Abbey Seein' Ya

Closing post for this BLOG ...

2010-01-02T02:56:00.000+03:00

See you at this URL for my next BLOG. I leave for Addis again on February 1, 2010. Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are ...

Musings while on my way from FRA to Ottawa ...

2010-01-02T02:53:00.000+03:00

The flight itself from Addis to Frankfurt was OK, as mentioned in a previous post. While waiting to leave Addis, I went for a bite at the Satellite cafe and it was a nice send-off to Ethiopia. I got the menu right away then the servers appeared to be too busy chatting with one another, adjusting the TV, and sitting around doing nothing to take my order. I finally managed to make eye contact with one of them and ordered. After the burger arrived, I asked for some extra mustard, which sat held by one of the servers for a few minutes while she and 3 other staff chatted with someone at the counter about who knows what. Welcome to Ethiopia.

I watched Public Enemies on the screen on the Air Canada. It was good, but fed my fire about how we love to idolize criminals; I know my Sweet Thing will read this and tell me I'm too negative. Steven and Benita are picking me up at the airport and ST told me they are having people over tonight for the new year. I slept a third of the way on the ADD to FRA flight and hardly at all so far on my way to Ottawa.

I coined an expression in Ethiopia as I am well known for doing often ... "An Ethiopian moment". Here are the top Ethiopian moments in my 5 months in Addis:

1- Sitting at the cafeteria at MoFED one day, we are told they have no machiatto (their version of the lahte). We are unable to hear what we are being told since the milk frothing machine noise drowns out the server's voice. That same machine is the one that is supposedly not working, leading them to not be able to serve us what we want.

2- I ask what is for dinner at the Dulcian compound one day and since there is a tendency there to use too much salt on everything, I am told "salt" was made for dinner.

3- When at Select restaurant, I ask for a menu and am told they do not have one. I ask them to being me some food, and am asked "what kind?". Is that not why one has a menu?

4- I ask for mustard at a restaurant one day and they bring mayonnaise. So I ask for mayonnaise, and mustard arrives.

5- The coffee ladies are caught one day hiding cake and bombelino (a donut-like treat). Dr. Paul looks behind the counter of the cash register area and sees some of both.

6- Three, count them 3!! MoFED people enter my office and discuss a ruler that was in the office prior to my occupying it. Where has the ruler gone is the subject of the discussion and they decide to advise me not to leave any office accoutrements near the window as they may be stolen. That ruler discussion must have cost MoFED a few hundred birr for the time that these 3 people spent worrying about the delinquent ruler, probably valued at less than 50 birr.

7- A swarm of workers descend on the very steep lawn outside the Prime Minister's palace and proceed to mow the lawn with garden shears. I do applaud the environmentally friendly nature of the effort, and together they make the sound of a small helicopter.

8- There used to be a large hole near Meskel square with a few feet if water and a large amount of refuse floating in the aqua. One day they drain the hole somehow then proceed to start filling it with about 2-4 feet of dirt. Then they take the dirt out of the hole using a ramp of dirt concocted prior to the removal of the dirt JUST put there.

9- One always sees piles of dirt and the new holes that said dirt came out of all over Addis. I finally figured out why they dig a hole in Addis ... so they will have some dirt to fill up the hole they just dug.

10- Almost all of the vehicles in Addis are manual transmission. When they park said vehicles, they always put on the emergency brake and leave the transmission in gear. I have never seen a vehicle roll anywhere while in gear. This is similar to their habit of putting a rock behind one of the rear wheels when the vehicle is on an incline so it does not roll.

Don't get me wrong ... I love these people (habesha) and have a deep amount of respect for the way they do things. They are creative and inventive with the ways they do things not to mention how most of the labourious tasks we do in the west using fossil fuel burning equipment they do by hand in Ethiopia.

I will be making one final post to this BLOG but need to surf the web to ensure one of the words in that very short post is spelled correctly. This last post is crucial to the whole adventure and I do not want to mess it up.

I copied my BLOG into a Word document a while back and it occupies 186 pages at 13-point Garamond font, single spaced. I just wish there were some way in Googles blogger engine to sort the posts chronologically by ascending date of post. They are always sorted by descending date of post and there does not appear to be any way to do what I want.

This text was composed on my new MacBook and its text editor's spell checked flagged the word "Garamond" ... obviously this is not an industry standard font and must be some insidious invention of Apple's competition in the northwest corner of the state of Washington ...

What a concept

2009-12-31T11:42:00.002+03:00

I have been on the T-Mobile pay-as-you-go internet server in FRA for the last 15 minutes and WHAT A PLEASURE ... a usable bandwidth and think I have transported more data in this mere quarter hour than I did in 5 months in Ethiopia ... Burhan checked for me and when I return to Addis February 2 we will dig up an ETC card that works with the Mac.

Saving the best for last

2009-12-31T11:40:00.000+03:00

I think of all the classic debacles since I have been in Ethiopia, the absolute best happens my last full day in Addis. The Dulcian clan gave me a framed picture of an Addis blue taxi with the time-lapse blur of a blue van in the background. So I decide I will ship it back rather than carry. Some 2 hours later, I return to work with guess what in tow? A framed picture exactly the same as when I set out.

The first stop was EMS, a world-wide shipper that in most countries would be happy to ship a beaker full of lithium (:)). In Ethiopia we are simply told they would not accept the responsibility of breakage. I was under the impression that someone created bubble-wrap, cardboard, etc., and why not fleece the ferenge for the appropriate packing material, and ship. No such luck.

Next stop DHL. They have packing materials in the outlets I have frequented in the USA and Canada that could wrap an Airbus. Nothing here and they as well will not accept responsibility for breakage. They suggest returning with the pictire suitable protected and they would be happy to ship.

Next stop merkato. Dereje feverishly speaks with someone on his cell, then we arrive in merkato in a familiar location near the grey mosque. We obtain some bubble wrap, styrofoam, and cardboard for 110 birr, a platry $10 CAD. They tie it with twine and we happily trundle off to DHL. They process the order and it takes 15 minutes to print the waybill ... the cost ... a mere 1,004 birr which is ridiculous. I know someone who shipped a blanket and a few other things to the USA for less than half that. Ok, so I take the Mac stuff out of the box and suggest they ship that alone, the size of a handful of letter envelopes weighing less than 3 pounds. The cost for that must be reasonable ... a mere 445 birr. I give up. We head out for parcel post in the basement of the EMS building, then I realize I do not have the energy and we return to work I will check the picture which is now wrapped to sustain an explosion.

I realize as I leave Addis on Lufthansa about 2:45AM that I have forgotten the picture in Dereje's truck. Now hat's a debacle if I ever heard of one :). I am camped out in Frankfurt until my flight home at 1:45PM. I was in the middle group of seats from Addis to FRA and a woman beside me slept 75% of the way using her seat and the 2 empty between us. I did manage to stretch my legs and establish my rights to at least one of the vacant seats as soon as she woke up.

There will be a few more posts to this BLOG then I will say gooten nacht and await the start of the new BLOG at this location ...

Done done done done (deal)

2009-12-30T11:42:00.001+03:00

The new contract is in place. Ferenge is returning to Addis on Tuesday February 2 and starting work on Wednesday February 3. We are pleased to be coming back to Addis though some day as the economy improves I am looking forward to working in Ottawa and hanging out with friends and family.

MacAbbey

2009-12-30T08:47:00.001+03:00

That name reminds me of a term of endearment Glenn McLeod used for me at the OAG when I worked there from 1989095 ... My Cabbey. That was a takeoff on an old "profession" of mine in the 70's as a taxi driver then dispatcher.

The Mac world is brand new to me and I have not had my hands on one since I worked for teh Carleton Board of Education the 1983-84 school year and then it was an Apple IIE. How times have changed, and he married a Jewish girl at that :)

Almost sayonara ...

2009-12-29T13:26:00.001+03:00

It is supposedly Mac minus a few hours. I am having people from work and the likes of Melaku and Hiruy over to Blue Drops tonight for a party to say thanks for "looking after me" in Addis over the past 5 months. It's also Ottawa minus just over 2 days and Sweet Thing about 1 more day on top of that. I saw the final draft of the new contract today and we will be signing tomorrow. There were punches thrown at the garbage wagon today outside Bilo's. It looked as though a guest picker jumped rank and tried to claim an empty plastic bottle before a more senior picker had a chance to scour the refuse beforehand. This went on for about 10 minutes until the fellow pickers separated the two adversaries.

This is to be my last night at Deker as I do not need accomodation Wednesday night due to my leaving at 2:30AM Thursday. I have a 6 hour layover in Frankfurt and am toying with going into town for a few hours. We shall see. I am leaving at 2PM today and will get the driver to visit all my haunts around Addis to take some photos. We went to a club to see jazz last night. The first set was the standard 4 piece then a different drummer and two reed instrument players made a din for about 30 minutes and we welcomed its end. The drummer was great and very very very busy.

The new kid in town

2009-12-28T17:09:00.001+03:00

Met with Ato Mussa and Demisu regarding the new contract. For every 10 weeks in Addis I will be back in Canada for 6 or 7 days then return to Ethiopia all at MoFED's expense. This is good ... I should have my MacBook Pro in the AM and am getting the Dell ready to sell to Hiruy. Sweet Thing/family minus about 4 days.

Working too

2009-12-28T14:08:00.001+03:00

The MacBook purchased for me in Dubai will be in my hot little hands tomorrow. It's a 15" pro with 4Gb of memory and the 250Gb hard drive. Sweet!

Me first ... some habesha (native Ethiopians)

2009-12-28T09:04:00.001+03:00

I am somewhat annoyed at some (not ALL) habesha when they are in a situation that they must wait on other people. This happens especially when in heavy traffic. Sometimes a car will advance into an intersection and position itself in such a way that it generates gridlock. If the driver had been a little more thoughtful, instead of 10 vehicles sitting there unable to move, 20-30 would have been able to proceed.

I noticed this in the hospital when I was there last week for the dentist to look at my tooth. When the door opened as someone came out of the office, habesha crowded around the opening, hoping to be served next regardless of the fact that others may have been there before them. I did mention this to a habesha at Bilo's last week and he just smiled and acknowledged that my impression is correct. I must stress that in general habesha are courteous, warm, friendly, and respectful. Outside of "wait events", these same habesha fall into this "nice" category. When at Edna mall a few weeks ago to see a movie, I am standing in line and a habesha arrives at the wicket and goes to the front of the line. I said to him "mind if I go before you?" and he allowed me, even though there were a few people in line behind me who had been and still were happy to have me served since I was ahead of them.

I am taking the kids (Burhan and Hanna) out for burgers today. I just hope they have enough high chairs at MKS. I spoke to Jordan and Lindsay today and they are in Banff for the night celebrating their 2nd anniversary. Annabelle is with friends of theirs overnight as her parents are in Montréal for Christmas.

Gotta love it

2009-12-28T07:02:00.000+03:00

Not much happened Sunday, and tennis was great. I think I am doing better on my forehand. I wish I had taken this sport up younger :). Had a very nice dinner with some folks at the China Bar, organized by Youssef in the guest house. He has just rented a house near me and when I return I will more than likely spend some time there watching DsTV.

At the start of my last 3 days at MoFED on this contract, hoping to see Ato Mussa early to iron out the return airfare details for the next contract which I saw Friday. Jazz tonight off Kazanches I hope and the goodbye party, actually more a thank-you party since I will be coming back, tomorrow night at 7PM at Blue Drops. Readers of this BLOG are encouraged to get there early as seating may be tight.

5AM on a Saturday

2009-12-27T05:12:00.002+03:00

The church near here just started broadcasting and will be doing so for upwards of 2 hours, So much for getting back to sleep. I heard from Dubai and he hopes to be getting the 15" today so I will keep my hopes up. I texted with the ST who is out for dinner with Ben and Jess ... DDAS

Ferenge-a-food

2009-12-26T22:21:00.002+03:00

Melaku and I went to Zebra for dinner. I had a lovely salad and, of all things, ferenge-a-wings AKA chicken wings. We had a lovely visit and then I came back to Deker. I have no plans for tomorrow except for tennis at 2PM. I will assemble with the rest of the fans at Blue Drops tomorrow for the Arsenal game at 7PM. This whirlwind of an escapade to Africa is winding down. Hiruy and Melaku both checked in to ensure the party was still on for Tuesday. Youssef called about 4PM and I went to Blue Drops to catch the second half of a Birmingham/Chelsea match and it ended up 0-0.

I have not heard back from Yoftahe who is in Dubai and may be getting me a MacBook. I hope this scheme works out but not hearing from him since before Christmas may not be good.

13 months of sunshine

2009-12-26T15:38:00.001+03:00

That's one of Ethiopia's lines ... it's wet today as it has been more off than on lately and we are in the summer (dry) season. They follow a calendar here that has 12 months of 30 days then an extra month of 5 days or 6 in a leap year.

Ended up at the Sheraton to see RightOnBand last night and even Ileana came which was nice. Kizume whom I met at Deker came along too.

I was up early today but did not drag myself out of bed until 7:30. I munched at Bilo's then blue bused it to Mexico where I cabbed to merkato. I picked up some material for Mme Trees and that was all there. I was back at Deker by noon and had a bite at Blue Drops before tennis.

Tennis was good and I will see Hiruy again at 2PM tomorrow. I concentrated more closely on my swing for the forehand and had a really good workout. It is nice to be back. I did not push it and after 40 minutes practiced serving then quit. I am having dinner with Melaku tonight and will give him the Nokia to use until I am back in February.

The tooth infection is all but gone and I have 4 or 5 doses of the meds left. I have been impressed with the medical advice I have gotten from the doctors I have been fortunate/unfortunate to see in Ethiopia.

Xmas with a bang

2009-12-25T23:19:00.003+03:00

My day started very early with a call from Dr. Paul that I missed. When I called him back he mentioned they had been starting to open presents and thought that I may have wanted to come over. That was very thoughtful but that is Dr. Paul's middle name. I headed over there after breakfast for the remaining festivities. They gave me a bottle of soya sauce and some very nice sweet and sour marinade which I tested out on some cabbage rolls mid-morning.

Their little person Robert was fun all day, wishing us all a Merry Christmas about 200 times. It reminds me of one time I was at Mallias on Shauna's birthday and Paddy wished his mother a happy birthday every 30 seconds all evening.

I went to the Sheraton for music this evening, meeting Melaku there. Ileana came with me which was huge and another lady who is staying at the guest house went too. Tomorrow is the merkato run in the morning then tennis at 2PM with Hiruy. It's been almost 3 months since I made a fool of myself on the ground tennis court. I saw the draft contract with MoFED today and will send a note to Ato Mussa Monday pointing out that there is no provision yet for a trip back to Ottawa after every 7 or 8 weeks of work. I am not looking for anything at merkato tomorrow but will pick up stuff for Annabelle probably. I have 2 new batches of merkato money for the trip and will take my vest that ST brought for me to Kenya. Ottawa minus just over 5 days :)

In true Dulcian compound fashion, dinner was garlic with a whole bunch of garnishes like beef, beans, squash, potatoes, salad, and apple pie. One present that Robert got was a cardboard scale model of one of the Saturn space rockets, and it said "Ages 8 and up" on the box. Ya right! The Doc (who is just 39) took the better part of the day to assemble and he was still not done ... Robert told me I was a chair today as he was using me as a jungle gym, which was fine with me since his lovely fat cheeks were that close to me and available for my famous wet kisses.

Ho ho

2009-12-25T07:46:00.001+03:00

ho ...

Not my cup of tea

2009-12-24T19:09:00.001+03:00

I went to see a movie this afternoon with some of the gang from work. It was great, very entertaining, and very very loud. We sat a little too close for my comfort. It was called Avatar and Dr. Paul already wants to see it again.

I met with Ato Mussa to iron out some details of a contract starting February 3 and he was fine with the clauses I wanted to ensure were in the agreement. I expect to get a draft tomorrow. A guy from finance will call me and I will run in and get it or ask Dereje to bring it over.

My ST is playing golf today. I did not know Rideauview was open at this time of year. Maybe they are using a frozen round rubber hockey puck?

Nice job Sens ... now all the fans can complain about the team when there really is onely one thing wrong with them ... the Sens.

Finally, a scheme that worked

2009-12-24T09:02:00.002+03:00

So I thought I would unlock my BlackBerry 8800 and use my Ethiopian SIM card. I checked with someone at work who suggested where to go to get the unit unlocked, then just this morning the same person emails me telling me that store's customer service is terrible. Unfortunately that seems to be rampant in Addis. So I find a web site, send them some money through PayPal, and a few hours later receive my unlock code. All is well, I now have a BB 8800 instead of the Nokia I have been using and the main attraction for me is the calendar.With that success, I am going to bring the 2 BB 8700r units we have at home back to Addis for Melaku and Dereje if they are interested. They will have to be unlocked as well and hopefully will experience the same success as I did with the 8800.

I will find out later today I think if the Apple computer purchase in Dubai is going to work. I am not working tomorrow as all of a sudden I am gentile and need to celebrate Christmas with Dr. Paul's gang. I will head over there shortly after getting up and not come into the office. I am trying to hunt out Ato Mussa to finalize the rules of engagement for the new contract. My terms involve a trip back to Canada for a week for every 7 weeks worked as well as consulting fee payment to be made on Ethiopian government holidays. I have also suggested inking the startup of the contract to run from February 3 through March 31. Ato Mussa is out this AM and I hope to find him this afternoon.

Love 40 or 40 love?

2009-12-23T18:58:00.001+03:00

So the news I know you all have been waiting for is about to arrive ... ta dah! I am having a tennis lesson Saturday at 2PM with coach. I have gone out of my way to avoid thinking of doing this for quite a while as my foot gets stronger. On Saturday it will be almost 5 weeks since I got the cast off. I told Hiruy to take it easy on me. If all goes well I will see him as well Sunday.

My tooth infection has made some progress. In addition to the meds the doctor prescribed for me Monday, I have had to take ibuprofen a few times a day for the pain. It has now been almost 8 hours since my last IB and I am aware of the site but it is nothing like it was yesterday and Monday. That is a good thing. The meds I have will last a few more days and I hope by then it will be cleared up completely. The buy-MacBook-in-Dubai plan will either play out as hoped or dies tomorrow. Yoftahe is leaving for Dubai tonight and mentioned that he will be at the Apple store there tomorrow. I am quite pumped about returning to Canada and my Sweet Thing et al.

I have been eating a lot of traditional food lately at Blue Drops and quite like their garlic-ridden meat with tomatoes and hot peppers that they call "chikenna" even though it is made of beef :). Jakov, I will start a brand new BLOG when (still if but almost when) I return to Addis in February, and thanks to you, I will be calling it Addis Abbeyba. I hope you are enjoying Hungary and your little girl.

Work ethic

2009-12-23T08:58:00.003+03:00

I have noticed what appears to be a profound difference between the work ethic of the blue collar worker as compared to some professionals in Ethiopia. This goes all the way from the street cleaner up to the information technology person. The blue collar worker is thorough, eager, is committed to doing a job properly. I have run across a number of people in IT who I am sure would pride themselves as professionals, but, to use a well-worn cliché from the western world, are "slackers". Some of them do close to nothing but take up space and seem to be "happy" with that.

I have not run across this in the west in IT, though I have run into many people who do not go the distance, and are complacent, believing they are doing a good job and deserve the remuneration they receive. In summary, it seems to be the exact opposite for many (not all) workers in the west and what I have run across so far during this current forage into Africa.

Merkato in the plans for W/E

2009-12-22T09:41:00.001+03:00

I am excited to return to one of my favourite hangout in Addis ... merkato. I have a fresh batch or merkato-money and am thinking of putting an arrow on the left pocket of my dungarees pointing to the location of said money for the pick-pockets.

Conflagration of pickers

2009-12-22T08:58:00.001+03:00

I found a large collection of people hovering on a street corner on the way to work as we drove by. I was curious what could possibly attract such a throng of Addis-Ababites. As we rounded the corner, I saw what that attraction was ... an over-sized refuse container with a gold mine of goods to be pillaged by a host of pickers coupled with the lucky "owners" of the bin.

Number 1 consumer of health care services

2009-12-21T21:12:00.002+03:00

I went to St. Gabriel's after work and the dentist had a poke around the mouth, finding one tooth on the bottom very tender. He took an x-ray and reported an infection between the last 2 teeth bottom right. That is a difficult area for me and has been for years. He prescribed ampicillin, paracetomal, and metronidazole one pill each 3 times a day for 7 days to clear things up. If anything "worsens" I should go back and see him.

Mussa and I spoke today and he is getting legal to draw up another contract to start February 3 2010. I have some stuff to work on with Dr. Paul over the next few days for MoFED. I was going to go see jazz tonight with Youssef from the guest house but am too beat. On the way back from the hosibeau (Abbey offspring way to say "hospital"), I found another Chinese restaurant that was good. I had some trouble finding chicken in the poultry dish and mentioned it to the owner as I left. Off to look up what I am ingesting drug-wise for the next week; the pills, a total of 30 of them, cost 31 birr or $3. I should keep the receipt and claim on our drug plan, ya fig?

Close but not 100% yet

2009-12-21T16:37:00.001+03:00

I spoke again with Ato Mussa regarding a new contract. My terms were "acceptable" and he is getting legal to draw up a new contract for work to commence February 3 2010 until at least March 31. It will be time and materials, not hooked to deliverables, and he knows for every 7 weeks in Addis I expect a trip back to Ottawa.

I would much rather be working in Canada at some point in time; what with the economy in North America, this work in Africa has been a blessing and quite enjoyable.

Korea for another year

2009-12-21T09:35:00.001+03:00

My Naomi is close to signing up for another year to teach in Seoul. Not long ago she mentioned she was not interested but obviously something has changed.

I stopped at St. Gabriel's hospital to see if I could get the dentist to look at my sore tooth, and he does not start until 6PM today. I will go ther after leaving work.

I have given up on trying to get together with the live music godfather; he is too rude to even worry about. It is beyond me why some people can be so inconsiderate; I run across it here far more than I do in the west.

A day of rest

2009-12-20T14:07:00.004+03:00

I ran off to Dr. Paul's for breakfast today and that was lovely. I hooked up with the gang from the guest house last night and ended up at a very nice restaurant not far from Meskel square.

We had BBQ chicken, telapia, plantain, cous-cous and some red wine. Aftwerwards we went to a club called Tam Tam that was very dark and noisy. I did not stay long and grabbed a lift back to Deker with 2 gentlemen in the party I had just met.

We were on a long road that was under construction. It seems that they do everything at once here to the roads rather than piece-by-piece say over a 2-3 year period. There were giant piles of gravel and sand everywhere, and navigating for a pedestrian was a treat. There were piles of boulders the size of footballs as well as idle machinery of every shape and size. One sees so many sites littered with this type of paraphernalia all over Addis, as crews work at a ferverish pace to get the streets closed up and paved by the time the rainy season returns in March/April.

I met a guy from Cote D'Ivoire named Youssef who organized the outing. He asked me to take him to the jazz club that Melaku and I have been to a few times and we will do that tomorrow night.

I am hoping that finally one of my schemes here will work out ... the one where Yoftahe is going to buy me a Macbook Pro in Dubai this week and bring it back here for 2,000 birr duty. I am watching BladeRunner this afernoon, and still chuckle at the fact that it is my favourite movie, the main character's name is Deckert, and I am staying at Deker Inn in Addis ... a coincidence? I think not.

I will devour some Barclays premier league football hopefully this evening at Blue Drops. When I wear the Fly Emirates (Arsenal) or Carlsberg (Liverpool) shirts the locals give me thumbs up (or down) when I pass by. I spoke to Carl Dudley a few times via email and he wondered what took me so long to start watching football. He has an answer for all my football questions and should impart his wisdom to the Liverpool fans as to why their team is so bad this year.

Those devils

2009-12-19T15:54:00.001+03:00

Big IF's ... if they make the playoffs hopefully someone else will be nice enough to beat New Jersey for us as we seem unable ...

Michael'd out

2009-12-19T15:53:00.001+03:00

I don't know why Peter always gets knocked when something one was supposed to do does not work out. I never did manage to hook up with the Deker people for some plans for the day. I ended up doing close to a lot of nothing which as a substitute is not a bad thing.

Shauna, has Sean looked at any of the Beatles stuff I suggested a while back, because one of them (Julia) would keep him busy for quite a while itself. He needs to start by listening to the song over and over again until he is familiar with the arrangement.

The way I do it, at least, once I am fluent with the flow and voicing of the lyrics, is work on the timing and the blend of guitar with vocals, especially the likes of whether to say "Ju-lia" during a chord change or "Juli-a". I also spend some time embellishing the right hand with a stronger and appropriate mix of up-strokes and bi-directional strumming that emphasizes the tempo of the song. Got all that Sean? If you do, please tell me what I just said :).

Cherub #2 arrives from Toronto tomorrow for my Sweet Thing's enjoyment. Speaking of enjoyment, did I mention how much I am looking forward to seeing everyone in Ottawa?

Shabbat shalom again

2009-12-19T10:10:00.003+03:00

Up at about 7:30 which is sleeping in to me. I ran into Julia and another gentleman from Cote D'Ivoire who is staying at the guest house. They asked if I wanted to join them on a trek later that is supposed to end up at a well known African restaurant.

I walked down to Bole 19 tennis this morning and had a nice visit with Melaku and Hiruy. It is a warm and pleasant 18 degrees with lots of sunshine. What a difference week makes. Seven days ago I was uncertain about this contract completion and whether I would end up coming back here. I should find out by Tuesday MoFED's plans for me and a timetable for my possible return here. Regardless of the outcome of the discussions with Ato Mussa, I will be in Canada from December 31 until at least January 31, spending the 16th-31st out west in Calgary and Vancouver ... sweet :).

Same old same old

2009-12-18T12:58:00.002+03:00

Friday arrives amidst no plans for the weekend. I will go to Dr. Paul's Sunday morning for his world famous brunch. Melaku and I may go to the Sheraton tonight to hear a new band playing at the Office club. I will stay at work today until a reasonable hour then off to the Deker again ...

Back in the groove

2009-12-18T08:42:00.003+03:00

In the office early again, now that a few of the roadblocks seem to be breaking down. I will madly finish off the DBA training with Burhan and Hanna over these last 9 days. I may be inking a new contract with these people to start February 2. I have a meeting with Ato Mussa to discuss this today after lunch.

I did not manage to get together with the music guy last night and Kenny suggested I call him Sunday to get together that afternoon. I have just learned and am working in the arrangements for 2 additional Steely Dan songs ... Midnight Cruiser and Don't Take Me Alive. The latter has an interesting set of climbs up the fret board, one staring in Bb, the other in Fm7. Got all that Bakes :).

Benny boy

2009-12-17T08:09:00.001+03:00

My Sweet Thing has her little 21 year-old cherub with her all to herself until other offspring arrives Sunday. She just loves having these "little people" at home with her and especially now since she does not have to share them with me.

I am supposed to touch base with the godfather of music today sometime after 6PM and maybe Kenny and I will be able to get together.

A 2 year old

2009-12-17T08:07:00.001+03:00

So everytime I open up my PC at Deker to log into the internet, I honestly believe that this time will be different than all the others. There will be no bandwidth issues, no hourglasses for 2 to 3 minutes, everything will be fine. Guess what? It's not. The internet is just as bad if not worse than it was last time. The 2 year-old thing is that I convince myself it will be different this time and actually believe it.

A whole day

2009-12-17T06:39:00.002+03:00

The Ileana flag was bright red yesterday. A whole day without a post. I had made a contact to look into purchasing a Mac but it appears to have fallen through. Business people here have a huge amount to learn about follow through and communication. This guy makes arrangements to see me at his store after 9:30 yesterday morning then no show; no call back; nada. They are going to re-live all the retail issues we went through in the west as we transitioned from the paper-age to the electronics era. We learned a whole bunch of lessons on what to do and what not to do. They ask for our advice here on how to avoid the pitfalls we experienced then if they do not like what we say, they do whatever they wish. This "disease" is rampant in the third world, a belief I have heard from a number of westerners I have rubbed shoulders with over the past 4 months.

I spoke with someone at the Apple store who anticipates arrival of some Macbook Pro's by the end of next week. They are about twice the price of what they appear to be in North America, but c'est la vie.

Devoured a hot dog of all things last night at a ferenge-owned restaurant near Deker called MKs. I see the Sens are still haunting the Sabres with a 2-0 victory last night, with Hiladie behind the bench.

It just keeps coming

2009-12-14T20:00:00.003+03:00

So I have been here probably the better part of 120 days. Something happened to me tonight which I think ranks with my most classic Ethiopian moments. There is a traditional restaurant close to Deker called Select. When I first arrived in Addis, I neeeded to test the waters with their cuisine so went to Select a few times. Once when I was there I came home and made a BLOG post about how I had used a spoon instead of scooping my food with injera. I mentioned in that post that I hoped not to get caught using a utensil or I would be banned from the establishment. My 26-year-old (G-d he's cute, ya fig?) says to me in a comment to that post "would they really ban you Dad?". So for the past few months there has been a buzz of activity in the restaurant and it just re-opened this week with a new face and it's now habesha ... traditional food/music. Ferenge is curious so I check it out for dinner ... ready?

I ask for a menu. They say "We don't have one, we server habesha food only". I say "Ok, so instead of giving me a menu, how about some food?". The server's response, "what kind of food?". Is that not why one has a menu? Another server rescues the original from silly ferenge, and says "Ok". Now I am stuck; I do not know whether I have ordered anything or not. I sit and chuckle loudly many times over what just happened, hoping something will go down which will allow me to actually believe food will be forthcoming. So amidst the giggling (ferenge is so silly), finally something starts its way out of the kitchen, and ferenge hopes it may be a sign that nourishment will arrive. Sweet ... it's a napkin holder with a whole 2 half napkins; what a cornucopia of cleaning apparati! Not long after food arrives and ferenge is pleased. It was very nice and I put the hot orange powder on everything. Then the next hurdle is getting the bill. I ask the "bill request recipient" for the check, and he summons the "bill request message deliverer to the cash" who takes the shortest route (a straight line) and dispatches the request to the person who is officially sanctioned by the establishment to carry out such an important role. Bill is prepared, passed back down the chain of command, and arrives at ferenge-a-table. It was 60 birr which was outrageous for what I ate but, considering the 79 pairs of hands that touched the bill, I know there are a lot of mouths to be fed.

I was still chuckling about these events as I wrote this post ... and as I have said so many times during those aforementioned 120 days, "Welcome to Africa" ... While in the restaurant, I was the only customer there; there must have been 10 people running around doing who knows what, but everyone was SO BUSY! I asked my server (actually one chosen from my team of servers) if the meat I just ate was lamb? "Yes" was the answer. I then asked it it was beef, and yes, during the seconds between my first and second question, the meat had mutated into cow. "Yes" again was the answer. I did not want to push my luck, but I was sure if I asked if it was donkey, the answer would as well have been affirmative.

Get a life Abbey?

2009-12-14T08:08:00.003+03:00

I have alluded to the fact that life is so simple in Addis, that being one of the attractions of my Afrexperience so far. My life style here is so simple. The t-shirt would say ... Eat, Sleep, Play Guitar. I have got ever so increasingly experimental with the 6-string every day.

I am hoping to touch base soon with Kenny (the Addis godfather of jamming) and try on some of my newer material with a few fellow ferenge or local musicians. There was quite the pick-in at the garbage trough today outside Bilo's. It must have been a banner day for goodies as there were 3, count-em 3! invited pickers. All is well in Addis heading into O(ttawa) minus 17. Salem ...

Only in Addis

2009-12-13T23:21:00.003+03:00

So the big screen TV at Blue Drops is broken. There has been a 22" on the table for us to watch for a few days now. So just before the Barclay's game tonight, the owner shows up and swaps the TV for a 36" flat screen LCD jobby. Talk about customer service ... I have seen this "way too cool" service out of Blue Drops before and I hope business continues to be good since the owner is very good to his steady clientele.

If one were to suggest such a swap at a sports bar in Canada, the owner's response would be something sarcastic like "what, ya think I own a TV store too?".

When in Addis, do as the ...

2009-12-13T23:09:00.001+03:00

Not much going on today. I was looking forward to a Liverpool/Arsenal football game at 7 tonight and it did not disappoint. Blue Drops slowly filled up then the action began with the opening faceoff. Arsenal was just too strong for them and Liverpool lost 2-1. It is electric in the bars here when the Barclay's Premier teams are playing. It is a very difficult game and it can get quite rough. When there is a collision and the issuance of a yellow card, it always reminds me of the embellishing that goes on in basketball whenever there is a crash on the court. Some of the "injuries" on the football field appear to be much more dramatic than basketball.

I am entering my 13th last day of the MoFED contract and it may or may not be a busy set of working days. There are no deliverables pending immediately and with Dr. Paul's organization here, we will see if we can fit in a few before the 30th but it will be a stretch.

For Sean's eyes only

2009-12-13T09:20:00.001+03:00

If you want, try to dig up the music for a few of the following Beatles' tunes that we can work on when return:

Julia
We Can Work it Out
Something
Dr. Robert
I Feel Fine
Michelle

Tell Paddy they are all in 4/4.

A fine Saturday evening

2009-12-13T09:18:00.002+03:00

I hooked up with Melaku about 8:30. He asked if I had eaten and wanted to go for a bite before we went to see a band play. I do not like to ask him if we should have a bite together 'cause I do not like to put him under the pressure of spending the money so I do not ask anymore. We went to an Italian place near the airport we had been to before, and I had a salad. He also ordered a side of potatoes and spinach with garlic that was yummy.

We went to a club called the Bar No-name on Bole Rwanda fo see the German guys that he works with and their 3 vocalists. The music was grinding and ferenge and we stayed for the set then packed it in. Poor Melaku is up daily at 5:30 for church so we never stay late.

I was introduced to Kenny who I have heard is the godfather of live music in Addis. I was told by at least one other person that if I wanted to try to hookup with musicians to jam, Kenny at Harlem jazz is a good place to start. He gave us his cell number and I will get in touch with him. He likes my interest in Steely Dan especially and I spoke with him last night a bit about my other interests including The Band, Beatles, and Stevie Wonder. Would it not be ironic if just over 2 weeks from the end of a 5 month stay I finally managed to hook up with some people to work out with :).

An awkward moment

2009-12-12T18:39:00.004+03:00

So I drop in to the closest corner store that is right beside Deker on the way back from work in the mid-afternoon one day this week. The owner's daughter who looks to be about 7 or 8 is running the cash. I grab something and when ready to pay, the girls points to the back of the store where her mother is kneeling praying and tells me to wait since she does not know how much to charge me. I wait a few minutes then the praying still is going on. I leave and realize I will have to come back later.

I am back in there today to get water, and ask the owner (whose friend translates for me) if that happens again can I come back and pay for what I take and she said "of course". Neat the way that worked out. The translator told me "oyh, and these is so much praying on Friday" :). I have noticed that when I go to merkato at noon, half the stores are closed as many of the proprietors are Muslim and they are closed for prayer.

As well, there are guys who peddle disposable mats to kneel on in merkato ... disposable in that they are cardboard and after use, the same vendor scurries around merkato picking up the abandoned mats to re-sell tomorrow. I love the way things (most not all, but close to all :)) are done around here ...

Election in the spring

2009-12-12T14:49:00.001+03:00

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.

Shabat shalom

2009-12-12T12:00:00.003+03:00

Twas a very nice morning that started about 8 I think. I munched at Bilo's then hopped in a blue bus for a 50 birr cent ride to Kezanches where I then walked towards Meskel square. I ran into Melaku with his brother at Bilo's and we sort of made plans to see the German band tonight somewhere near here. These are the same guys that we saw a while back at Wim's just before Oktoberfest. I asked one of the guys at Bilo's if he has a wife, and the response was classic ... No I have no money :). Since when do spouses cost money? I walked for about 20 minutes, then before traversing Meskel asked permission from one of the federales to take pictures there and was given the go-ahead. There are many spots in Addis where it is well known pictures are forbidden and if caught taking a picture there, one could be held by the authorities until they are satisfied that you meant no harm. They let you go camera-less eventually in what I am told can be 6-48 hours. Hence my asking the office before getting started on photos. I got a few shots of tomorrow's football stars and they just love seeing pictures of themselves.

I went to get some more stuff for the gang back home and remembered some advice Tagel gave ma about these shops. He told me the sales personnel know what the owner wants for each item in stock. If the sellers can get more than has to be turned over to the owner, that is extra in their pockets. He prefers figuring out who the owner is and dealing directly with him/her.

I walked down Bolé Cameroon for a while and had a burger at Parisienne. I then upgraded my onesie at a store; the pants will need shortening by Greenbank tailor when I return to Canada. I did quite a bit of walking today but still am not pushing it. Now for some guitar playing, and what I hope is the mastery of Michelle ...

Discords are the heart of chord-based western music

2009-12-12T07:05:00.004+03:00

Now there's a categorical statement if I ever heard one. I am ploughing through my Beatles songbook, and keep running across recurring chord patterns with anywhere from a dash to an onslaught of chords they use together that make tension and enhance the melody and open the door to such a Beatle-esq form of harmony they were so good at. I also added the North American version of Rubber Soul to my complete album repertoire. Michelle naturally is/was the biggest challenge.

I texted my Sweet Thing with the customary good night message about 10'ish last night then my mind was racing too much as it has a tendency to do, so I got up and worked out on the guitar until close to 1AM on Rubber Soul. For some reason that vinyl made a mark on me when I first heard it in my late teens then not long after meeting ST, her Mom Marsha gave it to me on CD for a birthday present. Interestingly enough one of the songs on the second side gave Ben K. great pleasure as it rang a bell with him the first time he heard the CD in my van and when I played I'm Looking Through You on the Beneteau.

Off to Bilo's (I think) for morning sustenance, then some of a walk. I had some traditional grub at Blue Drops yesterday and what a difference the Ethiopia touch makes. Liverpool plays Arsenal tomorrow at 6:30PM and I wouldn't miss it. If only Dudley could see me now; I think he would be proud.

Back to a different reality

2009-12-11T15:29:00.002+03:00

Had a lovely lunch at Naklah, a Yemeni restaurant in the Wello Sefer part of town. That spot is always scrumptious and their specialty is everything. We are saying goodbye today to one of the Dulciites named John Jeunnette. He has been here twice and I believe his sentence this time was longer than previous (?). I am quite looking forward to perusing this BLOG text in the future long after the work has completed and I have returned to Canada. It is quite wet here today, maybe the tail end of the storm bothering eastern North America ):.

I still feel for the street people when it is wet in Addis. As I have mentioned many times, usually it is very very wet here from March through September and the downpours are so huge I, as a guest house person, even find them hard. I was not with the gang, but one day near work, after a huge rainfall a wave of water about a foot high wafted its way down the street outside MoFED. I love telling these people about the sub-zero days in Ottawa. They love to hear about the snow and how the sun always seems to shine the colder the mercury goes. When I get home, I will have a few months left on my Hyundai lease then I will have to figure out what to do next. I am thinking of leasing a small car used, but that may not be the way I go.

C'est la vie ...

2009-12-11T09:59:00.002+03:00

A very common expression when relating to the systems in Ethiopia. At the last minute I was unable to purchase the ticket to fly out west when I return to Canada. The travel agent was told by her distributor that she cannot book a flight that does not involve a touch-down in Africa. I will try to go the Aeroplan route and as of now there are seats available.

A sickly little thing

2009-12-11T05:36:00.001+03:00

It happened again unfortunately Thursday AM. It may have been the spaghetti I ate at Blue Drops but not sure. I do not know what else it could be. It started just after I got up and I spent most of the day in bed. By 6 or so the pain that rippled through my abdomen stopped and I had a bite at Bilo's. Does anyone know whether apple pie has any medicinal role or is it just me?

I will go into work today and try to reschedule the meeting I was supposed to have with the testers yesterday. Metasabya who works the guest house during the day looked after me and got me some sparkling water and once a little tummy solution that tasted like chalk. I need to do some shopping for my offspring and some of their squeeze's which I will maybe do over the weekend. I did not get to the travel agency to purchase the Vancouver/Calgary ticket but hope to do that today.

... is the best medicine

2009-12-09T23:32:00.003+03:00

Fill in the blank ... it could be anything for anyone. Most of the time my blank would be filled in with "Getting and giving pleasure to people who are close to me that matter". However lately in Addis it has been my git-box. Some nights I do not start playing until late (for me that is 9PM now) and when I pick it up I cannot stop. Got some bad news for S&B. I thought I might be able to part with this axe that I bought in Addis but alas I cannot; Steven B. we will have to get you something else (I hope) 'cause you are still my infantile progidy. I went for a late bite at Blue Drops then played and played.

I had a lovely chat with Shauna tonight as well as left a message with Bear and Anita. I tried Nathan but never got through. I chatted up BJ Comberflab (aka Ben) on MSN and that was nice. Tomorrow I have my third of three meetings with people at work on a fact-finding mission concocted by my employers. I am dying to take another trip to merkato this weekend and will, except I do not want to push my foot so maybe I will wait another week. Speaking of foot, it is now ~97% better (maybe 97.3 :)).

At a goodbye party I am throwing on December 29, I will do the two songs I have written while here. The last time I wrote a few songs, it all started sitting in my cab on a wet dark weekday morning at 25 Cartier in centre town, and I got inspired to write a song about driving cab called "Leaf Covered Boulevard". The refrain was ...

Numbers break the lengthy silence
Wheels and gears spring into flight
Piercing the night a streak of light
Moves on towards selected spots ...

The songs I wrote are called New Flower and THO. The title of the former is a literal translation of Addis Abeba and the latter is initials for Thank-you Hello OK, a little ditty that covers these 3 very important words in about 10-12 languages, for example ...

Amesahgenalu, salem, ishi
Works in Addis or Tigray
Multumesc, bunizoowah, dah
Heard in Bucharest hah hah hah
Todah rabh, shalom, cayn
In Tel Aviv heard in the main
Thank-you, hello, OK.

(Pardon the spelling above it is designed to phonetically correct, whatever that means :)).

The musings of Michael Abbey, or I should say michaelabbey. Then there was the time Paddy asked his Ma "what's michaelabbey's last name" (I think it was Paddy). I do not remember how the exchange went but it got back to asking him what he thinks it is, and he confidently announces "Kronick". I know Paddy and Sean are looking forward to our reunion ... the only thing I suggest Mr. Half Bass and Mr. Traps ... lots of towels 'cause there are 3 1/2 months of wet kisses coming.

It's been a dream ... Africa ... who would'a thought. It is surrealistic and, just like ANY other society, if you can strip all the BS out and the nonsense perpetrated by systems (yes in Canada as well as Ethiopia) and just concentrate on the people, everywhere is the same. I close tonight offering suggestions for making ferenge (at least the MSA version thereof) happier in Addis:

1) The Addis Sweepers NHL expansion team
2) Soya sauce on every corner
3) St. George beer fountains at every intersection
4) Golden Palace Addis
5) Algonquin College School of Hospitality starring you know who
6) Something other than close to as fast as dialup internet
7) Guaranteed someone to jam with
8) Food for ALL
9) Reduce the salt in just about everything at every restaurant
10) Affordable tune-ups and baby seats for automabiles

Getting impatient

2009-12-09T18:43:00.001+03:00

I must say my patience and acceptance with the way things are so complicated here are starting to wear thin though I know I will make it another 3 weeks. So I am trying to decide how to ship my excess baggage back home and have weighed DHL which turned out to be about $20 per kilogram. So why not get an extra bag voucher from Lufthansa. That would cost about half as much (maybe) but they need a letter from my employer to accept the cash for the voucher. They need proof that the birr I give them (a whopping 3,000 at that) is not laundered. I will probably spend the money on DHL then at least I will not have to get a letter from my "parent" to ship some laundry and sports jackets/pants home.

Then I go to Birdlife travel to get my Vancouver and Calgary ticket and their internet connection is so slow we cannot finish the transaction. I get to go back tomorrow and hopefully the internet will be behaving itself. Now I get to carry around way too much birr until the transaction can be completed. I have 15 more working days until end of contract, and I did meet with Ato Mussa to discuss further work but nothing has come to fruition whatsoever yet (if it indeed ever will).

I am going to lie pretty low tonight and will just go to Blue Drops for pasta. I don't think I can get accosted by dozens of beggars and street vendors during the 40 foot trek to that establishment, but then who knows ...

Close but no pipe (?)

2009-12-09T11:32:00.001+03:00

Was that the famous Groucho Marx saying? I am trying to purchase a ticket to fly to Calgary then on to Vancouver in January to see Annabelle/Lindsay/Jordan then Valerie. I got the brilliant idea of trying to purchase here with birr. I approached 2 travel agencies and convinced myself that one would come through.

Well it's not going very well. One lady gave me the info required to go to a Lufthansa office and pay for the reservation. She gave me a reference number which Lufthansa did not recognize. As it turns out it is an Air Canada locator which makes sense so Lufthansa is now unable to assist.

I called back MySeru travel person and she will now see if she can figure out some way for me to bye this ticket here with my birr.

Wow!

2009-12-09T05:41:00.001+03:00

You will never guess what I am doing ... watching the Senators. I thought since I was up so early, why not. Maybe the bandwidth at 5:30AM here will permit this to work. It is not really great but I am having the pleasure of seeing the closest to a hockey game I have all season, even thought the Sens are losing 2-1 midway through the third and their 5th power play.

The maximum speed I can get is ~128 kbps which is almost enough.

Finally found something

2009-12-09T05:36:00.002+03:00

Other than the lack of some more sophisticated systems in the areas such as IT and banking, I finally found a few things that annoy me about this country. I find the drivers very rude and impatient and there is a lot of aggression towards pedestrians that I am not used to seeing in, yes, of all places, the western world. They have no patience for people walking and will cut us off when we "obviously" have the right of way. They have white lines painted on the pavement for crosswalks and nobody pays any attention to them. They are called "zebras" and if you hit a pedestrian in one of them with your vehicle it is automatically minimum 5 years in prison. Maybe that should be implemented for horn-honking which is worse here than NYC.

The street people begging for money are getting to me as well. I am thinking of hanging a sandwich board around my neck that says "NO" in Amharic. I have also been told that there are so many vehicles spewing black smoke since many of them are so old and running on carburetors rather than fuel injection they cannot possibly burn the fuel efficiently. The black smoke is indicative of incomplete combustion.

With that said, I do love this place and 1 thing is missing which will be fixed in 23 days ... I will give you a hint, it's a word, 6 letters long starts with "f" and ends in "y". I have 3 meetings today at work, one with the Dulcian people and the other with the MoFED developers to discuss their impressions/gather their feedback about IBEX2.

10 things I will do first when I get back to Ottawa (actually 16)

2009-12-08T21:05:00.001+03:00

Numbers 10 down to 1 ...
10 - Go get some mullah out of the ATM and know that it will be working ALL THE TIME.
9 - Approach a STOP sign at my corner and actually stop, unlike in some other countries.
8 - Go to the GP for some egg rolls.
7 - Watch a hockey game and cheer the Sens on to another miserable performance.
6 - Open this BLOG for some perhaps final comments and not wait 10-12 minutes for the "Sign in" banner at the top of the screen.
5 - Eat a hot dog smothered in mustard and old cheddar cheese.
4 - Touch base with the important people, and make arrangements to hook up with a couple little people on 4th avenue in particular as well as many others.
3 - Speak to Ben and Nathan and make arrangements to hook up with them and their belles.
2 - Visit my Ma .... yippeee!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 - My Sweet Thing will be in Florida with her babies ... I will __________ __ ____ ___ __ ___ as she will not be home for over 24 hours after me.

Numbers 0 to minus 4 ...
0 - Shovel the sidewalks and clean up the driveway.
-1 - Shiver in the cold of a beautifully sunny Ottawa winter morning.
-2 - Clean the snow off the deck.
-3 - Receive mail; what a concept.
-4 - Suffer from the green halopenja hangover after I use 2-3 containers on my nachos the first time I go to Mexi's.

Music from Big Pink

2009-12-08T20:53:00.002+03:00

Ever since that album was released in 1967 (The Band), it has been close to the top of my list EVERY week. There was once a time when I was sharing a house with Nora/Kim and a few of there offspring where Kim and I would religiously try to listen to the vinyl daily. I can still over 40 years later sit mesmerized by Danko's vocals, Helm's singing and beating the skins, Hudson's WAILING organ, Robertson's Gretsch lead guitar solos, and Manuel's banging them 88's. Alas, only 3 of the 5 are still alive, but I will never forget these tunes.

They started in Ontario as the backup band to Ronnie Hawkins, affectionately calling themselves the Hawks. They went on their own too and were somehow discovered by Robert Zimmerman when they were Levon and the Hawks. They had a torrid relationship with Dylan, being his touring band with, to the best of my recollection, only one studio album appearance ... Planet Waves. I only saw Dylan once with the Band live at the Forum in the late 1970's.

I decided I would add Music from Big Pink to my only other complete-album repertoire. The sole disc in that category until now is DSOTM (Dark Side of the Moon). So I printed out ALL the lyrics and music for Pink and it's all going well except Chest Fever. That tune has a whaling organ (I can just see the Leslie tone cabinet horn whirling supporting the magnificent Hammond B3) and is a text book case of smashing crescendos and fading diminuendos. I will figure out some way to pull it off. When I was figuring out DSOTM, Money and Us&Them seemed insurmountable but I did figure them out. My version of Money is weak but it works, the main problem being its weird 5/4 timing.

I transposed Caledonia Mission and The Station and am having a GREAT F%^*(NG time with this album.

It could have been much worse

2009-12-08T18:49:00.000+03:00

So I'm sitting on the side of the road near a building in Wello Safer area of town. A very dis-shevelled man wrapped in some very grimy clothes and a blanket walks just outside the line of parked cars. He passes the open driver-side window of a Toyota sedan, and I see him lean a bit towards the window and think nothing of it. Then I notice him struggling with the occupant. I head over to the scene and the guy abruptly leaves. I check with the woman in the car to make sure she is OK and she says thanks. There were a handful of street people around too who walked over to check as well. A few minutes later the woman leaves the car and on her way into a building thanks me again.

Now I don't feel so bad

2009-12-08T14:18:00.001+03:00

We went to a burger place with a habesha (native Ethiopian) and they messed up her order. If they misunderstood a habesha, I do not feel so bad that from time-to-time I am misunderstood at a local establishment. I had some chicken fajidas that were very nice (and tex-mex) for a location so far away from the North American continent.

The negotiations begin

2009-12-08T12:26:00.001+03:00

Ato Mussa called and we are in negotiations regarding a contract from February 1 through March 31. He does know that as of now I am available for that time period, however the longer the negotiations go on, the more likely that availability will change.

Taxi fare to the Dulcian compound ... $5
Chinese lunch for 6 ... $30
Blue bus ride to Meskel square ... 6 cents
Experiencing work and life in Africa ... priceless.

29 years ... wow!!

2009-12-08T04:59:00.001+03:00

December 8, 1980 ... the murder of John Lennon. Yet another talented young musician still in the prime of his career. All we are saying, is give peace a chance.

We got mofed ...

2009-12-08T04:45:00.001+03:00

I think I got mofed again ... there appears to be a new deposit to my USD account for my company. When I first arrived in Addis, I gave MoFED my banking information for consulting fees to be transferred to my account at TD Canada Trust. Then I waited for my first invoice to be sent, knowing the transfer would take a few weeks minimum afterwards. So then it turns out that they cannot do ANY transfer without the bank's SWIFT code which turns out to be TDOMCATTOR. Then I end up at the bank with a few people from MoFED finance department, and the end result is:

1) NO transfer can occur without a new official letterhead memo from MoFED with transfer details including SWIFT code
2) The second transfer was supposed to go to my USD account which is not a valid transfer target account
3) The memo for the second transfer is issued yesterday and delivered to the bank just before closing

This place amazes me ... the first transfer ended up going through without the SWIFT code. So why did it sit for 5 weeks without that code? Secondly, lo and behold it appears that the second transfer went through to the INVALID USD account. Welcome to Africa ...

A man's attention turns to his _______

2009-12-08T04:30:00.003+03:00

For those of you who know me well, you can probably fill in the blank ... what with my passion for a certain 3 eating establishments (actually 4) in Ottawa ... ST's cooking, GP, Colonnade, and Mexi's. I am almost ready to publish the top 10 (maybe 5) restaurant list in Addis.

I am winding down this whirlwind of activity in Ethiopia and still love the place and the work, but it's the support systems that drive one nuts here.

I am making plans to entertain a handful of habesha (locals) and buddies from the office on the 29th to say thanks for "looking after me" over this time since August 8 when I arrived.

I went to DHL to look into shipping some stuff back to Ottawa and they first asked how much it weighed and if I had the form yet indicating the bank had approved the shipment. So one needs approval from the bank here to ship some dirty socks and a suit out of the country? When they found out it was personal belongings, they acknowledged that the bank need not be involved. The charge for 25kg was a mere 5,000 birr or about $450USD. I am going to pay for an extra piece of luggage instead which will be about $125USD. The interesting thing about this will be that I am only allowed to take 200 birr into the airport and through the first checkpoint. The cost for the extra bag will be about 1,500 birr; how's that going to work? I will speak to Safeway Travel and see how I go about pre-purchasing a voucher for the extra bag.

I am bringing the merkato-purchased electric guitar home so that messes up my carry-on compliment and necessitates checking an extra suitcase. I do miss Ottawa and my family and i miss the cold cold weather and the snow (any there yet guys?). I paid the guest house another 12,000 birr and owe Ato Taye about 5,000 more before I leave.

An interesting experience

2009-12-07T13:27:00.003+03:00

I tried using the bank machine today but it was out of service. I went into the bank which was already very very crowded. It was about 9:30AM and it does not really slow down there until 1'ish. I get number 211. When I arrive they are at about 192 so the wait did not seem to be long.

So they start cycling through the numbers at a surprisingly feverish pace, and all of a sudden 211 shows up (hey I just won the lottery :)). I start to navigate through the throngs of people, and by the time I get to wicket #10, it is showing #217. Say what? One has 3 seconds to claim one's turn then the teller flicks the "vacant" switch and another number is called.

I got served at the next teller who was already showing 221 by the time I arrived and he gave me s__t for not paying attention to the numbers as they were called.

Welcome to Africa ...

Anyone have any connections?

2009-12-07T09:54:00.003+03:00

With all my passion for this country, there is one thing I would change if I knew how ... the time of the sunset. Not being geographically enlightened as some people, I can only guess the sun is always up at 6AM and down at 6:30PM since we are so close to the equator. I do miss the later sunset that we are used to in Ottawa. The time in Ottawa between which the sun sets in December and June is as much as 5 hours which provides us with a tease as we leave the office at home. Here since we leave about 5:30PM, often I do not get any sunshine at the end of the day.

Does anyone have any connections "up there" to assist in getting this fixed :)? I just spoke to Jordan and Lindsay. I am looking into a trip to Vancouver and Calgary in January when I return to see cousin Valerie, and the Calgary Abbeys on my way back. Annabelle is approaching 3 years old and always sounds very cute on the phone. She is madly preparing for Chanukah and very excited about the school she attends.

I have been doing a lot of musing about this adventure in Africa. It seems to me like I have been her a lot longer than 4 months, with 3 1/2 weeks to go. I am still having new adventures and seeing lots of new things. It's like a kid in a candy or Toys'R'Us store. I keep harking back to a Traffic song that I have mentioned many times in this BLOG and other writing ... Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring. That is still so applicable to my professional life in general over the past. Optimism is key and, with the assistance of my lovely Sweet Thing who is an expert in both that and being positive, it has been a journey to remember. She was in Toronto over the W/E seeing Jess and her buddies. She just loves to hang with the gang in Montreal and Toronto and I know they find my ST as wonderful as yours truly.

She is off to Israel-bet (my nickname for southern Florida) on the 23rd for 9 days with her two little cherubs. Deb and Jake are leaving sometime around the 17th for Hungary speaking of seeing little cherubs. Niece Jane is hold up in Budapest plucking and strumming away on her bass as she loves to do. I am going to ask her if she can invent the key of "H" after graduation ... talk about putting the music world on a tail spin :) I hear from the JJ/J pair periodically as Joel makes a quick post to this BLOG ... Baha Fresh, two words to get JW going.

Sunday state of mind

2009-12-06T18:15:00.001+03:00

What with my big plans to sleep in (ya right) I was up by 7AM. I guess if I am usually up by 6:15 that is sleeping in. I ran downstairs for my yogurt and tea and found Davis Cup doubles on between Czech and Spain. I watched for quite a while then did the Bilo's pastry thing for a donut and fasting pizza. I then came back upstairs and started the guitar thing for a change still devouring the Beatles songbook with a voracious appetite. My main squeeze this morning was a little ditty from I think it was Magical Mystery Tour, called "I'll Cry Instead". Those two (mainly) Lennon and McCartney are some song writers without daring to try to take any credit away from Starr and Harrison.

I went with Melaku to the Hilton for the end of a real treat of a doubles match, then the main event which was a mens singles semi-final in the Benz-Mitsubishi sponsored tournament. The first prize is 3,000 birr and Tagel told me for a purse that rich, it would be a national championship.

I had a visit with Tagel today as he was in the area as the wife went to Boston Spa. We chatted a lot about work but also about Ethiopia and Addis especially. He offered to take me to a local Christian Orthodox church for a service and I welcome that opportunity always to see how others worship.

Remembering December 6, 1989

2009-12-05T20:00:00.000+03:00

This was the day some i___t marched into l'Université de Montréal's École Polytechnique school of engineering and murdered 14 women. It irks me that these perpetrators get so much publicity and notoriety and the victims' names are forgotten; they are:

Genevieve Bergeron
Helene Colgan
Nathalie Croteau
Barbara Daigneault
Anne-Marie Edward
Maud Haviernick
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
Maryse Laganiere
Maryse Leclair
Anne-Marie Lemay
Sonia Pelletier
Michele Richard
Annie St-Arneault
Annie Turcotte

This media engine that insists on doing this to these dregs of humanity who deserve to be forgotten is the same one that loves to idolize the supposed ring-leader of September 11. That person's name should NEVER BE MENTIONED AGAIN.

There'ere'ere is a Place :)

2009-12-05T19:41:00.001+03:00

I noticed my FAVOURITE physiotherapist Pam has started following my BLOG. I always seem to run into Pam by accident :) and knowing her supports my theory that "truth is stranger than fiction and the world is a very small place". Her brother (I think it is) teaches at Hillel and knows Janet D., a very dear friend of my wife (and me ):). I/we love JD ...

I am such an i___t

2009-12-05T19:36:00.000+03:00

I did screw up on my return date to Ottawa. Flights from Africa have a habit of leaving in the very wee hours of the morning. For example, when Sweet Thing returned from Kenya, she left at 11:59PM. There are 2 reasons for these departures. The first (and big one) is to get to Europe in the early morning (i.e., pre 8AM) hour so one can get back to the east coast of North America by late afternoon. This would ease the 7 or more hour time change. The second reason is it is easier to land in Europe in the early AM as most of the jets bound for the west have already left (i.e., more room on the tarmac and easier to take off and land).

So I leave Addis Thursday December 31 at 2:30AM (6:30PM Wednesday the 30th in Ottawa). I land in Ottawa some 22 hours later, putting me there ~4:30PM Thursday December 31.

Shower rained out :)

2009-12-05T19:25:00.002+03:00

The baby shower or whatever it would have been that Melaku and I were going to go to did not happen after all. I spent the afternoon jamming with myself on the Beatles songbook. I have gotten very much more ambitious as of late with what I'll try and had an especially great time with Another Girl, Julia, Because, and Please Please Me. I then hoofed it to East Garden again and had a lovely walk there and back. I wore running shoes rather than my preferred mode of foot apparel, and that was wise. As I slowly begin walking again, I will do that to provide myself with more needed support.

I finished the Sopranos complete a few nights ago. This was the second time I watched the whole series and probably not the last. My favourite episodes are in seasons 4 and 6 and those of you who know the series may agree :). I am supposed to go with Melaku to the Hilton tomorrow for the finals of a local tennis tourney but I may skip it. I sat down and started watching the Road Warrior. I am going to sit on my balcony in the dark tonight and finish it off, pretending I am at a drive-in :).

It's been struggling to be hot and dry over the past few days. It sure warms up quickly once that equatorial sun rises to about 40 degrees. I bought cookies today that were way too sweet so gave most of them away to the security guards and the workers at the laundry next door. I am weaning myself of the steroid (prednazone) that I am taking to help reduce the swelling on my left-eye optical nerve. I reduce the dosage gradually until 10 days from now when I finish with 2 pills. Not much change at MoFED wrt. deliverables, so plugging away as usual.

I have as of this coming Monday, 18 more working days on my 92 day contract. It has been quite an experience and I am sure it will continue to be so until I set foot on German soil the morning of December 31. Actually, I am going to check that out 'cause if I am leaving Addis at 2:30AM Thursday December 31, it is 8 hours to FRA then a 6-hour layover, then 7.5 to Ottawa. That means it is about a 21 hour elapsed time from departure to arrival. When it's 2:30AM in Addis December 31, it's 6:30PM in Ottawa on December 30. Thus 21 hours from that Ottawa time is 3:30PM on December 31 in Ottawa ... now that I have confused you, stay tuned and I will check it out.

Fascinating tidbits

2009-12-05T10:49:00.003+03:00

Even after being here the better part of 4 months, I still love this side of Addis. I have always seen corrugated tin huts about the size of 2 caskets sitting on the side of the road all over this berg. I thought they were garbage bins but have been corrected ... the night security guard sleeps in there as protection from the elements :). They carry one across Bolé Cameroon each morning and park it inconspicuously beside a fence until required again at night.

An early Saturday

2009-12-05T10:47:00.002+03:00

I made plans to meet Melaku at 6:30AM and accompany him to the tennis club. I heard from him ~6:30 saying he was driving his Mom to the bus and would get me afterwards.

We headed off to Bole 19 first then went to Parisienne for a bite. We then did a tour of a few more tennis clubs and 1 football field, then settled back at Bole 19. I am back at the guest house and we may be getting together later for that baby shower we were invited to.

By the time we got back to Bole 19, the kids were on the courts and, as they have them until 1'ish Saturday, maybe I will not be able to watch Melaku play ground tennis today.

End of week processing

2009-12-05T10:44:00.002+03:00

I had made plans to take Friday off work then I found out I had a deliverable to attend to. I did go into the office, but as it turns out the item (#10) on Dr. Paul's list is not even on mine. Then my 10:30 with Tagel and Oracle fell through so I went to the eye clinic, did a bit of running around, then took the rest of the day off.

Friday evening at the cultural centre at the end of Bole Rwanda was great. The food was excellent, the best of the 3 centres I have been to. I was home by 11PM and crashed not long after.

I found the best Chinese restaurant so far called the East Garden. It had the most authentic cuisine I had sampled in Addis so far, especially the deep-fried bean curd and kung pow chicken ... yummy :)

Another adventure

2009-12-03T09:01:00.002+03:00

While Melaku and I were leaving the Sheraton, he ran into a guy named Lazarus he knows and we chatted for a bit. He invited Melaku and me to a baby celebration party on Saturday. This will be another trip into rural Addis Abeba. This gentleman is American with an Ethiopian wife and two babies, one just out of the oven.

A misunderstanding

2009-12-03T08:15:00.001+03:00

I got myself into an interesting situation last night. I went to the Sheraton and just as I was arriving, I remembered there is probably a dress code in the Gaslight lounge. Yes there was, and my sneakers, football shirt, jogging pants and fleece not fit the bill. I trundled off to get a cab to return to Deker and change. I negotiated a 100 birr return fare from the driver and off we went. We turned right at the palace, then the driver decided to pull a U-turn. I asked him why and he said "the street is closed". No problem. Then he continues driving north towards MoFED so I ask him to stop the car and I get out. I grab a blue cab, negotiate the same rate, and get back to Deker.

Then Melaku calls and says he'll pick me up so I pay off the driver and we return to the Sheraton. I tell him my story and he seems confused. As we pull into the Sheraton, the guards speak with Melaku and apparently the driver came back to complain to them. As it turns out, he thought I wanted to go somewhere else which is indeed near MoFED. The driver appears as we are parking and there are more discussions with Melaku. Melaku believes the driver but I do not, and he tells me that he understands why I bolted from the taxi. When we left the club, I gave the guards 20 birr to give to the driver as after I thought about it, I relaized it was a misunderstanding and the driver was not trying to do me any harm. Melaku did suggest ANY time I take a cab from a hotel, I should ask for the guard to get me one so someone else knows who picked me up. Lesson learned ...

We ended up first at the Office club for the R&B band from Atlanta. I visited with the Oracle guys in town and then we went to the Gaslight. The music there was HUGE. At first there was a 6-piece then a woman and a solo guitarist did a set which was beauty. The place was large and crowded. They save the good tables for Sheraton guests so there was really no good place to sit. I did run (again) into Dmitri and Sergie whom I met through Micha. I am lunching today with Roger and Michael from Oracle then no plans tonight.

Eureka

2009-12-02T10:05:00.002+03:00

I checked my business account this AM and the first money transfer has gone through. This means the process works and hopefully the next transfer(s) will go more smoothly and quickly. The interesting thing about this is that the bank told us yesterday they could not issue either transfer without a new official memo from MoFED listing the SWIFT code, branch info, as well as the street address. They would hold the transfer until this information had been received on letterhead. That memo was not delivered yesterday so the transfer went through without "the infomation that was holding it up." At one point yesterday there was Melessa as well as two other people from MoFED, Bezeba, and yours truly all at the bank together trying to squeeze the transfer through. I am hoping to get the second memo down to the bank today.

The eye is better now that I am on day 3 of the prednizone. I can close my right eye and see more clearly from the left alone, a test that I have been performing 23,392 times a day in hope that it will improve. I am going to the Gaslight club at the Sheraton tonight for jazz which happens the first Wednesday of each month.

We have a party on Friday night at one of the traditional restaurants as a goodbye for John Jeunnette who is returning to Denver the 11th. I never really knew or worked with John before, just remember running into him peripherally at the shows we both attend in the USA.

Time marches on

2009-12-01T11:19:00.001+03:00

I received a very long list of contacts at the World Bank that I have emailed expressing interest in getting in touch with people there who may have/know of Oracle database opportunities as this contrat winds down. I met two gentlemen from Oracle today, one from Mauritius the other Kenya. They are in Addis for a few days to meet MoFED and discuss their software acquisition requirements with people here. Unfortunately Tagel is in the regions for two days and hopefully they will be able to meet with him Thursday when he returns.

I am seeing a bit better out of my left eye and will continue to take the steroids as prescribed by the doctor yesterday.

Winter and construction

2009-11-30T21:01:00.001+03:00

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

2009-11-30T16:48:00.002+03:00

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

2009-11-30T16:24:00.000+03:00

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

2009-11-30T08:48:00.002+03:00

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.

The Saturday seminar series

2009-11-28T23:25:00.000+03:00

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

2009-11-28T08:22:00.000+03:00

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.

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

2009-11-27T21:03:00.002+03:00

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 :)

2009-11-27T20:53:00.001+03:00

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

2009-11-27T06:58:00.000+03:00

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?

Adhoc 4-day weekend !!!

2009-11-26T16:43:00.000+03:00

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!

Tennis at Blue Drops

2009-11-25T08:55:00.000+03:00

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.

Boston Spa

2009-11-24T17:16:00.001+03:00

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

2009-11-24T10:26:00.002+03:00

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

2009-11-24T09:14:00.001+03:00

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

2009-11-24T08:23:00.000+03:00

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.

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

2009-11-23T13:03:00.001+03:00

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

2009-11-23T08:43:00.007+03:00

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.

1 or 2 years old??

2009-11-22T22:15:00.003+03:00

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

2009-11-22T12:25:00.001+03:00

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

2009-11-22T08:57:00.000+03:00

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.

Hard to believe it's been 46 YEARS

2009-11-21T18:44:00.002+03:00

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

2009-11-21T18:24:00.002+03:00

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.

In a jam ...

2009-11-20T20:34:00.000+03:00

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

2009-11-20T16:49:00.000+03:00

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

2009-11-20T16:44:00.002+03:00

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

2009-11-20T11:44:00.002+03:00

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 ...