Debre Zeit and the Car's on its way...

Not having a reliable Internet connection has hindered my updates, for which I beg your forgiveness, dear reader. I'll be putting in a request with the telephone tech. to find out why our dial-up connection always drops after five minutes. Also, the broadband connection I was able to use has been in short supply lately. On the other hand, the school has a wireless connection, and since they're right next to our house, I might have more opportunities to hook in over there.

Two weekends ago, Seifu, his fiancée Hanna and her brother Jimmy (Girma) took us to Debre Zeit about 40 km south of Addis Ababa, where we spent the afternoon at a volcanic lake, Lake Hora. Emperor Haile Selassie used to have a weekend house there. We packed a picnic lunch. Patricia made all pork-product sandwiches until I reminded her that our Orthodox friends would have to go hungry, so she made some PB&J and some tuna fish as well.





We had a nice walk along the shores and then a lovely boat ride across the lake on a boat that clearly did NOT meet US Coast Guard safety standards. Coming back, we approached the tree where the Araicha have their October festival, there were quite a few of them dancing and celebrating as we passed. We felt a bit uncomfortable taking pictures though.

On the way back we bought a couple of kilos of fresh honey, still in the comb, for 95 birr. Yummy!

We finally have some good news on the car. There must be a chat shortage in Djibouti, because our Nissan Patrol left there on the truck on Monday, so it should be in Addis Ababa on this coming Monday. Once it arrives, we can go check it out and make sure it's in one piece, and start the clearance process. Then we need to pay for insurance - Ethiopia requires us to purchase comprehensive here - and registration. The whole thing should take another five days or so, with any luck we'll have use of it next weekend.

Last weekend was the Marine Corps Birthday Ball - the social event of the year at the Embassy - at the Addis Sheraton. Patricia had nothing to wear, so instead of going naked, she had a bespoke dress made. I'll post some sexy pics of her in it next time.

This evening I'm going to visit the Goethe Institut - Addis Ababa for the first time, to attend a screening of Berlin is in Germany. Next week Patricia plans a French version of the same thing, to see Le couperet at the Alliance Ethio-Française.

Today was International Day at school, and the girls were excited to be the French representatives. Over 80 nationalities are represented there, and they all paraded around today and brought food from their native countries. Patricia and the girls really enjoyed it - I missed it due to work.

The weather is still sunny and dry and in the 70s. Eat your heart out!