Election in the spring

We have been told this is happening in Ethiopia in the April timeframe. By talking to habesha, they believe there is a good possibility that the election will be well attended, meaning voter turnout could be the highest ever. There is from time-to-time some unrest in a pocket of locations throughout the country, but the tone of the people I have talked with is that they expect this round of voting to be the "best carried out" ever.

I had a nice time bargaining with a few shop-keepers today and am looking forward to a trip to merkato next Saturday hopefully when the weather is better.

I ran into a woman from Italy named Juliana whom I had met and chatted with a number of times when she was staying at Deker in September. She is back here for another 10 days or so then returning to Roma.

I ran into Melaku again at Bilo's, I think we are following each other around. Metasabya is going to hem my new onesie ... ST it's onesie day in Africa, is it the same in Canada?

Had a very nice chat with Naomi (aka Dizzy) and she sounds great. She is still pondering but leaning towards renewing the teaching contract for another year. We spoke about a few things and discussed the car. I am going to look into whether it may be possible to sell the car to a local firm and lease it back from them. This would solve all our problems (actually Dizzy's but mine too) of her being in Seoul and making payments on a car in Ottawa. Ben A. and I are going to chat too about this predicament when I am back.

Steve and Benita, not sure what your schedule is like the 31st, but if possible, I would appreciate a quick stop at an outlet close to Woodroffe and Carling that reportedly has really good egg rolls. Have you guys been there?

Tagel is going to take me to an Orthodox Christian service one of the Fridays before I leave. I have also been told that the churches are still broadcasting at 6AM even though I have not heard them for weeks. My not hearing them will hopefully keep up. Unless I hear different, I am going to the Dulcian compound in the AM for the day and maybe dinner. I am going to speak to Dr. Paul tonight as I think he may already be back.