Hi everyone,
This blog is well overdue and a lot later than I wanted it to be, but hey, just think of it as me turning African!! No seriously there are reasons for this. It is so frustrating here at the moment as we slowly learn to smile, laugh and go with the flow. I remember someone emailing me from here and giving me the advice to just laugh and say "That's Africa" when things don't work or go according to our plan. It seems to me at the moment that things don't work, more often than they do work, and you can never rely on things!
So sorry Mum and Dad, for not skyping or emailing etc etc the past few weeks. The network here at school has been on the blink time and again, leaving us unable to use technology we want to. Then of course I'm such a novice at such things anyway, I changed my email address and there went this blog page. The few people that are up with fixing things at school like this, have been more than snowed under so its taken me over a week to be able to log in and try type this.....oh well, that's Africa!
What else is new?? Rain, rain everywhere and not a drop to shower in!! We have no water here at the moment in our school compound! A pipe down the road has apparantly burst and all water is cut off....and they're not sure when it will be fixed. So its bucket bathing, and boiling the kettle to wash a few dishes! The funny thing (not really) is school begins tomorrow with 300 kids arriving at 8am tomorrow and no water, no flushing toilets!! Oh well, that's Africa.
The shops have run out of sugar. It's been about 8 weeks since anyone had sugar to buy here. It's good for dentists - no sugary substances for kids to eat, but puts a dampner on cooking treats for recess for the kids to eat! I still have a small amount from some they left for us on arrival, but its needed for when I have to drink tea or coffee. I haven't been able to drink the stuff without the sweet fix yet!
Talking of coffee. I had my teacher assistant Lydia and her hubby, 2 yr old and 10 month old for lunch on Sunday. I cooked all day Sat to prepare a feast for them. It's the best way you can show respect for someone - to give PLENTY of food. Well I'm still learning what and how to cook here, but I served beef curry, rice, flat bread (my house help had to make this!) and 3 salads - tomato/cucumber, couscous (this was a hit) and lettuce/avocado/mango. Following this we had rhubarb crumble, cream (took me over 10 mins to thicken it!!) and lemon slice (which uses condensed milk not sugar!!!). They loved the sweet things, which is a huge novelty to them - they don't have dessert in their homes. ANYWAY back to the point - we tried to give them Eth coffee to finish the meal like all good people in this country do, and the bloomin coffee pot wouldn't work. It was one of those silver things on the the gas. You put the jug on the gas, the powder in the bottom with hot water under it and wait for it to perculate through. Well 10 mins passed, 20, 30 and there was no coffee coming up. At about 40 we were laughing and serving a cup of tea!!! Who knows what went wrong. The hilarious thing was, our guests with their cup of tea used 3 teaspoons of sugar each!!! No wonder the country is short on sugar! Oh well that's Africa!
The final clanger I will add is while trying out my new found language I went to my fruit and veg man and asked for 'An kilo nej shinkort amasagenallo' and walked away with a kilo of garlic.......when actually I wanted some white onions!! Oh well, that's Africa!
Chow
This blog is well overdue and a lot later than I wanted it to be, but hey, just think of it as me turning African!! No seriously there are reasons for this. It is so frustrating here at the moment as we slowly learn to smile, laugh and go with the flow. I remember someone emailing me from here and giving me the advice to just laugh and say "That's Africa" when things don't work or go according to our plan. It seems to me at the moment that things don't work, more often than they do work, and you can never rely on things!
 |
| People are never on time...wonder why?? This is normal traffic! |
What else is new?? Rain, rain everywhere and not a drop to shower in!! We have no water here at the moment in our school compound! A pipe down the road has apparantly burst and all water is cut off....and they're not sure when it will be fixed. So its bucket bathing, and boiling the kettle to wash a few dishes! The funny thing (not really) is school begins tomorrow with 300 kids arriving at 8am tomorrow and no water, no flushing toilets!! Oh well, that's Africa.
The shops have run out of sugar. It's been about 8 weeks since anyone had sugar to buy here. It's good for dentists - no sugary substances for kids to eat, but puts a dampner on cooking treats for recess for the kids to eat! I still have a small amount from some they left for us on arrival, but its needed for when I have to drink tea or coffee. I haven't been able to drink the stuff without the sweet fix yet!
Talking of coffee. I had my teacher assistant Lydia and her hubby, 2 yr old and 10 month old for lunch on Sunday. I cooked all day Sat to prepare a feast for them. It's the best way you can show respect for someone - to give PLENTY of food. Well I'm still learning what and how to cook here, but I served beef curry, rice, flat bread (my house help had to make this!) and 3 salads - tomato/cucumber, couscous (this was a hit) and lettuce/avocado/mango. Following this we had rhubarb crumble, cream (took me over 10 mins to thicken it!!) and lemon slice (which uses condensed milk not sugar!!!). They loved the sweet things, which is a huge novelty to them - they don't have dessert in their homes. ANYWAY back to the point - we tried to give them Eth coffee to finish the meal like all good people in this country do, and the bloomin coffee pot wouldn't work. It was one of those silver things on the the gas. You put the jug on the gas, the powder in the bottom with hot water under it and wait for it to perculate through. Well 10 mins passed, 20, 30 and there was no coffee coming up. At about 40 we were laughing and serving a cup of tea!!! Who knows what went wrong. The hilarious thing was, our guests with their cup of tea used 3 teaspoons of sugar each!!! No wonder the country is short on sugar! Oh well that's Africa!
 |
| Waiting for coffee with our Ethiopian guests - Lydia and her family. |
The final clanger I will add is while trying out my new found language I went to my fruit and veg man and asked for 'An kilo nej shinkort amasagenallo' and walked away with a kilo of garlic.......when actually I wanted some white onions!! Oh well, that's Africa!
Chow
It was great to read your blog, and get a bit of a picture of what is happening. We send our prayers and love as you settle into life at Bingham Academy. Will try calling you on Shane's mobile in the next day or so. Love the GRUBIES.
ReplyDeletePS Have you met Paul and Carol and co.