Ethiopia fifty-ninth day - 22/11/13 otherwise known as 14/03/2006 in Ethiopia!

Bahir Dar

After a quiet night in at the hotel - me and the mosquitoes were awake about 1am - I can't stand that buzzing in my ears! I wandered over to reception to tell them I wanted my spectacular room for one more night and the hotel taut (Solomon) asked if I wanted the lake tour (they were leaving in 20 minutes). I asked for a takeaway egg sandwich, then headed back to my room for cash and camera! 30 minutes later we were on the lake with our Captain Mizanu (meaning "balance" - excellent name for a boat captain). He had the most amazing hair - apparently not styled but looking and staying like that naturally!! He took us to the Zege Penisular - we went to various monasteries including one for nuns only ( I bought a scarf there). Further on down the lake we saw pelicans and hippos along with the local men kayaking on papyrus boats (a 4hr journey) from their island to Bahir Dar to deliver goods to the market.  Looks like a lot of hard work and Mizanu said the boats only last 3 months before cracking to pieces and they have to make another one. I met some nice people on the boat tour, Marisa from South Africa and Anne-Marie and Matteus from Switzerland. Me and Marisa are headed to Gonder tomorrow after a trip to the Blue Nile waterfall. I had a burger and chips for lunch and nile fish and chips for dinner - all in all a most expensive day but who cares - I'm enjoying myself.

Ethiopia fifty-eighth day - 21/11/13 otherwise known as 13/03/2006 in Ethiopia!

Nazret To Addis Ababa
Yesterday I spent the day at school then travelled up to Addis Ababa (the capital city) around 3.30pm. The bus was 30 Birr, I was in direct sun, so hot and sweaty. It had what can only be described as red fur on the ceiling at the front and the music was very loud. A mixture of Craig David, Santana, Jenifer Lopez and Ja Rule - 90's techno meets Arabian nights! I got off the bus in the middle of nowhere to many tauts trying to charge me a ridiculous price (for Ethiopia) to get to the hotel I had my eye on. I asked a traffic policeman for help and he pointed me in the right direction. I got off the minibus again not knowing where I was and a guy said he'd walk me to my hotel. To avoid the usual conversation I spoke Spanish to him so then all he talked about was Barcelona football club! I'm trying to use more Amharic but it's hard, I ate pizza for dinner and was in bed by 9.30pm.
Addis Ababa To Bahir Dar
i woke up at 4.30am to eat my left over pizza as I had been warned that the buses don't stop on their ten hour stretches. I got a taxi to the bus station with no clue what to do and the helpful people directed me to a Level 1 bus which would have me there by 10 (aka 4pm). We finally left at 6.30am (the buses don't go until every seat is taken) only to stop at the gate for an hour (no clue why!!!). I am the centre of attention being the only "farangi" on the bus. Again the music was horrendously loud and began with Shaggy 'It wasn't me'. The winding road had spectacular views but the bus had no cool air (I was stuck between two men who seemed to snack the whole way there). We did stop for lunch but I didn't get off (knowing I couldn't eat local food easily) and used the time to stretch out and sleep. The man to the left of me had very bad breath which I had to turn to avoid and the man on my right had a massive towel on his head for most of the journey, the lady in front however, spoke very good English and became my translator for everyone who wanted to ask me questions. She told me the bus was hard and I agreed - on my bottom! She helps me to find a bajaj when we get off which wants to overcharge me, so the sweet kind lady walks me to the Hotel - thank goodness for the kindness of strangers. Only one room left, with lots of mosquitoes so I ate and sleep with my new little friends ready to explore Bahir Dar the next day.

Ethiopia fifty-third day - 17/11/13 otherwise known as 09/03/2006 in Ethiopia!

Lots has been happening since I last posted, we've had big piles of stones dropped onto the road to make it flatter (causing chaos for buses, cars and walkers) which luckily were flattened the next day by a big truck - obviously because of much complaining!

 My little buddy Abraham has now got a "sister" looking after him which means he is bringing food at least every other day. he now says a few words to me at the water tap and gives me big smiles even though he is painfully shy in both Amharic and English. He also really enjoys computer lessons and when I take Grade 2 for English lessons especially handwriting.
My nephew has celebrated his 2nd birthday which I was really sad to miss (especially when everyone was eating yummy cake on skype in front of me) but overjoyed when I called and skyped to see how much he's grown and his speaking has improved. He even gave me a little crazy shake at the table!
This week I was at the central grade school the whole time and between teaching and assisting I have been typing all the library books into a spreadsheet (you know how that goes Lyn). Monday was the only day which was a little different as Dawit came into school before lunch and asked me to come with him to a local school to try to identify/assess a young man believed to be autistic. We duely went around the corner and I got to see what the other schools look like and meet another very exceptional young man. His teacher was complaining because of his behaviour towards other children and objects in the classroom and described him as being unable to hold a pencil and a very
naughty boy. When he came out it was immediately clear that he has Down's Syndrome, which the school had never heard of. Dawit and myself interacted with him - me as much as possible because of the language barrier, he mainly played with my bracelet and asked me lots of questions which I couldn't understand in Amharic! - Dawit tried to provoke a response to see if what the teacher said was true about his behaviour, he handled his arms and tickled his stomach and the boy just played and talked back. We observed him for about 20 minutes unable to stand still but not harming anyone, whilst Dawit tried to explain to the school what Down's Syndrome is and that he would need a one-to-one teacher and specialised curriculum. The school was not really interested and said that the parent would have to pay for an extra teacher if she wished for him to stay there. Dawit asked about the class size and they told us that he was in a nursery class of 45 children and he was hitting others and throwing lunches around regularly. At this point the small boy tried to play with the teachers little girl who was standing next to her and was told "Don't touch him, he's going to hit you" to which he responded by hitting her! The next day the parent contacted Dawit to ask if she could send her son to EAA as he had been thrown out of the school. Dawit and Stephanie are desperately looking for a child sponsorship (£140) and a one-to-one teacher sponsorship (£420) so that they can accept him as an EAA student. I hope that this happens before I leave as I would hate to think of him being at home because he's been kicked out of other local schools. Stephanie and Dawit have been in this situation before, a 5 year old Chloe came to them a number of years back after being kicked out of three local schools. They hired a one-to-one teacher and she completed 5 years of schooling with them. Apparently she hid in the corner at the beginning, due to her ill treatment at other schools and by the end was participating fully in class with the other students and helping out with the nursery and KG children. Let's hope that they get to do this again for the little soldier I saw on Monday!

Yet again I went around to Helena's (grade 3 teacher) for lunch this week and enjoyed lovely Ethiopian fruit and coffee. Her little 4 month old Fickr was also pleased to see me and got very upset when I walked out the door!

I'm busy planning my 10 day trip up North now to visit Ethiopia's most historical sites and take a million pictures - bring on the 10 hour bus journeys and strange food and drink - Axum and Lalibela here I come!

Ethiopia forty-fifth day - 09/11/13 otherwise known as 01/03/2006 in Ethiopia!

After my week off from sickness, I've been back in the grade school most of the week. I've had a little guy on my radar since I got here but this week, he moved to the next level. His name is Abraham and I’m sponsoring him to go to English Alive Academy because I can’t believe how much of a superstar he is. Last year his ancient grandma walked miles with him to EAA to ask if he could have a place. She explained that he had lost both of his parents and was living with her. Stephanie and Dawit immediately accepted him as one of their ‘free’ places as his story was so touching. He has been attending school ever since but recently his grandma has been very ill and has had to be taken to the clinic – sometimes in the middle of the night. This, you may think, is standard practice for an older person, but it’s Abraham’s situation that is not normal. He was left at home alone (he’s six years old) every time his gran had to go, never-the-less, he managed to get up, dressed and walk miles to school each day without complaint or tears. This week I saw him sitting under the tree at break time, while all the other children were eating. I asked one of the teachers what was wrong and she said he had no food. I immediately gave him my biscuits, only to find out that he had had no breakfast and brought no lunch. Since that day we have been taking him a little lunch box and snack from the house to make sure he is fed and looked after at school. He obviously sees it as his safe place because no matter what, he shows up on time everyday.He only has one set of clothes and one set of uniform and he's not a smelly child, which means he's washing his clothes each week. His gran is apparently on death's door and currently at a hospital in the next town, so he's been home alone for a while. I can't imagine being in this situation at six and still coming to school with a smile on my face, for me he is a legend! (he's the boy in white below)

On an even sadder note, a teacher at the KG school lost her husband yesterday, they were heading for the hospital because he was in a bad way and he never made it. So ICT training was cancelled yesterday afternoon and all the staff went to pay their respects at the teachers house. I went to the grade 3 teachers house for lunch and coffee and to meet her four month old baby Fikr. She is a beautiful baby and even though I don't drink coffee, Ethiopian coffee, prepared home style was actually really good! I think I was buzzing all afternoon from it!

Ethiopia Thirty-Eighth day - 02/11/13 otherwise known as 24/02/2006 in Ethiopia!

Well after a three and a half day Internet blackout over Ethiopia (or maybe just my guest house - who knows!!) I'm back to keep you up to date with the latest about my travels.
The children were loving the computers last week and I did a couple of hours staff training on Friday before heading back to the house to watch Despicable Me with the children - good times! I woke up in the middle of the night with a choking feeling and dry horrible throat - bad times!
So I just spent a week in bed after suffering from a horrible bout of Tonsilitis, here's how it went: Saturday my fever went from bad to worse but I just drank lots of water, took paracetamol and stayed in bed all day. I repeated this on Sunday but had the added joy of running to the toilet a lot which is always nice when you feel rough anyway! Stephanie and Dawit came to see me at tea time with some food and decided I  looked awful, so Dawit whisked me off to hospital to get checked out at about 7.30pm - by 8pm I was on an IV drip with my temperature showing 38.6 degrees and so I was told to spend a week in bed and take lovely antibiotics and pain killers until I could use my throat properly again. Unfortunately the side effect to the botics was sickness and diarrhoea so Monday and Tuesday were not much fun at all while my body fought the worst of the infection. By Wednesday I was feeling a lot better but still coughing up blood (very in tune with Halloween!) so on Thursday Dawit took me back to the hospital for a check-up where they took all my vitals and I found out I weigh 66kg! The doctor said that the blood letting is normal as my manky throat skin re-builds itself so I headed home for a celebratory glass of water and some teddy bear cookies!
It's Saturday today and despite not leaving the guest house for a week, I feel soooo much better. Stephanie and Dawit have been excellent, bringing me food and cups of tea three times a day and checking my progress. The guest house manager Solomon has also been very helpful and concerned, bringing me lots of bottles of water! Total cost of two trips to the hospital, with tests, IV, antibiotics etc. = about £35 Well done Ethiopia, you have a great health care system and you are lovely to foreigners!
No pictures I'm afraid - didn't want to give anyone nightmares with my nasty throat!
Happy belated Independence Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Happy belated Halloween for those who celebrate it and Happy Bonfire night (just in case we lose Internet again before Tuesday!)

Ethiopia Twenty-sixth day - 22/10/13 otherwise known as 12/02/2006 in Ethiopia!

Lots to report since my last post, Mike was here for a week to help out and he brought along his Ukulele expertise to wow the children with. They loved it and are looking forward to a ukulele club soon! We went up to Addis Ababa to drop him off for his night flight and took in some sights for the day. First stop was Camara, the people who we prepared the computer lab for to see if we could get hold of the elusive computers the Ceiran sponsored the school with. They said we could pick up twenty P.C.'s at 2.30pm so we rocked on for breakfast - mine was a very interesting pancake with melted cheese inside and chocolate and honey on top! Dawit had an eggy toast with jam and chocolate on top which he even recreated on Monday morning at home! and Mike had a local spicy chip dish which was lovely too! After all this eating we headed to the National Museum to see if Lucy (one of the oldest skeletons on Earth) was there amongst other things! After her world tour, she was back and looking great! So was all the other stuff in the museum and gardens! Can't believe I've actually seen a 3.2 million year old skeleton and other bones which date back 5 and a half million years! The emperor's throne and memorabilia as well as some amazing art work were also great to look at. After this we only had a short time before we had to get back to Camara so we headed into the biggest open market in Africa - Merkato (I think) - It was nothing like I expected - I was imagining the one I visited in Thailand. The best way to picture it (I didn't take any pictures, it's not safe to take anything of value out of your bag there) is a large village with all streets lined with shops and stalls and every now and again a larger building with many rows of stalls inside! I was nearly tempted to buy some ebony sculptures, but decided to wait until next time I visit. My foot was killing me as I fell down the drainage hole playing football with the children on Thursday, so I was glad it was time to leave. We picked up our twenty computers and headed to another restaurant for my first Ethiopian burger - nice stuff but not like any I've tasted before - must be the spices they use. After eating our fill - I even had cake for desert (thanks Mike!), we dropped Mike off at the airport and started the long journey back to Nazret, beginning with a trip to the petrol station!  Once back we offloaded the P.C.'s and headed to bed. Early Saturday morning we went into school to start installation and were finished by 2pm with just a few finishing touches to be done on Sunday. I had my first taste of Nile Trout for lunch at the Ras hotel and then slept all afternoon. Sunday was very similar and Monday I had the pleasure of watching all the children's faces as they realised that the computer room was not empty anymore and they were going to have a proper computer lesson! You should have seen their faces! Even better is that the main server has DVD capability so the DVD player and TV plus the five old computers can be taken over to the other school where the children will have never seen either before in their lives! Can't wait for that photo! I'm not feeling too great today i think all the lifting has strained my shoulder, so I've stayed home to rest it.

Ethiopia Twentieth day - 16/10/13 otherwise known as 06/02/2006 in Ethiopia!

Today I met a little girl (about 5 years old) having her first day at English Alive Academy. She was very nervous to do anything having never been in a classroom before. The boys were playing with the cars and the garage on the mat and she just picked up a car and looked at it - having never played with toys before, she was shown by the teacher how to roll it along the floor. The teacher then took her outside (before the rest of the kindergarten class arrived en mass) to show her how to go down the slide - which she did and ended up with her skirt and jumper over her head, sideways at the bottom, when she finally stood up, the smile on her face was priceless! Then when she went to wash her hands to eat and she used the taps for the first time, she had to be told to stop washing as she couldn't believe the water was still coming out. running water is a new concept at the far school because the water truck comes on a Monday and all of the people rush out of their houses with the biggest container possible to fill and use for the week. KLM sponsored a massive water tank for the school, so they will not run out! When Dawit fitted it, he saw a child standing with their hands under the tap (off!) making the washing motion in the air, but not knowing how to turn it on! It is truly amazing what we take for granted, I can't imagine not having held a pencil or played with a toy for the first five years of my life but these children don't get that opportunity until they come to English Alive Academy. They are also about to open an Autism unit so that children from the neighbourhood don't have to make the two hour journey each day to Addis Ababa to the only other Autism Centre in the country. 
Well done Stephanie and Dawit - your achievements astound me!

After the morning spent at the Far School showing the little ones how to do jigsaw puzzles and spread glue for the first time, I went back to the guest house to work on a Volunteer Pack and the EAA Website and then went for dinner! Last night was a special treat, Dawit made pizza with tuna, cheese, tomato and mince meat - he put a little too much Worcester Sauce on for my liking but it was a great side dish to my injera and shiro. Azeb (Dawit's mum) has arrived from Addis, so all of the rest of the adults (myself, Mike, Dawit and Stephanie) went out into the town to look for hyenas. Dawit turned into some sort of Urban Hyena hunter - and by hunting I mean, driving around in the dark with the lights off and going quite fast when you see a hyena - and we saw lots of them. Then as we came back into the town, we came across a rubbish dumping spot and there were more on the side of the road eating the foul smelling meat leftovers. Unfortunately, my camera isn't made for night photography so they don't do it justice, but we had a great time and a mini adventure on a Wednesday night, off to bed now, got to catch up on my beauty sleep as me and Mike stayed up til midnight last night watching England beat Poland on his slingbox!

Ethiopia Eighteenth day - 14/10/13 otherwise known as 04/02/2006 in Ethiopia!

Lots to blog about since the last time I managed to get on here, I've been very busy in school and spent Friday with the little ones from 3-6yrs. They are cute! Especially when you start playing on the carpet alongside them.

After much fun with the little ones, I headed home to an empty house as everyone had gone up to Addis in preparation for Mike's arrival early Saturday morning. He came from the UK and is trying to help organise the fund raising side of things for Stephanie and Dawit. He's staying at the same place as me so I now have a neighbour I know! Upon his arrival, me and Dawit set to work on a new computer room which was to be inspected today by an organisation providing computers for the school. It's all ready now and the man came to see it so we should get IT going soon.

 On Sunday, me and Mike went on a mini adventure to a place called Sodere. A resort just outside of town. We got the bus (albeit the wrong one) and then saw the sign and got off, only to realise we had another 5km to walk. After an hour and a half walking in the hot sun, taking in the scenery and many photographs later, we arrived at the place! I enjoyed some fried chicken and chips and was faced with a very adept monkey who stole two bread rolls from right on the table in front of us! We then went for a dip in the Olympic size swimming pool and headed back to the guest house on the correct bus!
Ethiopia played Nigeria in the world cup qualifier at 4pm so everyone was in the colours with painted faces and shouting loudly in anticipation of the game. Unfortunately they lost 2:1 due to a penalty in the last few minutes - fortunately today we hear that they drew 2:2 as the referee should not have disallowed a goal in the first half. It is the first time I have ever known a score to be changed, so roll on the next game!

THINGS I LEARNT:
Some more Amharic - Neh = Come (f) Nah = Come (m) Ishi = OK, Salam = Hello, Autobus = Bus, Chow = Goodbye, getting there now!
Most Ethiopians don't know how to swim, they are not taught as children and many do not get into a swimming pool until they are adults - the ones that do stay in the shallow part and hang around at the side of the pool.

Ethiopia Thirteenth day - 09/10/13 otherwise known as 29/01/2006 in Ethiopia!

Its been a few days since I last blogged as here the weather and power are yo-yoing somewhat. The power usually goes off at least once a day for an hour or less. I have been told it has gone off for three days in a row before - who knows why! As a result I always have my torch at the ready and my kindle charged. I'm on my second book since being here, currently reading Lord of the Flies and just finished Flash Forward - both I highly recommend. The weather seems to change quite suddenly from 30 degrees sunshine to 15-20 degrees and rain and because of this, most people (including me) are suffering with sinus problems, coughs and colds! I'm sure it will pass, Ethiopia is quite a dusty place and I'm getting used to shuffling along between the goats, cows (with extremely looong horns) and dogs on the dirty street. Some have been paved with the Ethiopian version of cobblestones and are much better, but most are dirt tracks.
I haven't eaten any meat since my first day and the raw meat fest! so this is officially the longest time I've gone without it. Can't say my body is disapproving much and the flabby belly I gained over the summer is disappearing slowly - for those of you on the book, it's looking good for the lower end of the after Ethiopia weight!
I've taught all of the grades apart from nursery now and they will be my treat on Friday. All of the grade school have had at least one computer lesson with me and know all the major parts of a PC in English and Amharic. My Amharic is not going so well, I can't remember any of the children's names and the only words I know are a few random numbers, ok, phone and that's about it! It doesn't stop everyone speaking to me in it though, especially the little ones who were practising the robotics of "Good Morning, how are you, I'm fine thank you and my name is..." today!
THINGS I'VE LEARNT
No-one eats on the street in Ethiopia as it is customary to share/offer to share all food and therefore would be a nightmare walking down the road having to offer to everyone going past.
Cold, flu etc. are known as allergies to the weather here.

Ethiopia Ninth day - 05/10/13 otherwise known as 25/01/2006 in Ethiopia!

I lay in until 8.30am today, the latest I've been up all week! I went for breakfast and then we headed off to the Grade School so that Stephanie could do some photocopying. I set the children up on a computer game and then walked into town for the first time alone! It was very busy and noisy but I didn't get too much hassle, mostly from little children wanting me to buy their packets of tissues and chewing gum. After an hours wander around of seeing the same kind of shops I headed back with a backpack full of exciting new things - such as:

• Washing powder
• Fabric Softener
• Teddy Bear Biscuits
• Strawberry Jam
• A tin of tuna

I played with the children and LEGO for a bit while Stephanie finished off and then we headed to the Ras hotel where we enjoyed a fizzy drink around the pool. It then proceeded to throw it down so we waited for the worse to pass and then headed home. After a quick bite, I went back to the guest house for a chat with mum and dad and checked my emails. The power went out for about an hour so I headed to Stephanie and Dawits in the dark and brushed many Barbies hair whilst waiting for dinner. I'm back at the guest house now and the power has returned. Roll on tomorrow to see what exciting Sunday fun is to be had in Nazret!
Oh and in case you are wondering what my room in the guest house looks like, it's very nice:

Ethiopia Eighth day - 04/10/13 otherwise known as 24/01/2006 in Ethiopia!

This morning we dashed over to the far school to help out with lessons there as the two new teachers are just getting used to the English plans. They are great and really enthusiastic so I team taught maths and English in the grade 3/4 and grade 1/2 classes. As the children are not used to playing with toys (they don't have them at home and can't afford them), we had great fun driving the cars around on the carpet and floor and when I showed them that the garage had a moving lift, they were very impressed. Then followed a race, from the door to the carpet where they all ran along with their cars. We tried a push race after that but they preferred to move along with the car to make it go faster.

 During this, the classroom was invaded by the Grade 3/4 class to conduct scientific measurements on bone growth - all very interesting and fun - they didn't want to stop for break time!!

After this we headed back to the grade school and I sorted out more resources for the teachers and children. We all walked home for lunch after sorting out some food for those children who forgot it was not half day today (Friday's is usually teacher training day) and transport/help for a little boy who had not got lunch, did not have breakfast and who walked to school alone as his mum is very sick and his dad took her to the clinic in the night and left him alone (I estimate him to be about 5 or 6 years old and the furthest the bus went was only halfway to his house). This afternoon I did some resource work on the computer until the power and Internet went down. Then went off to see Stephanie and the children for dinner and a spot of Noddy, Saturday lie in tomorrow - yippee!

 
THINGS I LEARNT TODAY:
Most people in Ethiopia don't celebrate birthdays or even know when they were born or how old they are and since no-one goes to school at a set age, you can't even work it out like that!
As well as the Ethiopian calender being different, so are their day times. Most people rise with the sun at 6am so each hour is called one after that e.g. 7am would be 1 o'clock - one hour after sunrise. So we finish school at 3.30pm or 9.30p.m. depending on who is saying the time!