What I’ve been up to…

Hey!  Well, after a few unsuccessful days of entering my old blog, I figured I may as well just accept the fact that I am in Ethiopia and at the will of their Internet and just start a new site.  So, here I am.  I have been here for a few days now.  I feel as though I am slowly beginning to get acclimated.  The exhaust doesn’t bother me as much as it did on Tuesday, so that is a good thing, for better or worse!  I haven’t really been sick either, which is a huge blessing, since that is usually very common.  I start teaching on Monday, which I’m VERY excited about.  I have just been “hanging out” for the past few days, and I’ve come to realize that I MUCH prefer having something to do and having purpose to my days.  So, having something to get me up in the morning will be good!  I am going to try to make it to the Anglican church in town tomorrow morning.  I met this eccentric 71-year-old British missionary on the plane ride here and he told me about it.  It will be good to a) see him again, b) meet some other people and c) have the familiarity of the Anglican service.  In this place where most things are new, I think I will treasure that familiarity.   A few more things:

I am reading the book “There is No Me Without You”by Melissa Fay Greene.  it is about a woman here in Ethiopia who started an orphanage for children orphaned by AIDS.  Two of the teachers at my school volunteer there and I am hoping to be able to get involved.  I would recommend the book.  I am not finished and can’t endorse everything she says, but she gives great descriptions about Addis.  I can’t take tons of photos of the things I see and believe me, this Internet wouldn’t let me upload them even if I wanted to, so if you want to visualize the things I am seeing here, I highly recommend picking it up! 

I went to a party the other night–a completely unexpected thing.  I of course was NOT looking the part–it was they day I was wearing NO make-up, I hadn’t showered and I was in jeans and a sweater.  Fortunately, they let me in anyway.  The guy hosting the party owns The Reporter, one of the privately owned newspapers here in Addis.  Kind of a big deal.  Also, I met the Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia, the Ethiopian ambassador to Russia, a high-profile guy who had been exiled under the Dergue and some others.  I was of course WAY out of place.  But, it seems like these kind of situations seem to occur when you are in a foreign country…I am sure many of you have similar experiences.  The newspaper guy gave me his cell number…so, perhaps I’ll be hob-nobbing there again!

 Lastly, as many of you know, Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world.  Their  is the birr.  One birr is worth about $.11 American.  Here are the costs of a few things I’ve found, so far: my fare in the minibus: .5 birr (so about $.06 to go 2 miles), 2 birr for a pound of tomatoes ($.22 (and I may have been overcharged!), and 14 birr (about $1.50 for a 20 ounce beer at the bar–that one was purchased for me even).  Just some examples.