Just who is Rupell?
on Paul Stanley (Ethiopia), 11/Mar/2010 15:32, 34 days ago
Afternoon all...Writing this on Thursday afternoon, and trawling through my memory of last week for some gems to enlighten you all with! It will probably be a shorter update this week, as I am suffering a little from the tail end of a migraine.The second week at work stands out most as it was my first experience of the ups and downs of power in Ethiopia. Wednesday and Thursday saw only a couple of hours of electricity in total and because of this I think I spent more time in the cafeteria garden drinking lemon tea (Shai Lomi) than I did in the office. So progress on my planned work for this week can best be described as minimal...Tuesday was another Ethiopian national holiday- Battle of Adwa day, celebrating the victory over Italy in 1896. No more extra days off now until the end of May and“Freedom from the Derg” day. A chilled out day off was spent between my house and visiting Karen and Laura. In the evening the slightly early midweek volunteer get together was held at the Sombrero restaurant. It was my first visit, and I was slightly taken aback that such a western looking restaurant was in fact a “habesha” restaurant. No issue at all from me, as I’m still on my journey to discover the best “Bayonet” in Awassa. “Bayonet” for new readers, is a local staple meal which consists of a mixture of different vegetarian dishes served on a large plate covered in “Injera”. Not a bad one was served at all- still not up to my favourite from my local cafe “Logita”. A good evening was had by all- a few beers were quaffed, and as usual we were all home by 9 PM. It takes a while to get used to the early evenings in Ethiopia, but it’s becoming a fact of life for the Volunteers in Awassa- the streets are all completely unlit, and that makes us “Ferenji’s” stand out much more, hence the potential safety issues.Friday evening was the second volunteer get together of the week and also saw the arrival of our next Awassa visitor, Mary. She is from Kenya and is another IT volunteer, working at the university at Dilla. It was nice to catch up with her and find out her placement was getting on. The“Post Rendezvous” restaurant was the venue for Friday evening again, so pizza all round for hungry volunteers- I was tempted by trying the “Bayonet”, but pizza won the day!Saturday saw use put on our tour guide hats and showing Mary the delights of Awassa. A walk down by the lake was followed by lunch at the Rastafarian themed lakeside hotel“Circle of Life”. Its a great venue- lovely gardens, and really nice food. After lunch Mary and I headed to one of the other lakeside hotels “Wabe Shabelle 2” where we took advantage of the lakeside seating to chill out and chat. I’d taken my newly acquired bird watching book to see if I could put any names to the hundreds of birds that live round the lake. It’s such a nice place to sit and watch the world (and the monkeys) go by.I went round to Karen and Laura’s house for lunch on Sunday, which was preceded by a cooking lesson from Mary where we were taught how to make Kenyan style chapatti’s- the results were superb. I must have a go at making them on my own now- will report on the results soon!Ah yes-“Who is Rupell?” There are a number of birds here in Awassa which carry his/her name Rupells Vulture and Rupells Starling. I must find out who he/she is!That’s me done for now- time to cook my tea...