The Story of the Lost and Found Sheep

No celebration in Ethiopia would be complete without a slaughtered sheep or goat! It went without saying then that we would have bbq tibs(fried meat)at my leaving party. Although I was leaving Ambo on the Saturday we held my leaving party on a Tuesday because a couple of my closest friends were going to be away for a workshop later in the week. Being well prepared they bought the sheep at the market on Saturday and then found a safe place to tie the sheep next to some of the other goats near the staff lounge. On Tuesday they went to pick up the sheep ready for slaughtering...but DISASTER...NO SHEEP! It seems that there was a bit of miscommunication at the staff lounge and the catering people had mistaken it for their's and it had already been cooked and served! Tuesday is not a market day they were in a bit of a jam...obtaining another sheep would be problematic. In the end Gizaw went knocking on houses, door to door, to see if anyone had a sheep they would be willing to sell. It was a race against the clock and when he did eventually find a sheep he needed to get it back to the house as quickly as possible. He didn't have time to find someone to carry it for him so he struggled back with the sheep kicking and bleeting the whole way. He didn't even have time to change his clothes for the party!
The story of the 'lost ad found sheep' provided much entertainment during the evening but for me it was just one example of the amazing lengths my friends here were prepared to go to show they cared. The whole evening I was totally overwhelmed as gift after gift was presented to me, followed by the most generous speeches. It was all far more than I could ever deserve and made me really wish I wasn't leaving at all. Thankfully there was enough hilarious Ethiopian dancing to keep me from getting too sad and I managed to hold back the tears up until the last 20 minutes of the evening. By this point there were only about eight of us left and we were having a fantastic time dancing away to various Ethiopian songs. Someone had even produced a sound system from somewhere that had an attached microphone so they were able to do a bit of Kareoke! It was only as the music got a bit slower and more solemn (an Oromo War song in fact) that I had time to reflect on the amazing farewell they had prepared for me AND the amazing time I had had with them over the last year... and I started to cry. I thought I had got away with it as I was sat in a shadow, watching Gizaw and Cherinet beating their sticks on the ground and stomping around in a circle to slow methodical rythym, with a tear running down my cheek. However, it was obvious I hadn't when Dadi said 'No weeping Tara...now is not for weeping'.
The evening didn't end sadly though...we had a few more laughs and then admired the stars as we made our way home. Someone pointed out their favourite constellation and it happened to be mine too...the best thing about it is that it is visible in England too! It was a pretty cheesy moment but it was still comforting to think that, as far away from them I would be, we could still be under the same stars. I eventually crawled into bed at around 11pm feeling very loved and very lucky.

Great Ethiopian Hobble...

Two days later and I am still recovering. I feel nauseous, dizzy, my head hurts and my legs only seem capable of an awkward hobble at the moment. On top of this I'm being teased by my Ethiopian Colleagues for my shockingly slow time (90minutes exactly). They reckon they could walk faster!... The sad thing is they are probably right! Despite all this, I am really glad I did it... I definitely think it was worth it.
On Sunday morning I joined 35,000 other participants for the Great Ethiopian Run. The race has been held annually in Addis for the last 10 years. Last year I only saw it in passing so this year I was determined to join in. I did have grand visions of training properly for it but despite joining the early morning running club on a regular basis I still hadn't managed much more than 1km without wanting to call it a day. 10km in the blazing heat was clearly going to be a challenge. Although it wasn't the most convincing training schedule things got worse when I was bitten by the dog and wasn't able to run at all for the two weeks preceding the race!
So I arrived at the race on Thursday morning totally unprepared...the only thing in my favour being that after over a year in Ethiopia I had at least acclimatised to the altitude (2500m). It was such a fantastic pre-race atmosphere...groups of people chanting, singing and dancing as they waited for the race to begin. I joined some of my friends fairly near the front and for a few minutes had a fantastic view of the crowds when Mike offered me a seat on his shoulders. The atmosphere got even more exciting when we took off!
It was a bit of a slow start with lots of pushing, shoving and bumping into each other while everyone worked out their own pace but it was accompanied by such a fantastic load of chanting and cheering...it was electric! Very early on a young man started talking to me as we jogged our way away from the chaos, breaking free from those whose only intention was walking. He turned out to be great company and an excellent pacemaker for me and over the course of the next 9km we kept each other going (sadly I managed to lose him in the final stretch). After just a few minutes we managed to work out we had a common friend as he gives one of my volunteer friends Amharic lessons on a regular basis. Small world!
As well as being an excellent motivator my new friend 'Ize Alem' (This world) also proved to be a very useful translator. Throughout the race groups of people were chanting and Ize Alem was able to explain what the chants were about. Some I could just about work out for myself. For example, near the start of the race, they shouted 'Haili quit but we are still running' (this was in reference to the recent news that Haili had retired after the New York Marathon). But others were much less obvious or needed more explanation. Most of the chants were quite politically charged and negative but also quite entertaining. We passed the Pepsi factory and they shouted, 'coca-cola, coca-cola'. We passed a large grain store and they shouted, 'It is empty, the store is empty'. As we squeezed through a bottleneck created as the road narrowed around a beautiful and quite impressive overpass/ underpass section of highway they shouted very sarcastically, 'we are hungry but at least we have roads!'. For the last 9 years the run has followed the same route past lots of government buildings. However, this year they decided to change the route. The official line is that they changed it for the '10th Anniversary' but the more cynical suggest it was because the chants directed at Government buildings were getting out of control.
Whatever your views about the content of the chants, it was still hard not to be impressed by the fact that these people had enough oxygen left in their lungs to shout as they flew past me! I was struggling for every breath and yet people were singing, chanting and blowing horns throughout the race! Although my pacemaker friend and I were going as fast as our little legs would carry us we still found ourselves being overtaken by people in fancy dress. I knew I really wasn't running too well on an uphill stretch when I found myself using a guy in a wheelchair as a pacemaker!
Although my legs ached it really wasn't the running that was killing me. It was just so very HOT!! Any running I'd done in Ethiopia before had been at about 6am...who starts a race like this at 9am?!! It was also an unusually hot day and the winds less strong than normal for this time of year. It really was scorching. I definitely didn't take the most direct route around the course as I skipped from side to side in search of shade or water. At various points around the course people stood with hoses on the side of the road or chucked buckets of water over balconies. I was so grateful for these moments but did find I sometimes wasted several minutes trying to push my way closer to these infrequent water sources. I'm blaming my poor running time on that, AND at the 3 minutes I stopped to listen to my friends band (ISHI BAKA CAIO) play at the 3K marker. They were playing 'sweet home addisababa'...fantastic!
Sixty minutes into the race an Ethiopian friend, Cherinet rang me (very optimistically) to see if I had finished!! He had finished in 47 minutes and spent almost the same amount of time waiting for me! I was only at the 6K marker but it did inspire me to step up my pace...I was determined to make it back in less than an hour and half. I figured it would probably take me about 3 hours to walk the course at my normal walking pace so if I could make it back in half the time that seemed at least acceptable! Cheri continued to ring me every 10 minutes- I don't think he believed me the first time when I said I was only at 6K! - Surely no one could be that slow?!! I met him just after I got my medal. It was lovely to see a friendly face at the end of the race and he was very kind and didn't make any jokes about my speed.

Although I can accept that 90minutes is not exactly a time to be proud of, I still feel very proud of myself for getting through the race. Having never run more than about 1km at a time I feel it was quite an achievement to have made it 10K- let alone in heat and at altitude! I think it is also worth noting that in order to run this race there was a lot of dodging and weaving required to get mast the hoards of people ambling along with no care in the world. It was definately not the easiest introduction to the world of running! After the race I met an English lady who does quite a lot of running back in the UK. She has done several marathons over the years yet she said she found this race harder than most of them. Perhaps her mind was clouded by post-race fatigue and in the light of day she'll remember the marathons were much harder. Perhaps she was just saying it for my benefit. Perhaps she was simply saying it to justify to herself her unusually slow time (78minutes). Or perhaps she really did mean it. Whatever her reasons for making that comment it has made me feel slightly less pathetic as I hobble around campus today still feeling sick and exhausted!

A Dog Bite Adventure...

I had grand plans if getting loads done at work on Thursday but they were dashed when I was attacked by my landlord's dog. Not content with the bone it was chewing on it took a running leap at my arm! It was all quite scary and gorey at the time but looking back on the events that followed it turned out to be quite an adventure and gave me a little insight into 'good' medical care in Ethiopia! My housemate gave me some excellent initial first aid. Although she couldn't quite stomach removing the lumps of flesh and fat that were resting on my arm (sorry...too much information?!) she did a really good job of cleaning up the wounds and then added a compression bandage to try and stop the bleeding. The University kindly provided me with a car to take me to a hospital in Addis (2 hours away). Feeling quite emotional after the attack I got rather carried away with happiness by this gesture. It was the first 'real' car I have travelled in since being in Ethiopia and it felt like such luxury! Almost worth getting bitten again for...well maybe not quite! Once in Addis I picked up the rabies jab from the Programme Office and headed for a hospital of good reputation that VSO use quite often. I was impressed by the cleanliness of the hospital and felt quite privileged that I could be treated here rather than just a simple clinic anywhere in the country. In retrospect, however, I'm not sure that the treatment would have been much different anywhere else. I was treated well, the staff where kind and friendly and I was seen within 30 minutes so in some ways it was a better service than some trips to A&E I have had in England. What wasn't so reassuring though were the faces the doctors and nurses pulled as they dealt with my wounds...as if they had never seen anything quite so gruesome before. Surely this wasn't true? It really wasn't so bad...perhaps it was just they hadn't seen 'white' skin quite so chewed up before?! Either way it didn't do much to calm me!  Although my initial impressions were good I became less convinced by the knowledge and skills of the staff over the next few days. The rabies jab went smoothly enough- I had brought my own rabies vaccination (provided by VSO) so all they had to do was read the instructions and stick it in my arm (not belly as I had feared -thank goodness). Having said that, the nurse who administered my second jab seemed a little inexperienced and kept asking me for advice! Also, the initial cleaning of the wound was very thorough. Despite the disturbing faces they pulled they actually did an excellent job of not only cleaning the surface of the wound but deep into the wounds too. That bit wasn't so bad then...it was more the after care advice they gave that concerned me. Despite the fact it hadn't stopped bleeding properly they wanted me to leave the wound open and uncovered. They were afraid that if no oxygen got to it that bacteria would spread fast...I was more concern that i would be at much more risk of infection from the dirty streets of Addis without a cover and would also have further complications if the bleeding didn't stop. After quite a lot of discussion we finally came up with a compromise that involved a thin loose bandage strapped to my arm and a sling to minimise my movement in an attempt to reduce blood loss! Not such a great compromise as it meant I made my way to my friends house by foot with a blood soaked bandage - a prime target for infection! My second point of concern was not nearly as serious but it made me laugh. When I went back for my second rabies jab they wanted to clean the wound again. The nurse was again very through with his cleaning. So thorough in fact that he tried his best to rub my bruises away. The more I said it hurt...the more he laughed! It really did hurt but I couldn't' help laughing too...what a funny thing to try and do...wash away a bruise! So...I survived by first major dog bite and 6 days later I am not foaming at the mouth. Neither (unfortunately) is the dog! Instead it sits smugly in my front garden awaiting my return from work each day. In England I am sure it would be put down but here the landlord is simply showing some concern by building a stronger cage for the dog. That would be much more reassuring if the dog actually spent more time in the cage but at the moment it is still out at least as much as it is in!! Still...just another five weeks of dog dodging to go and then I'm back in England to see what dangers it can throw at me. Until then, I promise I'll be careful.

Full Circle...

A year since I first arrived and I have been finding it amazing reflecting on all that has changed since then. It seems like yesterday when I nervously set off for Ambo and was dropped off at lunchtime, left alone to make the most of it. I knew no one. I was the only white girl in town. I spent most of the first month pretty dazed and confused and totally exhausted as I did my best to take it all in. Now everything feels so natural. It feels like home. I have lots of friends in Ambo and we are now three volunteers here. The contrast between then and now has been highlighted for me by the arrival of Rod. Like me, he arrived in the September intake and I can't help but compare his first experiences and impressions with how I felt. As he struggles to learn names and pick up the local language it makes me realise just how comfortable I have become and how effortless it now feels to communicate (all be it in pigeon Amharic- I can't pretend to be fluent after a year) with people around me. My first real work in Ambo came in the form of a 3 week workshop that I assisted in running for newly recruited staff. It was a fantastic experience as it gave me an opportunity to work closely with others in the Education Department and get to know them as we trained 35 graduate assistants on student centred teaching methods. We are now about to begin the 3 week induction for the next set of graduate assistants this week. How has it come around again so soon?! It has been interesting noticing the difference between then and now. When I arrived last year I felt that we were all on fairly equal footing. I had more experience in active learning methods but my colleagues definitely knew more theory.  Now I feel they have more than overtaken me. They have the knowledge as well as the experience and skills to match and I am so impressed by the way the whole department has been working together to prepare and deliver workshops for everyone else in the University. As well as training up 45 graduate assistants this year they have also put on a series of smaller 5 day workshops for senior lecturers. So far they have trained up over 100! Last year, although I was impressed by their attempts to teaching in a student centred manner,  I wasn't always convinced by the content they felt necessary to cover in the training. This year I can't fault them on anything. They are invariably coming up with better ideas than me and not surprisingly are much better than I am at putting the material into the Ethiopian context. I have been pleased to see them using some of the resources from the Higher Diploma Programme but also even more excited when I've seen them adapt and improve on these and other resources. They really are fantastic and I am so proud to know them. Last year I commented that I thought my role here ''will not be to educate them in new teaching methods but rather to support them as they go about trying to create a cultural shift in education from a lecture based approach to one based on 'active learning' ''. A year later and I think that was very true and the exciting thing is that I think I have been able to witness the start of a very real culture shift here at the University. I really can't take any credit for this change though...the Education Faculty and the University Management have been the ones to take the big steps towards making that happen. Sometimes I feel my role here was more of a scapegoat if things went wrong than an actual instigator of change. They could blame it on the crazy white person who tried to change things. And if I've done a good job of providing a viable scapegoat then I am happy-job well done! It has been exciting to be a part of it all and I'm quite confident that as I leave in December they will no longer require a scapegoat as people are seeing for themselves the positive difference active learning makes. I am however glad that another volunteer will be arriving in February to continue to offer support. I think it will be great for them to have an injection of new ideas from a new face to keep them fresh and enthused. So...a year on and things have changed. As well as changes in attitude and practice, within the University there have also been a huge addition of new buildings. Ambo town too is constantly upgrading itself. I'm often boring Rod with tales of how different it was a year ago...'this bar didn't exist', 'Solomon used to be in that office', 'there never used to be anywhere you could buy pizza', 'this stadium is brand new'. No doubt next year it will continue to change(and improve) without me. I'm sure I also have changed a lot since being here (and will continue to change when I leave) but that is a whole other story.

Feeling at home...

I've been feeling pretty bad recently about the fact that I haven't been making such regular updates to my blog. It definitely isn't that I haven't been having fun, doing anything interesting or even that I have been far too busy. I think actually it is the fact that I am feeling so at home here now that finding anything 'out of the ordinary' to write about has been difficult. I decided long ago that I didn't want my blog to be a diary but more a series of ramblings about things that 'struck me' as interesting or unusual. At the moment everything is feeling very normal. Wonderful but normal and I guess I am now in danger of taking it all for granted. A few weeks ago I went on a trek with Brenda (a visiting friend from UK) in the Simiens...it was truly spectacular...we struggled for oxygen as we climbed Ethiopia's second highest mountain (4430m)...we were awestruck by stunning views near Imet Gogo...we spent hours oogling at hundreds of Gelada Baboons and a family of Walia Ibex and... we were truly spoiled by our guide and 5* cook [booked through Alex: alebachew_2005@yahoo.com]. It was one of those once in a life time experiences and yet it didn't 'strike me' as anything unusual or new to share on my blog. A week later a number of us had a fantastic weekend in Addis...on Saturday night we danced away to a friend's band. The name of their band is almost as cool as the music they play. They are called 'Ishi, Baka, Chow', which is Amharic for 'ok, enough, goodbye' and I never did get enough of them or want to say goodbye! On Sunday we headed to Meskel Square for the annual Meskel Celebrations. We were joined by about 80,000 others and watched colourful church groups parade and dance their way past the VIP balcony. After several hours of singing, speeches and parading- just as dusk began to fall- the huge Meskel bonfire was lit, a few fireworks set off and suddenly the whole crowd was glowing as everyone lit a candle. It was a beautiful moment. All around people were singing and nearby a man accompanied on a flute...magic! Now I am writing this it seems ridiculous that this event didn't strike me as anything worth blogging about...it was really special! The following week we continued our cultural immersion with another local festival. My friend Solomon insisted we couldn't miss it and I'm glad he did. The festival was Irecha, a favourite amongst people from the Oromo region of Ethiopia. My understanding of it is that people gather at this time of year (just after the rains) to give thanks to Waka (the one God) and to pray for the year ahead. The Oromo people believe that Lakes, Trees and Mountains are the best places to pray and so they bring an offering (in this case Meskel Daisies) to one of these points. Solomon agreed to wear cultural dress if we did and so I in turn convinced Rod (new Ambo Volunteer) to do the same! Birhanu and I had been presented with traditional Oromo outfits for our help in facilitating the build of a new library at Awaro Primary School. I wore my dress and Rod borrowed Birhanu's. When we met Solomon and his fiancée we looked like poor imitations...we really couldn't carry it off like they did but none-the-less it was fun dressing up! We were also joined by Megan and Miriam (Addis Vols) and the six of us enjoyed mixing with the throngs of happy people dancing and ambling around the lake. Rod (being 6ft 4 and dressed quite comically in local garb) attracted quite a bit of attention and we spend most of the morning walking from one photo shoot to another as people wanted a photo with crazy ferengi! According to local radios approximately 3 million Oromo's made the pilgrimage to Lake Hora (Debre Zeit) that day. Not wanting to get crushed in the crowd we opted for visiting the lake after lunch and by then we simply witnessed the peaceful aftermath as the last of the visitors made their way to give thanks to God. It was a baking hot day and the lake looked so inviting...surrounded by small hills it was also very beautiful. We thanked God then began our journey back to Addis. Again... now that I reflect on the experience it seems absurd that I didn't consider this event blogworthy...how have I come to take things like this for granted? How does this just feel so normal now? Now that I am just starting to prepare myself for my final departure in December, Ethiopia is suddenly feeling very much like home. Jambo Ambo We had a very silly experience the other lunch time at a local bar/cafe. All we wanted was 2 Ambo (local mineral water) and a tagabino (local spicey chickpea paste served with ingera) to share...however...due to some spectacular miscommunication it seemed the establishment thought we were impatient and rather indecisive alcoholics! This is how the situation unfolded.... Me: Hulet Ambowa afalegalu [I would like two Ambo] Waiter: Hulet Ambowa? [two Ambo?] Me: Awo [yes]. 5 minutes passed and I was really thirsty so I went inside to investigate the delay in bringing the water... the waiter didn't appear to be doing anything. I asked 'Yane ambowa yet now?' [where is my ambo?].  He nodded and made an indication to suggest he was on top of the situation so I sat down. 5 minutes later a waitress came out with two Jambo (draught beer) and placed them on our table. Huh?! I was confused 'Jambo alfalegum. Yane Ambowa yet now?' [ I don't want beer, where is my  ambo water?]. Waitress: 'Yihi draught beira' [this is draught beer] Me: 'Awo, gin biera alfalegum. Hulet Ambowa afalaglu.' [yes, but i don't want beer. I want two ambo.] She looked totally confused and took the beer away. 5 minutes later and I feel like I am dying of thirst I go inside to investigate what is happening. Again I find the waiter and ask about my water. He doesn't seem to understand so in desperation I walk to the fridge and point to the Ambo water. Finally something clicks and he seems surprised that this is what I want. I wait for him to take the water out of the fridge because I don't want him to get distracted and forget. I'm SOOOO thirsty. He takes it out. I feel relieved and head back to my table and smile about the fact that he feels the need to put the water on a silver tray. I know the water is out of the fridge. I know the water has made it to the silver tray and yet we still sit there for another 3 minutes. Why? He was waiting for the waitress to come back so she could bring it to us....sigh. So, finally the waitress presents us with our two ambo waters and I take this opportunity to order our food. Me: 'And Tagabino afalegalu' [I would like one tagebino] Waitress: ' biera?' [beer?] CAN SHE BE SERIOUS?!!  Oh the joy of miscommunication!!   Tuesday, 5 October 2010 A Meaty Adventure Normally I am frustrated by the fact that I can only get meat in the local cafes and not vegetables but yesterday it was just the opposite. A new volunteer (Rod) had moved to Ambo and was interested to see if it is easy buy the local meat in the butchers to cook at home. Maggie (my house mate) is a vegetarian so I don't normally have the opportunity to cook meat at home so I thought I'd chose this opportunity to show Rod just how easy cooking meat at home is....However, on this occasion...it really wasn't so simple. I hadn't anticipated that in the aftermath of the 'Meskel' celebrations 'Siga Bets' (meat houses) would be running low on meat...add on top of that that it was a Wednesday and so Orthodox Christians wouldn't be eating meat and the stricter butchers refuse to sell it. This meant that there was only one butcher in town we could find with meat. The meat itself looked a little bit dried out having probably hung in the butchers for a few days but we couldn't really afford to be fussy. Unfortunately this butchers didn't have a mincer and we had kind of got our hearts set on minced meat for a Bolognese sauce. We went on to another butchers/ bar where I knew they definitely had a mincer and we had a very entertaining discussion, in pigeon Amharic, with several members of staff as well as anyone from the general public who felt like adding their two pennies worth. We eventually managed to convey our dilemma and one kind member of staff decided to show us where we might be able to get meat AND a mincer. He took us back to the butchers we had originally visited and after discovering for himself they didn't have a mincer (he didn't believe me) he offered the mincing services of his establishment if we bought the meat. So... we chose the least dried out half kilo of meat we could find, packet it in newspaper and a plastic bag then headed back to the second butchers. I don't think the other members of staff thought it was such a good idea that we use their mincer, but our kind helper persisted and a crowd gathered for the entertainment that ensued. After a 10 minute wait a sparkling clean attachment to the mincer was discovered in the kitchen and brought to the deserted Siga Bet. Our kind helper then spent a while working out how to put the two pieces together and power it up and finally... ACTION!!... The meat was beautifully minced to the delight of the onlooking crowd. Unfortunately half the meat got stuck in the mincer (I think normally the meat is forced out by the addition of extra meat) and so we probably ended up with only a quarter of a kilo of meat compared to the original half kilo we bought. They bashed at it...pushed it...pulled at it but no amount of efforts seemed enough to rescue the meat that was stuck inside the contraption. However, it was still more than enough for our dinner and we were just so grateful for all they had done to help us. Getting some minced meat had certainly become an adventure! I just felt sorry for whoever would now be lumbered for the job of cleaning the mincer (especially as it wasn't even their meat!). They didn't ask for any money (I think they had all kind of enjoyed the drama that afternoon) but we thought it was only fair to give them a token tip to say thank you. All in all, we probably took the best part of an hour, and spent more than the normal amount of birr bumbling our way through that adventure but it was worth every minute and every birr for pure entertainment value! Our meal that evening was pretty tasty too!   Wednesday, 1 September 2010 Christmas came early... Whenever I go to Nancy's house it always reminds me of Christmas. ( I think this is probably because we celebrated such a fantastic Christmas there last year. ) This weekend was no exception. It was helped by the fact that it was really cold and rainy in Addis and as always it was dark before 7pm. It also felt like Christmas had come early as Nancy gave me first dibs on the clothes that she wasn't taking back to the UK. Nancy was clever and instead of just bringing 'travelling' clothes she actually brought clothes that look nice on...so for the first time since I've been in Ethiopia I actually felt nicely dressed! As it was Nancy's last weekend in Ethiopia we made the most of it by going to all our favourite places and trying out places she had been meaning to visit all year but hadn't got round to. As we tried out some delicious restaurants I was really feeling very festive and was in total denial about the reason for our extravagances. On Saturday we tried a very fancy Italian restaurant where one of the highlights was earl gray ice-cream- amazing! The highlight of Sunday was a trip to a local hot springs were they give the strangest massage experience. It starts with you sitting in a giant bath being hosed down by an extremely powerful hose under the water, this is then followed by a massage where they slap you and then rub the pain away repeatedly! It was totally bizarre and very hard to relax as each cubicle was only separated by a curtain. As I was sitting in the bath I became very aware that in the next cubicle was a man and that they really hadn't done a good job of pulling the curtain to! Although hardly relaxing it was definitely an 'experience' and we both came out shiny and clean with super soft skin.    Just like Christmas we spent the rest of the weekend eating far too much and my clothes are already beginning to pinch again...and now it is all over in true post-Christmas style I have developed a horrible cold. On top of that, the realisation that Nancy has now left the country is leaving me with a distinctly 'January blues' like feeling! At least I've still got New Years to look forward to. In Ethiopia we will look forward to the dawn of 2003 on September 11th. That day will also mark a full year since I left for Ethiopia and so it seems doubly relevant to reflect on the last 12 months and celebrate the start of a new year then! Right now I am feeling quite spoiled that I've already had 2 Christmases' (not including this weekend with Nancy) and am due to get 2 New Years all in the space of 12 months! Wednesday, 25 August 2010 Wading through rivers to buy candles... Last night I got into the house just in time (or so I thought). No sooner had a shut the door but the heavens opened and the most incredible rainstorm began. It was the kind of rain that would knock you sideways if you stand in it! The sound on my tin roof was thunderous and I felt quite relieved that I was home and dry. I was just thinking about what wonders I could cook up for dinner when the power went out. This wouldn’t normally be a problem as I would carry on cooking by candle light but on this occasion I realised that I only had about 1cm of candle left! Oops! I may have just about been able to whip up a good meal before the candlelight ran out if it weren’t for the fact that I had a huge pile of dishes to wash before I could even start. So...backup plan... I had a very uninspiring dinner of avocado and tomato on toast while I waited for the rain to subside. It was possible that the power cut would not last that long but a few days earlier the power cut lasted for 12 hours and I really didn’t relish the thought of an evening sat in perfect darkness. Just as I thought the candle wouldn’t hold out another 5 minutes the rain began to ease off a little. Don’t get me wrong... it was still very heavy rain... but at least of the variety that I might be able to stand up in. Very grateful for my waterproof trousers and top I braved the storm using the pathetic torch on the end of my phone to guide me through the total darkness. Thankfully it is only a short walk (200m) to my local shop but it still felt like quite an adventure. I sloshed my way along the path in my flip-flops but the real fun when I needed to cross the main road to reach the shop. When I say ‘main road’ I don’t mean a paved highway I just mean the local mud track covered with loads of sharp rocks (the rocks have been put down to help stop the mud all washing away during the rains and to make it possible to walk on in the rainy season). On this occasion it was nothing like a rocky muddy track, it was a river. As I started to cross I was amazed at the force of the water rushing down the hill. The water easily came half way up my shins and it was all I could do to stay upright and stop my flip-flops from washing away! But the good news was I made it! I bought a packet of candles and then had a similar adventure making my way home. You can imagine how happy I was when about 20 minutes after my return the electricity came back on! Saturday, 14 August 2010 Fantastic Trek in Tigray I've just come back from a 3 day trek in the Tigray Mountains with TESFA and I think it may be the most beautiful place in Ethiopia. Not only was the landscape stunning, like the Grand Canyon only green from the recent rains, but the people were just as fantastic. We were only the second TESFA trek to go through that region and so tourism was still quite a novelty for them. Instead of the usual barrage of 'you, you, ferengi, give me money' the local villagers we passed were giving us food and inviting us into their homes. On our first day a local farmer stopped us with a large basket of cactus fruit he was about to take to market. He asked if we would like some. It was perfect timing as we were about to head up a steep hill and it was near the end of the day and we were flagging. We gladly said yes assuming we would be paying above the odds but happy to be trying something new. He brushed all the prickles off them then cut them up so that they were easy to eat and even after we were full kept trying to shove more down us...he wanted nothing in return. Once we had crossed the hill and were in the next valley another family came running up to see if we would like some fruit. On the first evening we were welcomed by the local community in the purpose built accommodation TESFA had provided by a beautiful lady throwing popcorn at us. Apparently this particular welcome is very common in Tigrinia. I was amazed by the quality of the accommodation, of the food and by the stunning view from the toilet. The next morning the others got up to do a 3 hour trek (there and back) to a rock hewn church before breakfast... I opted to simply relax and read a book and soak up the gorgeous views. We finally all set off at about 10am just as it was clouding over. We had some spectacular storms during the day but always managed to find a lovely farm house to take shelter in during the worst of it. As we sat there with large extended families and a variety of animals we were humbled by their generosity and kindness...they stoked up the fire to keep us warm and offered us their food and drink...amazing. The views were also incredible that day and I managed to use up a whole camera battery with all the photos I was taking...it seemed every step the scenery just got more beautiful. We also had the pleasure of walking in just about every weather condition imaginable... we climbed a cliff in blistering heat...almost got swept away by a flash flood as we crossed a river...were attacked by large hail stones before seeking shelter in another farm house and fumbled our way through thick fog. It was an adventure. Our route took us past another lovely rock hewn church as well as a large tunnel connecting two communities that had previously been separated. Finally we ended up on a plateau and arrived at our accommodation overlooking a 1000ft drop. TESFA sure know how to pick a good site! Our second community were just as welcoming as the first and soon we had a campfire going and were taking it in turns to teach each other Habasha or Ferengi songs. The highlight was probably when we introduced them to the hokey cokey and we were falling about in fits of laughter...they then followed this by teaching us a wedding song which involved us dancing around in a circle. I think the local community enjoyed themselves as much as we did and we were touched when one guy admitted it was one of the best nights of his life! The next morning I was up early taking photos of the sunrise and was soon persuaded by the guards to take photos of them posing with their Kalashnikovs. I now have a very silly photo of me in my pyjamas with a Kalashnikov as a memory. After a breakfast of delicious fresh bread and eggs we set off down the hill to the end of our trek. We unsuccessfully tried racing the donkeys that were carrying our packs and ended up arriving on market day in a tiny village at the foot of the mountains. Despite the huge array of animals, vegetables and various other useful things we quickly became the star attractions at the market. We bought some more cactus fruit and entertained the hoards of people who had gathered around us as we ate. Finally we walked a further couple of km to another village to meet our vehicle. Here we were rewarded with some Tella (local beer) which I am ashamed to say I couldn't manage more than one swig of! It was a perfect trek from start to finish and it would not have been possible without TESFA and the fantastic guides (Mulat and Berhe) they provided us with! I am so impressed with the way that TESFA has set up this community based trekking opportunity that I feel obliged to write another blog entry just about that. If you want to know more about TESFA and the work they are doing you can read that blog entry or probably more usefully visit their website (www. community-tourism-ethiopia.com)  I feel really lucky to have only been the second TESFA group to trek through this region and I hope it will continue to maintain its magic for the thousands of tourists who will no doubt follow. Thursday, 29 July 2010 summer to november in 25 hours... I just returned to Ethiopia after 5 weeks of almost perpetual sunshine in England. It was amazing! ... I don’t remember ever having such a long spell of perfect weather back home before and it certainly left me with very rose tinted memories of my time there. 5 weeks went by so quickly and were filled with long summer days, family, friends and loads of cakes as I made my way from one special event to another! Soon enough I was packing up and heading back to Ethiopia. I left my parents house at about 8.30am (BST) on a lovely sunny Sunday morning and arrived in Addis (after an 8 hour transit in Dubai) around 9.30am (BST) to a wet and miserable Monday morning in Addis. Welcome to Africa! I couldn’t believe how cold it was! My friends had warned me that Addis gets very cold in the summer but it felt like I’d suddenly arrived in mid November and I was totally unprepared. After long hot summer days I was now greeted by a week of nonstop rain and it was now getting dark at around 6pm. The rain wasn’t even of the tropical variety that hits hard but is still fairly warm and dries up quickly...instead it was cold and persistent and grim. Wednesday lunch time some friends and I headed to a local restaurant for lunch fully kitted out in several layers, scarves, hats and waterproofs ( I was even wearing some wellies I brought over from UK) and we were so cold we felt like we could be in a ski resort! The worst bit is that there are no warm houses to dry off in when you get soaked to the bone...no central heating...and clothes take days to dry. Brrrr! Thankfully not all of Ethiopia is like this at the moment. Ambo is normally a couple of degrees warmer and a bit drier. The Afar region is unthinkably hot at the moment with temperatures averaging in the 40’s (celcius)... But here in Addis it remains cold and wet... and I’ll be here until next Wednesday while I take part in an intensive language course. I never thought I’d be in Africa longing for the British sun! Perhaps today will be a little warmer?! Here’s hoping! glad to be back Despite the rain in Addis it has been great to be back in Ethiopia. I think it was pretty easy to take for granted I was living in Ethiopia before I left for the UK and it just seemed ‘normal’. But coming back I’m seeing things fresh again and it really is quite exciting. Addis is a really vibrant city, there is so much life happening around you and somehow everything feels a little more ‘real’ than life in the UK –perhaps because it is seems so disorganised and chaotic compared to our organised (rather clinical even) lives back home. This week I’ve really enjoying taking part in an intensive language course. My brain buzzing with Amharic words and phrases constantly, but sadly much of it doesn’t seem to be sticking at the moment. We have 6 hours of classes each day as well as homework each evening so we’ve been working hard. I was really chuffed with myself on Friday as I was able to discuss my daily routine...your daily routine...her daily routine...their daily routine... and our daily routine... IN AMHARIC...but only with the help of my book! At the moment we are writing everything out in English script so although I can now write about half a page of reasonable Amharic I don’t think many Ethiopian’s would be able to make head or tail of it! Next week we are going to try and learn some of the local script...only about 250 letters in their alphabet so it should be pretty easy!! Yikes! Last night we had a leaving party for one of the Diaspora volunteers. He is Ethiopian but has been studying in Canada for the last few years. He has just volunteered, in Addis, for the last 6 months and is now travelling back to Canada, with his wife, to finish his PhD. I think he really enjoyed the chance to give something back to his country as well as having a chance to spend time with his wife who he had been separated from while he was in Canada. Another volunteer hosted the party and it was excellent. A delicious spread of food and great mix of music from Ethiopian Pop to Salsa to 80’s Classics. I don’t think I’ve ever danced for as long in my life and my legs are suffering a little today! Because of the language classes and an IT project in Addis there were loads of volunteers from all over Ethiopia at the party and it has been great catching up with people again. I’ve just got a few more days in Addis and then I’m looking forward to catching up with my friends in Ambo and hopefully introducing them to some friends who are visiting from the UK. It is good to be back! Monday, 31 May 2010 distractions... I realise I have been a  bit useless recently at updating my blog. My mind has been a bit preoccupied by two things in the last few weeks. The latest Ethiopian election (which I didn’t feel would be appropriate to comment about on the internet) and the fact that I am due to travel back to England for a 5 week holiday in approximately 2 weeks (which I doubt makes very interesting news). It is quite ridiculous how excited I have been getting and I’ve been counting down the days for quite a while now. I often find myself off guard daydreaming about all the things I will do, people I will see and food I will eat when I return. Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this but I have even tentatively packed my suitcase (and I am usually a real last minute packer)! In an attempt not to let my daydreaming totally take over I have been doing all I can to stay busy and distract myself. Hence during the last week I have probably done more work than the few months preceding it and my social calendar has become pretty full. At work I am tying up the loose ends of the Higher Diploma Programme and expecting an influx of completed portfolios, ready for marking, in the next few days. I’ve also been having fun making lots of resources for a new pedagogy centre which is due to open over the summer. Finally, a chance to be creative; cutting, gluing and laminating exciting (well for some at least) ideas for lessons and searching for useful resources on the internet. We have also been preparing for a workshop on ‘action research’ where amongst other things my candidates will present their completed action research reports to an audience of about 100.  Socially, my last few weeks in country are going to be even more exciting. On Thursday I had dinner with our local EU observers, Friday I had 10 friends round to my house for veggie chilli and games and this weekend I had two friends come to visit from Addis. We took a trip to Wenchi Lake and Crater where we walked at record speeds (the guide was in a rush to avoid the rain) past hot springs, amazing watermills and jumped over 100’s of rivers before taking a boat across the lake just in time to ride horses back up to the craters edge in a torrential downpour. This morning we woke to find our muscles had seized up after jumping all those rivers and so tried to go for a walk in the countryside surrounding Ambo to loosen them up. However, the plan backfired slightly as we found ourselves stuck in ridiculously sticky mud and pulled more muscles wading our way through in flip flops! Next weekend I am planning to buy the remaining books for the library project, attend my friends Hen Party and treat myself to a day of swimming and sunbathing (weather permitting) in Addis. I am then looking forward to spending 3 days at Langano for the annual VSO conference. The conference ends on Wednesday which is, conveniently, my birthday and so we will be back in Addis in time to celebrate with a curry on Bole Road! I have another workshop on Thursday in Addis and then need to travel quickly back to Ambo to help deliver the ‘Action Research’ Workshop on Friday. On Saturday we will have a formal graduation event for the HDP candidates and then I head back to Addis to buy some last minute presents and catch a flight  back home! Being so action packed...the next 2 weeks should fly by but I’m sure I won’t be able to keep myself quite busy enough to stop my daydreaming completely! With all this mental build up there could be some worry that England won’t live up to my expectations...but then again after 10months away I’m not really sure what to expect. I’ve been away from home many times before and sometimes had quite a culture shock coming home...but I’ve never been away for this long and I’m not really sure what I’m in for. I am sure, however, that as long as I have family and friends to meet me at the other end, it’ll be fantastic! I’ve missed you...see you soon! Monday, 24 May 2010 off to market... On Saturday’s I often go to Market. Ambo Market is about 1 mile from my house and involves going up and down a hill so it always feels like I’ve really done something with the day when I go. The local shops near my house sell most vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, kale, spinach, beetroot, and potatoes) but none of them ever have pumpkin. Because our diet isn’t very varied, pumpkin is a really lovely treat and worth the trek up the hill for. I love the hustle and bustle of the market and if I go on a Saturday I often bump into my colleagues stocking up for the week too. The market is huge and is divided into lots of section. On the left as you come up the hill are all the pots and pans and plastic tubs. As you reach the market proper the herbs and spices can be found to the far left along with a small selection of the main vegetables. Just past the spices are reams of white cloth, scarves and shawls used by both men and women when they go to church. Normally when I go to market I head straight for the right hand side. I pass the live chickens and goats and move on towards the vegetables. I have learnt that pumpkin is only sold in the area behind the main vegetable stalls, on the right hand side, so that is my first point of call. Today I was really struggling finding any pumpkin (or Duba as it is called here). None of my usual pumpkin ladies were around and I thought I was out of luck until I saw a lady sitting with one huge pumpkin. Normally, I am able to buy just a small slice or two of pumpkin but this lady was determined it was all or nothing. Not knowing what I could possibly do with all that pumpkin but determined not to go away empty handed I almost agreed to it until I tried lifting it. I thought I was reasonably strong but there was no way I was going to be able to take that home without a donkey! Luckily a kind lady saw my dilemma and pointed me towards some pumpkin slices hidden away under some cloth nearby.    Despite the fact that I can get most of the rest of the vegetables locally, once I’m at market I always get tempted by the piles of fresh veg everywhere. It is amazing how quickly a kilo of this and a half kilo of that add up and I soon find myself weighed down for the walk home. Shopping at the market certainly provides a good workout. Tuesday, 11 May 2010 NOT an Ordinary Day... Friday 7th May, Friday wasn’t a typical day by any stretch of the imagination. I woke early to listen to the UK Election News on BBC World service and was shocked to hear about voters queuing for hours only to be turned away. That sounded like something that might happen here – not in England! The idea of a Hung Parliament also added to the surreal feeling I was experiencing. I then headed to work and at 9am received a call from Wizero Azalech (the Director of Awaro Primary School) inviting me to the official opening of the newly built library. She asked me to be there by 4 O’clock (10am) and then informed me that Biranu wouldn’t be able to make it. Biranu is the real reason the library is now complete. Without him I would never have been able to negotiate my way through all the building contracts etc. He always ended up doing all the hard work as a go-between and translator, where I just provided the money donated by Band-Aid and wrote up the reports. Unfortunately he has now been asked to be an official go-between and translator for the EU election observers and so for the last week I have found myself negotiating alone.   I was disappointed Biranu couldn’t make it as I really felt his input needed to be fully acknowledged, but I also didn’t really relish the idea of turning up at the school alone. After my experiences described in my ‘bad timing...’ blog post I was determined not to arrive at the school without Habasha backup. However, the mobile network was down and I couldn’t find any of my Ethiopian friends in time. At 9.45 I therefore made my way up to the school by myself. As I sat in the Bajaj (3 wheeled vehicle) I imagined I was going to a small opening ceremony, followed by a sort of open morning for the local community to see the new library. I was therefore totally unprepared for what was in store. Embarrassingly, I slightly underestimated how long it would take me to walk from the end of the Bajaj route to the school and so arrived about 5 minutes late. To my horror I saw about 1000 of the local community plus several hundred of the students gathered in the open area in front of the school. They were all seated in neat rows and had clearly been waiting for my arrival. When I was still about 200m away they started clapping and they didn’t finish until I took my seat in a place clearly designated for guests of honour.  Thankfully I was joined by a member of the Regional Education Bureau (REB) who had very good English. As various people got up to speak he translated for me by writing comments in his notepad, in English. The ceremony began with speeches from some of the students and staff outlining major achievements of the school over the last year. One of these was clearly the building of a library. Once they had had their say the floor was given to the members of the local community. The tone soon changed from that of a prize giving ceremony to that of an AGM, and the comments from the community quickly moved from praise to concern about school standards. As my colleague wrote down the main points raised in concise English I am sure I was spared the flowery apologetics and politeness that must have been present and instead I was amused to see bullet point after bullet point of complaints and suggestions!  I was pleased to see that they didn’t just leave it at that though. Once everyone had had a chance to have their say (and there were plenty who did) they then decided to form a committee to tackle the issues raised. The newly formed committee were subsequently brought to the front and given a round of applause before being invited to the more intimate opening ceremony of the Library.    So...about 20 of us headed towards the library. I kept feeling very conscious of the fact that, as much as I tried to follow other people, I kept finding myself at the front of the procession. In front of the library they had erected two poles and between them had draped a ‘ribbon’ decorated with flowers. In the entrance stood two school children and a teacher holding a beautiful bunch of freshly picked flowers. It soon became apparent that they wanted me to cut the ribbon. Wow...what an honour! As I went to cut I noticed that the beautiful ribbon was none other than a humble piece of toilet paper! So I cut, and they clapped, then we went inside and took a look. Although not all the furniture was ready in time it looked fantastic. They had strewn grass all over the floor as is traditional for special occasions and on the back wall stood 3 bookshelves proudly displaying some of the books we had bought last week. As we returned to the main crowd we were greeted by some fantastic entertainment. I watched the students dancing in the traditional Oromo style and assumed that the ceremony was drawing to a close. It was already past 12 and I was getting quite hungry.    That, however, was only the beginning. Once the entertainment finished I was nudged to the front to receive a thank you present from the school. They had bought me a traditional Oromo dress with matching jewellery and shoes. Within a few minutes I was fully decked out, dress, belt, scarf, shawl, earrings, head piece, and necklace. All the while the crowd continued to clap. I felt very humbled and undeserving. Unfortunately the matching shoes were a size to small and so through the rest of the ceremony I sat with very scrunched up feet as other teachers and students came up to receive prizes for excellent work. The prizes were followed by a ‘short’ drama which actually ended up being about half and hour long! The drama was about how the school can help orphans and students affected by HIV and AIDs and the importance of inclusive education. It was clearly quite entertaining although I couldn’t understand a word as it was performed in Afan Oromo rather than Amharic. Meanwhile the sun was beating fiercely down and I was slowly cooking as was wearing the dress over my other clothes.   Feeling rather light headed from the sun, I hoped that the end of the drama marked the end of the ceremony and indeed for most people it appeared it did. However, I was immediately whisked back to the Library for more photos and a coffee ceremony. Unfortunately, I had to make as quick an exit as possible as I was already over an hour late for lunch and I had the only key for our house. I knew Maggie would be waiting, very hungry and frustrated. Wizero Azalech was very understanding about my dilemma with the key and so didn’t expect me to stay for the full 3 rounds of coffee that normally go with a coffee ceremony. However, I was there long enough to enjoy a nice cold Fanta and a lovely greasy Bombilino (the Ethiopian equivalent to a donut) and to be thoroughly embarrassed by another round of speeches in my honour. There was lots of repetition so that it sounded like chanting and after a while I was expected to join in. After each sentence I was expected to say ‘Amen’ along with everyone else. Having grown up going to church I felt quite comfortable with that until the kind guy from the REB started translating the some of the sentences that we were ‘amen-ing’ to. Apparently, amongst other things, I was agreeing to have lots of children! For some reason my mind flipped to the Indiana Jones ‘Temple of Doom’ as they continued to chant. I guess I felt quite overwhelmed as I sat there in my full Oromo gear hearing line after line of kind words that I really didn’t deserve. All that chanting did give me time though to decide that I really do want to help this school out long-term (perhaps their brainwashing worked?!) and so thought about how I might be able to link it up with my old Primary School in England.   I arrived back at work 2 hours late for Maggie (sorry Maggie) but just in time to accompany Solomon to an interdepartmental quiz being held in the main hall. The 3000+ seat auditorium was filled with excited students. In between rounds of questions different groups of students got up to entertain us with songs, dancing and poems. Thankfully the quiz was entirely in English so I was able to keep up and was quite chuffed that I knew most of the answers. One of the deciding questions did flummox me slightly though; Q -‘what do you get when you put 8 on its side?’ A- ‘Infinity’. After the quiz I got further updates on the election from the internet and managed to catch my Mom on Facebook. Inspired by the recent political events, I then decided to treat myself to watching the TV series ‘West Wing’ from the beginning. I think it may well be the best TV series ever written...a great end to an incredible day! It really was a mindbogglingly amazing day! I didn’t achieve any work but I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish! I promise my life is not normally so interesting here in Ambo. Friday 7th May is a day, I am sure, I will never forget!   Monday, 26 April 2010 new meaning...new words Ethiopian’s do seem to have created their own special variety of English. Understandable really due to the general lack of exposure to the language in Ethiopia and also the way that English really is a daft language with silly rules that contradict each other. Some of the special differences come in their pronunciation of words, other times they make up words completely or they use an existing word but attach at totally different meaning to it! For example people always want to know if you have tried the local pancake thing called Ingera. When you say yes they then want to find out if you think it is ‘sour’. The only problem is that they pronounce it  ‘sore’ as in ‘pour, rather than ‘sour’ as in ‘hour’. When Maggie tried to correct the head of the English Faculty on this pronunciation he replied , ‘well, that might be how ‘you’ pronounce it!’...implying that she had it wrong! In Ethiopia it is most definitely pronounced ‘sore’ and in class if you try a more ‘western’ pronunciation you’ll certainly be corrected too. As funny as mispronunciations are, my favourites are when they make up new words or new meanings to words. On occasion I’ve been quite a long way through a conversation before I realise we’ve both attached different meanings to the words. For example the other day we were brainstorming the qualities of a good teacher. Someone suggested ‘confidentiality’. Half the class were with me and were explaining this point by saying we shouldn’t talk about students behind their back. The other half looked blank. Then later someone suggested that teachers should be ‘confident and assertive’ in the classroom. The teacher who originally suggested ‘confidentiality’ was a bit put out as we had already covered that point! Ahhh... then i realised ...for him confidentiality meant ‘to be confident’. You can totally understand the confusion! Another example I came across recently was someone using the term ’availing’ to mean ‘to make available'. The only trouble is it is not just Ethiopians getting their English words muddled up... after a while it is catching and I often find myself using words totally inappropriately! However...I don’t think anything tops my friend Joanne’s blunder the other night. Up until recently she was working in the Ministry of Education playing a major role in the Ethiopian ‘English Language Improvement Programme’ so if anyone’s English should be tip top it should be hers! We were talking about some change or other and she asked whether the original thing had ‘evolutionized’ into something else. It took a visiting Dutch friend to point out that the word she was looking for was ‘evolved’! Thursday, 15 April 2010 My Job: a Summary. I realise that I have hardly mentioned my job since being here and it is probably about time I gave an update. My job this year is to train ‘teacher educators’ in more student centred teaching methods including active learning and continuous assessment. The  year-long course (the Higher Diploma Programme) gives provides them with a nationally recognised qualification in teacher education. The idea is that they ‘role model’ excellent teaching and also support and inspire the future generation of teachers to be excellent teachers. It was introduced in 2003 but this is the first year that Ambo University has run the programme. It is hoped that in the near future all teacher educators in the country will have this qualification.  Currently in Ethiopia (although this will change next year) students study for 3 years to be a teacher in a particular subject. At Ambo University the subjects they train in are; Afan Oromo, English, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths and soon Physical Education. In their subject areas they are taught the undergraduate subject matter (but not how to teach) and then the teaching methodology is taught by the ‘education department’. The education department also teaches some common course for other courses such as ‘planning and management’, ‘action research’ and ‘psychology’. As a result I have a very mixed group of candidates; 7 from education, 4 from English; 2 each from Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Afan Oromo and 1 from PE. My candidates themselves have to deal with a range of students. For example, in the English department, they might teach common courses for all students on ‘General English Writing Skills’ as well as BEd students in English and BA students in English. Something that surprised me when I first arrived was that when education students go on ‘practicum’ (school placement to practice teaching) they are mentored by their ‘subject’ teacher rather than an education specialist. As a result, feedback of lesson from their mentor tends to focus more on subject matter rather than teaching skills and the education staff (who teach the teaching skills) do not have any up to date experience of teaching in High School (some have never taught in High Schools themselves!) nor do they have a chance to encourage their students to put into practice the teaching ‘theory’ they have learnt. As a result I think many students regard the theory as just that and don’t recognise opportunities for practical application! The fact that all my candidates have such varied experiences of being ‘teacher educators’ (some with lots of experience mentoring student teachers in High Schools but no pedagogical background and others with next to no practical experience teaching in High School or mentoring students but excellent knowledge of pedagogical theory) can make planning lessons to meet all their needs quite a challenge. Also, although the focus of the role is improving their ability as a ‘teacher educator’, the fact that they also teach ‘non education’ students means that sometimes the focus drifts from where it should be.  The Higher Diploma Programme has been developed over number of years as a result comes with a series of well defined objectives, assignments and assessment guidelines as well as a clear lesson by lesson guide for what should be covered. This helps to ensure there is a uniformity in delivery from university to university. It  has also meant I have benefited from being able to learn from the expertise of others and use many tried and tested resources. It has also reduced the stress involved in planning. On the down side there has been much less opportunity for me to be creative and develop my own resources and lesson ideas. This is definitely something I really miss. As the Higher Diploma Leader at this university I am expected to teach the course 4 hours a week (although this often turns into many more as I have to provide catch up sessions to ensure 80% attendance), observe my candidates 4 times each over the year, mentor them throughout the course and guide them through the various assignments include Action Research Projects. I am also expected to train up some of the candidates to lead the course next year. At the moment we have 4 lined up to take over the running of the course next year and the plan is that I will then take on a more advisory role as they iron out the difficulties of leading this course themselves. The following year they will then be expected to run the course without any further support. This is the theory at least! When you try to summarise your job in a few paragraphs it suddenly seems quite simple. The reality is somewhat more challenging but I’ll share that another time! Sunday, 11 April 2010 MEAT AND VEG... A traditional English roast might include meat, potato and two veg. ‘Meat and Veg’ are often the first things you think of when preparing a meal and then later decide whether to serve it with pasta, rice, potato etc. In Ethiopia the phrase ‘Meat AND veg’ is almost unheard of! They might suggest Meat OR Veg but more likely Meat NO Veg! Actually this is not strictly true...there is in fact a dish called ‘Atikult bi Sigar’ which literally translates as vegetables with meat. This dish generally consists of a lump of meat (probably lamb) on the bone served on a bed of sour cabbage. It actually tastes a bit like German ‘Sauerkraut’ and the times I have had it is has been so greasy that I don’t really feel I am getting any goodness from the vegetable. The Ethiopian’s love their meat so much will invariably chose a meat dish over a vegetable one and apart from the above mentioned dish they do not mix the two. I learnt this the hard way when I invited some friends round for dinner. I know they love meat so I made a real effort to ensure I made a meat dish. I thought chilli con carne would be a good option as Ethiopian food is also quite spicy. One of my friends was very polite and ate it all but the others spent their time picking the meat out and leaving the kidney beans. Apparently they like kidney beans but the thought of eating them with meat was too alien to them! Although I like the Ethiopian Meat dishes I normally come away from a meal feeling like something was missing...and that something is vegetables. It just feels so unhealthy having a plate of meat (sometimes cooked in a sauce) with ingera and I also get bored of having the same texture and flavour. For this reason my favourite Ethiopian dish is ‘Bayaynette’. This is a vegetarian dish consisting of about five or six different types of veg served on ingera. With this dish there is therefore a lovely mixture of flavours and textures and some yummy vegetables. I find it crazy that they only save this dish for fasting (no animal products) days because it is delicious! My Ethiopian friends don’t generally agree with me on this and while Maggie and I have really enjoyed the last 55 days of fasting leading up to Easter they struggled through day after day of eating bayaynette. Ambo has a fairly even mix of Orthodox and Protestant Christians as well as a reasonable large Muslim population. The Protestants and Muslims here don’t have any rules about not eating meat (instead they abstain from alcohol), therefore on fasting days it is still possible to buy meat and other animal products in most cafes. This is not the case in every town. My friend lives in Debre Markos, which has a much bigger Orthodox community. On fasting days she can’t even get milk in her coffee.   Apart from the major fasting seasons (leading up to Christmas and Easter) Orthodox Christians generally ‘fast’ (abstain from animal products) on Wednesdays and Fridays. These have therefore become my favourite days as they are the only days I can get my favourite dish. My colleagues are quite aware of this and find it hilarious that their least favourite days of the week are the ones I get excited about! I was therefore really disappointed when this week (just after Easter) I couldn’t find any cafes selling bayaynette on Wednesday or Friday. What was going on? I couldn’t understand...was no one fasting?! After visiting 8 cafes on Friday night I finally gave up asked a friend to explain why I couldn’t find it anywhere. I then learnt that for 40 days after Easter the Orthodox Christians are exempt from any fasting (perhaps symbolic of the fact that Jesus has set them free from the binds of religion and tradition?). OH NO! No Bayaynette for 40 days! It seems my fasting season has just begun! It is not a serious problem as Maggie and I generally cook at home anyway and there are still plenty of vegetables for sale in the Market. However, as Maggie is a vegetarian, it does mean that if we do want to eat out at all then we will probably have to go eat at one of the more pricey hotels in town. It seems crazy that, if they can serve meat during the fasting days, they can’t sell vegetables when it is not a fasting day! But I guess the only ones buying the bayaynettes would be Maggie and me...and that wouldn’t be great business! Tuesday, 6 April 2010 Cement, Electricity and Books! Cement and Electricity are intrinsically linked it seems. I hadn’t quite appreciated it before but cement factories need electricity to run. When Ethiopia started running short of electricity last year the price of cement sky rocketed. When the new Dam was being built in order to provide more electricity in the form of HEP prices started to fall. When the Dam finally opened cement factories were advertising ‘sales’ and encouraging more order. Then, after two weeks, the Dam broke and power shortages were again an issue... back up went the price of cement. This has caused big problems for the construction industry and I’m sure must account for some of the half finished buildings you see everywhere that seem to now be abandoned. This issue is also affecting me...or rather the primary school library project I am trying to oversee. When I wrote the proposal requesting funding for the project the price of cement was reasonably low. However, soon after building work began it rose out of our price range. The builder has been quite resourceful and found cheaper ways of paving the floor, however, the outside of the building is still standing quite bare and bumpy with just a spattering of cement on it. It should be a beautiful smooth cement wall ready for painting. I now need to decide whether to use up some of the money earmarked for books and furniture to cement the outside wall or leave it as it is. It is not just for aesthetic reasons that we wanted to cement the wall (a cement wall should protect the books inside from the elements much better than a mud one), however, if we do cement the wall there will be significantly less books to protect inside the library! Hmmm... I guess my best hope is that they fix the Hydroelectric Dam quick smart!   Melkam Fasika! Happy Easter! Easter (Fasika) marks the end of a 55 day fast in Ethiopia where the Orthodox Christians have abstained from any animal products (meat, eggs, milk etc) - quite an impressive feat considering their love for meat in this country! Some really strict orthodox also abstained from alcohol during this period and also abstained from any physical contact of any kind during holy week (another significant challenge in a country where you normally shake hands, shoulder bash or kiss several dozen people on an average day!). The fast officially ends at about 3am on Sunday after a long church service. Rather than go to bed most people begin gorging on meat immediately after the service. By 9am the streets were lined with small piles of goats skins.  I headed to Addis, for the Easter weekend, on Friday. I always enjoy coming into Addis just before a big feast day because the whole town is buzzing with people doing last minute shopping and thousands of bleating goats and flapping chickens line the streets awaiting their destiny. Often any taxi journey through town at this time is shared with at least one live goat or chicken. On Sunday most of my Addis friends spent the morning eating doro wot (chicken stew) or tibs (goat meat) with their landlords, maids or guards. I decided not to join them this time and instead went to the International Church in Addis which was very enjoyable and certainly less filling. I was staying at Joanne’s this weekend and on Sunday afternoon we invited 8 other volunteers round for a meal. It was supposed to be lunch but I guess the fact that we sat down to eat at about 5pm means we had to rename it. It was a great crowd – our family away from home. Joanne and Maureen cooked up a feast!  We had guacamole, humus and crackers followed by stuffed peppers and then a main course of veggie lasagne. Our Ethiopian friends definitely wouldn’t have approved... all that food and not a bit of meat in sight!   Tough on Clothes... Linen trousers are probably the best things for the hot sunny days here in Ethiopia but being so thin you can’t expect them to last long in this environment! The last of my four linen trousers wore through on Friday and now I will have to make do with my tougher jeans or cords until I can replace them. Obviously simply wearing clothes out here will wear them out but there are also many other (sometimes surprising) reasons for the shorter life span of the average item of clothing... Walking to work my shoes get a real work out over the sharp rocks and uneven ground. On rainy evenings, coming home, these shoes learn to swim through rivers of mud and who knows what else. When I go to observe lessons I sit in the chairs the students use and often realise too late that the chair is cracked or has a sharp edge jutting out when I stand too quickly and create another hole in my trousers. Being quite clumsy and not having had sufficient practice eating with my hands I do often find that some of my food finds its way onto my lap. The food here is normally quite greasy and comes in a fantastic array of colours designed for maximum stain impact! We are lucky enough to have a maid to wash our clothes  but in an effort to get things extra clean she is less than gentle when scrubbing them to within an inch of their lives! The wet clothes then hang on a washing line that is made up of bits of metal joined together in a similar way to a barbed wire fence... even with clothes pegs, particularly windy days have the habit of dragging these clothes over the sharp barbs and creating more holes. I then store my clothes on a small bookshelf which recently also seems to have become home to some rather hungry moths. My poor poor clothes! It is no wonder that many people go around Ethiopia in nothing short of rags. What is, however, very incredible is that all my colleagues turn up to work beautifully dressed. Clean, smart, freshly pressed shirts. No holes, no stains. I think I need to learn a thing or two from them about increasing the life expectancy of clothes. Greetings! Ethiopians love their greetings! I think I mentioned before that I shake hands with more people in the average day in Ethiopian than I do in the average year in England. However, that is not their only way of greeting each other. The girls in particular tend to greet each other with several kisses on alternate cheeks (similar to the French) and when you are good friends with someone you are likely to add some shoulder to shoulder action to your normal handshake. If you are too far to greet each other formally like this (e.g. on the other side of the road) then the two handed wave is pretty popular too. This greeting in particular reminds me a bit of a scene in Wallace and Gromit but it is made even better by the fact that once both hands are in the air (about head height) then it is normally accompanied by some bowing! The greetings don’t stop there though. I am forever amazed as I sit in my office and listen to the conversations of the secretaries on the other side of the thin wood partition. The conversation is obviously occurring in Amharic but I’ll do my best to paraphrase... Good morning. Good morning. Peace to you. Peace to you too. Good health to you. Good health to you too. How are you? I’m fine. How are you? Fine. Are you well? I’m well? Are you well? I’m well. How are you doing? I’m doing well? You? I’m doing well. Are you ok? I’m ok. Are you ok? Yes, I’m ok. Did you have good night? Yes, I had a good night? Did you have a good night? Yes I had a good night. God be praised. God be praised. This whole conversation may be repeated a few more times depending on how well they know each other...and then of course if they are good friends they are likely to ask the same questions about each other’s families. Once it has been well and truly established that everyone is fine (and of course they wouldn’t tell you if it wasn’t) then they might get onto the business they came for ‘ can I borrow some sellotape?’ ‘ is Solomon available?’ etc. Finally, having got what they came for they say goodbye and this can sometimes take at least as long as the original greetings! I know I shouldn’t laugh – it is after all quite an endearing part of their culture- however, I do sometimes find I can’t help it. I will be sitting on the other side of the partition giggling and thinking ‘my Amharic isn’t perfect but even I heard her answer that question three times already...surely you must know she is ok by now?!!’ Being white does attract a whole new breed of greetings too! I think I have mentioned the endless chants of ‘you, you, ferenge’ as you pass and the fact the some people get so excited to see a white person that they jump up and down pointing, trying to get their friends to come look too. However, on Sunday, even I was surprised by the rather unusual greetings I received in Addis. Firstly, a driver stopped his car to say hello. His passenger translated that he was just so excited to see a white person (in Addis?! Really?!) and wanted to shake my hand. Ok? He then invited me to join them for an Easter Feast. The second was even more surprising... a rather smartly dressed elderly gentleman walked by. We waved a polite hello to each other and I thought that was it. Then, just as he had gone past, he turned round and did a cartwheel back towards me and then jogged on the spot for a few seconds whilst punching his arms in the air a few times. He then continued on his way as if nothing strange had just happened! I was perplexed.   Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) ETHIOPIA/ VSO LINKS My JustGiving Page CIA World Factbook on Ethiopia VSO UK Main Site Teachers TV Video of VSO Ethiopia BLOG ARCHIVE ►  2011 (1) ►  January (1) ▼  2010 (39) ▼  December (1) The Story of the Lost and Found Sheep ►  November (2) Great Ethiopian Hobble... A Dog Bite Adventure... ►  October (4) Full Circle... Feeling at home... Jambo Ambo A Meaty Adventure ►  September (1) Christmas came early... ►  August (2) Wading through rivers to buy candles... Fantastic Trek in Tigray ►  July (2) summer to november in 25 hours... glad to be back ►  May (3) distractions... off to market... NOT an Ordinary Day... ►  April (7) new meaning...new words My Job: a Summary. MEAT AND VEG... Cement, Electricity and Books! Melkam Fasika! Tough on Clothes... Greetings! ►  March (6) ►  February (6) ►  January (5) ►  2009 (43) ►  December (16) ►  November (9) ►  October (7) ►  September (4) ►  August (2) ►  July (5) MAKE MY DAY! SEND ME SNAIL MAIL! Higher Diploma Leader Ambo University PO Box 19 Ambo Ethiopia PHOTOS Christmas in Addis December 09 November 09 October 09 Ethiopia - September P2V conference Jun09 My first Ingera experience MAP OF ETHIOPIA DISCLAIMER The views expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSO. BLOG VISITORS SOME OTHER BLOGS BY VOLUNTEERS IN ETHIOPIA Nancy's Blog Al and Sara's Blog Mark Sidey VSO Volunteer Blue Nile For A While Subscribe To Posts Atom Posts All Comments Atom All Comments