Since blogger is not working at all. So I do not feel compelled to update much.

Tonight was our first clinic emergency. Gueremew called Cameron (how good is it that he had his number?), and said to come right away. The lady… well, 21 year old... had a headache and abdominal pain. I did my best, and we called Dr. Debela. Amanuel was on his way though. And even though so many of her family came, none of them spoke English. Whoopee. Anyway, it was probably a peptic ulcer, so we got 73 birr and she got medicine and I got to give her an injection. Very exciting.

So blogspot has been out of commission so long I have lost the motivation to blog, which is good news for all the people who sit through and try to decipher what I write. Wow, I have been starting every entry with a lament about blogspot. Classes have been going well, 23 kids passed their last test, and the second graders’ average was higher than the third graders’ (43.1% vs 36.8%). I went reward-happy for those who passed (and even more so for those who passed according to American standards). Unfortunately, that means that all the other kids were jealous and stuff. Hard knock life, you only got 2/22, so you do not get a chapstick like the kids who got 19/22.

Dr. Gemechu is back—he arrived last week. On Sunday, Samson had invited us to Amanuel’s house, so we went and it was fun. I drank two—read it, TWO—cups of coffee, and had part of a soft drink. Charlotte would die here—soft drinks all the time. I baked banana muffinsishcookiesishbread. I combined the recipe for pumpkin cookies and banana bread, so I would not have to wait for hours for the bread to cook. I also baked Anisha’s Christmas cookie bar mix to bring to Ato Yaried’s house. We had been invited to go to Helen and Eyerus’ house on Monday, so after class we went. Poor little Helen must have been tired, because she walked super slow. It was a lot of fun. They had soft drinks for us (since last time we said we did not drink beer, so how considerate :-)). And Wayzaro Salam had made a great spread for supper. Arsema was her usual charming self. I am glad we went this week, because everyone is fasting now (aka no meat!). But they invited us back again sometime after Easter so they can serve us meat ick. Ato Yared wanted to take lots of pictures, so we have awesome pictures. And then he invited us back to their kitchen, which was weird, and W/z Salam was so embarrassed and kept saying it was a mess (well, it was, but whatever, workshop/kitchen made from put together pieces of tin would be hard to keep organized. Sweet pictures, which I will upload if blogspot ever works. The girls and I have some awesomely funny ones. Ato Yared walked us almost all the way back home (we met Alemayhu, Temmy, Gezehang, and Samson on the way back), and he talks SO loud!

Last week when we were with Bereket, we found out that the cafeteria serves food for the teachers Monday-Friday! AND WE FIND OUT ABOUT THIS NOW?!?! Gah. So on Tuesday, we finally got the opportunity to go get good Ethiopian Bayinetu at the café with Bereket. It was good, too. It had miser wat, potatoes and carrots, and… something else. It was very good. And Bereket paid (how nice) and then we went back to our house and made him tea (the café was not serving any because the power was out).

We also went out Tuesday night. Other Bereket (from CMC church) invited us to speak at some thing for college students at a big church in another part of the city. Just our luck, it was rainy and muddy and ick. We met him at Megeneña and got to the church with my only getting my feet icky once. The church is a little bigger than Meriden. Cameron spoke about the cross, and I told the story of the tree trees (one ended up being Jesus’ manger, one the fishing boat, and one His cross). After Cameron spoke, we did a special music, and we eventually headed home. We met several very nice people. One lady was named Meseret, and a guy who lives near us named Johannes (his mother lives in Queens), but he lives at the university now, I guess. Anyway, we had a hard time finding a bus back to Meberat Haile, because Other Bereket was doing it weird, so we eventually did it our way—go to the main station, and ask someone “Meberat?” Then they find us a bus, and we go. We took a Higer bus back to Safara (weird), but it kept waiting for more people but people kept getting off and it was late and Jennifer was tired and Cameron was hungry. While we were at the smaller station with Other Bereket, someone with new sharp shoes stepped on my foot. It got all muddy. Anyway, we made it back to Kalaala in the dark without getting attacked by drunk men (the town was basically deserted) or hyenas (though part of me wishes I had seen one!).

Now my biggest problem is not that blogspot will not work, but it is that the internet will not even connect—inde?

Dr. Fekede’s daughter Aida is here for a few days. Hopefully Abebe will be able to take us shopping today. It is even okay if I miss class, because third grade is so far behind second.

Oh, something else very exciting about the past few days—many of my friends have sent me nice long emails! I love my friends.

Oh dear. Meseret troubles. She is an older student in third grade, and lives really close to the campus (unluckily for her, the “teacher, it is rain and I live far” excuse does NOT work if I know where she lives). Today, she WALKS OUT OF CLASS IN THE MIDDLE OF CLASS!!! *bigger font* AND THE TEACHER DID NOT DO ANYTHING!!! until I was like, “Uh, excuse me, WHERE IS SHE GOING?” Then he got up slowly and went outside after her, and comes back in alone. Near the end of class, Meseret strolls back in and sits down. Even though I had given the whole class a “that is so rude and she just lost your class a whole point” lecture, I told Meseret again how rude she was. Honestly? Gah. Then, near the end of class, I notice that Firmaye had little pieces of Styrofoam in her hair! I asked who did it, and they blamed Abraham Solomon, then they blamed… Meseret. What is that girl’s problem!? To Abraham’s credit, she had Styrofoam, not him. So I took it away and threw it in the dustbin. THEN after class, Gezehang was handing out some papers, and Meseret was causing more problems, (I do not remember exactly) and I took away MORE Styrofoam that she threw angrily on the floor and huffed out. Oh yeah, and Cameron had loads of problems with her when he was trying to play football with some kids after school. Gah.

Calculating (estimating, more like) back from Easter, I last updated Wednesday or Thursday of last week. That is better than I thought! It must have been Wednesday, because Thursday third grade lost 10 points because they were so busy. Eh, I think I missed a week in there somewhere.

The weekend was super busy. On Friday we were invited by Ruth and Gutu (Amanuel’s kids) to go to Flowha church on Saturday to watch their Pathfinder program. Gutu was going to speak, and Ruth and Nehemiah were also in it. Flowha church is the huge church in downtown Addis. We arranged it that we would be back in time to teach Pathfinders, and that we would meet Amanuel at his house in the morning so we could travel to Flowha with them. All went well—got there on time and in one piece. We attended English Sabbath school (do you know how long it has been since I saw an English hymnal?) which was good. The church was huge! We could have attended the English church service, but we wanted to see the Amanuel kids. Nehemiah was drill sergeant, Ruth carried the Ethiopian flag, and Gutu spoke. Nabon… sat quietly. Mommy was there… cool. Afterward, Amanuel got us on a taxi to… somewhere, and a nice complete stranger-man who spoke ABSOLUTELY IMPECCABLE English helped us know when to get off. Then we caught the taxi to Girji and then to Sefara, then walked home. We were hoping that Hareg would invite us for lunch even though we were late :-D. WE MISSED ANOTHER MEDICAL EMERGENCY! So Dr. Gemechu had been at the clinic with Hulu, and so they had not eaten, so awesome Hareg DID invite us! AND we just took our time and stuff because there was no Pathfinders (thanks for letting me know, I only run it) because some pastor is coming to talk to the kids in the baptismal class next week. So we spent a quiet Saturday afternoon.

Sunday I agreed to go to Selam’s house (one of my third graders). She reminded me every day that week “Don’t forget! Sunday, you go my house!” Mek’des had gotten all put out because we would not go to her house… or her brother Yohannes’ happy birthday (he turned three). I was playing with her and Samuel outside Sunday morning, and again got put out that I would not go to her house, but then her father (one of the guards) came and asked me to come take pictures of his birthday (well, the motions he made were more like “come look at his party with binoculars”), so I agreed we could go to their house at 5 (but not stay long, because we were meeting Selam at 6 (11 and 12 pm American time) to go to her house. Yohannes’ happy birthday was good. I managed to only eat a little little bit, but Cameron was not so insistent. He ate a lot and drank almost a whole soda. THEN we went to Selam’s house. We were expecting a very small, basic house, because when Selam came to the clinic, I swear she said her father was a farmer and her mother did not work. WELL WELL WELL. Their house is the nicest I have seen (except Hareg’s)! Her father, we think, is a driver (for a tour company?) and speaks really good English and her mother is really nice. She is the youngest of four (older brother Ezana, and older sisters Liya and Lidia). They have a kitchen table, and served us HUGE plates of spaghetti (Ezana insisted I eat it all; I could not), and bread, and fish, AND SALAD! I have not eaten salad since America! It is apparently dangerous because it might not be clean. I ate some of the pasta, none of the fish :-), a piece of bread, and half of my soda. We were offered wine, but, eh, we’re good with soft drinks, thanks. AND I HAD SALAD. Could not resist. I have never had eggs in my salad, but the white parts are not bad. The yellow parts are … icky. I like my dead chicken mixed together and cooked, thanks. Lettuce and onions, with lime and salt—can I ask for a better salad? Mmm. They liked the cookies I baked. Cake mix cookies, since our oven cannot cook cake. We had a wonderful time! Before we left, Selam gave me an awesome… t’ibbs or kitfo container! Well, I will not use it for cooked or raw meat, but it is so cool! Best ever. My coolest souvenirs have been gifts!

Monday was interesting. Faskia (the baby born on Easter) and her mother came for their one-week check up. All is well, and Faskia peed on the baby scale, so I did not hold her. I got to draw her mother’s blood for Hgb test. Class went okay. The guards still are kicking the kids out after class, so I played catch with Pup (who is getting the hang of the game), and then I played minibus with Bebe and China. I think Solomon would be proud of his sons’ aspirations. China was the driver and Bebe was the kid yelling the destination out of the window (aka, tree). We rode to Magenenya for only two eucalyptus leaves :-).

On a not so hot note, we found out that someone has been stealing from Cameron(‘s room). They stole candy, cough drops (good ones—Ricola!), pencils, crayons, gum, more candy, but thankfully did not touch the money Cameron has in his room. It was done skillfully, though. They went into his room and into his suitcase and stole 12 big packs of Skittles, lots of dumdums, then took cough drops, and Cameron’s special candy from his desk (not all of it---it was carefully calculated, so hopefully he would not notice that some was gone). Then they went INTO HIS DRAWER on the other side of his bed and took gum and some more special candy. We both feel very violated and feel like we have lost their trust. We do not know when they did it, but it was within the last few days (from the evidence of candy wrappers outside). And now Cameron has to start locking his room, which is really inconvenient for him.

Today (Tuesday), we had a few patients at the clinic, and then went with Abebe to switch Cameron’s plane ticket for when Austin comes. We came home after grocery shopping, and it was late and I was very good and not-complaining about the fact that it was an hour and a half past eating time. Abebe’s wife had his baby—a girl. He is excited, and proud. He name is Ganna, which is the word they use for Christmas. Class went well. Someone stole 100 birr from someone else in 2B, so I had half a class for awhile, but we played hangman until 2B came, and it was fun. We got to play football for a little while after class, and Dureti and Mek’des played that Mek’des was trying to kill us (Cameron and I) and Dureti had to save us. “Don’t kill my mother/father!” Silly girls. During supper … nope, during playing Rumicube time, Meskeram and Dureti came to the window and revealed to us that Estifanos had been the one stealing from Cameron’s room. He buried the wrappers, but had shared some pencils and crayons and candy with them. Meske said that she had eaten some, but did not know it had been stolen. I think I have gathered that he stole it while we were distracted by out dinner-time entertainment. I really hope that the other kids did not know about what he did, but I am really proud that the girls told us when they did know. We are planning on having a meeting with Dr. Fekede and Solomon tomorrow. I wish it had been some random kid from the school, not a kid who lives here, who we thought we trusted. Tragic, really.

WOAH it posted one... maybe others?

So from reading my last blog, I guess I last blogged on Sunday night. The rest of the week (and Sunday) they were working hardhardhard on the house! It is hard to remember the specifics. My mom arrived on Tuesday morning. We went with Abebe, picked up Hareg, and got to the airport, only to see that her plane did not arrive for another hour and a quarter, which means more than that if you account for time to get her bags and go through security. So I annoyed Cameron until she came. Then we cajoled Abebe into taking us grocery shopping, and went back home. We found out on Wednesday that there was a little girl who had a severe UTI (she went septic) who stayed OVERNIGHT at the clinic… and no one told us until afterward. She ended up staying all week. Her name is Yabsira, and her father is best friends with the compound’s driver. He is a prominent community member, and they can afford to pay the bill and since he has millions of friends and relatives around, it was superfantastic advertisement for the clinic. She had hundreds of visitors. All the teachers, everyone who works here, and all her relatives… just so many people. A nyway. She is so sweet, and I read to her a bunch. She finally got better and left on Sunday evening. The Oklahoma people arrived Thursday night night night . I went to bed, and woke up when they came, and in a half-sleep state shook a few people’s hands. All I remembered in the morning is that there had been a guy named Chris, a guy named Spencer, one named TJ, and a girl named Victoria. Haha. On Friday, my mom and I went down with Tamirat to Abijata-Shalla National Park (and saw Lakes Ziway and Langano too). We had a good time. We saw warthogs, ostriches, antelopes, and the hot springs.
On Saturday, the power was out and so our carefully practiced special music ended up being acapella. It went okay, though. Pastor TJ preached, and so it was in English. Pathfinders went really well. We did a special program, the same one we did for the CMC church. On Saturday night, we hung out with the Oklahoma people, and we played Psychologist and Twister. Fun fun. On Sunday we took my mom to lunch and I made bread. Monday I kept thinking was Tuesday, but we had a few patients, so happy me. And we played Imaginary Football with the kids Monday night. Crazy game. It is interesting, being second string to the gum-giving new kids on the block. I really hope that they do not expect us to be able to give them so much stuff once they leave... or when we leave.
It was a bit difficult to have them here. They did not know (nor did they ask) about the rules set for the kids. They let the kids into the gate and even let some of them in their house! One night, all the kids on the compound plus the Amanuel kids were in there (invited, of course). They also gave out gum all the time, which of course prompted them to ask US for gum all the time! We do not mind, but when they ask all the time, and rudely at that, we do not exactly WANT to give, especially when we want them to stop being spoiled with getting gum from foreigners all the time. We do not want them to ask every foreigner who comes for things. Anyway, it was quite frustrating at times, but we know the Oklahomans were just being generous. Mom made many friends while she was here. She got along very well with all the clinic workers, which was nice.