He mentioned that the roads in Addis are beautiful and so nicely kept compared to those in Kampala. Compared to roads in North America, on a scale of 10, those in Addis are about a 3. I can just imagine what they are like in Kampala.

It's close to 25,320 minutes until I meet the Sweet Thing in Nairobi on October 31. Annabelle, are you going out for hallowe'en? Paddy/Sean, what are you going to be. If you haven't thought of anything yet here are some ideas:

Annabelle ... a chocolate bar
Paddy ... a piece of cake
Sean ... a Beatle

Ultra ultrasound

We went for a very nice lunch at China Bar, though Ileana did not like it as much as the Forbidden City. I then got dropped at the hospital for my ultrasound. I was told I must come at 2PM since that is when the physiotherapist arrives. I got there and paid my 40 birr, then went to the corner of the 2nd floor where the treatment room resides. I got there about 1:45 and they took me right away :)

Afterwards Dereje took me to buy a black shirt to wear with my white jacket. All that I need now is a white tie to top off the outfit. The nice weather seems to be back though it is not as warm as I expected. The closest I am getting to watching hockey is checking out the scores at TSN the day after.

Truth is stranger than fiction

I, for one, am a huge believer that truth is stranger than fiction. For example, the Quebec Nordiques hockey team moves to Colorado to become the Avalanche. An old slang for French Canadians is "Pepsis". Guess who sponsors the arena in Denver when the "Pepsis" move there ... you've got it; PepsiCo. So the Pepsis are playing at the Pepsi centre :). Here's another one, but with an Addis Ababa flavour. I am auditing the IBEX financial system for MoFED. Somewhere in Addis there is a place called the IBEX Institute where one can study hotel management. Guess what my wife teaches at Algonquin ... you got it ... hotel management. He's auditing IBEX and she's teaching a subject that is the concentration of the IBEX Institute. Who would'a thunk :)

A trip to the hospital

So the st___d ferenge went to the Yordanis hospital today to get the foot x-rayed. I waited about 90 minutes after registering at the hospital and then saw the doctor. One of the nurses took pity on poor ferenge. After arriving at the hospital I waited in the waiting room for ever. I think I missed their calling my name as I could not understand what they were saying. The doctor listened to what I said then poked the foot and immediately said "metatarsal". Yucchhh!! That's what I broke 3 times in the 70's. I was sent downstairs for an x-ray and handed my requisition to the attendant. In what seemed an eternity, I finally noticed that people who had arrived after me were being sent into the room. I asked the attendant if he still had my paper and he said yes. Finally my turn came up and when I entered the x-ray room, the technician told me they had called my name many many times. I forgot I was "Miguel" in Addis so missed my calling every time. How ever they ended up pronouncing "Miguel", it was also through a very thick Amharic accent. I went back to the second floor for a wait of about 30 minutes. The doctor told me the "wound" was not a break and the ligaments/tendons around the bone were bruised and had not properly healed. He told me to do the following: 1) stay off the foot 2) take ibuprofen 4 times daily 3) come to the hospital every day at 2PM for ultrasound on the area I canceled tennis (duh!) and spoke to Hiruy with the unfortunate news. The doctor mentioned that the 3-5 week period was crucial for this type of wound to heal. I was also told to wear a tensor bandage loosely around the foot. I am now at Blue Drops (the local hangout next to Deker) chowing down on a chicken salad. I will be going to the Hilton with the gang from work tonight for pizza. I will keep using my cane and walking while putting my weight on my heel of the left foot. The festivities have been intense for my wedding anniversary. The Queen called as did JFK, Freddy Mercury, and Arthur Ashe, wishing us the best in the decades to come. The weirdest thing about my left foot injury is that if most ferenge saw the streets and sidewalks of Addis they would comment something like "no wonder you went over on the side of your foot all of a sudden". The truth of the event is I was walking on close-to-even paving stones and it just happened :) I am working on a song about Ethiopia called The New Flower.

A perfect Sunday ...

Sunday was the sort of day one needs more of. I "slept in" until 8 then walked down Bole to see what was playing at the Edna mall theatre. I noticed the new Bruce Willis movie called Surrogates was playing at 2PM. I then went for a machiatto at Sol de Canada across from Edna. I ordered the coffee and a tuna melt then noticed Ileana had called. I called her back and was told that they were going to get a laundry hamper and then to the Family restaurant for brunch. I sipped my coffee and told the server that I would like to sandwich "take away". I must have sat for 20 minutes and no sandwich. I then remembered how surprised I was with the change I was given when I paid, and figured out she never heard me ask for a sandwich as well. I cabbed it to the Dulcian compound. We walked to the street where the restaurant resides, she bought a basket, then we went to the Family. It was great, and while there, we were treated to yet another Addis-style deluge of rain. There was water 2 inches deep in the driveway to the restauraunt. I cabbed it back to Edna after my breakfast burrito which was scrupmtious. I predicted that a car would flip over at least 3 times and no less than 12 people would be shot in the first 5 minutes of the movie. I was wrong ... it happened in the first 2 minutes :) Gotta love Bruce Willies ... the epitome of the America movie dream ... killing, violence, and lots of guns :) Today is a HUGE day for me and my lovely Sweet Thing. Even Ileana refers to her sometimes as my Sweet Thing. It's our anniversary ... a wonderful 6 years of marriage bliss (or is it lust :)) I remember that day and how everything was just perfect, especially you know who. I still have the chupa that Shauna and I made and one of the four poles remains. We are both wearing our Sandals necklaces from the honeymoon today. We got beads on the necklaces each time we participated in aqua-fit at the resort. I got a lot less beads than the wife 'cause I kept getting distracted checking out the Sweet Thing. My foot is not great and there is now a spot on the outside about mid-foot where a bone can be distinctly seen where it hurts when I press on it. The bone is not sticking out more than it should (i.e., swollen) since it is the same on the right foot. I will go have it looked at today and x-rayed if necessary. It really has not bothered me lately so the whole thing is quite odd. I will ask at work where I should go, and will end up at one of a higher clinic, a local hospital, or the Swedish hospital. I hope I am not there all day like I run the risk of being at home :) I saw no music over the weekend. I have a dinner date with Melaku tomorrow and no other plans for the week other than tennis which I will be canceling. In 19 days, I meet my ST in Nairobi for a night then we are off to the Kenyan side of the serengeti for a safari for 6 days/5 nights.

A play date with Tagel

Tagel is discussing with me a trip out of town somewhere next weekend which would involve a sleep over. I will call my Mother this week to get permission.

And on the 7th day we rested

Tennis at 12:30 then not really sure what's going on afterward. I may get together with Ileana and some of the Dulcian guys from Istanbul who are in town until Friday. Today is A minus 2. It was a wonderful 6 years ago that the Sweet Thing and I tied the knot :). As I know I have told many of you, there is a big difference between getting married young and then when older and in the midst of raising 6 young people. If I were in Ottawa, I would relive that first meeting with my ST by giving here some flours as I did that famous day in January 1999.

Now that October is upon us, I can start missing hockey. I know my Sens will do either really poorly or really well and probably nothing in between. I even canceled NHL centre ice at home since I will not be able to use the Slingbox to watch.

I made a HUGE score today at the grocery store ... flavoured yogurt! This stuff is harder to find than pork at a Jewish wedding. I gobbled up all but one of the containers and will gladly chow down on the nectar all week for breakfast. I have started going to Parisienne more for breakfast as I can get a waffle with fresh fruit, whipped cream, and ice cream for a whopping $1.50. I have gotten tired of the bread and jam at the guest house. I eat an egg or two there as well a few times a week.

It never rains in Addis in the summer!!

That's what I thought until the last 2 days. It was very wet yesterday and today except nowhere near as much downpour as in the winter. I delivered my first audit piece to MoFED today amidst much fanfare. I have no real plans yet for the weekend outside of tennis Saturday with Hiruy. We went for Chinese at lunch and it is now official ... we prefer China Bar over the Forbidden City. They have more choice but it is more expensive. A nice 4-dish lunch for 4 at China Bar with white rice was a whopping $40 and it's a mere $30 at the City. Also, rice comes when you ask for it at the Bar. At the CIty you could ask for it 3 or 4 times over a 30 minute period and it could still not have arrived. I will be picking up my white sports coat at the tailor's today after work. Stay tuned for a picture on Facebook. I went with Tagel and priced cameras yesterday. The 12 mpixel Canon was 7800 birr (a mere $700 CAD) and the 12 mpixel Panasonic Lumix a mere 9800 birr (or $900 CAD). I am asking Paul to get me another Casio Exilim for $145 USD when he is in America this week (would translate into 1750 birr here). Even though he already has, Tagel is getting one as well in case he loses the one he's got. For 1800 birr it is an investment. He paid over 6000 birr for the Sony he has now. Maybe one of you out there in BLOG land can tell me why Sony and Olympus (and probably more) use a proprietary storage card (not the industry standard SD format)? Now that so many PCs read SD cards, why would a camera vendor use anything else?

Start your engines

I hooked up with a lady named Pirko to play tennis with. I wupped her 1-6 1-6 (in other words I got slaughtered). We have made arrangements to play at 4PM every Monday and Wednesday and I will see Hiruy for a lesson one day on the weekend.

I had a nice dinner last with two folks from the guest house, one of them owns a restaurant in Angola so we had a small geography/history lesson while we ate. It was quite informative. Still no camera so I may speak to Tagel today, but he is so helpful I feel I may be taking advantage of him. It still has not rained though it has been threatening lately.

I am going to join Bolé 19 tennis club today for 897 birr that will lower my court fees from 35 birr to 5 birr for an hour of tennis. As well, my sessions with the coach will be significantly less than the 60 birr I have been paying. The prices for lessons just went up. We are supposed to go to the Hilton for the BBQ buffet tonight for what seems to be a whopping 342 birr but in the scheme of things naturally $30 for a buffet at a ferenge hotel is normal. I saw Melaku briefly yesterday and we will probably be going to see some music Friday evening.

Yesterday's post (courtesy of ETC)

Two things happened to me over the weekend which convinced me "I have arrived" in Ethiopia. When I was out with Tagel on Sunday we stopped at a brewery near Addis on the way home to check it out. We paid a small fee to park then entered the pub area that was SO FULL of people the fire marshal would have had a field day in America. We go to the bar and stand at one end for 5 minutes. I ask Tagel what the sign on the wall means and he says "No smoking". I then ask him what's going on and why we have not been served. He does not have a clue how to order. Just like a ferenge, and this guy is native Ethiopian with a father from Eritrea ... welcome to "not having a clue what's going on land :)" Then was we come back to Deker where he drops me off, he does not take the shortcut from Bole Africa to my Bole that is the shortest route. I ask him if he would like me to show him the shortcut next time and he says yes. I am going to show a native Ethiopian how to get around Addis ... I love it. My Nike tennis shoes were brick red from the clay on the court in Bole 19. I decided to get them cleaned when I went out for dinner tonight. Wow! The kid, who was no more than 15, spent 20 minutes on them. He wiped, washed with a soapy sponge, rinsed and then washed again. He took out the shoelaces and washed them and ran them between his fingers to squeeze all the water out. The going rate for any shoe shine in Addis is 3 birr. I gave this guy 10 ... it was better than a night at the movies watching this guy work. I stopped at Dembel mall after work to see about replacing my lost camera. Sony digital cameras started at 5500 birr (roughly 500 CAD) and went up from there. I may go out tomorrow with Tagel and hit a place he knows and trusts. No news at work except Dr. Paul is going back to the US tomorrow for 10 days for OSW. The Ileana flag is orange. I found a legal way to exchange birr for CAD ... I spoke with a travel agent on Saturday who confirmed today that he can book travel in North America and I can pay with birr here!! Picture this ... someone I know wants to go to Los Angeles. I find out the details, book the travel here say with Air Canada, an electronic ticket is issued and then I get paid back in Canadian dollars when I get home ... slick or WHAT! Why all the trouble ... when one leaves Ethiopia you can only take 200 birr with you. If one had say 60,000 birr here (worth about 5,000 USD) there is nothing you can do with it. Foreign exchange here will not buy birr from ferenge!

Out of town with Tagel

Another gloriously sunny day in Addis. Today was my second trip out of the city wiith Tagel. I was supposed to go to his house to meet his family. They ended up having other plans so it was him and me again. I started the day with a waffle breakfast at La Parisienne which has quickly become a breakfast hangout for this ferenge. I then played tennis with Hiruy and, duh, practice makes perfect. Now that I am serving and serving and serving, my accuracy and speed is improving. He is happier with my forehand too. Tagel and I drove 120 kilometres northeast from Addis, to a town in the Oromia region called Waliso. We passed through a gamut of lovely small towns, each on its own a gem. There were people all over the place in these towns, busily doing this and that under the hot sun. There was at least one grocery store in each town not to mention a place of worship and a clinic of some sort. We stopped along the way to pick up an interesting green pod that has peas in it not too unlike edamama. They were a bit more sour but very appetizing. One of their most popular fasting foods is shiro, which we though was made from chick pea, is actually made from this pea. Fasting food the orthodox Christians eat Wednesday and Friday; it is forbidden to eat animal fat those 2 days, so the likes of cheese, eggs, butter, etc. are off limits. I have recently found out that cheese is not a big part of the Ethiopian diet; that alone could help explain their being more healthy than your "average" ferenge. It was fun seeing the houses along the route as we were in the Oromia region next to the city. Each region has a unique style of house, driven by the raw materials that happen to be available in their individual locales. We ended up in the biggest town on the route so far in the Oromia region and stopped for a lovely lunch at a resort. I had fish, he had steak. I gobbled 2 bottles of Ambo (sparkling water) and then we toured the resort for a while. All the cabins are designed after the locale/region specific houses all over Ethiopia. Some were especially fascinating, all having grass roofs. Some walls were mud some were stone or some wood like bamboo. The flashing on the roof in all cabins was bamboo. On the way back we enjoyed pleasant conversation as we always do. I understand about 95% of what Tagel says and he I :) We politely ask each other to repeat when we do not understand one another. There were some interesting sub-divisions along the roadside on both ways. Periodically we saw a little enclave of 3-5 huts surrounded by a fence of sorts. These little communities were very sweet and the people hanging out all over the place were gabbing away at a feverish pace. There were gaggles of donkeys, lamb, cows, bulls, and goats all over the place, and from time-to-time we had to avoid one or more in the middle of the road. I now have 2 soon to be 4 audit items completed/just about completed so I will try to wrap up some more details in the AM. I am playing tennis Wednesday and Thursday this week which is all I have planned so far.

Saturdays are always the best

Slept in until the phone rang about 9:30 when Melaku called. I then went to Parisienne for a very nice ferenge-style breakfast with an Ethiopian twinge to it. I then cabbed to Friendship mall on Bole Africa. That was the best mall I had seen yet! I did see some bright yellow t-shirts along the lines of the Olympic jackets I got for us a few weeks ago but they were 550 birr. I will keep looking. I then walked and walked and walked for over 4 hours, dipping into shops all along the way. It was very nice and each store was an adventure. I ended up at Dembel mall then started the long walk back to the tennis club. I took my walking stick and used it when it seemed my foot was getting tired. I got to the club about 2:45 and was supposed to hook up with a player named Pirko who Hiruy had told me about. Her and I were supposed to meet as she was playing with her husband at 3PM. She did not show up so I came back to Deker and played and played guitar until going for Chinese food. Tomorrow is action-packed ... tennis with Hiruy at 9AM then Tagel and I are going to the country; he is picking me up at 11. I lost my camera today which is a huge drag. I am very good at copying pictures to my PC so will only lose 4 from today. I just bought a nice Coolpix for my ST in Ottawa to the tune of $230. Tagel mentioned that a replacement here could cost 6,000 birr or $500 USD. As well, it is highly possible that when I get one here it will not be dual voltage. I bought an iron yesterday and it is only 230V. I guess I will call it a travel iron. I have arranged a game with Pirko at 4PM next Thursday. When I see Hiruy tomorrow I will ask him how I reserve a court for that time.

The envelope please ...

The Great Ethiopian quiz answers: 2: Five African countries border the Mediterranean. Can you name 3 of them? Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco all border the Mediterranean. 3: What African country is on its own island? Madagascar. 4: Other than South Africa, name 2 of the 4 most southern countries in Africa. Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Botswana are the 4 other most southern countries in Africa. 5: What country is the USA's 44th president "from", even though he was born in Hawaii? Kenya. 6: The names "Rob" and "Robert" share the same root ... "Rob". Two African countries, which border on one another, use the same root for their name; one of these countries tacks the letters "ia" on the end of its name. What are these two countries? Niger and Nigeria. 7: What southern Afican country was mentioned in the title of a song that Bob Dylan recorded on his Desire album? Mozambique. 8: The famous 1976 raid on Entebbe took place in what country in Africa? Uganda. 9: Match up the following countries with their previous names (the matches below are/may be wrong):    Ethiopia ==> Abyssinia    Zimbabwe ==> Rhodesia    Zambia ==> Rhodesia    Chad ==> French Equatorial Africa    Burkina Faso ==> Upper Volta    Tanzania ==> Tanganyika and Zanzibar 10: In 1960, led by Patrice Lumumba, the Congo declared independence from what country? Belgium.

Another week ...

To steal a name from a famous weekly feature in many newspapers throughout Canada :) Thursday was a busy day at work and then there was tennis at 4. I spoke to Hiruy about finding a few people at Bolé 19 to play tennis with. He has a few ideas, will speak with some people, and contact me or they will contact me directly. I asked him if I was "the worst" player at the club, and he said "no" to make me feel better :)

Nothing planned for the W/E except a visit with Tagel and his family Sunday. I am going with Melaku and another ferenge to see some music somewhere tonight. I will post the answers to the quiz this weekend. Things are moving along on the IBEX2 audit now at a feverish pace, just like we suspected would occur the week I was back from Canada. I went to the bank this morning on the way into work and the ATM was out of service.