D-Day Approaches

Hi all,

While not as terrifying as the subject title may imply, the big day is now just hours away. The First Day Back At School. It has been relatively quiet here for the 12 or so days I have been in Bingham Academy, with just the staff, their families and the workers around. Tomorrow we will be invaded by about 220 children, ranging from about age 5 to age 16. Am I prepared? I really don't know. I have a plan, but how will it actually go? You'll have to wait until the next episode to find out. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

On a technical note, I have been notified that people receiving this letter through a Hotmail account have been getting blank messages. This one should be ok. Please let me know if it isn't. One other note is that this one won't be posted on the web site immediately. Internet access other than for email has been very intermittent so far. Apparently TeleCom (the one and only Internet provider in the country) has been hit by the virus plaguing the rest of the world, thus making their service very (very) flakey. But email generally gets through once or twice a day (on average).

Departure from London was fairly smooth, if somewhat more involved than I had been hoping. My flight was scheduled to depart at about 5:20PM, so I gave myself about 5 hours to get to the airport. The plan was to take the train from St Albans to Kings Cross Station, and then change to the underground, catching a Piccadilly line service to Heathrow (Terminal 4). Those familiar with London will know what I mean. For the rest of you, just play along...

After dragging my 40 kilos of luggage the 2-3 kilometres to the train station, I finally boarded a train destined for Kings Cross Station at about 12:45. One station short of Kings Cross, the train stopped progressing. Apparently there had been a 'serious problem' further down the line, resulting in long delays and imminent cancelations. Hmm, I thought. I wasn't keen on dragging my luggage around London, so I waited for about 15 minutes. With no progress in sight, I and a fellow traveler (an Englishman bound for France via the Eurostar train service) headed out and discovered that we could catch the Underground from here. He helped me with my suitcase and a few minutes later I was on a Northern Line service headed for Leicester Square station. Hopping off there, I trundled to the Westbound Piccadilly Line platform where 1 minute later, a service bound for Heathrow arrived. Fantastic, I thought. About 10 minutes later, we were informed that the service would (for some reason I couldn't understand) be terminating at an earlier station - about 5 stops too short. Thankfully, once we all got off, another train came by about 10 minutes later, and I finally got to Heathrow. Once off the train service, there were no further problems. I had finally arrived, just outside the recommended 2 hours before departure. From London it was a quick (55 minute) flight to Amsterdam, where I got off, walked the 25 minutes or so from one end of the airport to the other, and boarded my flight to Kenya. The flight there was quite pleasant (as far as an Economy flight to anywhere is pleasant), and 8 hours later we had landed in Nairobi.

After hanging around in the departure lounge for an hour-and-a half, I was greeted by Geoff Weston, a fellow Australian heading to Addis Ababa who I had met through Stuart and Lucy Bradley a couple of months ago. He is teaching Kindergarten at another school here in Addis for a year or so. Anyway, we finally headed out to the plane, stopping to identify our luggage so that it wouldn't be left in Nairobi and started the 2 hour flight back north to Addis Ababa. The plane wasn't too crowded, so after takeoff we sat together. The other passenger in our row turned out to be a Kenyan Christian named Rose, who was also going to Addis for the first time. She's doing about 7 months worth of aid work as a nutritionalist for the Catholic Relief Fund(?). She's a protestant though, so we may meet at church occasionally. It depends what churches we all end up going to.

Anyway, the flight was pretty much on-time, and I got through customs remarkably quickly. The only slight holdup was the luggage carousel breaking down, resulting in about 75% of the luggage being sent out on the next-carousel down. Welcome to Africa.

Upon exiting, I was greeted by a small crowd - David Hicks, who was the only person there who'd actually seen me in the flesh before, Krisha and Brad Adams (fellow Australians) and Binyam, an Ethiopian guy about my age who I'll be working with in the computer lab at the school. The drive home was...interesting. Defensive driving takes on a whole new meaning in this country. Lane markings are regarded as a guide, usually as the line the centre of the vehicle travels down. Cars (and there are quite a few of them) either drive slowly in the middle of the road, or suddenly zip past you on the inside lane, or both, at random. Pedestrians, donkeys and herds of sheep may attempt to cross the road at any time. Pedestrian crossings exist in a few places, but if you stop to let people cross at them, you are likely to be involved in an accident. The only reason they exist at all is because we have them in the West. They mean nothing. The best policy is to beep your horn at regular intervals and pray a lot.

Addis Ababa (pronounced Ah-dis Ab-be-bah) officially has a population of about 3-4 million. Some of the locals guess that is probably about half the actual amount. People lie, run away or dodge the census here because the results are used to calculate the taxes each house should pay. So the official numbers are unreliable. Either way, it is quite crowded. Because it is the rainy season at the moment, where there is vegitation it is green, and there are regular mud puddles about the place. In the dry season (which goes from September until July) it becomes much browner. Water is a resource that must be used with some care here. During the dry season they have rostered power cuts (hydroelectricity accounts for 98% of the country's electricity). That isn't the case at the moment, although we've had a couple of power outages since I got here. This will probably make teaching computers somewhat challenging at times. We do have a generator and backup batteries, but they can't power the whole compound.

Anyway, after picking up some milk (which is fresh and comes in 1/2 litre packets) we finally arrived at Bingham. I've put pictures up of the main building, and of the inside of my appartment (which is on the bottom floor of the building on the right, if you're looking at the picture). New people are looked after with regards to lunch and dinner for the first week or so, which not only saved me from having to find and cook food, but also gave me a chance to meet some of my co-workers. There are about 14 other appartments on the compound, with a variety of singles, couples and families occupying them. I'd be the youngest expat (or Ferenji in Amharic) working here, with the next closest being about 4 years older (at a guess).

There has been lots of work going on here over the rainy season holidays. With a new year level being added on, there has been a need to create some new classrooms. Previously, each of the teachers had their own classroom and the students came to them. This year, each class gets their own classroom, and the teachers come to them (except for special subjects like computers, art and science, where there is too much equipment to move around). So, for the first time in Bingham history, we have a teacher staff room, where most of the highschool teacher have a desk. It's currently still having curtains and locks fitted, but it's functional. Although, as we discovered, with the corugated tin roof, it gets quite noisy in there during heavy rain or hail storms. The new classrooms have been created by subdividing some other rooms in existing buildings, and the staff room was created from a space what previously was used for hanging out clothes to dry. The new building that Russ Sweetman designed is yet to be started, with the process being bogged down in getting permission from the appropriate government department. That permission could be anything from 1 month to a year away. We are all hoping it won't take too long, but it's fairly comfortable here for this year.

Anyway, this email has already gone on for too long. This past week has mostly been taken up with orientation (which all the teachers have been involved in) and preparation for classes. I will be teaching Kindergarten through to 6th grade for Computers, as well as years 7 and 8 mathematics. Each of the computer classes is two lessons a week, and the maths are 5 lessons each, making a total of 24 lessons each week. Should keep me busy. I've played squash 3 times so far, and although the altitude does affect me, I think I'm getting used to it. I've played at least 6 games each time, although I haven't beaten Tim or David Hicks yet. I'll get there...

For now, however, it is time to go. Lesson plans beckon to be written. God bless.

Arrived in Addis

This is just a quick post to let you all know I've arrived in Addis Ababa. I'll probably do a longer post in the next day or two - maybe with some photos of my new pad. Stay tuned...

Scooting around Scotland

I've been informed that people getting these posts via Hotmail are getting blank messages. I can't fix the problem at the moment, but once I'm in Addis I'll change my delivery mechanism which will hopefully fix the problem. In the meantime, hopefully you're reading this on the web. On with the update...

Upon landing in Glasgow on Friday, I met up with Rachel McLellan, who was kindly providing a roof over my head for the next couple of days. We headed off to a Glasgow pub with her flatmate Nicky to meet a bunch of other Aussies living up that way (Suzie King, sister of Jeff, among them). We went around to one of the couple's place for desert and beverages. I had Milo. Yes, they have Milo here. And Vegimite. You can even find Tim Tams, if you look hard enough.

Anyway, the next day (Saturday) Rach, Nicky and I headed out of Glasgow to the Island of Bute (pronounced 'Beaute', as in 'Beaute mate! Slap another one on the barbie.'). After a lovely drive through the Scotish Highlands (only slightly dampened by cloud setting in), we caught a quick ferry to the island. A short drive, some lunch, and £6 later, we were riding across the island for some seal spotting and a 'wee dip in the ocean'. I was reluctant at first, but the water turned out to be fantastic. Not too cold at all - very refreshing. Plus, I taught Rach how to skim sea shells.

Sunday was very sunny. We headed down to The Rock, which is the church Rach goes to in the mornings. There I met Smidy, a very cool guy who also happens to belong to a kayaking club. As a consequence of this, we headed out onto Loch Lomond, with only a thin fibreglass shell separating me from the deep. We puttered around on the Loch for a couple of hours and then headed back to the barn. After a quick shower, the three of us headed off to St. Silas Episcopal church (I think - correct me if I'm wrong Rach), which is basically the Church of England (Anglican) when not in England. It was actually remarkably similar in style to Ashgrove, except for the use of litergy. I even knew a few of the songs.

On Monday morning, Rach dropped me at the train station and I headed into the city to catch a scenic bus trip to an island on the western coast of Scotland called Mull. In Oban I caught another ferry to Mull Island. Somebody later told me that 'Mull' means 'island' in Gaelic. Hmm... On the ferry ride over we went past a castle which was apparently Sean Connery's hideout in a movie called 'Entrapment'.

Tobermory is the biggest town on Mull. I stayed there for the night at a Youth Hostel there, but before that I decided that after the fun I'd had on Mull, I'd hire another bike and go for a ride in the countryside. The bike guy pointed me onto 16km loop track, and I headed off. Mull is a very hilly island. The highest peak is over 3,000 feet high! After a lot of ups and downs, and several photos of the spectacular scenery, I had finally gotten to the far end of the loop and started heading home. It was at this point that the chain on my bike decided it had going around in circles and getting nowhere and call it a day. This turned out to be not as bad as it might have, since about 300 metres down the road I came across a nice couple with a car who kindly gave me a lift back into town. The bike hire guys were nice enough to give me half my money back, which is fair enough, since the bike did get me half way on my journey...

The next day, it was back on the bus. Leaving Tobermory at 9:45 in the morning, I finally arrived in Edinburgh at about 5:30 that afternoon. Once I got to the Bed & Breakfast I would be staying at that night, I tried to get in contact with my aunt and uncle, Rod and Kay Bullpitt. After finally getting hold of them and trying to arrange a place to meet the next day, we finally came to the realisation that our B&B's were just down the road from each other. So, we met up and headed into town. They had tickets to the Edinburgh Tattoo. I didn't. But I'd heard that left-over tickets are sold an hour before the event starts, so I hung around and was fortunate enough to pick one up. They turned out to be pretty good. I spotted my aunt & uncle, and then settled in to enjoy the show. It rocked! If you ever get the chance, see it! Definately one of the highlights of the trip. If you see it on TV later in the year, see if you can spot me, but especially watch for the Top Secret Drum Corp. They are the most coordinated percussionists I have ever seen.

The next day the three of us headed back into town and checked out the Holyrood Palace (the Queen's residence in Scotland) and then they headed off to Aberdeen and I went up to the Edinburgh Castle. After seeing a few castles now, I think I can say that, although they often have a good view, I wouldn't want to live in one. You tend to have a pretty short life-span, from what I've seen. Plus, there are way to many stairs.

From there, I headed off to the airport and was back in St. Albens that evening. My next update will be the final one from the UK on this trip. I'll most likely be in Ethiopia next time you hear from me. See you on the other side...

Cycling in Canterbury

It's been a while since my last post, so I'm breaking this report up into two sections. This one will cover what I did before heading to Scotland. You can guess what the next one will have...

On Tuesday night, I finally got in touch with my uncle, David Knight, who was in the UK enroute to the United States to see his son (Christopher) and daughter (Katie). We decided to try and meet in London the next day around 6PM. I also decided to head out to Canterbury to check out the Cathederal and other local historical monuments. Not that I knew about anything else that was there.

So, the next day, I headed out to the train station at St. Albens. It was about 10AM when I got there and bought my ticket to Canterbury. All week, the trains have been running slow and/or being canceled, apparently due to the heat. It's been about 30-35 degrees over here most of the time. Anyway, I finally got on a train at about quarter to 11, and started the journey to London Bridge station. After waiting there for about half an hour, I finally got on a train at around 12:30, destination Canterbury West station. By the time I got there, it was about 2PM. Working backwards, I figured I'd have to allow 2 hours to get back to London, which meant that in order to meet my uncle at 6PM, I'd have to leave at around 4PM. Leaving me a bit less than 2 hours in Canterbury. At this point, I decided that hiring a bike might be a good idea. And it was! I have rediscovered the coolness of riding bikes around on this trip. They're more flexible than driving or public transport, and way faster than walking. Unless they break down, of course. But more on that in the next post...

Anyway, I got a bike and a map, and headed to Canterbury Cathederal. It's pretty nice, as such things go. Pretty old, too. Not as old as Westminster Abbey, but it's mostly from around the 1600's. Some (small) parts are from the 1200's. It's most famous residents would probably be the Black Prince and Thomas a'Beckett. Can't tell you much about the Black Prince, other than he has a cool tomb, but a'Beckett was a martyr for his faith during the Protestant rebellions way back when. There's a memorial altar in the cathederal in his honour.

From the cathederal, I headed down to St Augustine's abbey, which is basically just a ruin now, and then rode through town, passing a couple of old buildings, including a Roman Guardhouse which now spans a road and is tall enough for double-decker busses to pass under.

About then I decided it was time to head back to the big smoke. Catching a train at about 4:25, the train seemed to be stopping at every station on the way to London. I finally got there at about 6:30, and gave my uncle a call. He was probably in the underground at the time, and his phone was out of range, so I just left a message saying I'd meet him at Picadilly Circus (where he'd done a lot of open-air evangelism in the past) and hoped he'd get the message. Sure enough, when I got there, he was waiting. We got a picture together in front of the Eros statue and then wandered around inner London for a few hours, just catching up and talking about various landmarks. A good time all 'round.

The next day (Thursday), I headed back into town. By this time, I'd seen most of the better known attractions in London itself, so I decided I would get a ticket to a West End production and check out the last museum I was interested in - the Natural History Museum. After standing in a queue for about 40 minutes to get half-price tickets for that evening, I headed off. The Natural History Museum houses tonnes of exhibits about the natural world. Things such as stuffed animals, skeletons, minerals, meteorites, plants, and (of course) dinosours. I checked out the dinos first, seeing such beasts as the triceratops, iguanadon and other big fellas. Unfortunately, the T-Rex had been moved to an exhibit where you had to pay to get in, and since I'd just paid for my plane tickets to Scotland, I wasn't feeling very generous at the time so I skipped it.

After that I headed back to Leicester Square and at about 7PM, I headed into the Albery theatre to see 'The Master Builder', starring Patrick Stewart (better known to Star Trek and X-Men fans as Captain Jean Luc Piccard or Professor Xavier, respectively). It was a drama, and a fairly small cast, but it was good to see Stewart in the flesh, and the production was good to boot. A good night out all 'round.

The next day, I got up early, repacked my smaller bags and headed of to Luton Airport to catch my plane to Glasgow. The details of my Scotish journeys I will leave until the next post. Stay tuned for the next exciting installment...

New Photos!

Hi all. Just a short one to let you know that new photos are up on the Yahoo Groups site. I'll write another entry in a day or two with more details about what they are photos of, but for now, enjoy...

Greetings from St. Albans

I'm sitting in an Internet Cafe in a town called St. Albans, about 50km north of downtown London. Paul & Jane, the couple I'm staying with here, moved here on Saturday from their flat in Notting Hill. It's a pretty nice little place (3 bedroom, lounge, dining, etc), although they're planning on repainting most of the rooms.

Before that though, on Thursday, I visited the British Museum, which houses artifacts from all around the world, from Egyptian, to British, to Aztec, but to name a few. It also houses the famous Rosetta Stone which was key to translating Egyptian hyroglyphs. That took up about 3 hours just wondering around. Then I wondered over to St. Paul's Cathederal, which was quite impressive. I came back later for their daily 'Evensong', which is a 45 minute service mostly in song. They had a boys/mens choir and the pipe organ leading the worship. Quite interesting.

The next day I went to the Science Museum, but most of the photos of that didn't turn out well due to bad light and poor cameramanship. It has lots of exhibits of science and technology over the centuries, from ploughs to Stevenson's 'Rocket', to space travel.

Saturday was mostly spent moving, but we did wonder around St. Albans afterwards. It's a fairly historic town, with a large Abbey (which reportedly has the largest Nave in England - I'll leave finding out what a Nave is as an exercise to the reader), an old clock tower, and several old Roman ruins which I haven't had a chance to see yet.

Then, on Sunday, Paul & Jane headed off to Copenhagen and Amsterdam for a week-long holiday. It's the first one they've had by themselves (without pesky visitors like me hanging around), so hopefully they'll enjoy themselves. They've kindly let me stay in their place while they're away, though. After dropping off the car they hired to move their stuff to St. Albans, they headed to the airport, and I headed to the Tower of London. It's a pretty cool place - lots and lots of history there. Although not a royal residence any more, it was for several hundred years from its construction in the 11th century. The tower itself, called the White Tower is the oldest structure on the site. One of it's most infamous occupants was probably King Henry the VIII, who is best known for having executed 5 of his six wives (the 6th being married to him for four years before his death). After checking out the Crown Jewels and many other interesting buildings in the Tower, I headed out and walked across the Tower Bridge (who's towers I found to be more impressive than the Tower of London - less historical though). A short walk down the south bank of the Thames brought me to London Bridge, which was very unimpressive and not looking like falling down at all.

Anyway, that's pretty much brought you all up-to-date on my excursions thus far. I'm planning on heading a bit further afield in the next few days, so we'll see what my next entry reports. Until then...