Kiflin ch'eresku! And I still speak atrocious Amharic :-). C'est la vie! For the moment I'm excited, though a little sad that I won't see the language helpers or my classmates anywhere. Still, now that I'm done with the Language School I'll have more time to get stuff done before I leave in two weeks (be'igzi'abihayr fek'ad). If I can just get rid ( Read more... )

Our phones AND our internet are actually working! It's a miracle! I'm still in the throes of a cold, but I've been sleeping lots and loading up on all kinds of medicines and teas, so it hasn't gotten too bad so far (thank God). I've got lots to do before I go though, so hopefully I'll be able to balance the rest I'm needing with the things I need ( Read more... )

This country truly is amazing. Where else could I nearly get run over by a herd of cows (or donkeys) just off of what anywhere else would be a highway, spend the evening with world-renowned historians, and listen to the sounds of the muezzins and priests at the neighborhood mosque and Orthodox church before retiring to my house to talk online with ( Read more... )

It is crazy early, but I feel asleep by 10pm (I think) and I'm up early enough to get everyone done that I need to before I leave for Zenebewerq ( Read more... )

Joyous feast! It's another beautiful day in Addis. I'm up WAY too early for a day I don't have to go to class, but in my defense the internet's best at this time of day ( Read more... )

I don't know whether this site will be accessible the rest of the time I'm here in Ethiopia or not :-/. It's been constant my whole time here so far, but most of today I couldn't access it at all. (It was specifically this website too - facebook takes ages to load, but I could get on it.) So, I may just stop posting sometime between now. Either way ( Read more... )

Mission accomplished! As of this moment my inbox has exactly 100 e-mails in it :-) (WAY better than 1,50 plus0). All of that's either new or involving things I can't afford to lose track of (university applications, my e-ticket to get back to Michigan in April, et cetera ( Read more... )

Not much happening here. We had a beautiful full moon last night. I was at the Serenade (a lovely restaurant near the Patriarchate) when I first noticed it, and although I was on an uneven cobblestone street in a slummy part of Addis (what part of Addis isn't?) I was taken back to Southside and working thirds at Meijer and long moonlit walks and ( Read more... )

Not much happening here. Yesterday was my mum’s birthday, which was nice, but it was also the day I got diarrhea and started coming down with a cold. Fun times :-). Wednesday night I got to have dinner with an old classmate from high school, who I don’t think I’ve seen at all in the last five years. I’d hoped to finish writing my application essays ( Read more... )

It's been a long day. I slept too much yesterday afternoon and evening and had a rough morning. I went to Mass at the Anglican church with my parents and it was like a modern Roman Catholic Mass. We stopped in at St. Frumentius' after lunch, but being in the cathedral again was just depressing. I really hope I can find a good Ethiopian Orthodox ( Read more... )