Halloweened out

We had a busy weekend, with Halloween parties both Friday 27 October at ICS and Saturday 28 October at the embassy. Patricia dressed up as a witch at the latter party at the CLO's (Community Liaison Office) request, and provided lots of entertainment for young and old alike.

Needless to say, after another Halloween the previous weekend and two parties last weekend, we were all pretty tuckered out. We felt especially fatigued after spending Sunday 28 October at ICS: I played soccer with the Embassy team, Pat ran the track, and the girls played in the playground.

We're still frustrated about not having our car yet. It was supposed to arrive in Djibouti on the same day (4 October) that we arrived in Addis Ababa, but nobody bothered to contact us to handle the paperwork to have the car cleared and shipped up. The expediter and I both sent faxes and e-mails and made phone calls to the shipper, the agent in Djibouti, and the local Nissan dealer, all without success. Finally I lit a fire under the salesperson, who finally got things moving. Still, it should be another 15 days or so before our wheels show up.

Another point of frustration concerns Patricia's job - she should have started almost three weeks ago, but bureaucratic delays have kept her from working. All in good time...

We managed to catch The Birds on AFN with the girls, which I had never seen in its entirety, and About Last Night.

I also managed to read some literature, The Call of the Wild. Mrs. Neveras would be proud!