No-Cameron week

Wow, it seems like I have not updated in awhile, but it really has not been that long. Saturday was good—Sabbath school, church, lunch, Pathfinders. We got halfway through the “hard” ASL game. Oh yeah. After Pathfinders, we went to Amanuel’s house to visit. And we ate dinner there. Sunday morning, Kibret interrupted me in the middle of my breakfast to attend the promotion meeting with the Kalaala community leaders. We caught a ride to Sefara, so we only had to walk half of the way (back home). The rest of the day was spent cleaning.

Monday Monday Monday? Stuff. Haha, we worked out a food schedule for the next few days.
Tuesday, we finally finished the book in second grade!!! Yes! And then the kids and I sang and stuff. We watched House, played lots of Rummikub, and then Abebe arrived to bring us to the airport to pick up Austin, Cameron’s cousin. We saw a bunny on the way to the airport! Yay first wild life in Kalaala (we saw monkeys and baboons in Gimbi). We waited in line and got our entrance tickets, then joined a VERY long cue to get into the line for security. I brought a book so I would not be annoying, which Cameron appreciated. But we found out that, actually, we were in a line to get into the line to get into the security line. Fun stuff. We ended up only waiting in the airport for 15 minutes. Cameron was so happy to see Austin! It was happy. Back to Kalaala, and right in front of the compound, we saw what I have been waiting to see for months—hyenas!!! Cameron and Anisha had both gotten to see them, so it was unfair, but man oh man—we saw SO MANY! Maybe fifty. So many. They were not as big as Cameron described, but the ones we saw were females—the males came by later behind the ambulance and they were bigger. It was really cool. And they were literally right in front of the compound. Soooo cool. Then we kind of unpacked, and hung out and stuff. I eventually showered and went to bed, but they stayed up much later, and still both woke up to make promotion on Wednesday morning.
So yes, woke up early (after going to bed late) to go to the road with Amanuel. It went really well, since we were later than last week, and it was not a holiday, so we got more farmers and fewer students and there were many donkeys. We showed Austin around the campus, and then they stayed at the house and were going to nap, and I went back to the clinic. They did not end up napping haha. We played some UNO after lunch, then I had class with third grade. They are doing a verbal unit now. Well, verbal/reading. While reading with the girls after school, I took note of a few words they had trouble pronouncing because English is stupid like that (enough, near, hear, but then bear, etc). They get to be noisier, so I think they will like it. After class, I sang a bunch with the girls, then more with a different set of girls. Then they really wanted to meet Austin, so I went back to see if he was awake. They had been napping, but he was awake and did eventually come. They named us Hyena (me), Giraffe (Cameron), and Ostrich (Austin). We ate flowers and then played football. Dinner, packing packing packing, more UNO, Bones, shower, then bed. I woke up to see them off. Very sad. Now I am lonelyyyy. No patients yet today. I am sure I will be fine, though. This is why I could never not have a roommate—I LOVE YOU POPS!

Thursday nights through Sunday night, the power went out… tonight… Sunday, it went out right in the middle of me blogging. Jolly.

Okay, Thursday, nothing of note, except my waxident. I got wax all over my computer, the trunk, Cameron’s sink, and my chair. I got it all off except for what is all over my chair.
Friday, I got to be the lab tech and pharmacist for an hour or two, until Isias arrived, and I was demoted to only the pharmacist. Fun times anyway. Friday after school, I hung out with Eyerus and Helen by the milk house. We sang and it was fun. On our way back to the gate, Yobe and Gezehang were washing the car Daniel uses, and I stole the hose, and sprayed Yobe and the girls and me. Yay. It was SO hot. The water felt so good. The power went out while I was cutting papers for Pathfinders next week, and so Saturday morning it looked like a paper factory exploded. Saturday was very interesting. I was bringing the keyboard to church, and I see these two feranjis! Two feranjis. That are not Cameron and I. I am sure I came off rude. Anyway, they are Mark and Nicole from Washington (or Washington DC if you listen to the dude who translated into Amharic for them). Anyway, Nicole and I basically talked the entire time they were here (minus church and Sabbath school). We hit it off great. It was nice to have someone to talk to until they left—the lack of Cameron makes me lonely. We were walking over by the tree that the bees have moved into on the path between my house and school, and A BEE STUNG HER! Those bees, who I walk by all the time, who NEVER sting anyone… and I tell all the kids “Don’t be afraid. They won’t sting you if you don’t bother them” stung her. Oh yeah, and she is allergic. Gah. Sooo we went back, I took the stinger out, gave her some Benadryl, ice, lalala. She was all good. Pathfinders was the last half of the ASL game.

Sunday was so interesting. I had to go get produce and groceries, so I was planning on just having one of the kids go with me. But Tsigue knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to go. So we walked to Sefara then took the mini bus to Girji, then walked to Hareg’s house. I met Edelowyt’s mother. Abu was on the porch, and Meske and Betty were helping him walk. So Hareg and I watched him and chatted. I got new books. Around noon, we ate (YAY, Ethiopian foodz!), had tea, then I went with Tsigue grocery shopping. It was funny, because they made it sound like Yared would take me to a grocery store, but we just walked. She bought supplies for THE NEW KITCHEN AT THE CLINIC, and I bought spaghetti. Then the ambulance drove by, and we got in and went down the road. Theeen I bought bananas and CORN and a papaya and mangos. I think that’s it. The papaya was SO good. And so were the mangos. The corn, which I was so excited about, however, was a different story. I boiled and boiled and boiled it. For about two hours. And it was STILL hard. So I tried to take a few bites, then I gave up and had some chocolate chips. Then the power went out. All night. And all of Monday. And Monday night. Any my computer ran out of battery, Cameron’s ran out of battery, and something else ran out of battery. Oh, my ipod. So Monday night I went over to eat an orange while Meske, Baybe, and China were playing. But then my legs started itching like CRAZY, so I went inside, applied … that whose name escapes my mind. Cata… the stuff you put on chicken pox. Then they itched so much that I had a Benadryl and put hydrocortisone ointment ALL over my legs. I played Rummikub and UNO against myself (I beat invisible Cameron in the former by 40-some points), then the Benadryl took effect and I went to bed because I was so tired. The power was on for seven minutes when I woke up Tuesday morning. Then it went off again while I showered and ate breakfast. But finally it stayed on during the day so my stuff could charge. We had lunch at the clinic. Tsigue and Tsinat made patties and omelet sandwiches. Bayise and I helped too. It was good. Class went okay. Better than Monday anyway. I hope they are ready for the test next week. There is no school tomorrow. I broke out the hula hoop that Aida brought, and everyone liked playing with it. They liked grabbing it too, which I did not like. Pup came, and one of the girls played “bite the pen” and fetch with him, which was sweet. And super awesome because he is such the clever boy playing fetch. Then there was stuff to sell at the pharmacy. Then Tsigue gave me my spatula back. Then I made Baybe and China try the hula hoop. Then I made dinner and watched House. Then the power went out and I played Rummikub against invisible Cameron again. He beat me by 23 points. Mmm cough drops. I sound sick, but I’m not sick because I do not get sick. I do get itchy though.
I suppose things happened on Wednesday and Thursday. I know that the power was out most of the time. I went grocery shopping on Thursday and got over 100 birr in produce. Papaya, mangos that do not taste like mangos, pineapple, broccoli, okra, bananas, peppers, and strawberries. Yayness. Thursday night, though, there was power! And about a thousand million times better than having power, Tsigue came and taught me cooking! Meskeram came too. She asked what I wanted to make, and I said, “Eh, miser wat or green miser wat or green beans and carrots…” So we started cooking. It took me about an hour to realize she was teaching me how to make TWOOOOOOOOOO wats! She taught me miser wat and carrots and green beans. We finished around 730, but I was not even hungry by then. I had a little bit of it, and made me firfir for breakfast. Oh, and that firfir was SOOOOOOO good (might have had something to do with the fact that Tsigue made the wats. I make good firfir. The other thing that tied with best awesomest thing that happened on Thursday, was Dr. Fekede told me that Cameron had called him and HE AND AUSTIN WERE COMING HOME EARLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Instead of coming home Saturday afternoon, they came home Friday MORNING! The whole school went on a field trip, but Dureti did not go because her dad was worried the bus would crash or she would get lost or beat up or something. So she hung around until Abebe and I left. We got to the airport around the time Cameron said he would arrive: 930. Well, Cameron said he should arrive around 930, anyway. We waited and waited and waited. I read a book. I finished a book. I waited and waited and waited. Abebe and I talked, and waited. Around 1115, Abebe said that he was only waiting 15 more minutes. He FINALLY got there around 1130. I WAS SOOOO happy to see them! They were wind-burnt. I think they napped some and we played UNO. We went to Vespers, but only the kids were there, so Austin said something and we prayed and left. We had burritos for dinner yum. Sabbath was good. Austin was happy he was there for pot luck. For Pathfinders we made flowers out of paper and vases out of paper-covered toilet paper rolls. They had fun. Saturday night we watched Star Trek. The projector kept going off so we watched half of it on the projector and half crowded around the computer. Sunday Bereket got married! So me in my nice dress, Cameron in his suit, and Austin with his camera had to hike to Sefara through the MUD. Cameron looked awesome with his pants hiked up and tucked into his socks, and I looked awesome with a big backpack and sandals and a shiney silver dress. We FINALLY got there and saw Asrebeb, and then we sat there for two hours waiting. We said hello to Ato Kinfe and saw Adungya from afar. Finally Kibret arrived and at least told us where to sit. I sat in a tree. Then I switched with Cameron and he had to deal with a branch in his face. The bathrooms there were… very ripe. We sat, watched, then it started to rain so we went under a roof because I had my flute. But then, everyone went under a roof because they are afraid of rain. We ate before we played. It was only decent Ethiopian food. Then we played our songs, but our seats got taken so we got stuck on the music platform. Eventually, they started singing and dancing and so we clapped along. Then we got squished so the bridal party could join us. Then we got kicked off so they could cut the cake. They had doves on their heads (Bereket and his new wife, Meraf). We had asked/told Daniel if he would bring us home, and he said yes. But he left, so we eventually used Adungya’s phone to call him to tell him to pick us up. Austin and I wanted cake so we left Cameron and got cake. Austin elbowed my cake, so I licked his elbow clean because he stole my frosting. We walked some and met Daniel, and got a lovely ride all the way to the gate. We watched two episodes of House, and maybe something else. Monday we went shopping. Lots of stuff to buy. Scarfs, baskets, Cameron got a triton sword for Peter, etc. We were supposed to be picked up in an hour at the Union, but we did not have a phone, and we were late so we just sat there for 20ish minutes. Hareg and Dr. Fekede and Abebe got there and had been worried, but we said we had said that we did not have a phone. They took us to lunch at a wonderful restaurant. It was really cool—there were different sections built like different landmarks in Ethiopia—Gonder, Axum, Blue Nile Falls, etc. Hareg gave both of the guys a shirt and me a dress. They have been so so so wonderful to us. That afternoon I had had to give a test, but since I was not there, I asked 2A teacher to do it. Wonderful she is, and she put them under my door after class. Helen got 24/24 (two wrong, but both extra credits). On Tuesday, Cameron and Austin slept in and refused to come to work. Class was okay. The first half went okay. I had five kids who had to take the test, so 2B teacher took them to do that. I showed them half of a Boy Meets World episode but had to censor the kissing scenes. They went giggle-crazy. Then I said that this was my last class with them and that I had something with them and I would give it to them as they left. Well, that worked for about two kids, and then they mobbed. I kept pushing them back and telling them to get in a straight line. No luck. NO luck! I eventually had to get all the kids back in the classroom and told them to sit down. These kids do NOT understand “get in one, straight line.” I yelled a lot because they were bad and were ruining the sweet part of the bittersweet “last class.” Hmm. Then the three of us crowded with 14 OTHER people into the ambulance and went to drop off of Austin at the airport. We went inside with him and said our goodbyes. At least I will get to see him next year at Southern, but he is still a poor replacement for Cameron. WILL MISS CAMEZOL!

Some week

This afternoon—Monday—was really awesome. We had patients today, Tsinat got a hand-operated centrifuge (for when the power goes out) and it is SO COOL! I printed and cut my tests for third grade on Wednesday, and Abebe found out where the guest house that Meredith and her mother are staying is. Okay now this afternoon. Class went well—I had to skip a whole bunch because second grade is so behind (by no fault of their own). Afterward, I went to play football with Dureti, Hermela, and Firmaye. Then two boys (Alazar and another kid) came, and we were going to play three-on-three, so I divided the teams. Then Firmaye got all put out and insisted on a hands-up-hands-down thing to decide. They turned out to be the exact same teams I had picked in the beginning. Then Fantu came and we all were playing, then Dureti got hit so a few of us sat out so it would be fair teams (2-on-2 haha), and were taking about Fantu’s wig. “No, guys, it’s not a wig, it’s artificial hair.” They asked if the Bible said not to wear wigs. I told them no, the Bible says not to dress up all fancy with jewelry and go around wanting people to tell you are beautiful. Then they wanted me to tell them a Bible story. So I told David and Goliath with Firmaye and Hermela translating. They all really liked it, and a few kids from the afterschool class or water pumping came to listen too. Fantu, as it turns out, is SDA too. She goes to church in Sefara with Firmaye. Coolio.

On Tuesday, Hulu, Adugnyae and I traveled to a remote area outside of Addis Ababa to visit patients that would have a hard time traveling to our clinic. We were going to go to someplace, Asegefach Mariyam, but we could not find it. So armed with blood-pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, and brochures, we picked a village, and met with its inhabitants in one of their houses. The nurses took blood pressures and gave advice about childcare. The rest of the village was gathered at an assembly area under a tree. The nurses gave a lecture about general hygiene and answered questions from the audience. They said that one of their biggest needs is a better way to access the clinic during the rainy season. In order to come to our clinic, they must pass a river that swells significantly when the rains come. Because this community will have much easier access to medical care than in the past, they expressed their deep appreciation and said that they are delighted to have this clinic so close. And the reason that sounds so unlike my usual blog writing is because it is a slightly modified version of an article I wrote for the Kalaala Chronicles.
Class was good. I think Tuesday was the day I killed the spiderS. I was outside and there was a spider. I told it not to go in my house, but it blatantly disobeyed me while I went inside to get a shoe. So I was already panicky, but when I hit it, it exploded!!! Billions, or at least a hundred little baby spiders (all with the potential to grow up big and scary like their mother) exploded out. So I screamed (bloody murder) and went ballistic trying to smash them all, and Dr. Fekede was outside and was like, “What’s going on; what’s the matter?” Funness.

Wednesday. Um, OH! Meredith, and her mother Martha came to pick up Hollis Bilch’a, and they spent the day with us! We picked them up at their signless guest house, stopped by Bole Mini for Dabo Kolo, and went back to Kalaala. Meredith had brought us refried beans and We showed them around the compound, and then ate lunch. I had made patties the night before (a whole batch, so we would have leftovers for supper!!!!). No one ate much, especially Cameron who only had three and Martha who had half of one. But she was sick so… Hollis is SO cute! Cameron learned how to change a diaper. It was really funny. They all came to watch me give my test to the third graders. On test day I am especially firm and yelly and on the brink of mean, because cheating is a big thing, and I cannot tell if, when they are talking, if they are talking about the test or about playing soccer after school! I am not usually that mean, but I have to be extremely cautious on test day. It was really good to get to see them all.
Probably the funniest thing that happened while they were here was their amusement at Cameron’s and my relationship. We are apparently like an old married couple. We argue and joke the same, never fight. We make decisions like a married couple. We’ve been through the “having a baby” phase (except Jennifer wanted a dog), and now we’ve been married forty years and he start bringing me the tomatoes off the stove as I am asking. Oh, and we both wore green today. It sounds really boring when I try to describe it, but it is super funny. Except, Meredith says, that we do not share a bathroom, which we halfway do, because my shower is broken and he blows his nose with my toilet paper. When we leave, it will be like we’re old and he died. See, it’s funnier if you could see us.

Oh, in the morning before worship, I went to find Mek,des (aka Mek’des haha) and Biniam because they passed their test but both missed a question. Mek’des came to worship, so that was no problem, but I went to look for Biniam in the classroom. Dureti, Eyerus, and another girl were there. Dureti had her Bible, and told me that every morning they all get together and read. Enough said.
The rest of Thursday could have gone better. A lady in labor came into the clinic, and I was excited. Except that Cameron had to go meet Other Bereket and had to go pay for his and Austin’s trip up north, and then we had to meet Bereket to go wedding clothes shopping. Yeah, Amanda, shopping. And to stop you laughing, Cameron is wearing a gray suit with brown shoes. I came here to get medical experience and thus far really have gotten none. I guess God has other things for me to learn. I was grumpy all day nonetheless. The NTO stuff went smoothly, and then we spent years in the internet café with Other Bereket doing that thing. I had brought a book, but I am halfway through and still not interested, so I just stopped because it was useless. Then we went to wait for Bereket at the Century building, Dembel City Center. We found a really cool “Restaurant and Snack” and went to have small snack. Cameron got a New Dehli pizza (which was really good without the chicken), and I got the most wonderful mango juice/smoothie/yum. It was yummy and thick and SO worth the 11 birr it cost. It must have been like 5 mangos. 5 or 10. So good. Then we went with Bereket to shop. We found Cameron’s suit (a nice gray color), then his shirt and tie. Then ut oh me. I said yes to the first thing that was halfway decent. It has shiney things on the top, but one is falling off so I have to sew it on. The lady said to wash it, but I am going to see what the fabric is first.

Today has been pretty fine. The meeting got cut short (YAY) because of patients. Then later, Amanuel asked if I was busy to go over the price list with Cameron. Once I found out what he wanted me for, I decided that I was busy, and that he and Cameron could handle it without me. Yep. I should go email all my friends back. Aren’t you jealous that you are the only one who does not get one? (I’m trying to trick you, because no one ever emails me actually.)

Back (b)log

Recently I have been helping Tsinat in the lab. She lets me draw blood sometimes, and I help run the tests.
Wednesday and Thursday we reviewed for the test in third grade. They had a lot of fun. The winning team SQUASHED the other two. I hope this helps them do better.
I do not think much else happened the rest of that week. It rained a lot. A lot. Sabbath was good. Adugnyae and Tsinat came to church, and stayed for “by invitation only” potluck. Yohannes, the guy we met at Kebena church, spoke, and his friend taught Sabbath school. It was kind of cool seeing someone at our church who w e had met before elsewhere. We played an ASL game in Pathfinders. They were kind of noisy, but I hope they had a good time anyway. They all got marshmallows at the end, so I am sure they did.

Hareg came back to the Learning Village on Sunday, and was just hanging out on the porch of the new house, so we went over to talk to her. We figured out about Austin coming and stuff, and Cameron made sure it was okay with her that he go with Samson to a wedding somewhere later that day.
Okay, so my mom sent some SUPER cute clothes for Dureti. But we decided that we were not going to give them to her because, really, she does not need them. She also feels entitled to everything we give her, and everything we deprive her of, and would not be grateful if we did give it to her. So I prayed about it and kind of just left the box on the floor. Well, God sure solved the problem. In His own time, true to form. There is a lady who recently came to work for Hareg. She was raped by her employer, became pregnant, so had to leave, tried to abort the baby (who is the CUTEST THING EVER!!! And he likes me a lot too.) She also had an older daughter, who was living with her father’s mean, mean, mean wife. The wife was making her care for her few other, younger kids (she is only 8, if that), making her clean the house and stuff, and do laundry; basically, she was using her like a slave. So last time her mother went to visit her, she out how they were treating her daughter, and Hareg let her (the mother) bring her (the daughter) back to her (Hareg’s) house. Well, for some reason, I thought of her the other (Saturday?) night, and thought how maybe, maybe the clothes would fit her. And I have no idea how I had that thought.
So I showed Hareg the clothes, and she said that they were the exact size! And they do not have much, and Hareg cannot buy clothes for all the kids she directly or indirectly takes care of. And I know that the girl and her mother would be grateful, unlike Dureti would. Anyway, Betty was so excited, and she even called me! She said thank you, and that she was wearing one of the outfits right now! So, the clothes fit, it is not someone who would go telling all her friends that “Jennifer gave me clothes,” and Hareg said that her mother cried.
Cameron had a wild day of hyena-cave exploring and wedding dancing and meat and walking. I… vacuumed.

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.