Ethiopia by E-mail
Subject: April 29 from Addis
Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 10:03:37 -0400
From: Pat Rollin parollin9923@hotmail.com
We are rested from our vacation. I went to Gemini and the students told me I have seen more of Ethiopia then most Ethiopians. Most Ethiopian people do not go very far from home. I have hung the new baskets I bought and packed the gifts away that I bought to take home. We are still trying to figure out about going to the northern historical route but we are not sure when we are going to do it.
Jim got to see the new building that they are talking about moving the Graduate School of Social Work to in the next month. So on top of him teaching this month he may have to move too. He has finished the Police College and graded the exams and turned in the grades. This week was the deadline for applications for next year's class. They have a lot of people signed up and they have just written the exam which they will give next Saturday May 6th. So the process is starting for the next group of students. Then after the exam they will have to grade the exams, go through the applications and then they are in the process of having the second year students turn in drafts of their thesis which they need to go over and return with notes so Jim is busy. So we may not have time for another vacation. We are hoping that they figure out the date of Graduation so we can get our flights booked to come home before our tickets expire. We both have open ended tickets so we are checking the last dates we can fly out with the travel agent. So we can give Melese our final date in Addis.
We have been having a busy week. Saturday Jim went to a feeding program
which Klaus started before he left Addis. Klaus taught at the Social Work
School last fall before going home to Australia. They fed about 60 people
that day but have been feeding from 50 to 70 people every weekend. Jan, one
of the other TFA's, was here with her mother who was visiting from
California. She is a very nice lady who is 87 years old and came to
Ethiopia to see animals so Jan took her on a Safari in Kenya and she visited
Addis, Nazaret and a few places in Ethiopia. She had a good trip and seemed
really happy to have come visiting. She was getting ready to go back to
California that night after being here 3 weeks. We included a photo of Jan &
her mother. Jan and her mom left for the airport and we went to the Hilton
to meet Teyden, Nick, and Carlos for dinner. Teyden, Allie and Jan came
back to spend the night. Early Sunday they all left for home because they had
Easter plans with Ethiopian friends at their homes. Sunday was Easter
Sunday in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church so we stayed home and had lunch
at Bombay Brassiere and then came home and rested. Sunday was Jim's
birthday so my sister-in-law Sue took my mom and went to Jim's mom's to call
us so they could wish Jim a happy birthday and I got to talk to my mom. Our
mothers are doing well and we got a lot of family news. A little while
later Shannon called to wish her dad a happy birthday.
On Monday I stayed home from Gemini because is was the Monday after Easter. Jim started his class but only 18 of the students showed up. So he had class with who was there. We invited Yordie and Beti over Monday with Nathan & Mel to celebrate Jim's birthday and the end of the fast for the girls. I could fix dinner and banana bread which Yordie's mom really likes. So I send her some. Tuesday I washed clothes and cleaned the apartment.
Wednesday I went to Gemini and then we had dinner at Nathan & Mel's. They
had a traditional Ethiopian meal cooked by their maid Wubit. I have
included a picture of Wubit preparing the coffee ceremony. It has been
storming a lot this last week. We are not in the rainy season yet but the
thunderstorms are very frequent this last week. This year the government
went on Ethiopian TV to tell the people to be careful because of the Bird
Flu so most Ethiopians are not eating chicken right now so the price of
Sheep, Goat and Ox has gone very high. You can get Chicken really cheap, 3
birr to 10 birr or less than $1.25 apiece at the highest price. A lot of
people were selling them on the roadside when we were coming home. They
have had a couple of cases of birds dying in the southern region of Ethiopia
but no person has been sick yet. Not like in other countries where people
have gotten sick and died.
Today was the NGO Bazaar and I am thinking about going home to America and only 2 more trips to the NGO Bazaar because they do not have them in July and August. So I am trying to get ideas of things that I need to take back home as gifts. I have some of my Christmas shopping done of 2006 already but need to think if there is anything else I want for family or friends. I am also collecting the flyers from the NGO that come to the Bazaar to leave them for the next person who comes in our place. Of course the Students at Gemini are always coming up with something new they are making so I am still spending money at Gemini.
This next week we are celebrating two holidays. One Monday for Ethiopian Labor Day and then Friday is the Victory of the Battle of Adwa. Jim will have classes all week and they are having a visiting professor teach this week for the first year students. So I only will be at Gemini on one day Wednesday; the rest of the week they are closed. Nathan and Mel have gone on vacation and more professors are coming to Addis to visit AAU so we may have a busy week, at least for Jim. I don't always see the visiting professors.
Pat