Monday, November 30, 2009

Winter and construction

I was told many moons ago that there are 2 seasons in Ottawa ... winter and construction. The Addis version of that is the rainy season and construction. During the few months when there is no rain here, they go out of their way to fix what they can on the roads, and they do need some serious attention. A lot of the dips in the sidewalks for the entrance ways to driveways have been filled in with sloping depressions to the bottom where they meet the road, For ferenge that is HUGE.

We did Chinese food at a new place near Dr. Paul's tonight and it was good. I then cabbed it back to Deker for my nightly dose of Tony and Carm. They have a habit of diffing large holes in the streets and walkways here and I finally figured out what the holes are for ... it's so they have enough dirt to put back in the hole they just dug :)

CT scan

I kept the images from the CT scan output and the gray matter in my head, just as expected, is made up of my wife and family, Pink Floyd, Boston, Steely Dan, Foreigner, bass and 6-string electric guitars, mustard, hot sauce, Honda 1100 Sabres, Seinfeld, Oracle software, and horseradish :).

Pressure on the optical nerve

The vision in my left eye was somewhat blurred over the past few days so I was a little concerned. I went to a clinic at Dembel mall and they could do nothing for me as they had no no doctor. They sent me to Adua clinic near the office and the doctor there did a whole bunch of tests, and gave me some drops to dilate the left-eye pupil. The doctor then had a look with a magnifying scope and light and suggested the optic nerve might be irritated. He showed me on his diagrams on the wall where the problem may lie. He suggested I get a CT scan as he was curious if there was anything applying pressure.

Two and a half hours later, I return to the Ethio-Canada imaging clinic and pick up the output of the scan. Nothing to note which is good. The doctor prescribed prednisone for me to take 10 tablets each day for 5 days, in batches of 3 or 4 at at time. This will assist reducing the swelling that appears to be putting pressure on the nerve. I will go back to see Dr. Michael on Friday or Saturday AM.

Tennis tennis tennis

The trip to the Hilton was entertaining. We went there about 11AM Sunday and as it turned out, Melaku was in a tournament and was playing his next match at noon. Once we got there he showed me the entry on the bulletin board schedule and it was at 1PM not noon. We watched the tail end of a match then a set or so of play between two women. One was noticeably stronger than the other, evidenced by the score.

Then I was informed that Melaku's match was about to begin on another court, so off the fan club trundled. Supposedly the guy he was playing is from the national team and a very strong player. Melaku had his problems right from the start. The first of which was that for the first 2-3 games, the guy did little or not moving around the court to return Melaku's ball. From his play that I have seen before, his as his frustration level increases, his racquet gets dropped on the court more often in parallel. After the two-set loss, Melaku told me he played like a beginner, and I quipped "You mean like me :)". We watched another set or so between two other very strong players whose serving and forehand were marvelous. I then went back to the guest house stopping at Blue Drops for a bite.

I looked up the ATP tennis final on DsTV and was told it started at 4PM in Ethiopia. I went down to Blue Drops but was unable to wrestle the TV away from a football show someone was watching so realized I would just miss the final. The phone rang about 6 and Melaku mentioned he was somewhere watching the start of the match. I went to Blue Drops again but the TV was anxiously being watched by many people. I called and asked him to let me know what happens and he offered to come pick me up.

We went to the Bolé 23 tennis club close to the airport, and the 6 birr beer coupled with the tennis was GREAT! The place was packed. Davydenko in particular but both he and Del Potro had amazing cross-court returns that seemed to travel parallel to the court and from a point close to top-left of the offensive court into the same location for the opponent to return (which was next to impossible). After the 2-set match, he dropped me at the guest house.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

The Saturday seminar series

The meeting today was fruitful for the presenters and hopefully for attendees as well. The show got started a bit late. Coffee and other sustenance was slated for 8:30 but they did not arrive until closer to 9. The security was supposed to be tight at MoFED for the seminar. They wanted names of attendees in advance and would not let anyone in not on the list. So we get there about 7:40 and the front gate to the complex is open, as is the main building, and the guard house empty.

We got the 747 PC running early to ensure we did not have display problems with the presentations and just before we started, the AC died on the PC and while getting it started again, we started to have the familiar display issues seen previously with this machine. I ended up doing the first presentation without the slide show. I have probably given over 100 papers in the past 20 years and this was the first time I had no colour slides in a projector (circa 1991), Harvard Graphics-generated transparencies (circa 1994), or PowerPoint slides to work from. It was fun and I even managed to stay on topic with what I remember from last looking at the material.

I did my own paper next (the first was Dr. Paul's that I gave as he was already in the US). That was good too and the audience was very attentive. They smiled when supposed to and lapped up the very light humour I have a tendency of populating my talks with. Then John Jeunnette did his paper and the meeting broke up after a few closing words from the organizer.

I had a MoFEChat for a while with Tagel and then we went Chinese at East Garden, near the airport; as well one of the Chinese establishments I had not yet frequented. The food was good and the hot sauce exquisite. I watched Davydenko beat Federer at the early Barclays Final Tour match then hung out. I met Misha and Dora for a farewell chat at Blue Drops, then hoped to grab the late Barclays match but that never started by the time to depart.

Tomorrow will be one or two tennis matches hanging out with Melaku (no I am not playing, just watching). The second is at the Hilton and I am curious to see the facilities there. We are hoping to grab the final of Barclays at 5PM local time (I think) at Bliue Drops.

The Saturday Mofinar

At MoFED preparing for the Saturday AM seminar. I had trouble sleeping last night 'cause I had so many weird dreams. I tried playing on the internet about 3AM hoping everyone else in Ethiopia would be sleeping. That was not the case as the bandwidth was poor. My next spare-time mission is to figure out what the game of cricket is all about. I need a substitute for hockey, so figured I might as well try to master somethign simple like cricket (ya right). I will report on the seminar later. We are expecting close to 100 people.

Friday, November 27, 2009

As I've always said, truth is stranger than fiction.

I made a tpyo in my last post ... "too strong for Rafa. It was interesting, since ND's first server".

Notice the r in server; I meant to say first serve. Considering the business I am in, concerned with this server and that server not to mention the Oracle Server, no wonder I made that tpyo :)

Thanksgiving, say what? A day late :)

Dinner at chez Dulcian was great. It was a gargantuan effort and a wonderful time was had by all. I did get the opportunity to carve the bird which I always love to do. Interestingly enough, the knife I used in Addis was sharper than anything I have ever used in the west :).

Tomorrow is the IT seminars at MoFED and I hope to watch tennis tomorrow night. I watched Nadal and Djokovic tonight and Novak was too strong for Rafa. It was interesting, since ND's first server percentage was a mere 52! Melaku and I are hoping to hit Blue Drops or somewhere else Sunday for the final. And yes ... I do now know how to change channels at Blue Drops. There was lots of music today at the Thanksgiving feast and I even got to jam with Melaku on the drum :) It was sweet.

I had a very nice chat with Yossi Amor today who was kind enough to forward me notes about some opps back home.

(No) Love 40

I made big plans to go to Blue Drops at 5PM yesterday for tennis. I arrive and there is a football game beginning from the Italy cup tournament. It gets even worse ... no Pergano! Nobody else except him and the owner know how to change channels on the dish they use. It's interesting since he goes to the side of the TV (not the receiver) and makes the switch. From my past experiences with such devices, the channel changing is done from the receiver. So I watched football for an hour then gave up. I am going to find out from either the owner or Pergano if I can be shown how to change channels and do myself. With that skill under my belt, I will then have to figure out a way to check with other customers before making the change.

I woke up very early today just while the sun was rising. I will head off to Parisienne in a while for an early breakfast, guitar in tow. I will then cab it to Dr. Paul's to assist with the preparation for the feast at 3PM. Micha is bringing his riq so I hope that there will be mucho jamming. Dora and him leave early Sunday morning back to NJ; he is very excited as his parents just got final approval to emigrate to the US. There is still a lot of paper work to do but everyone is syched.

Shauna, I could only be so lucky to have a Godson as marvelous as Sean (on top of the marvelous one I already have). It was fun hearing that Breakaway-Paddy returned twice this season already. I am giving two papers for an IT conference hosted my MoFED this Saturday; otherwise I have no plans as I enter into day 2 of my 4-day long weekend. Jake/Deb when do you leave for Hungary?

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Adhoc 4-day weekend !!!

Not long before leaving work yesterday I felt sick; I was obviously over-heated and chilled at the same time. I was having trouble sitting still as though I was in a "bit of shock". I tried to figure out what I may have eaten that did not agree with me. I had a tuna salad at lunch at Churchill View. I was running some sort of temperature and just lay down when I got home. It was morning not long afterward, as I slept off and mostly on for 13 hours. I did not go to work today and am not going in tomorrow either. We are doing Thanksgiving Addis-style tomorrow at the Dulcian compound.

Bill Wigton from the DC area asked me for a resume for some work he is bidding on with USAid. Naturally I dispatched a copy to him post haste. Paul found his trip to Tanzania this week productive and thinks over time there may be some work there as well for his company. I am taking it easy today; I know I must have been un-well yesterday because I could not go with Misha and Dora to Naklah, a Yemeni restaurant in town that I LOVE!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Tennis at Blue Drops

I ventured next door to see the tennis matches now being played in London. I caught the tail end of the Verdasco/Del Potro extravaganza and it was worth the wait. Apparently Ferderer was scheduled to play some time later but it is hard to tell when times are quoted missing a time zone indicator. When it's 7:30PM in London for example it's 10:30PM at this time of year in Addis. So the S2 schedule advertises "Federer match at 22:30" I do not know what 22:30 that is :). usually the networks are every good at using the time zone so I do not know why DsTV insists on leaving it off. If one can figure out where the broadcast signal originates, the time zone can be added. But as I found with Al Jazeera, one cannot assume that it is coming from Abu Dhabi as sometimes the Petronas towers are in the background meaning it is then coming from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

There were a few more guest pickers at the refuse bin this morning but the pickings were slim. I am preparing a presentation for the IT meeting we are having on Saturday, having the pleasure of giving one of Dr. Paul's papers as he turns out will be in the USA by then; he is gone for two weeks staring early Saturday morning.

The foot is progressing nicely. I was a little more aware of the site yesterday evening so am not going for ultrasound at Yordanos today. The doctor there Monday did mention that the heat therapy may inflame the wound and if I feel a change there, to stop at once. One more work day this week as I am celebrating the American Thanksgiving holiday Friday with my Dulcian buddies here.

Paddy and Sean ... Mom says that you would like to come to Africa? Paddy, I think I could find you work teaching school :) and Sean I know of a ferenge-band that is looking for a guitar player :). Annabelle, I loved speaking with you a few days ago and please keep emailing details of issues you are having with Mom and Dad.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Boston Spa

The mani-pedi was great. I was there for about 75 minutes, mainly spent on the feet. I had done just enough running around that I was actually gone from work at noon for the rest of the day. I liked that.

Found some Fly Emirates t-shirts, one red and the other green. I am hoping to find tennis tonight next door at Blue Drops. They have the DsTV dish there which has 6 or 7 sports channels as well as ESPN.

Micha and Dora are moving out of Deker tonight as they find it too noisy. I guess I am blessed with the ability to sleep though the disco next door once I fall asleep which does not take me long.

He walks he talks

I am able walk close to unassisted but still carry around my cane in case I get tired. I am not pushing it, still feeling discomfort in the heel area mainly. I am doing a few exercises to assist healing and enjoyed my second shower today in as many days. I still do not remember when "man" invented the shower, but I wish someone had told me sooner.

M&P

I made a 3 o'clock appointment at the spa for the manicure and pedicure. it will be 215 birr plus tip for both of them. I will go to Yordanos for ultrasound then take the driver to the spa, have him wait, then head home.

The excitement was feverish

When I got back from the hospital yesterday, I deliberately went to see the coffee ladies. When I first appeared a few weeks ago with my cast and crutches, they offered their condolences to my foot. I knew they would be pleased to see the cast was off. The first one that spotted me threw her arms up in the air and yelled with excitement. Then I opened the door to the billing area, and stuck my foot in to a huge din of cheers. It's as if Ethiopia had just won an important soccer match. There was clapping and a few other noises as they expressed their approval.

There was similar interest today as I stopped at Bilo's for morning sustenance. The servers were excited to see the foot and the security guard was all smiles and so interested in the new me.

We went to the jazz club last night and yet again, the 31 and 33 year olds went home early as the 60 year old and Melaku stayed well into the second set. There was as promised a guitar player who had, interestingly, a Telecaster with an f-cut. What! He told me it was a custom job which explained why I had never see such a beast before. The music was fantastic and I recognized a great rendition of Sonny.

I am going to call Boston spa today and see about a pedicure and manicure. My toes are a mess after being casted for 4 weeks. And I cannot find anything in my purse nor do anything with my hair :) The gang at the guest house was pleased with the no-cast Mr. Michael too.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Du du du du duh, du du du du duh, du du du du dahn da ...

Sung to the tune of the Fish Cheer (Country Joe and the Fish circa 1967) ...

So it's one two three, foot feelin' OK
Will play tennis some day
Maybe four weeks Saturday
Said bye bye cast
It's been a blast
No more crutches come two days
Freedom back hooray!

I was at Yordanos for about 3 hours. They cut the cast off with some snips that resembled a pair of tin snips I used in metal shop in grade 7 or 8. At one point there was a lot of pressure around the metatarsal (the site of the injury) and thoughts raced through my mind of you know what ... a re-occurrence :) I then waited back upstairs then saw the doctor eventually. He suggested I take IB three times daily for 7-10 days and come daily for 10 minutes of ultrasound heat therapy. He did mention if the therapy irritates the site to stop at once. My left ankle is very weak and I know a few exercises to do to strengthen it up again. I may try my cane until I can support the weight of walking on my left foot ... no rush, do not worry Sweet Thing.

I am back at the office and will start wearing work garb and shoes tomorrow now that I am close to 100% mobile again. When I get home from work today ... ta da ... a shower! What a concept. I believe people are allowed to take them every day :) I can't wait to try that out. I am not going to push the walking and will do 10-15 minutes of ankle exercises daily. I imagine I will be walking without an assit within 4-6 days but I am not going to rush it. If I did not already mention it Mrs. KA, I will take it easy.

More tidbits courtesy of Tagel

Yet again, I leaned more about the important stuff about Addis when I hung around with the Molla clan yesterday. This time it was regarding something that has kept me up at nights 'cause I have no life. This time it was about the buses around Addis, something I am sure you all have wondered about too.

Taxis --> Lada, Toyota, or Datsun (yes not Nissan :)) cars with anywhere from 40-90% bondo and painted blue with white tops. The criteria for a car becoming a taxi are:

- no tread on the tires
- at least a 40 degree play in the steering wheel
- no more than 2 windows may be operative
- dashboard and rear shelf upholstered
- distortion in the sound system
- rear lights not working
- trunk held shut by some form of assistance (usually bungie cord)
- owner knows where everything is in Addis except Deker house

Most expensive -> the little Toyota Hiace (pronounced "Hee-iss") vans which are priced by zone. For example, a trip from my guest house to Sarbet seems to traverse 3 zones and hence costs me 3 birr or a whopping 25 cents.

Next expensive -> Higer bus, a more luxurious and usually not as crowded mode of transportation, that costs 1 birr flat rate similar to the bus one takes in the west. At least 50% of the glass surfaces on these buses must be cracked, and it is expected to be belching black smoke as well.

Cheapest --> the yellow and orange big bus that costs 50 birr cents and is always full and very crowded. As well, this is a flat rate vehicle. It must be belching thick black smoke.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

1 or 2 years old??

Frequent readers of this BLOG will remember my using these 6 words at the start of previous posts ... I don't know where to start. Tagel picked me up about 1:45 for the birthday party. We drove for about 30 minutes into areas of Addis I had never been before. While on the ring road, I was peripherally familiar with some of the sights. We then dove into a rougher area (geographically) with lots of road issues and 10 feet of construction every 20 feet. This town sure redefines construction as I have mentioned before. We pull into a development and twist our way through a few streets then arrive at chez Tagel et family. The last road one follows into their group of houses was a roller coaster ride.

There are some people already there, and the birthday boy appears. He does not look like he is turning 2 as I was told it was a celebration of his second birthday. I then recall that the custom here is for a baby to be 1 year old a few weeks after birth when the naming party is held. He has a big sister whom I met before who is as adorable as younger bro. Burhan with whom I work is also there and it is nice to see him. There is light chatter with some of the folks there then I park myself in an arm chair outside where I spent most of the next 4 and a bit hours. Another MoFED face shows up and not long thereafter the food appears. At one point, Tagel mentions that there were a handful of people invited with children but coincidentally all of them had transportation problems and were not coming. Burhan is dispatched with Marta's car and returns with a gaggle of young people, about 8 of them, ranging in ages from what seemed like 6 through 11. After Tagle picked me up, we stopped at a pastry shop on Bole Africa to get the birthday cake. A man and his daughter who were coming to the party met us there and we gave them a ride. Since it took us 30 minutes, I imagine the cab ride would have been 45 or more and cost well over 100 birr. Fasile, one of the gang I went to Awassa with a few weeks ago showed up with his cute son who was also very friendly.

The first things served are made from some unknown ingredients, and Tagel tells me he is deliberately not going to divulge what they are made from. One seems to closely resemble the charoset at the pesach dinner, but is a little more runny and seems to have a wider assortment of interesting veggies. The second is the colour and consistency of pureed tomatoes. We chow down using white bread rather than injera. The next few mixtures appear, one called "ferenge food" as it is a spaghetti dish. I am then told I have been eating a close-to-raw beef dish and another mixture of many ingredients including stomach and abdomen. That's all for me; I push the leftovers of innards dish away and exclaim that I have been tricked to the great joy and laughter of those around me. Some lamb is brought out and dished out to the attendees, with some interesting peppery orange powder that was intoxicating it was so pungent.

Then the birthday cake and the balance of the sweets came out and it reminded me of the sweet table at a bar/bat mitzvah. At one of those affairs, not long after the attendees start complaining they are so full they may never eat again, the dessert table with flowing chocolate fountain appears and the vultures load up; they are famished as it turns out as they have not eaten for 20 minutes :) The birthday boy plays with the cake for a while amidst a multitude of photo opps. There are globs of icing and chocolate cake clumps on the guest of honour and he is whisked away to be cleaned up as the throng attacks the sweets. The main black forest cake is cut and distributed to the guests. The chit-chat and conversations continue at a heated pace until about 6PM when the party starts to break up. It starts getting chilly as it does all Addis nights and I ask to be driven home.

Four of us and Tagel pile into the Toyota. He drops his wife's grandmother and a friend in Addis after a 30 minute drive again through new territory for me. We then wind our way through some dark and dusty streets, ending up at the palace near Arat Kilo. We then wind our way back to Deker and I am home. One rather busy winding road we were on when going home was the subject of some boulders the size of a soccer ball being moved around by a front-end loader. Hey! It's 6:30PM on a Sunday night. What are there people doing at work?

I watch Sopranos to end the W/E then have a short chat with Dora while Micha crashes. He collects her a bit later and the evening comes to and end shortly thereafter; this is the eve of the cast removel (I HOPE AND PRAY).

A real breakfast

I needed something more substantial for food this AM so decided to go to Parisienne where one can chow down on real food. I went downstairs and tried to get in a cab but he told me he was occupied. I asked the passenger where he was going, hoping he would point towards the Sheger building. He said for me to hop in. We had a very brief chat during the 3 minutes to Parisienne then I froze wearing shorts while eating in the shade and substantial wind.

What a treat having "real food" for breakfast and when the cast comes off tomorrow I will spend more mornings there awaiting my transportation to work. There is a huge bunch up of requirements for drivers tomorrow afternoon, so I may have to go to Yordanos in the morning even though it is always very crowded then, and much less busy after noon.

Dinner and a show

Melaku and I did both on a cool Saturday night. We went back to a French restaurant I had been to once with him and Jorge from Kampala. I did not have anything that first night I was there as the trip to the establishment was sprung on me after I was picked up. It is basically a place to get garlic, with accouterments (other morsels of food) on the side. I had calamari and Melaku had talapia. He was quite interested in what I got, never having heard of the fish until I called it octopus then he smiled in remembrance.

We motored to a club between Sarbet and Mexico called the Showroom afterwards. It is nestled in the midst of a VW/Peugeot dealership and was a big big club with very few people in it. There were 2 singers on stage, and one of them "pretended" to play a set of electronic drums. I did hear the odd fake cymbal crash and attempted drum roll. The material was mainly Motown, and they were both very good vocalists. There was no band, the background music provided by a computer program. We left after a set and I got home about 11:30 (late for me again). Melaku mentioned he was surprised that the band was canned and I understood why there was nobody there ... the club/musicians are probably trying to save money with fewer humanoids on stage. With real live music, a full club (400-500 people) could gross upwards of 40-50,000 birr night (minimum) or 1000-2000 a night with computerized background music.

Will have a bite then watch a Sopranos episode this AM then prepare for the 2 year-old extravaganza at Tagel and Marta's place this afternoon. Anywhere from 26-34 hours to go until I see the folks at Yordanos and HOPEFULLY get my cast off. Yippeee !!!!!!!!!!! If that does play out, I will be taking Friday off; partially to visit a few stores I have been wanting to go to and partially to assist at the Dulcian compound with the preparation for Thanksgiving feastarama Friday evening. There was a huge amount of banging early this morning with people close to Deker doing what ever it is that needs to generate such a din of sound waves to waft into the guest house and ensure Sunday for all of us starts as early as the feverish work commences; the earlier the better.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Hard to believe it's been 46 YEARS

The 46th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. Seems like yesterday in some ways, but at least, if not more, 46 years on the other hand. Everyone in my generation remembers that day. I was 14, and in grade 10. I was on my way back from the gym through the tunnel at Lisgar. I was told by someone I passed that Kennedy had been shot. We had a Latin teacher with halitosis named Mr. Kennedy. I thought, for a minute, that he had been popped. I will never forget

1) Walter Cronkite's teary announcement of JFK's passing
2) Jack Ruby shooting LHO
3) The salute at the state funeral by a very very young Kennedy as his father's casket was sitting awaiting burial

And where were you? And what were you doing? It was about 1PM eastern when it happened, and I still wonder how someone can get shot from the back and the head jerk backwards as the bullet enters the body. I have been to Dallas 3 times and did go to the Sixth Floor museum the first time. The second time I was there, the famous Zapruder film had just been released. The lady in the red dress from the film was camped out at a mall near the Dealy plaza and I did meet and chat with her with my heart-a-pounding, of sorts. My theory ... it was the CIA, but that's just me :) He was getting too cozy with parties the USA was not interested in being regarded as "close to".

By the way, did you hear there is a bill being discussed seriously in the USA to re-establish relations with Cuba and permit citizens to travel there?

Shabbat shalom

I had a very nice sunny (I'll say) day that started with a taxi ride to Dr. Paul's with Micha and Dora. We had a lovely brunch of pancakes, ham, sausages, juice, coffee, and company! I then went with them to a craft fair at a school near where they live that is held on the last Saturday of each month. We spent about an hour there with me most of the time parked on a bench watching people. I then did something I have not done for the whole time I have had the cast ... walked and shopped in piazza!

When I say walked, I mean hobbled down the street slowly while Dora and Micha shopped. I did get some batteries and a bracelet for the nurse at Yodanos who always assists poor old ferenge when I go re:my foot. We had lunch and it took about 3 or 4 attempts to get the bill. I had a burger, Micha lasagna, Dora spaghetti, and we all had 4 pops ad 3 bottles of water ... 110 birr with a tip ($10).

I came back to Deker and played and played guitar. I am having dinner tonight after 8 with Melaku. Tagel called and he is picking me up at 2'ish tomorrow afternoon for his 2 year-old's birthday party. I am pumped. A gaggle of little Ethiopian munchkins and an opportunity to spend time with locals at their domicile ... priceless. I got some treats to take with me to the party.

Friday, November 20, 2009

In a jam ...

Good news ... I heard from Dora and they are out (I guess for dinner) but they want to jam when they return. I ran into two other guests at Deker downstairs then saw them again at Blue Drops. I told them about the jam at 10PM and they will probably drop in. While at Blue Drops I had chicken stroganoff and asked for soya sauce for the rice. It was a new bottle, which I had the pleasure or opening. I read, out of curiosity, the nutritional information which I could not find, but did notice an expiry date of November 18, 2009, some 2 days ago. It still tasted fine :)

They definitely have a huge soya sauce problem in this country. Often when at Forbidden City, our favourite Chinese hangout in Addis, the soya sauce is fermented. One time I added a whole bunch to a mass of sweet and sour chicken and the like in a rice bowl then could not eat it. I mean to carry around a bottle and did get one from the Dulcian compound. I usually forget it in my office, but the one and only time I remembered to drag it along, I forgot it in the restaurant. I almost made it through lunch today without getting anything on my top :) Uh oh ... the Ileana flag is BRIGHT green.

2 new songs? What will they think of next

I have done something while in Addis that I have not done for over 30 years ... write some songs. One is about Addis Ababa and called "The New Flower", which is the meaning of the name of this lovely city. The other is called THO, a ditty using the words "Thank-you, hello, and OK" in about a dozen languages. I played the former from my little digital recorder for the ST when we were in Kenya. I can just hear the haunting lead guitar or washent solos when the 2 songs roll off the electric that I bought in merkato in August.

Always a pleasure

I left work early today which is always such a treat. As I have mentioned before, most of the time I leave work and get home not long before the sun goes down. I went searching for a Fly Emirates t-shirt which I did find but they only had 1 size and it was too small for me. That is something I have noticed from time-to-time shopping in this town ... due to the size of the average native, ferenge sizes are not easy to come across.

I spent some time during a few evenings this week preparing some material for a contract I am looking into in Uganda. I had 3 long reports to plough through and I made notes as I went to be able to collect my thoughts at the end and write up some summary points worth noting. In the midst of contacting people back in Canada, I grabbed a copy of my address book from my home PC and sent updates to a handful of contacts I missed in the most recent pass.

I have noticed the drivers here getting more ignorant as I spend more time in Addis. There is a lot of needless horn honking and, sometimes in plain view of all, a horn is leaned on while the car ahead is obviously being courteous to another driver or pedestrian. I see the traffic here as the ultimate manifestation of the "me first" theory. The sight of small children standing in the back seat of the cars here is still repulsive and it's too bad nobody can wrestle with that one.

The mercury is creeping increasingly higher each day, except as said before, there is always a wind. I have no clue what angle the sun is coming in at but it must be getting closer (?) as it seems more intense when shining directly on me. Dr. Paul got a commitment from the State Minister responsible for MoFED to "see what can be done" to speed up the money transfers owing him and myself. It's been 7 weeks now for the first one and time marches on as I wait for the second.

I spoke to the Sweet Thing today and Ileana (I think) proudly announced today at work how to say Sweet Thing in Amharic. My Sweet Thing may go to Montreal later in the day to see the gang of ladies and probably stay with Helena. I will try to call the "kids" this W/E as well as my Mother. News from home is that her energy level is deteriorating as the days progress, and it is becoming more difficult to get her anywhere around the home for a walk-eleh. She hardly ever goes out of Hillel anymore. With all that said, she is still in good spirits according to Dave and the ST. I spoke to Valerie G. this week and she is progressing with the "cleanup" after her Mother's passing.

I hope we find sometime over the weekend for Micha and I to jam. He is here for another 8 days then he and Dora return to New Jersey. On Saturday the 28th, John Jeunnette and I are giving a seminar to a set of local IT professionals. It will be all morning at the MoFED auditorium. Dr. Paul set it up but found out he is leaving for the USA the day before for 2 weeks. I will give his presentation, and do one of my own. John is doing one to round out the morning. The end of the seminar will be a panel discussion with the attendees. The gentleman we met with who is organizing said there could be 50-100 attendees. It should be a Saturday well spent and we are excited to be given the opportunity.

Prep for back to the new world

I have been re-initiating contact with a whole bunch of people in Canada with my pending end of contract (December 30 is my last day here). There seems to be a lot going on there if one checks the boards, which I do nightly from Deker. As anyone out there in BLOG land knows, a posting on a job board does not necessarily mean there will indeed be any

1) work
2) contract signed with anyone
3) follow-up on the consulting firm's part after a resumé has been sent

I am looking into starting a dialogue with a contact I have been introduced to with the World Bank out of the Tanzania office. I did see this gentleman as recently as 10 or so days ago while he was in Addis. There is still an option being investigated where I may return to Addis February 1, 2010 but nothing definite is being discussed yet (or ever). As I have been told and experienced many times, no contract signed = no opportunity :).

I am hoping to get to Vancouver and Calgary in January to see cousin Valerie and Jordan/Lindsay/Annabelle before getting started on new work. Naturally, if something comes through in the January timeframe, those plans may have to wait. My feelers this time have been extended to such remote locations as Brussels, Dubai, Bangalore, Dallas, Regina, and Edmonton. Lots of emails back and forth ...

Bilo's flea market

The garbage crew was at Bilo's again today, and it appears they had a guest-picker. There was a hustle-bustle around the container and a number of plastic bags of goodies were carted away. Speaking of flea markets, I am going to Dr. Paul's in the AM for one of his famous breakfasts, then there is a market across from the Novis supermarket that they like to go to the last Saturday of each month. I will probably join them if there is not too much walking.

My buddy Melaku has submitted a resumé to Dr. Paul who is looking for additional personnel (or maybe just one person). His interview is this afternoon. Melaku dropped by Bilo's this morning for some last minute coaching and I told him to be himself, and stress the fact that he is a quick learner. Other than a few things going on Saturday AM, the weekend is wide open. I go to Yordanis Monday at 2PM to hopefully get the cast off.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Do not eat the tiramisu

It's been a quiet but busy few days. A couple of nights ago I went with Micha and Dora to the Forbidden City chinese restaurant. Whenever we go there, it is always hard to get rice for some reason. So we walk in the door, and motion with our hands to form a bowl and ask for a large container of rice. We order, and the food starts to arrive, ask two more times, and lo and behold ... rice. We asked to have peanuts with the sweet and sour chicken. When we go out with Dr. Paul, he has that famous peanut allergy, so when he is not with us, we try to get something with nuts. The first dish to arrive was a bowl of peanuts in sweet and sour sauce. Then I remembered what we asked for ... peanuts "with" the chicken NOT "in" the chicken. We will be more explicit next time :)

I went with Micha yesterday to Blue Drops to watch the Ukraine play Greece in a world cup elimination round final. Ukraine lost 1-0. When we got to the place, someone was already watching an Egypt vs. Algeria game and naturally occupying the large screen TV. Pergano, who works there, told us to wait and he would hook up another smaller TV so we could watch the game. Talk about hospitality! He and the owner took about 15 minutes then we gathered around the smaller TV to watch the game. Greece was not so much stronger than Ukraine nor did they play better ... they just managed to score somehow. When they hooked up the little TV, they did not have enough outlets to plug it in so they unplugged the fridge that was cooling some desserts. Someone commented ... skip the tiramisu :)

I am sitting at Bilo's today before work, and the garbage guys are emptying containers. Two shoe shine guys are sifting through the garbage, obviously finding an assortment of useable material, and a few ragged plastic shopping bags are being filled with the loot. One of the shoe shine guys (more likely a kid looking about 12 years old) is patiently holding a morsel of toilet paper for his buddies to wipe their hands afterward. A new container, brimming with refuse, is brought down the stairs and the top layer of trash thrown into the bin. The guys then weed their way through that layer then move on to the next foot or so of garbage. They repeat this until the can is empty. When they are all done, they dip their hands into some very very dirty water to clean themselves off; I would not want to know what is living in that water :)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A Jazzy Monday night

Melaku and I went to a club that we had tried to go to a few weeks ago. When we tried that time, it was closed for renovations. We got to the club about 9:30 and the music was just ready to start. We chatted up the bass player for a while before they went on then grabbed a table very close to the band. The place kept filling up and half way through the set it was bursting at the seams. The audience was 50-50 ferenge and locals.

They were 6-string bass, keyboards, drums, and tenor sax. Their material was mainstream jazz, and I asked them to the A-train which they did post haste. The bass player graduated from Berkeley in Boston and it showed. He was very articulate and especially strong with his right hand. The guitar player called in sick and we plan to go back next week when they are a quintet again. At one point the keyboard player was handed a bit of music, and then the introductions were made; it was then I figured out that all along the guy was "jamming". They were all very good and we left about 11PM after the full set.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Nothing

I have always been intrigued as I travel around Addis and the countryside how people can sit in one place doing nothing for what seems to be forever. When I go to work in the AM I see endless numbers of people sitting say on a pile of rocks, by themselves or in the company of others. They seem to set and sit and sit as time passes and who knows how long they are there. I am pretty sure sometimes I will be out and about in the same area hours later and they are still there. It's even more evident in the country where people are observed sitting under a tree and have probably been there for hours.

So I decided to try this today. I hobbled down to the common area and parked myself in a chair. I lasted about an hour and could not stand it any longer. I went upstairs and retrieved my reading glasses, computer, and book and am back downstairs passing the time doing what comes naturally ... not what comes unnaturally ... doing nothing.

The stitches are out of my finger and I am looking forward to its healing properly. There is still a bit of swelling but it is down a lot. The residue of scabbing is left over so that should clean itself up hopefully over the next few days.

I met with Ato Mussa and Mesfin at work Friday to discuss deliverable #13 on my contract. This relates to "Improve IBEX2 Design", where I am expected to gather evidence and report on my findings/feelings about whether I believe the new system is an improvement over the old. I returned affirmative with a 40 or so page document to support my findings. My 2 MoFED colleagues refused to signoff since they believe the complete system has to be in place to truly assess whether the underlying design/architecture is an improvement over IBEX1. Basically, as we say in the west, the meeting Friday confirmed that we have "agreed to disagree". As a result of this impasse, the vendor will be paid for the deliverable and I will not. My contract states that both parties (i.e., the auditor and MoFED) must sign-off to facilitate my being paid.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

A nice Saturday out of Addis

The journey to the park started about 8:15 this morning. As usual I had a small bite at Bilo's before we left. Tagel rolled in about that time and left his car at the guest house. Micha/Dora/Tagel and I went in one vehicle and the rest of the gang in another. We drove for what seemed forever to get out of Addis, then arrived at our first (wrong) destination about 30 minutes after we shook Addis. We sort of started to disembark with gear at the first stop, but it was not where we wer supposed to be going (visions of Yod a few nights ago :)). We piled back into the trick and drove down some pretty rough road for 30 minutes or so then a 8 year old gave us the clue to the last turn to get to our destination.

We navigated a windy hilly and rocky road for a few minutes then arrived at the park. They left me on the porch to one of the buildings and the 2 trucks went up a long hill to the bottom of a 2 mile path to a water fall. I played guitar, slept a bit, and awaited their return. Some 3 hours later, they showed up and we played some more music with Micha on the riq and Dr. Paul the washent. We ate scrambled injera and christened the soon-to-be-famous Washent Machine band. His axe is in F# which is an awkward key on the 6-string but so be it. I am working on a song in F# called "Thanks Hello OK" and it will debut with the Doc at the Dulcian compound soon.

The drive back was quicker than there (not sure why), as always seems to be the case. I am having dinner tonight with Micha and Dora. They want to go to Peram but I am going to try to convince them to cab it to Naklah. Other than that, no plans for tonight or the rest of the weekend. Tagel and I had a 100 birr bet that would be won by the person who was NOT the first to talk shop. He did not hear me nor me him an work-related banter so we each owe each other 50 birr.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Quite the adventure

I braved the Peram restaurant on my street tonight. The Blue Drops right beside the guest house has been my main dinner hangout for weeks since I casted my foot. I thought it was time to venture elsewhere regardless of how difficult it may be on crutches. It took me about 10 minutes to get there and Micha held a flashlight behind us pointing backwards so we would not get clipped by a passing car. Their chicken salad is always wonderful but a little too much dressing.

I practiced a few new songs again tonight and look forward to having the chance to work out again with Micha over the weekend. At 8:15 in the morning Tagel will be here and we are going with Dora/Micha and others to a game park sort of somewhere out of Addis but further up the mountain we are on. There is quite a bit of hiking involved so I am going to take my guitar and work out while the rest of them are gone up the hill.

I am very good at navigating the path between my room and my street and feel very confident continuing to do it myself for the last 9 days of this f^%^*g cast. Melaku and I texted today and we will probably hang out together Sunday. Tagel and I have a 100 birr bet tomorrow ... the first one to talk about work loses. I know Dr. Paul will start a conversation with Tagel and I will get him if it is about work :). The weather lately has been ideal ... I call it ST weather; sunny, light wind, temperature in the mid 20's.

I met a gentleman who is staying at Deker from Switzerland named Ignass. He and a few business partners run an outfit in Addis that does small business loans (2000-3000 USD) for entrepreneurs who want to start a store or the like. The money is not given away without the recipient doing a business plan. I believe they give the applciants a questionnaire to fill out where some of the questions require a bit of prose; it's not just a checklist or Q&A where they can answer Yes or No. Sounds interesting ...

Gmail anomaly

It seems as though every time I look at the new stuff that is happening on the Google blog site I am using, there is some new and neat stuff. On the other side of the coin, I found after switching to Gmail from Rogers Yahoo, the behaviour of email-based posts is different and not handled as well as Rogers Yahoo. I think it's ironic that the same engine (i.e., Google) handles this blog and Gmail.

When mail arrives to my posting address that I have created in Gmail, the carriage returns and line feeds get all messed up, something
like
this, and it looks odd
would you agree
?

Back to St. Gabriel

As I was not "happy" with the swelling and the redness around the stitches on my left hand middle finger, I returned to the hospital for a medical opinion this morning. I waited about 40 minutes, then the doctor had a look. He thought it was healing nicely, though suggested a cleaning once I was there. They used some sort of solution, then swabbed it with iodine. I was given a prescription for Amoxicillin (500mg 3 times a day for 7 days), and sent packing. Even though I do not need to go to the hospital to get the stitches out Monday, I will anyways. By then if it appears so obvious and the sutures have started to let go, I will do it myself.

After dinner last night with Misha wanted to show me his tambourine that he bought in Istanbul last week. In the Arabic world, this percussion device is called a riq. We jammed a few numbers, and he was GREAT. He does some interesting things mostly with his fingers as his hands are mostly tied up supporting the instrument. His rhythm and technique were amazing, and he is apparently taking lessons at home in Yonkers. We did Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan (his favourite was Kid Charlemagne), Beatles, Traffic, and many more. He also played some of his originals and they were all in Russian, very melodic, and used a lot of minor chords which adds dissonance and emotion to any music, regardless of region. I was thrilled to hear such resonant percussion underneath, and sometimes on top of, my guitar/vocals. Having lots of experience with other musicians, I would periodically back off on volume, allowing the music to go around a few times so he could "solo". While he played I pounded lightly on the tambourine as best I could with my fingers.

Naddy, what's the update on the daughter/courses/work?
BJ, any news on the job and Ottawa?
Naomi, back at school yet after the H1N1 closure?
How's the new place Nathan?
Deb4/Jaklaz, excited about Hungary?
JJ/Joel, how's Baha Fresh without me?
How are the drums and the guitar-man, Paddy and Sean?
DeeTee, you getting my emails?

Thursday, November 12, 2009

A fun Wednesday night

We made plans to go to Yod Abyssinia, a cultural restaurant, for music and food. I knew there are two locations in Addis, one near Dr. Paul and the other near me. Once I ascertained that their 3 year old was not coming, I lobbied successfully for the one near me. It's on Cape Verde, right around the corner from where I live, the street being an extension of Mike Leyland as it crosses Cameroon. Lina was working late, and Micha et wife were going to get there on their own, not needing a ride from work.

That's when the fun started; it was one of the bigger debacles of the stay so far. We trundled off to Dr. Paul's house using the usually travelled route and ran into some major congestion just off Meskel square. There is some big-time construction there and it took us 70 minutes to move about half a kilometre. There was one period of 25 minutes where we did not move an inch. Once the traffic sort of started moving, Dereje (under Dr. Paul's coaxing) went down a lane that looked like a promising route away from the mess ... DEAD END! Turning around and getting back onto the main drag (now I know why they call it a "main drag" cause it was such a drag :)) was a treat in itself. We finally made it to Dr. Paul's about 90 minutes after leaving work ... less than 2 miles away.

We departed the Dulcian compound about 7:15, heading for Yod on Cape Verde ... uh oh, not on the street we expected. We did find 2000 Habesha, a similar establishment but there was no sign of Micha and Dora. As this was going down, Lina was coming with another driver who did not know where Yod was. I descended the few stairs into the new-found restaurant and eventually was informed we were going to Yod after all. It was near Edna mall, so off we went in one vehicle. We picked up a gentleman named Parminder at the World Bank building, and arrived at Yod about 10 minutes later. What a journey; as well Micha, who has only been in Addis 10 days had no problem finding the place but we did :).

The music had already started ... a quartet with washent (a flute made from bamboo), drums, and 2 stringed instruments. The volume was acceptable, unlike the traditional club I was in in Awassa a few weeks back. There were 6 dancers who kept coming up on stage in different costumes and performing some heavy aerobic maneuvers that tired me out. Paul and I tried to figure out the timing for the music, and it appeared to be either 4/4 or 2/4, but one in a while there seemed to be an extra beat thrown in. It was fascinating. At one point they dragged a few people up on stage (where is the Sweet Thing when you need her). We ate traditional food with injera and it was yummy. The evening ended about 10PM which was late for this ferenge to be out.

I have been practicing getting up to and down from my room at Deker with no assistance. That has been going well, so I will not be straying far with the cast on, but need not be a hermit.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

And the beat goes on

Work is progressing at a feverish pace at MoFED. I am working away with Burhan and Hanna as well as continuing my look at/evaluation of BRIM. I had lunch with Tagel and Burhan and we went to the fish place in merkato. That was my 4th time there and it just gets better each time.

So as not to ruin my record, yes Sweet Thing, I DID get something on my shirt; 2 different drops of hot sauce to be exact. I sure am glad I have a bottle of Spray&Wash with me as that ensured the garments that have been stained since my return from Ottawa in late September live another day of wear.

Tonight we have plans to go to Yod Abbysinia, a traditional night-club near where I live. I have been to its other branch near Sarbet (a part of town near where Dr. Paul lives). On that outing, I had the buffet and it was great. Paul and Ileana's son Robert (3 years old) was up on stage a few times before the real show started, dancing and running around with a few other little ones. The show at that club was great and there was a very interesting stringed instrument which might have been a begena was being played. I will check as I am there tonight and correct in a follow-up post if necessary. Whatever it was, it had no frets, a handful of strings (how many not sure) and was plucked while the other hand somehow fretted the open string. WOW!

I just got a note from a cousin that my father's remaining sibling, Aunt Mimi (the baby) just passed away in Nova Scotia. The note was from Mark Dermer, a son of Alta who is a daughter of my late Father's late brother Eddy. I just saw one of my cousins Mark Segal (Mimi's older son) a few months ago in Ottawa at the Kerzner 50th wedding anniversary party at the NAC.

A new Dulcian arrival Micha Rosenblum is staying at Deker. I met his wife Dora who is in town for a few days, then off to Kenya for a week or so. They are going back to New Jersey together Sunday the 29th. I have known Micha for many years and he is always an eager participant in Oracle technical discussions, and has co-authored at least one book with Dr. Paul.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Differences between ...

I have noticed how remarkably inventive this other society is compared to Canada. Sometimes, the most commonplace solutions used in Ethiopia dance circles around some ingenuity exhibited in the western world. Here are a few examples, and hats off to the habesha (native Ethiopians):

In Canada, it's a wheel bearing
In Ethiopia it's a wheel

In Canada it's a dump truck
In Ethiopia it's a personnel carrier

In Canada it's a pile of rocks
In Ethiopia it's a lounge chair

In Canada it's a bunch of refuse in the back of a truck
In Ethiopia it's a personnel transportation platform

In Canada it's a rag
In Ethiopia it's a gas cap

In Canada it's an orange juice container
In Ethiopia it's a gas can

In Canada it's a hedge clipper
In Ethiopia it's a lawn mower

In Canada it's a rock
In Ethiopia it's an emergency brake

In Canada it's dirty rain water in a gutter
In Ethiopia it's a clothing rinse basin

In Canada it's a car rooftop carrier
In Ethiopia it's a large collection of household goods with, oh ya, a car stuck underneath

In Canada it's a eucalyptus tree trunk
In Ethiopia it's scaffolding

In Canada it's a hard hat
In Ethiopia it's a poor excuse for a motorcycle helmet, designed to keep the police "happy"

This post is not intended to offend anyone; it it does please let me know using "michaelabbey@mail.com" and I will delete it.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Bye bye nuisance on finger

I just got back from the St. Gabriel hospital where I got a pyogenic granuloma removed from my finger as per:

" ... a relatively common skin growth. It is usually a small red, oozing and bleeding bump that looks like raw hamburger meat. It often seems to follows a minor injury and grows rapidly over a period of a few weeks to an average size of a half an inch. The head, neck, upper trunk and hands and feet are the most commonly sites."

This thing has been hanging around since July and was starting to act up. The Sweet Thing suggested getting it looked at here rather than waiting until January in Canada. The minor surgey took 15 minutes and they took me almost immediately after I got there. Back at work now and looking forward to a busy but not too busy week.

Taxi initiation rights

Three months or so since I first got to Addis. I have probably taken 30-40 cab rides since I got here. I was at Dr. Paul's for dinner last night. Normally, I hoof it down the hill beside his house to a busier street and flag a taxi. If none is to be found, I walk a few hundred metres up a hill and get one close to Adam's pavilion where they seem to hang out at night. Not ferenge in crutches you say ... Micha went and got the taxi and brought it back to the house and we left from there.

So we leave the house and the driver immediately takes a wrong turn. He asks us if he is going the right way and ends up verifying with someone on the street. The journey begins and the car stalls as soon as we get half way up the hill towards where the cabs collect. He has ran out of gas. He begs us to be patient, grabs what looks like an empty orange juice container, and stops the first cab he sees in his quest for gas.

Why stick around one may say? We are not going far since ferenge is in crutches so we might as well stay put and chat for the 10 (ya right!!) minutes the driver is gone. Lo and behold, about 12 minutes later he returns, Like Mel Gibson in the Road Warrior, we can see his silhouette in the lights thrown by businesses and cars at the top of the hill. He pumps the gas peddle with the force one would expect to snap the throttle cable, and the engine eventually springs to life. Off we went to Deker Inn, using I might say the route through Mexico and Meskel which is not the best way to go; spoken by an ex-taxi driver, that means something. The MAAR (Michael Abbey Approved Route) is Ethio-China to Bolé then cut over using the Mike Leyland extension to Gambia where the inn resides.

I went to St. Gabriel hospital Sunday afternoon to ask them to remove a wart from the middle finger on my left hand. The proper doctor would not be in until 9AM today so I will be going there first thing instead of work. This thing was looked at by my doctor when I was home in September and she was not worried about it, referring me to a plastic surgeon in January.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Come fly with me, come fly with me, come fly :)

I must admit, flying to/from/within Africa has to be ranked as a life experience everyone must experience (or perhaps stay clear of?). As I had mentioned in a previous post, the trip there for me started with the checkin counter person asking me if I had a doctor's certificate from Ethiopian airlines to fly. A cast on a foot? That injury is so commonplace, when I flew Air Canada and United to Denver in 2008 with the same foot in a cast, there was no mention of any such nonsense.

The attendant informed me that this was Ethiopian policy and I must respect that. When Gebu was kind enough to call to arrange a wheelchair, there was no mention of such a ridiculous policy.

When I arrived in Nairobi, I was met by a gentleman who wheeled me to the visa office. We traversed the tarmac for about 10 minutes, then arrived at a set of double doors locked with a chain and padlock. There was a notice just inside about what number to call to get the doors open ... I thought ALL doors were fire exits. I guess if there were an emergency, one simply calls that number to get the doors open.

About 10 minutes later someone opened the door and we were off to get the visa. That went well and the attendants helped me secure a ride into town as the Fairmont van did not show.

The Sweet Thing had a real mess on her hands with Air Canada when she arrived at the airport in Ottawa. When I had first flown to Addis, my ticket ended up in the name of Abbey Michael, not Michael Abbey. It was issued by Safeway travel in Addis so I attributed the name mixup to what they thought my name was. When I got to the airport on August 7, there was a kefuffle and an agent ended up ensuring that I would have no problems. She was very helpful. So when ST gets there they think her name is Kronick Sandy; I purchased the ticket on Orbitz after entering her name as a traveller as one is used to doing with airfare ticket purchase sites. As it turns out, when the ticket was cut, the name was not in the standard format which is "Last Name" then a comma or slash, then the "First Name". The comma was missing so they understood her to be Kronick Sandy.

The same agent happened to be on duty and fixed everything up but for a while it did not look good. They even spoke to Orbitz directly and one of their suggestions was to re-purchase and travel the next day. I will get ST to fill in the gory details.

So I get to Kenyata airport Saturday about 4PM for the return trip to Addis. There is a huge lineup to get into the airport due to the first round of security screening. I jump the queue with assistance from a baggage handler, and clear that checkpoint. They xray the crutches while I sit on a chair awaiting my baggage. That first handler was happy to accept a 50 shilling tip. Then a second handler assists me getting to an Ethiopian airlines agent whose computer as it turns out just went offline. They invite me to sit somewhere while I wait for the agent beside me to finish with a client. The second handler refuses a tip.

With visions of the wheelchair/certificate mess from a week ago, I decline the invitation and stand their waiting. About 10 minutes later, I am checked in then told to proceed to customs. I did not want to mention the wheelchair. At customs I stood in a very short line with the crew checkpoint beside me. A few people who were not crew went to that wicket. Then I figured it out and used it when it became free.

The agent asked where my yellow embarkation form was ... what form? Nobody gave me one. She worked on her terminal for a bit then let me proceed. I had on my knapsack with the larger bag already checked. I proceeded to the elevator which as it turns out did not work! I was then confronted with an escalator or 3 sets of stairs. An escalator is fine until one has to negotiate the end of the line in crutches; it happens pretty fast and even with no crutches the disembarkation can be interesting. So the stairs it was. I rested on the second landing to wipe the sweat from my brow. Finally upstairs, I looked at my ticket to find the gate I was supposed to be at eventually. It was 9, not far from where I was so I headed that way. I was very hot so stopped to take off my jacket and balance on 1 foot from time-to-time while I did the work.

When I got to gate 9, Emirates was loading a plane so I knew I was too early. Then the hunt for a place to sit down began and that was a treat. I stood supporting myself with the crutches for a few minutes hoping someone on one of the very very few seats would offer me a spot. Nothing. I waited a few more minutes, then decided to look back towards where I arrived when I finished the 54 stairs. I found a chair where a gentleman had been nice enough to store his duty-free bag and asked if I could sit there. He gladly removed his stuff and down I sat, some 20 minutes post stair-54.

When Ethiopian personnel appeared at gate 9 about 5:20, I hobbled over there. They announced flight 800 and a line formed at the gate. I went to the back of a 30-40 person line, advanced a few feet here, a few feet there, then when it became my turn to check-in I asked the attendant if she would be so kind as to arrange a wheelchair at the other end. No problem ... all taken care of. Security again was very interested in xraying my crutches, then I could not figure out which way to turn; each security point services 2 gates. Turn right or left? As I was wondering, a Belgian passenger appeared with the same quandary. We were finally told to turn right and assemble in a set of chairs and wait for further announcements. And wait we did ... for about 40 minutes with no sign of any Ethiopian equipment to fly us to Addis. Finally, a jet taxied into the area of gate 9, parked about 100 metres from the gate, and unloaded.

As the passengers climbed the 34 stairs from the tarmac to the terminal, there were another set of double doors locked with guess what? Someone opened the padlock and they passed through. Then the doors were re-locked. A while later they pre-boarded a few people with babies and people with mobility disabilities ... all except yours truly. The guy apologized for "missing" me when the plane started loading. A number of passengers commented on how the stairs not to mention the walk to the jet were not easy for the guy on crutches. I climbed the 21 stairs to the jet and seated myself in 33J. The flight was quicker than I thought and then the fun began in Addis.

The jet was not at a gate so there was a bus. They helped me with my bag then we got off the bus at the terminal. There was 1 wheelchair guy there and there were 2 of us needing assistance. I let the elderly woman have the guy, and climbed 32 stairs then they realized I needed assistance. They found another wheelchair but, oops, nobody to push it. So this one guy pushes 2 wheelchairs which is not an easy task. He takes me first through customs then parks me at the baggage carousel. He then returns for the other lady. I sat and sat and sat and sat as the bags came off and managed to re-position myself when mine appeared so I could snag it. I then sat and sat and sat and sat and sat then finally got up, hoisted my big bag onto the wheelchair and pushed most of the way to exit the secure area while getting my bags scanned again. A guy helped me through the xray and I tipped him 9 birr which is all I had left.

Habtamu the driver met me and naturally, the walk to his vehicle was long. There is a parking area right at the bottom of the ramp but it is in the crew and employee parking area so I had to walk further. So here's the summary of my trip from Nairobi to Addis:

Number of wheelchairs (needed/provided): 2/1
Number of stairs climbed or descended: 141
Distance walked in terminal in Nairobi: 200 metres
Distance walked to get to jet: 100 metres
Distance walked in terminal in Addis: 100 metres

I keep my sanity sometimes down here with the following 3 words ... Welcome to Africa. Details on ST's debacle(s) to follow.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

I'm Back

The trip to Kenya with the wife is over. I have 1,000 stories about flying to/from/within Africa to post and will do over the next few days. It was quite something for both of us. Back at the guest house after an interesting trip from Nairobi. Was able to unpack and will get assistance putting stuff away over the next few days. Kenya tell me how bad the airlines were during most if our 4 flights to far? I am sure ST will have another horror story once she settles into Ottawa late Sunday afternoon ...

A day with Sweet Thing in Nairobi

Unfortunately my Sweet Thing woke up with a mosquito bite near her right eye. She has been icing it and that appears to have accelerated the "healing process". She was up quite early and I was up for a bit with her then fell back asleep until after 7. She chowed down while I slept and then I went for a bite while she went back to bed. I returned to the room to collect my knapsack and see if there were anything I could do for the ST. She would have liked to do what I suggested today which was a tour of Nairobi but she is not feeling up to it. I returned the Kenya power adapter to the front desk amidst huge buckets of thanks.

My day will now consist of reading and hanging out after I finish copying the safari pictures and ST's camera pics to a 4Gb SD card that will return to Canada with her in her camera. I have copied all the safari pictures, my Casio pictures, and a backup of my work directory from MoFED to an 8Gb SD card that will go back to Addis in my camera.

Overall impression/feedback of the safari:

1) William, the guide, was GREAT. He was very knowledgeable and knew the maasai especially like the back of his hand. He was well-voiced in the animal habits and imparted some interesting trivia as we sighted different species.

Rating William out of 10 -> 10

2) The Sarova Mara Sunday and Monday night was wonderful. The staff were friendly and attentive and the surroundings were carved out and appointed nicely from the terrain of the maasai.

Rating the Sarova Mara out of 10 -> 10

3) There was too much driving on 2 occasions. Tuesday we headed from maasai to lake Nakuru and, for the hotel (a 3-star at best) and the "difficulty" photographing the flamingos (the main attraction of the lake), the game drives were not worth the long trip. On Wednesday the trip from Nakuru to Amboseli was 396 kilometres and took 8 hours. There was a 45 minute stop in Nairobi and a 30 minute stop just before making the final turn to the park road. Considering what we found (or more likely did not find) at Nakuru, the length of the Wednesday drive was not necessary.

Rating the game viewing at Lake Nakuru out of 10 -> 5
Rating the hotel at Lake Nakuru out of 10 -> 4
Rating the balance of driving to "staying put" out of 10 -> 5

4) Nights 4 and 5 were spent at the Serena Amboseli lodge which was comparable with the Sarova Mara where we spent nights 1 and 2. The setup was great and there were lots of places to relax.

Rating the Serena Amboseli out of 10 -> 10

5) We saw a lot of animals and birds including giraffe (ST's favourite), lion, cheetah, hyena, leopard, gazelle, topi, impala, warthog (ST's least favourite), zebra, gnu (wildebeest), crane, vulture, monkey, baboon, mongoose, elephant, hippopotamaus, rhinoceros, a whole bunch of colourful birds whose names I do not remember ...

Rating the animal sightings out of 10 -> 10

6) The food was very good everywhere we went.

Rating the food out of 10 -> 10

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Rating the safari as a whole out of 10 -> 8.5
Words used to describe the experience -> amazing + wonderful + met expectation
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Advice we would give others about safaris:

- consider using African Adventures as we were pleased with the quality of the safari
- have reasonable expectations about going to a park that features flamingos
- insist the company tell you the length in hours of ALL drives
- drives should be no more than 4 hours
- get an idea of the ratio of dirt to paved roads as 2 hours on a dirt road can be compared to double that (i.e., 4 hours) on a paved road

Top 10 from the safari:

10 - Cilantro in the green salad at lake Nakuru ... to add more to the poor quality of the hotel; I suggested putting it on the side to one of the chefs.

9 - The cheddar cheese ... considering we live close to a handful of the very best cheddar cheese (Balderson to name one of many manufacturers around) the Kenya version of cheddar was soft, had little or no taste, and possessed none of the pungent qualities of what we are used to.

8 - Mosquito netting at lake Nakuru and the Amboseli ... they reportedly do not have any such pests at either; but it looked good. It is ironic that after making fun of the netting, when we returned to Nairobi and the Fairmont had no netting, ST was bitten.

7 - The taxi ride to the restaurant where we ate the Friday night when we returned to Nairobi ... there it took 35 minutes (partially but not completely due to traffic) but the trip back took close to 10 minutes. A couple we met at the hotel had a similar experience.

6 - The taxi ride to the restaurant we ate at the Saturday after we arrived in Nairobi was reported to be 5-10 minutes. The cab driver as it turns out did not exactly know where the place was and it took us close to 40 minutes. We ended up stopping at another restaurant for assistance and the people there knew nothing about the establishment either. In some ways it was a mini-tour of Nairobi.

5 - I did not bring enough t-shirts (again !!!!!!); I always do this and it gives ST no end of pain (and joy at teasing me about it).

4 - ST dropping an earring down the drain at Sarova Mara which was retrieved by an employee.

3 - My knapsack which gave the ST no end of enjoyment as it is NOT the kind of luggage one would ever want to bring on a trip like this. A knapsack that has to be emptied every time you need something not at the top is not suitable for "living out of a suitcase".

2 - The power strip I brought and so proudly announced on the BLOG as having 8 outlets ... if went up in smoke on day 1.

1 - Sweet Thing losing her camera which, after a huge kefuffle, turned up in the inside pocket of her purse.

Friday, November 6, 2009

It's All Over Now (sort of); back to Nairobi

The plan was to leave the lodge at 8:30 so it was a little more relaxed than some other mornings. We packed then went for breakfast. Actually, ST finished packing after getting coffee. She was not feeling 100% this morning, but more than likely that wonder drug affectionately called "cipro" would do the trick. William told us the drive to Nairobi would be between 4 and 4.5 hours, but it ended up being well under 3. I guess they may deliberately overestimate so one is pleased when it takes less time. We got to the Fairmont about noon, and never did hook up with Daniel from the safari company who boasted about seeing us for lunch ... "it's not part of the package, but I will see you Friday anyways when you get to Nairobi" (a likely story).

The trip back was close to 90% paved road, except for the first 15 minutes out of the park and a few construction sites along the route. Interesting how we have only been down that road once but some of it looked familiar. Nairobi appeared pretty quickly as the terrain turned gradually from rural country to big time urban. This was our third time driving in Nairobi and were starting to remember the sites. The traffic was terrible, but I am used to that from Addis. When we got to the Fairmont, they decided to put us in a 4xx series room which required some stair navigation. We asked if we could get back into the 7xx rooms where there are no stairs. They said yes but the room would not be ready for over an hour so we should grabg some lunch.

We returned to the front desk after eating, and were told the 7xx room has 2 twin beds. Ya right, I am returning to Addis and Sweet Thing to Canada and we will not be together for 2 months; twin beds; I think not. We settled on the 4xx room and hit the pool after I took a bath. What a concept. Not only a bath, but one in a left-handed spout tub. That means ferenge can hang his casted left foot over the edge of the tub. I washed my hair with shampoo for the second time in 10 days as well. The pool was a bit of a walk from our room, but I am a pro on these bloody crutches now anyway. ST disappeared for a while for a sauna and then she returned to start chatting up a lady from Toronto named Cindy who has a travel agency. It was great to hear Mrs. Safari impart the wisdom of the trip we just took to someone getting ready to leave tomorrow for a similar trip. That woman's is with an outfit called Mikato, reported to be the "best" (ya but they're all the best, especially the doctor treating your 84 Jewish year-old Mother's heart condition). They fly rather than drive and stay at Fairmont hotels rather than Sorova or Serena. We were turned on to a place for dinner which is reportedly Italian and maybe steak too.

By the way, we LOVED the sites on the way back to Nairobi especially the stands in the little towns we passed through, some at 30 some at 80 kph. We priced the internet here and it's a mere 7.50 USD per hour or one can go the whole hog for about $30 per day. We need to check a few things via email; after the experience with wireless at the Serena place last night, we will do the cafe here later which is probably wired. ST is off to the front desk to check up for sure on our dinner location. ST commented a few times how quickly the week went by. I guess the extra 5 years make a difference 'cause for me it seems like an eternity ago I dragged myself out of bed, and Dereje picked me up to go to Bole airport bound for Nairobi.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Full day at Amboseli

We slept well again; the fact that I slept is not the issue; the fact that the Sweet Thing slept so well is. We had a light breakfast then hit the road about 8:30. I must say, the animals at Amboseli are few and far between. There is no doubt that there are a lot more animals than what we are interested in by day 5. The zebra and gazelle/impala were plentiful, but not anywhere close to the maasai 2 days ago. The ground is littered with more carcasses than one would care to see. One word explains the problems on the plains of Africa ... drought. We were told it has not really rained here to any extent since December of last year; that's 11 months! On further investigation, we have found out that the rains have not really arrived for 3 years not 11 months. They do say in the western world that the countries that can least afford to, suffer the most from the effects of global warming. There are areas of the park that are swampy or very wet, and of course the game collects at those locales. The elephants were basking in the shallow water and sometimes one could only see their torsos as they were more than knee deep in the aqua.

Sweet Thing is back to normal, so that's a gas (actually it isn't :)). We rented an hour of internet time and the wireless here reminds me of the world's worst internet that I experience every day in Ethiopia. ST said the cafe is much faster probably since it is wired. The Ileana flag has been red for a few days as I have not posted to this BLOG since last Friday.

Just looking out into the park from the lodge shows terrain so indicative of what most of it looks like. As we drive around, we can see a definite green hue by scanning the plain as far as the eye can see. Once we get to the spot we just viewed, the grass is very short and there are clumps of it then sand and more sand and rocks. The ground as we come out of the lodge is littered with volcanic rocks the size of soccer balls. I finished the Grisham book I brought from Canada and the ending sucked, in my opinion. He left the whole issue with the perpetrator of the "crimes" committed up in the air as he has done in some of his other books I have read. I also brought a novel by Michael Connelly to read; it's a toss-up between him and Grisham for whose books I have read the most of over the past 10 or so years.

The rest of the day is going to be spent outside; we are now sitting on the patio. ST is reading The Book Thief, as chosen in her book club, and loves it. We have taken close to 1.5Gb of shots (about 450 pictures) of the trip so far. I am going to give ST a USB SD card reader with all the pics on it to take back to Ottawa. She will stick it into my computer and I will copy them using LogMeIn. We have a game drive scheduled for 4PM; I will probably go by myself as the lack of wildlife has disappointed the Sweet Thing more than me.

There seems to be a new crop of safari'ers that have arrived over the past few hours. They are all eager to go and, if like the Krabnick entourage (a.k.a., the Sweet Thing and me), will depart about 4PM. Actually, ST still does not plan on going on that drive. Both of us read this afternoon and grabbed 65 winks. They have been watering the lawn at the back of the lodge all day since breakfast. They supposedly pump the water from the swamp out back; the rest of the plains need that kind of soaking and they may not get it for quite some time.

As it turns out the afternoon drive was very productive after all. We headed out of the hotel and turned down a road that passes by a deserted lodge. That lodge closed due to lack of business about 3 years ago. The animals were quite plentiful, with the same fare pretty much as the maasai. I got lots of pictures and figured out how to zoom, crop, then save on ST's camera so did a lot of that after the fact. Mount Kiliminjaro never did peak through the clouds though we ended up getting as close to the base as posisble. On the way back to the lodge, I got some shots of the sunset. We were back by 6:10 and the sun does not go down long thereafter. We had dinner at 7:30 then sat by the fire for some time. ST went for her usual evening stroll after dinner then we packed it in about 9:30. That was quite an experience, probably one that we will never forget. We took about 600 pictures altogether which will end up edited on a DVD at about 200 photos. I will give ST an SD card and USB reader with all the pics on it to take back to Ottawa.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Nakuru to Amboseli

Again we were up ourselves on time to be ready to leave at 7:30AM. I took a few minutes to pack then we were off for breakfast. I think the Sweet Thing left a bit before me. We actually got away a bit early, then I asked how far we were driving today. I knew it was going to be a piece and was told 396 kilometres! When we drive to Toronto it is exactly that to the Bathurst cut. That usually takes us 3 to 4 hours on a 416/401 so we just imagined how long it could take on dirt/broken/construction roads. We were told we would be stopping in Nairobi to collect a picnic lunch. We wound down some pretty dreadful roads after we left Nakuru and finally it all started to look familiar. We appeared to be traversing the Rift valley as we did Sunday; lo and behold, William confirmed my suspicion. We kept passing the tiny curio stands towards the pinnacle of our ascent, and I again had visions of the headlines about cars and people plummeting to the floor of the valley after one of these establishments broke loose from the side of the cliff.

As we neared Nairobi of course the density of people changed, and the more traditional garb we saw here and there along the way became more western. We saw some pretty remarkable stores all along the way made out of nothing more than wood as dry as driftwood at home, a few rocks, and some corrugated tin. We wound our way into Nairobi and made our way to the Club Safari. As usual the people at the hotel were very helpful to Hop-a-long-Ferenge. When I came back outside, it appeared as though, strange as it may seem, that ST had already befriended a local. As it turned out it was Daniel from the safari company, the same as I had communicated with many times via email before the trip. We sat and chatted for a few minutes and wolfed down some coffee. William collected our 2 box lunches and off we went.

We drove southish from Nairobi for about 2 hours and ran into some road construction that made the work we see along the roadside at home look like Fisher Price. We passed again through many towns bustling with very large clusters of ramshackle stores and guest houses. One of the town's specialty seemed to be onions. There were probably, at all the stands in that village put together, more onions than are consumed in Canada in a full year :) The tomatoes, leaf lettuce, and cabbage looked wonderful. About 45 minutes from Amboseli park we turned right then stopped for a bit at a curio stand where ST bought some napkin holders. We then went west on a really swell road for 30 minutes or so and, naturally, all good things must come to an end. We veered left and shortly passed a sign that said the park was 18 kilometres away. The Sweet Thing was as happy as a shig in pit that we were finally close. She was minor-cranked that the ride had been so long and we went for an hour or so looking for game but they were very sparse. The terrain here makes masaai look like the garden of Eden. We were wondering how the animals here survive just about the same time William confirmed the dead carcasses (mainly zebra and buffalo) littering the landscape were as a result of a very long drought. According to the front desk guy at the hotel, we are in the rainy season; someone forgot to turn on the tap I guess.

We are at a very nice hotel called Amboseli Lodge and ST is now happy. She is having a massage at 7 tonight and then we will have dinner. Tonight, for a change, after dinner I am hoping to sit by the fire as we have done our previous 3 nights on safari.

We had a chat with a local in traditional dress. We asked about the hollow ear lobes, and were told that this is done at a very young age with a knife ... and yes it does hurt. This gentleman is a warrior, and it is his family/tribal custom to cut the ears. He hunts goat, lamb, cow, and sheep. We asked if he had to be a warrior or if he was allowed to do something else. In his tribe, if one wants to do something "out of the ordinary" say like go to school, one must get permission from the chief. He is married, the bride picked by one of his brothers. Apparently a young man makes it known "what he is looking for" and a sibling finds a wife. I spoke to another native while the Sweet Thing was having her massage and he has a mathematics university degree that he got in 2000. He had trouble finding work in his field so returned to the tribe. He did not need the chief's permission to go to school. We also visited briefly with Joseph who works at the hotel. He lives many of hundreds of kilometres from the lodge and goes home every few weeks to see his 10, yes 10 children ... 5 boys and 5 girls with 2 sets of identical twins.

We were told there were 22 people from Canada traveling together and ST picked them out (at least 3 sisters from near Toronto). My ST is such a friendly little thing. Behind the lodge is the bar and it overlooks the park. They have some dim floodlights deliberately trained on a set of bushes. As it turns out, the light attracts the wildlife and as they investigate the source, a little more than their silhouettes can be seen against the bushes. While sitting out here I have seen a handful of gazelles and impalas. Time for Swahili school:

Asanti - thank you
Karibu - welcome
Sawa sawa - yes yes
A kuna metate - everything is fine
Jambo - hello

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Maasai to Nakuru

We somehow managed to wake up right on time at 6:30. Sweet Thing was packed so she helped me get a few things around the room. The baggage guy was outside as we were ready to leave. We had breakfast at the restaurant then met up with William for the trek to Lake Nakura. Heading out of the hotel, we hung a right, something we had not been doing during the last two days' game excursions. Almost immediatelty we arrived at an exit gate. The road did not look familiar for a while, but we then joined up with more dirt road we had travelled Sunday to get to the maasai. We remembered a stretch of the road that was being paved. The crew places rocks and branches across the road at regular intervals to deter cars from "sneaking" onto the gravel bed that is ready to accept a layer of asphalt.

The majority of the roads we travelled today were gravel and some quite wet and bumpy. Interestingly enough, just about the same time we seemed to tire of the rough ride, William announced that we were a few kilometres from pavement. There was an abundace of schools, all the way from nursery through secondary, spotted during the last half of today's drive. The further we got from the maasai, the more plush the surroundings. The grass-feeding animals no doubt are in better "health" than those doing their best to survive on the slim pickings in maasai. As well, the closer we got to Nairobi, the more western the mode of dress of the people became. The city of Nakura is close to 1 million people, one of four of the country's biggest after Nairobi, Mombasso, and one other I cannot remember.

The hotel we are at is another in the Sarova chain. Just like what we are used to seeing in the western world, some properties are A-1 and others are heh. This lodge is the latter; housekeeping brought in a top sheet and there was an impromptu lesson on laying a second sheet on a bed over the blanket. Professor KA explained she had been head of housekeeping at a few spots in Canada (visions of my whole career based on the Oracle software) and the attendant was pleased. There appears to be a higher occurrence of potential malaria-bearing mosquitoes near the lake as the bed here has netting all around. Apparently the room attendants come in and zip up the protection before bedtime.

The walkways here are a collage of red brick and concrete. I have already experienced first hand how slippery the concrete can get. I have been advised to always place my crutch bottoms on the red flavour of brick. There is a painted up/down ramp leading into the restaurant here which can be VERY slippery. I have not yet figured out how to navigate that part of the lodge but will figure something out come dinner.

We drove around the park for a while before coming in to the lodge. The attractions here include buffalo and rhinocerous not to mention an absolute sea of flamingos. The water is very very low and the sand leading up to the shallow lake has signs of being recently under water. I did not test the looseness of the sand with my crutches and sat in the vehicle while ST clicked away at the sea of pink. The rhinos can weigh in at over 4 tons and have a thick turtle-like shell protecting them. Interestingly enough they too are herbivores. Outside of the "real killers" in the maasai (the big cats), William mentioned most animals that will do fatal harm to humans are provoked by our going too close to their young. Apparently there are more people killed yearly by rhinos than the big cats. We are heading out at 4PM for the next game excursion. My Sweet Things is fighting sleep as she reads her book and is wearing her new ONESIE!

The afternoon drive was about 2 hours. At the beginning it seemed like a convoy there were so many vehicles all bunched together. As the time wore on, we all ended up going our own way. The highlight of the drive was a toss up between the rhino family and the impalas running around and jumping like puppy dogs. We got very close to a foursome of male rhinos and we got some nice shots. ST thinks they are so ugly they're adorable. We did end up seeing a few gaggles of rhinos. The impalas were playing like a bunch of children and there was a lot of running with sudden stopping. They were jumping 4-6 feet in the air as they played. William told us they can jump as high as 8 feet. The drive started with a bunch of monkeys who looked like they were wearing masks like so many of their species do. We got very close to some baboons, and ST felt a bit uncomfortable with one of them in particular. She did end up getting its cell number and will give it a call when we are back in Nairobi. The buffalos as well were plentiful, their size somewhere below that of the rhino but they were still quite large. Tomorrow starts with a 7:30 departure from the lodge, and a picnic lunch in Nairobi probably about noon.

ST went to the internet cafe to check her email (what a geek) and I went to the bar. As I arrived, the fire had just been started. There were a few gentlemen in native garb preparing for what seemed to be a concert. I do remember reading something about a Kenya music extravaganza nightly at 7 so it all made sense. They were helpful assisting me getting seated, what with my cast and all. The music and dancing was interesting and I could not place the beat they were using. It almost fit into 4/4 but not quite. I tried tapping 5/4 and that did not work either. There were 4 women and 8 men on the stage and at one point they dragged people out of the audience to help assist with the gyration of the dance to the music. Of course ST was up there looking so Kenyan and loving it. We ate, then hung around the fire again until 9:30 or so, striking up a conversation with a Finnish couple who live in Nairobi. We lost ST's camera but it miraculously turned up somehow, much to my relief 'cause I am so forgetful with what I do with things and am so cluttered in hotel rooms it drives ST nuts.

By the way, at least 2 people here told me they have no mosquitoes at the lake we are on, so the netting business is all a big show. They are hoping we will return to the west and proudly answer "yes" when we are asked if we slept under netting 'cause malaria is so easy to catch in Africa. By the way, 1 coke and 2 Tusker beers here cost 860 schillings or about $12 USD. There's roughly 72 schillings to the USD.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Maasai Mara

We both slept well and, especially for the Sweet Thing, that is huge. We were up on our own about 7:15. ST went for something to eat while I got ready then I hobbled to the restaurant to meet her. She is having "tummy trouble" and feeling a bit out of sorts. So I am taking care of her (ya right with my foot) and lovin' it. We headed out about 8:30AM and almost immediately the fun started with giraffes. As per what we experienced yesterday, wildebeest (a.k.a. gnu) and zebra were the most common creatures we saw. Today we also saw topi, heartbeast, ostrich, gazelle, impala, hyena, crocodile, hippopotomaus, warthog, leopard, cheetah, lion, and a handful of birds. We saw an assortment of vultures chowing down on a gazelle carcass.

We were told that the hardest animal to see is the leaopard and the one we did see was nicely camouflaged in a tree. Apparently they are very possessive with their kill, disappearing into a tree and no sharing. The cheetahs we saw were devouring a carcass. William told us the cheetah will only eat fresh meat and usually when they finish there is nothing even left for the vultures. The lions on the other hand will keep returning to old kill and feasting again. The hippos we saw were huge and they can be as much as 4,000 pounds. They stay in the water during the day and come out at night to eat grass. We have not yet seen the rhino but I imagine that is the mission when we go out again at 4PM. The zebras, gnus, and all the antelopes are great buddies, all grass eaters, and travel together. We were told a gnu migration could be a few million animals, moving in single file, with a few miles from one end to the other. There is no status associated with the first and last in the line, just a matter of coincidence.

I was quite surprised to find out the "killers" who are herbivores, especially the rhino and hippo. We had to drive quite a ways to find water where the croc and the hippos were hanging out. We were allowed out of the vehicle at the water spot to see the hippos. The one croc we did see was lounging on the bank and seemed asleep. At one point, we found a cluster of vehicles and as it turned out there were 2 male lions chilling in an almost dry mud puddle. There was a female close by and ST got some great shots of the lions. We were less than 20 feet from them. The safari vehicles all have radios and communicate with one another on interesting sightings as well as emergencies. Yes, ferenge has been killed on safari and yes the vehicles do sometimes get stuck in the mud. It is a real obstacle course for the drivers to avoid the huge mud potholes and navigate up and down deep tracks that have been made by previous wheels. They must stay on the roads and risk a $150 fine if they are caught straying off the beaten paths.

We returned to camp not long after noon. I hung out in the bar and started writing this BLOG when the bartender showed up with the 6-string Yamaha I had been lusting over last night. I played all my favourites then when the Sweet Thing showed up I did "Waiting for a Girl Like You". I did our 2 Steely Dan favourites then we lunched. ST finds it a little cold and, surprise surprise, I find it just right. For her sake I would like it a few degrees hotter. We are heading out again about 4PM for a few more hours. Tomorrow we break camp and head over to Lake Nakura and another lodge.

When getting dressed for dinner last night, the Sweet Thing managed to drop an earring down the drain in the bathroom sink. I suggested her going to the front desk and naturally they sent someone over with a wire who got it out. As has been the case during our stay here, they were very helpful.

Right at 4 we were off. I played the guitar for over an hour before we left and loved it. We learned some stuff about the animals we have been viewing for the past 2 days. Towards the end of the day we were pointed at a dead young gazelle carcass hanging in a tree. William told us the leopard will stash the dead prey in a tree so nobody steals it. I can well imagine that said leopard then returns at its will to munch on the animal. It must roam for miles and miles but always know exactly what tree the remains reside in. We did see another leopard in a tree, It appeared to be sleeping when we first arrived. One after another 2 giraffes sauntered by and the big cat started moving around but would not dare make a lunge for either; the giraffe is too big for the leopard to handle. William told us that there are 12 species of animals in the Masaai. He mentioned the gnu had migrated to the serengeti as expected this year but, upon arriving there, did not find it to be as fertile as it was expected to be. Therefore, they came back. He also mentioned that there could be a few weeks (or months) that there are very few creatures in the masaai as they have all moved south. Sounds like Jewish people from eastern Canada and Florida. Tomorrow we depart for Lake Nakura t 7:30AM. The drive there is about as far as it was yesterday from Nairobi to the masaai. The drive on Wednesday from there to Ambroseli is the longest of the safari. On Friday the drive back to Nairobi is again about 4 to 4.5 hours.

We took some pictures today of a giraffe probably 6-8 feet from the big beast. ST loves the giraffe and will probably be adopting one to look after the back yard. We also hope to get it to keep the second storey windows clean. After dinner we went to the bar, me with my Tusker and ST ordered a cognac. I played the guitar and ST belted out some campfire songs including Leaving on a Jet Plane, Dona Dona, Four Strong Winds, Hey Laudy, and If I Had a Hammer. The gals outside the bar loved it. After many tunes, the hired singer started with Let it Be then many many more. We crashed about 10.