Fascinating tidbits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.