We continue our journey...

Blog Entry 6/22/2008   It continues to thunder ominously most afternoons, and heavy rain showers come down without much warning. Despite the weather, life and work continue on as usual, and power outages have become commonplace.   Still feeling a bit under the weather, I took it easy yesterday only getting out of bed to answer the phone, and get ready for our first Amharic class with Yethesha. A small framed Ethiopian woman with a ready smile, Yethesha has a strong reputation as one of the best Amharic teachers in Addis. She's patient yet firm and encouraging. Class was interesting, we covered the alphabet patiently sounding out each letter in its 7 forms. Tongue-tied with the "explosive" sounds unique to certain languages, we ended our lesson by spelling our names in the fidel which felt like a huge accomplishment. I'm looking forward to our weekly lessons and being able to get past the many greetings (that are critical in this culture) and short commands that make us sound like Neanderthals grunting.   After our lesson, we had Brian and JT over for a meal, our first attempt at "home cooking" here in Addis. Pasta with sauce, mushrooms served with green beans and chunks of bread were on the menu. Within 20 minutes of their arrival in the blistering rain, the lights went out. Luckily we had plenty of candles on hand and Brian kept the music flowing as he played the guitar. Overall, we were able to talk about the latest M. Night movie, JT's favorite rat story, and then after dinner a little bit about work. We bounced around some more ideas, and prepared for some of our upcoming meetings with key stakeholders in the project. At about 9:30, JT and Brian headed out to catch the last of the minibuses or cab their way home.   This morning, I finished my only extra book that our teammate/friend Liz left for me: The Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. It was quite the juxtaposition, reading about the Bengali-American experience while being complete immersed in another world.   Ryan and John went out to the Lime Tree for their famous Sunday brunch, enjoying pancakes, hummus, and a variety of food. I stayed at home drinking tea and watching a documentary called, "Slum Survivors" an IRIN film. It's the story of the urban poor in Kibera, Kenya. But truly it's an international issue given that 1 billion people live in slums worldwide. The scenes were familiar of Bangladesh, and the world outside our door and it addressed issues that we are working with firsthand: HIV infection, poverty, the stigma surrounding different diseases, gender inequality, mass unemployment, and the lack of resources available for the youth.   The rest of the afternoon will be quiet, as everyone either naps, reads and I try to recover. Tomorrow is a big day and on Tuesday we will attend our very first coffee ceremony which will be very exciting I'm sure….   More to follow….