Visit to the Vet's

Our vet insisted we bring Clementine by for a checkup, and I managed to snag this photo of our girls with Sheba the Cheetah:

Sheba's a male who was rescued from the National Palace here in Addis Ababa. He's been in rehab at our vet's for several months now. Since Sheba couldn't survive on his own in the wild now, he's to be an ambassador at one of Ethiopia's national parks, to encourage people not to kill the wildlife. It was cool to see such a big, fast, purring machine.

While we were at work...

Somebody stole the camera! Those little rascals! I guess they enjoyed playing in the tent, which is what camping parents like.

Festivus for the Rest of us

Hmm, Santa brought us a ball of white fur...

It's a puppy! She's a street dog, so we've spent the last two weeks pumping her full of steroids, antibiotics, worm medicine, flagellate medicine, vitamins, and activated charcoal. She's much healthier now, though she still has a fairly distended belly. Her name is Clementine.

Oh and if you look out the window, you can see sunshine - it was about 25 C / 77 F that day. No snow in Ethiopia, I'm afraid.

I just wasn't in the mood to get dressed up for xmas, but the champagne was good.

One highlight was opening Patricia's grandfather's favorite wine, which we'd been hoarding for years. This one was a 1986 Chateau Haut-Marbuzet.

Gwendolyne got makeup for xmas, and did Patricia up right!

This is the kind of housing you have to look forward to when you join the Foreign Service.

Actually, Santa brought Clara a tent, so she had to set it up right away.

Santa visits the Embassy

This was just before Christmas - you can see the two Tukuls (traditional Ethiopian houses) behind Santa and gang.

Next to Patricia, Clara, and Gwendolyne are our sponsor Vicky (who answered our questions before, met us at the airport during, and helped us settle in after our arrival) and her two children.

Clara doesn't look it, but she was pretty nervous to go talk to the man in red.