Selam nachu?

I think I could learn Amharic if I lived here long enough.  Some of the words are starting to make a bit of sense, or at least sound remarkably familiar. And I can actually pick out most of the words now, even when I haven't the foggiest idea what they mean.

And I know how to say "ThankYou" in Oromifa.

^_^

Aren't I just an accomplished girl?

It is late here, far too late for me to still be awake and coherent, but I haven't gotten around to going to sleep yet, and I have the internet stick in my room tonight. ^_^

I wanted to add some more pictures... so here they be!

However, I can't seem to get some of them to rotate.... so... tilt your head. You know you wanna!

These beds were made by a group of men who volunteer in the community. They will be given away to guardians of children in the program in Gindo.

The garden is GROWING!!!!!!  This is a row of cabbages... the rest of the garden beds were covered with straw 'roofs' held up by wooden frames to protect the seedlings from too much sun. Below you can see a protected bed of growing carrots.

The kids greeted us with songs and big smiles!!

One of the songs involved a lot of hand clapping with your neighbour. They were so cute!

The garden has its own well, which is a lovely feature, and still was drawing bucketfull's, even in the midst of the dry season!

We introduced the kids to playdough. It was a joyous occasion. ^_^

The new education center is looking wonderful! And while we were there, they started to install the window and door frames.

WOOT!

Ahhh luxury!

We are back in Addis, and I feel like I've dived into the lap of luxury. We just spent 5 days out in the countryside, and while our hotel was clean and nice enough, they were having some water issues, and there was NO HOT WATER.  Yup. Freezing cold showers every single day.
And you needed them too!! It was very dusty on the roads, and once you got past a certain point in the drive, there was no more pavement. Just dusty, dusty, rock strewn roads.

But it was also wonderful! We got to visit the program out there, and see the progress on the education center we are building. The doors and windows came while we were there!!

At any rate. After most of a week without internet access, rest assured that I am still alive.

More stories and pictures to follow.
For now?
FRENCH FRIES!!!!

Picatures!!

I've been flung into summer!

It is hot and beautiful here. Bright and sunny as we have come during harvest season, which is dry season.  And I will most likely come home sunburnt.

I woke up at 6 am to the graying pre-dawn light, and the calls to prayers sounding across the quiet morning air.  They call every morning at six. I think it is my favourite alarm clock ever.

We went and toured a hospital this morning.  A very interesting experience, it sure has made our group appreciate Canadian Health Care.  Then, for a complete change of pace, we went shopping on Chruchill Road, which looks like it is completely made up of small open shop fronts with scarves and t-shirts, purses and dresses hanging from the ceiling and blowing in the breeze.

I should have a few pictures to put up later.

We are on our way out this afternoon to start doing some classes for a program, and begin the check-up medicals for this trip.

I am very grateful this trip for all the Italian food they have here, as it keeps something rather familiar in the day while we adjust to everything else being different.  I have eaten a lot of pizza, and last night I had some very delicious ravioli in tomato sauce. ^_^

But that's all for now folks!
I'll update more later.....

LONDON!!

We have a 6 hour layover here and are enjoying some fresh food and clean bathrooms while we can! Airplanes are rather short on the 'showers in the bathrooms' feature.  Not enough room, or something like that.

The flight from Calgary was pretty good! Well. It was all right. Ok, it feels slightly like I've been run over by a humid steam-roller, but I'm alive, smiling, and my hair is only relatively fuzzy.  Relative to my norm, that is.  I did manage to get a couple hours of sleep, but was definitely awake after the breakfast cart tried to amputate my toes as it rolled past.  >_<

It's 1 in the afternoon here, but my laptop still reads Alberta time.... 6am folks. I am definitely not in the mood for lunch. Does anyone have any ice cream?

Travel time!

This is where I am going tomorrow. To Ethiopia. To this wonderful cheerful land where everything looks like utter chaos, but no one seems to mind much and somehow, it still works.

It has been several years since the last time I was in Ethiopia, and I'm going to see a whole bunch of new places and people!!! 

Excited much???

YES!

While I'm there, I'm going to be blogging elsewhere, to keep a record for the organization that I am travelling with.

So if you want to be amazed at more of my writing skillz yo...

then go to  www.canadianhumanitarian.com

and find the blog.

^_^

Yes Oh Great Gladys....

I have been ordered by a good friend (code name: Gladys) to update more frequently.  Apparently she craves my scintillating wit.

Sadly, I have nothing of remarkable wit to convey to the void of blogger-dom.  I am quite a lackwit this evening.

I am afraid my brain is completely taken up with trying to mentally pack my carry-on bag and calculating how heavy I think it might become from clothes alone, or if I truly have space to take my brush....

Normally the weight concern was books, my scriptures in particular as they are quite hefty, but I now have an e-reader!  I was able to find a copy of the scriptures in e-reader format, and have downloaded it! Plus I have an additional 225 books at my fingertips everytime I open the maroon leathery case that lovingly cradles my remarkable piece of literary technology.  It's wonderful! For 7 ounces, I have a library that will last me far longer than the flight that is taking me halfway across the world starting Tuesday.  My parents call it an "8 movie flight".... from here to London is enough time for 4 movies.  Then a layover suspends us for a few hours. Another 4 movie flight from London to Addis Ababa, and 8 movies have been consumed by our buggy little sleep deprived eyes.

Of course, movies are a far more entertaining way to pass the time than staring, drool collecting in a corner of your mouth, at the back of the seat in front of you.

Sleeping would be the most preferred way of passing the time, but time and experience have shown  me that I do not sleep well in airplanes.  I usually do not sleep at all in airplanes, in fact.

The first time I came home from Ethiopia, I tried to sleep the last portion of the flight, had a bloody nose on the final leg of the trip, and wanted to vomit all over the disgusting pizza sub they offered me for breakfast. Nothing really tastes very good with blood as the spice. And all that blood that had pooled down the back of my throat and inundated my poor stomach was making me feel rather nauseous.

I apologize to anyone who just threw up in sympathy.

The second time I went, the journey back was better ( side note: it seems to only be the flights home that are terrible, the flights there are quite reasonable.. but something in your inmost core rebels at having to do 30 hours in transit for the second time in a couple of weeks. ) The worst thing that happened was that my legs fell asleep and I couldn't get up to go to the bathroom because a two year old fell asleep across my lap.  She was a seriously adorable kid though, and so fast asleep I couldn't think of disturbing her.

Still. Having multiple books to read so I can switch off the screen in front of my face and let my eyes hold still for while with no flashy colours or things blowing up; that will be a sublime option to have at my disposal whilst we fly across the world.

I'm terribly excited about what we will get to do on our trip once we arrive  in Ethiopia.  My brain is still glossing over the reality of the voyage to and from....  but the experience? It's worth the trip. Every time.

Gezhundiet

So life is crazy.

I'm working hard, and working hard, and I have this other job too...... but I still feel like I don't know what to do with myself half the time and end up wasting time.  WHUT.

How do I pull that off?? You'd think what with 2 or 3 jobs (ask me tomorrow) and online courses to complete that I would be run off my feet and exhausted and never a moment to rest. Au contrair mon frere.

I wasted at least an hour today.

I also did a lot of important but non-urgent (isn't that sector 3?) activities.

I have a couple hours left before I'll be one sleepin' sista, and I don't know what in the world to do for that amount of time.....

I could go read another chapter in my accounting textbook (I did 2 labs the other night, and was on an academic high afterwards... does anyone else get a thrill out of doing a perfect balance sheet or am I really that weird??)

I could go and obnoxiously play the piano in my intensely silent house.  It seems like every time I sit down to play because I want some music, my mother also wants some music and manages to hit play on the stereo before I open a music book. gah.

I could read through a few more documents that I need to catch up on for my sometime job (the 'ask me tomorrow' one).

Or I could read a book.... either a paperback, hardcover, or e-book. But my Kobo is charging (which is why I'm on the computer), and I'm at my parents house so I don't have any of my own books from my own collection. They be in a different city, yo.

OR!! I could finish this blog post.
But that might happen anyway, and I hope like heck it's not going to take me the next hour or more to complete.
O_o


The over achiever in me says to go for reading documents for work, or doing some studying.
The couch potato insists I could just lolligag for a while whilst lounging on some handy dandy piece of furniture, and eventually bed time will roll around.
The book deprived part of me is hoping my kobo will be charged enough to unplug soon (but there's no progress bar on the charge symbol. phooey. How'm I suppos' to tell when i's had enuff? )

There are also a few letters I could write.....

The homebody in me wants a shower, and to go to bed earlier than the rest of the week has set a precedent for. Mmm.. This may actually win. Despite all the projects I have going on, my feet are cold. And I am tired, for all my bad time-management skillz.

Yup.
Shower it is.

Happy Sauna folks!!!
^_~

Editable Update-ness:

I didn't get the shower. And it's way past my bedtime. Curses to the internet!!!!


BUT! My kobo is fully charged. Tomorrow, I read.