MASI Meets MoFED

The first day at the office (Ministry of Finance and Economic Development). I was such a good boy, ensuring I was ready well before 8:20 this morning, the hour I was informed I would be picked up. About 7:50 there is a knock at my door; guess who? It was a bit wet as we drove to the office. Traffic was hectic. The uncontrolled intersections are handled as follows (all in a matter of micro-second):

1) Does it appear to be safe? Safe in this context means if the speed of cars already approaching the intersection means a collision will not mame more than 1 passenger?
2) Is the sum of the weight of the vehicle and all its occupants likely to exceed that of anyone else contemplating entering the intersection?
3) Is there a likelihood that yielding the right of way will lead to no more than an additional .01 micro-seconds being added to the journey?

If you can answer YES to at least 2 of the above, proceed (with or without caution is up to you). We settled into the digs at work and I was given office 36 ... get the significance (36=2 times 18 :)). Then a whole new suite of internet problems began. With assistance from Dereje with whom I share the office, I managed to plug in a 3-prong North American into the 2-prong Ethiopian receptacle. I finally figured out that the firewall rule in place was "If the URL contains at least 2 dots, block it"!!!!!!!!!

Met with my boss, Ato Mussa, for a while in the late afternoon, was introduced to the 2 gentlemen I will be working alongside, and contracts were signed. Then one of the drivers and I put on a few dozen kilometres looking for distilled water for my CPAP machine. The largest bottle we managed to find was the size of the creamers at Al's diner. I may just have to skip the CPAP business until I return to Canada. Mrs. A. (she is such a Sweet Thing) is looking into the doubtful possibility that I can use something other than distilled water.

I was dropped at Deker, changed, and walked around a bit then had dinner at Mera. I had a steak with rice/vegetable, a fied egg on top, and 2 St. George beer all for 46 birr or a mere 4.60 USD. The egg was fried very crispy and quite lovely. At the end of the meal, a tiny yellow and orange plastic house appeared on my table. It had a toothpick sticking out of it. I pulled it out, and contemplated pushing the grey button where the chimney would be. Lo and behold, another toothpick popped up. I bought some nectar of the deities (a.k.a. peanut butter) on the way home. My bed exploded when I sat down on it so the very kind attendant fixed it; I also showed him how to put on a top sheet which, after close to 11 years with my lovely Sweet Thing, would please her to no end :) Not to mention the bedspread which has been flung into the corner every opportunity possible.

I am being picked up at 7:30 in the morning by one of the fleet of drivers. I think I learned my first native word(s) ... when bidding a fond farewell to someone at the end of the day:

- to a woman: dinadiri - to a man: dinadir - to more that one person at the same time: dinadera

Anyone familiar with the Addis native tongue, please jump in ...