Went to the market, got potatoes and bananas, but no eggs. Continued on to fuel station, but there is still no kerosene (for my stove in case there is no electricity) and no date as to when there will be any. I walked down to the river via a path I had been a few weeks ago. The river is noticeably down now with no rain and is looking clearer. I managed to walk about 30 m further along the bank than I had last time because of the low water level. People were crossing it, the water coming up to their knees. Something they couldn't do a while ago. I saw a woman crossing with bundles of logs - they carry things using a yoke slung over their shoulders with the items hanging on both sides. Then I went back up the path and climbed a small hill at the southern end of town
. At the top there were good views of GB, and also a large storage tank for water - probably the town's supply pumped up from the river (and, hopefully, filtered in some way!).Next I went back via the market and tried again to buy some eggs I saw, that turned out to be some already sold. Something that I have noticed - shiro weut powder, which is on sale at the market and on display in piles, always attracts loads of bees. They must use it for something.
Back at the house I finished my washing, had honey-porridge lunch, cleaned and mopped the kitchen, put up new curtains in my room (I took the three tea-towels and two pillow cases down that I had been using, attached by paper clips - most useful tools! - and replaced them with one of my bed sheets, doubled over) and added another sheet of plastic to my ceiling over my pillow area to stop the dust from the termites burrowing into the bamboo ceiling falling on me. Then I brushed and mopped the floor in my room, watched by the sister of the family I live with - most disconcerting!
At around 3 pm, after the strongest sun of the day, I set off on another walk. I had noticed a ridge about 1 km north of the college entrance. It was quite easy to follow as there was a track along the top and although it was only about 50 m higher than the surrounding area, there were good views from both sides. The only annoyance was walking through some kind of grass that littered the ground that had long, pin-like seeds that stuck to my shoes and socks and prickled around my ankles!
Other news this week
Yesterday, I thought the toilet flush had been fixed. The college had arranged a "specialist" to fit new parts. I did get it to flush a couple of times (only when the water is on, of course) but like before, it didn't stop once the tank had refilled so continued to flow. Today it seems totally broken again!
On Monday, we had arranged to go and visit the last four schools in the cluster. We agreed on a 7.30 am start and on several occasions the week before I checked that it was all going ahead and even gave both my colleages and line manager the plan (and times) written down. Needless to say, having waited half an hour with no shows from anyone, I left the front of the college, got my laptop and went on the net to tell home how annoyed I was. This was followed by finding out that a letter telling the Finance Department to pay me had still not been received and discovering that, not only were the pit latrine toilets still locked, but there was no key now either. Being the inventive person I am (I have had to be out here) I made a key using a piece of wood. It helped me lever off the nails, holding the bolt in place, and a firm nudge from my shoulder finished the job.
We did eventually visit the schools, and this allowed me to complete my GPS map of their locations and do a quick needs assessment. I also discovered one school had lots of packs of unopened text books and a big pile of "big books" that were not being used "in case the children tear them". At least my colleages, who accompanied me, agreed this has to change.
Psychology
It's funny how the books I am reading seem to have a link with me here. I mentioned before that I was reading "Dune" by Frank Herbert (I think) and there is a lot of mention about preserving water and how precious it is - and me with my one to two hours water supply in the morning and evening. I empathised with the occupants of the Desert Planet! Now I am reading "Red Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson about a group of colonists who go to Mars to set up a permanent base. They are in an alien place, solving problems, exploring and feeling homesick - there is a parallel here as well. I was quite disappointed the other day when I asked when it would rain next. I was told "April". It's sunny every day here, cool 14-15C in the morning on the way to work and up to around 30C in the late afternoon. What had been green and lush when I arrived is now withering and turning brown in the soil, which is also dry and cracking.
An interesting line in the book mentioned about how people are only truly happy when living in the present - occupied and active and just concentrating on what they are doing. It's when you start thinking about the past or future that depression sets in. Unfortunately, you only achieve things when you refer to the past and plan for the future. This is pretty similar to how I'm feeling. When I'm talking to students (we opened our model classroom in the college this week and I was showing them teaching aids, etc) or climbing hills, stepping across rocks by the river, etc I am happy. When I start thinking about the future (what happens when I come back to England, etc) I start getting depressed. I am going through lots of different phases, including apathy, not caring about anything I do that might offend people (although this was mostly thoughts in my head luckily), thinking about really going over the top in the street when people keep staring at me, to really giving them something to stare at and finally getting annoyed ....
Amongst things that are difficult at the moment are:
- The family I'm living with not flushing the toilet with a bucket of water
- The weird animal noises waking me up at night
- The known animal noises waking me up at night (namely cockerels)
- Being invited to coffee at lunch time when I need to chill out on my own
- Being stared at all the time when I'm out
- Not being able to speak English at full speed
- Having children from 100m away yelling "Ferengi" at me as I approach (although usually I don't mind this or having to shake all their hands when they see me).
- College cars either turning up too early or too late
- Waiting outside the Post Office for up to 45 mins when the guy turns up late
- Being a slave to the water and having to do things at particular times specified by an unknown agency who decides when to turn on and off the water (sometimes not at all)
- Having to go through all the greetings you have to do when you enter a room and just want to print something. The other day when I was in a funny mood, I just looked round the room and very quickly went "Dena Durk, Dena Dursh, Dena Durk, Dena Durk" to the people there, then got on with the reason I was there. (Dena Durk is Good Morning to a man and Dursh to a woman).
And finally, the most difficult and annoying:
- Religious institutions' "Calls to Prayer", especially the 1 and 5 am calls. I have been tempted to go out one night and cut the wires to the loudspeaker! Alternatively, I was thinking of setting up my own PA system and going on a 3 am chant, saying "Were you enjoying your sleep? Hard luck! It makes me question religions that call its followers to prayer in the middle of the night with no thought for anyone else!
Luckily I am pretty calm and adaptive most of the time and just take things a day at a time. Whether I can stick two years of this is another matter. What is more pressing at the moment is the fact that I am running low on Ferengi foods and calculate I will be out of franks and tuna, etc. in about two weeks. I'll have to get re-supplied somehow.
Christmas
It basically isn't happening here. Nothing in the shops, no decorations, no trees, no Advent calendars, no preparing for concerts, parties, services, turkeys - bliss!!! I'll be working the same as usual on 25th. I think I get a day off on 8 January when it is Ethiopian Christmas, but I'm not sure what happens then. I think I can safely count out a roast dinner.
Temperature and Pressure
I've been monitoring the air pressure lately. Unlike the changeable UK climate (which I miss; I miss the wind and the rain on the roof. There's nothing here in the dry season - just boring old blue skies and sunshine). The pressure is pretty constant and only fluctuates by a couple of millibars. Last night the temperature went down to a nippy +10C - must be winter! Still, it'll be back to 20 by about 0900 and 30+ by the end of the day!
Wednesday 19 December (Id Al Adha - Muslim holiday and national public holiday)
Yesterday I taught an English lesson to a group of freshmen college students. I will be doing it once a week. I use some of the games I used for teaching my English school class French. It went well, I think, but was funny at the end. I told them to go but they didn't move. I repeated that they could go. One got up but was reprimanded by the others. Apparently they have to wait for the teacher to go first! (All these little things I have to get used to!)
At the Post Office I got a couple of Christmas cards and a small package from home, but then hit another snag I hadn't even considered. In with the post was a note saying that there was a package waiting for me. Now, in the UK you usually collect the package from the local Post Office but in Ethiopia if there is a Customs issue (like they want to look inside to see if there is anything illegal or electronic for tax purposes) you have to collect it in person so they can open it in your presence. The snag is the note was from Bahir Dar Post Office. This means I have to make the 6 hr (if I'm lucky) journey to Bahir Dar on the bus to collect my parcels! Great! I guess I can combine it with a food and supplies run, but other than the lake, Bahir Dar didn't endear itself to me (too touristy and therefore lots of hassle from the locals) and I don't even know if I can get canned meat the tuna there.
Today, having the day off and setting off early, I finally made it to a hill I set out for two weeks ago. Previously I had got the wrong hill on the map (the snake incident - see earlier entry), so last week I did some clever triangulation. I got the bearing of the hill from two points in the town and drew them on my map until they crossed and found the hill was a lot further away than I had thought. It was a 6 km hike (mostly on wide paths though). There was a flat plain for the last km at around 1070 m, then the hill went up to 1130 m. The last bit was hairy. First I scared some locals who were resting, and when a woman looked up and saw a white face she jumped up and ran a short distance. Luckily she stopped and laughed about it afterwards. What was difficult, thought, was climbing the last 30 m. It was through tall, brittle, reed-type things. I kept stopping to listen for snakes and when I was moving I made a lot of noise so that anything knew I was coming and wasn't startled.
This afternoon I went to a ceremony for the Islamic religious holiday. There were a few speeches in Amharic from the local Islamic leaders, the Dean, one from a Christian and one in English. The general feeling is that it is good that different religions respect each other in Ethiopia and people from one religion will attend ceremonies of another.
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