Saturday, January 2, 2010
Closing post for this BLOG ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Thursday, December 31, 2009
What a concept
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
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 ...
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 ...
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Done done done done (deal)
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
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 :)
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 :)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Almost sayonara ...
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.
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.
Monday, December 28, 2009
The new kid in town
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
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)
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.
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
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.
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.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
5AM on a Saturday
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
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Ferenge-a-food
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.
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
| 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. |
Friday, December 25, 2009
Xmas with a bang
| 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. |
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Not my cup of tea
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.
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
| 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. |
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Love 40 or 40 love?
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.
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
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.
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.
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