“There’s a Monkey on my roof!”
on Paul Stanley (Ethiopia), 04/Mar/2010 17:04, 34 days ago
Morning everyone- It’s Tuesday, and the second public holiday of the week. Today is “Victory in Adwa” day, celebrating Ethiopia’s victory over the Italians in 1896. On Friday we had “Birth of the Prophet” day- a Muslim holiday that was shrouded in a certain amount of mystery. We were told that the holiday was at the discretion of the Imam, and something to do with the rising of the moon, and because of this would not be confirmed till Thursday evening. Nobody appeared to go to work on Friday, so I would guess the moon rose in the correct manner. I wasn’t going to argue.Up until now this update has been more a less a journal of almost everything I’ve been up to- now work has started the format is going to change, as I’m sure you all don’t want to hear about my daily grind. So from here on in, edited highlights, rather than a blow by blow account...Monday was my first proper day in the office, and I was really looking forward to finally starting work. The downtime between VSO training and starting work had been nice, but time had begun to drag, and I was eager to get on with the purpose of my placement in Ethiopia. Monday was also to be my first trip on my VSO issue bike. Abraham collected me at 8.30AM, and we set off for the college, stopping briefly to get my tyres pumped up by one of the many street corner bike repair shops. The college is a 5 minute bike ride from my house, along a flat and straight road. The roads round Awassa are not too busy- the biggest vehicle on the road is usually the small three wheeled Bajaj, and these are slow enough to not be too intimidating. The biggest danger on the roads comes from random donkeys and Ethiopian pedestrians who stop abruptly, amazed to see a“Ferenji” on a bike!We arrive at the college, lock up the bikes, and head to the IT Department/room. Our room is divided into two areas- a smaller area where the servers and network equipment live, and a larger room where mine and Abraham’s desks and computers are, and some general storage space. The server room has air conditioning, but this is struggling as it effectively has to cool both rooms- one of my first tasks is to get a door fitted to the server room to increase the efficiency of the air conditioning. My first task is to audit the systems and equipment already in place, and begin to work out a work plan. We have a quick meeting with the Dean of the college, and set a meeting up for the following Monday for me to present my plan for my work in the college for the duration of my placement. The first day flew by- there is so much information to try to process, but by the end of the day I was beginning to get some idea of what needed to get done, and the plan was beginning to form.After my first day at work, I decided to treat myself and rather than cook, headed out to Logita for my new favourite meal-“Bayonet” and a beer. My housemate Lubowa, and Tesafay joined me- mainly so they could watch Sky Sports on the TV at the bar.Tuesday, and my working day begins to form into a pattern. Wake at 7, shower, breakfast- usually banana, bread and a cup of black tea. Ride to work at 8.30, into the office, check mail, and then onto the days work. Lunchtime is between 12 and 2 for an hour- I jump back on my bike and head home for some food- usually bread and marmite/nutella. Some days I make myself some popcorn as an extra snack. Then back to work till 5. It’s not a bad way to live! Tuesday evening this week is the mid week volunteer get together, as Karen and Laura have an appointment on Wednesday. We head to Logita, and again, I have “Bayonet”. Mmmm. “Bayonet”. Its nice to catch up with Karen, Laura and Joffrey.Thursday, and work continues, the plan is coming together, and I’m informed that Friday will be a holiday! The highlight of the day is the monkey that appears on the roof of my office- I really am living and working in Africa...After work on Thursday, I receive a call from Sewit, my VSO programme manager, inviting me out to dinner with the VSO programme office staff. Never one to refuse a free meal, I head down to the“Tadase Enjor”y hotel for a slice of how the other half lives. The Tadase is the most upmarket hotel I have seen in my time in Ethiopia, and I was taken aback at the masses of Ferenji who were there: German’s – thousands of them. Well, maybe not thousands, but quite a few. It was strange tosee lots of white faces- I was tempted to shout “You, You, You”, but restrained myself. It was good to catch up with Sewit, and following a short debrief about my time so far in Awassa, we headed to the restaurant for dinner. I yet again had the “Bayonet” and was quite disappointed- nowherenear as good as the 10 birr version from my local “Logita”. And three times the price. Still, it was a nice evening, so no real complaints. The VSO driver took me back to my house at about 9.30, and I was amazed to see how deserted the streets were- its easy to see why the VSO don’t recommendtravel late at night.Friday was the Muslim holiday“Birth of the Prophet”, so no work. That evening was Kaye’s leaving dinner at the “Dolce Vita” Italian restaurant- we were joined by Kaye’s friends Laura and Allie, and a good evening was had by all... It’s strange that Kaye is leaving- she has been a great guide to Awassa for all thenew volunteers and an invaluable help for Laura and Karen in her hand over of her work. Its also strange that one of us is leaving- I think it made us all think that at some point we will be on our way too, and that is just too much to contemplate this early in our journey as volunteers...Following last weekend’s packed agenda, it was nice to be faced with a more chilled out prospect for this one. The major highlight for me was watching the bike racing in Awassa town centre- something I wasn’t expecting to see! I need to find out if its a regular event- maybe I will have a go when I get my bike from the UK.That’s it for now. Its Thursday afternoon, and I’m sitting on the sofa finishing this off as we have no electricity at the college- one of the themes for this week so far...