Lord I was born a rambling man ...

Everything is bustling in Addis in preparation for the new year starting Friday. Dr. Paul and his entourage are searching for something to do Thursday night. Sandy and I do nada in Ottawa on new year's eve other than stay up to 10PM to celebrate. So I do not need to do anything here. I am pushing for Chinese food (again :)) and a gathering at Chez Paul for a movie or two. The customs here still intrigue me and I learn something new every day. Upon entering a bank, everyone is frisked but not ferenge. The same happens when we enter the fortress called MoFED where we work. I have been told that they do not want to offend ferenge with frisking; I for one, maybe not a good example, would not be offended. I love the way we say "amasahgenalu" to people and they say "thank-you" back to us. I guess it's like when we are in Paris, for example, saying "merci" and they also say "thank-you" back to us. Motorcyclists are requried to wear a helmet here. If one is caught by a police officer, there is a fine. Like some bicycle riders do in Canada, many of them carry their helmet on their arm of in their luggage carriers "just in case". I guess in the unfortunate event that they get into an accident they can slip their helmet on before impact. Many riders wear bicycle helmets or construction hard hats to satisfy the law that apparently states "the head must be covered". I have had a few discussions with my boss, Ato Mussa, about some of the deliverables and a few other housekeeping issues. Another developer is arriving from the USA today to work on the RSU (Dulcian) team. He is staying at an $80 per night apartment hotel for now. It has been suggested that John and I may want to share a house together. That could indeed reduce my housing costs by as much as 50% so would be a welcome move for me. We will look into that after he has settled and we can get someone here to look for something for us. We have been told that one can get a reasonable 2 to 3 bedroom house for 1500-2000 USD per month. It would also be a treat to have a real kitchen, some living space, and some outdoor space to sit and read/play guitar, etc. I had the pleasure of sitting in a bar watching some middle-distance running recently at a meet in Berlin. Naturally, when the 1500 metre event began, the place came alive with excitement since Ethiopia excels in this race. The mens event was easily won by Ethiopia to a chorus of cheers from the assembled. The woman was tripped (accidentally?) and did finish second last. I did not stick around long enough to see if the winner ended up getting disqualified as she was involved in some body contact with Ethiopia before she went down. Andy Murray ... bye bye! That is odd. I believe they are down do 8 men and 8 women in the US Open whose final, by the way, will probably be on Sunday at 2AM (women) and Sunday at 11PM (men). I guess Venus and Serena will not be meeting this year. I did not see Monfils lose but would have loved to see his moves on the court