Just another day in Addis...
To answer the questions of my grandparents: I am still communicating mostly in english and sign language but studying amharic every night (the 50 useful phrases or so I'll need) so hopefully I'll at least be able to say some things. I think the city is safer than it feels to me right now. I am always walking around on high-alert, watching out for pickpockets and the like, but so far so good. I have not been taking many photos yet because I have heard that if you take a lot of photos in the street people think you're CIA, but I think once I feel more comfortable here it won't be a problem. I believe Rick has legally adopted 5-8 of the boys and the others stay with him either temporarily or permanently but they still have other family.
Today I went to the mission around 10:00-10:30 with Bogut where I met up with Rick and gw students doing some rounds, but it was a very very very quiet day at the mission. When Rick left around 11:30, I introduced myself to Sister Bridgeeta (the head of the mission) and told her that I was here to volunteer and I wanted to help out however they could use me. She said ok, let me go check, and then proceeded to disappear for 3 hours until 2 PM. Little did I know that the nuns were taking their afternoon siesta. I sat on a bench surrounded by mission residents for 2 hours, making friends with some of the kids and just observing. Once I found out about the siesta, I decided to go get some "lunch." Still very new to the area, wary of getting lost, and unable to communicate (not that I knew any food to order anyways), I ended up in a cafe, which of course, doesn't serve real meals. Feeling like I should experience the culture a little more, I ordered my first ethiopian macchiato....which was lovely. This was followed by a delicious donut topped with chocolate cream, all for $.50. I sat in the cafe for nearly an hour and then went back to the mission to wait for the sisters to appear. Instead of waiting on a bench, I went and talked (in english of course) with one of Rick's patient's, a smart 16-yo boy who looks worse than any picture of famine in ethiopia you've ever seen (not b/c of lack of food but because of his lymphoma). He told me he wanted to be either a priest or a doctor and that he hoped to go to college for "natural sciences." Seeing as how I made him smile some and how much I learned from him, I think it was mutually beneficial. I found Sister Bridgitta and asked if there was anything I could start doing today or whether I should come back tomorrow. There wasn't anything today, so I left and went for a walk. I check out 2 bookstores for any english-amharic dictionaries but turned out that the kind i'm looking for is called "amharic for foreigners," so no luck there. I then went to one of the big banks and tried to exchange some of my travelers cheques, but they wouldn't accept the copy of my passport, so that didn't work. I then caught a mini-bus taxi all by myself and took it back to Piazza, where my hotel is. Some reading and other personal tasks later, I decided to go out for another walk. I was able to change my $ at another, somewhat shadier, bank and then walked up and down any and all random streets. I am now at my internet cafe and I realize that this post is probably very boring to read, but I promise that soon I will give a better description of the things I'm seeing, smelling, and hearing.
Today I went to the mission around 10:00-10:30 with Bogut where I met up with Rick and gw students doing some rounds, but it was a very very very quiet day at the mission. When Rick left around 11:30, I introduced myself to Sister Bridgeeta (the head of the mission) and told her that I was here to volunteer and I wanted to help out however they could use me. She said ok, let me go check, and then proceeded to disappear for 3 hours until 2 PM. Little did I know that the nuns were taking their afternoon siesta. I sat on a bench surrounded by mission residents for 2 hours, making friends with some of the kids and just observing. Once I found out about the siesta, I decided to go get some "lunch." Still very new to the area, wary of getting lost, and unable to communicate (not that I knew any food to order anyways), I ended up in a cafe, which of course, doesn't serve real meals. Feeling like I should experience the culture a little more, I ordered my first ethiopian macchiato....which was lovely. This was followed by a delicious donut topped with chocolate cream, all for $.50. I sat in the cafe for nearly an hour and then went back to the mission to wait for the sisters to appear. Instead of waiting on a bench, I went and talked (in english of course) with one of Rick's patient's, a smart 16-yo boy who looks worse than any picture of famine in ethiopia you've ever seen (not b/c of lack of food but because of his lymphoma). He told me he wanted to be either a priest or a doctor and that he hoped to go to college for "natural sciences." Seeing as how I made him smile some and how much I learned from him, I think it was mutually beneficial. I found Sister Bridgitta and asked if there was anything I could start doing today or whether I should come back tomorrow. There wasn't anything today, so I left and went for a walk. I check out 2 bookstores for any english-amharic dictionaries but turned out that the kind i'm looking for is called "amharic for foreigners," so no luck there. I then went to one of the big banks and tried to exchange some of my travelers cheques, but they wouldn't accept the copy of my passport, so that didn't work. I then caught a mini-bus taxi all by myself and took it back to Piazza, where my hotel is. Some reading and other personal tasks later, I decided to go out for another walk. I was able to change my $ at another, somewhat shadier, bank and then walked up and down any and all random streets. I am now at my internet cafe and I realize that this post is probably very boring to read, but I promise that soon I will give a better description of the things I'm seeing, smelling, and hearing.
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