Another year, another Great Ethiopian Run. We had quite a few from Bingham running this year. Last year, my preparation consisted of one lap around Bingham Academy (about 1km). This year I septupled that (7km over a few days), but that was over a month ago. To compound that, I contracted some sort of virus a couple of days before. Thankfully, it didn't get too bad, and lots of water and an early night's sleep seemed to do the trick - I woke up on race day feeling fine. But still under prepared.
Since my last epistle, Brian Hall and I have been joined by two others: Dan Lambert and Bobby Long. Dan is from Canada and works as SIM's 'Sudanese Refugee Ministries Manager'. Bobby arrived about a month ago from Virginia to serve as Maintenance Manager here at Bingham. And Brian (I think I neglected to mention what he was doing here last time) teaches Art and Bible, and is about to start as Athletics Director here at Bingham.
Bobby wanted to run, but arrived to late to register, but Dan, Brian, and I were all set to go. Brian actually trained, so he arranged to run with some other people, but Dan and I agreed to stick together on the condition that neither of us drop to a walk (that was my goal for last year also). This year, I also wanted to get under 1 hour - my time last November was 1:00:10.
So, we work up early, drank a lot of water, slapped on some sunscreen, and drove with the others down towards Meskel Square, where the race would begin. We couldn't drive to the start line, so we hopped off about a kilometre away and walked in. The weather was clear, but the temperature brisk, so a little walk was a good warm up. About half-way there, Brad Adams and I decided we had drunk a little too much water and ducked across the road to a gym to correct the problem. When we got back out, the racers had been pushed back to the footpaths, and the police were stopping us from leaving our little alleyway. A couple of minutes later, three police cars, two motorbikes and five black limousines zoomed past (one of which was apparently containing the Prime Minister). After they had passed, we were finally allowed back on our way.
Dan, Brad and I worked our way to the front, a line that progressed further down the road as time went on. The crowd finally arrived at the start, and then about 500 people took off to begin their race. Unfortunately, it wasn't due to start for another 5 minutes, so the one and only Haile Gabriel Selasi (Ethiopia's most famous distance runner, and one of the race organisers) called everyone back and urged them to move back behind the start line. Amazingly, they did, and I don't think anyone died in the process. Not bad, considering there were 19,500 other people still behind the start line who were trying to move in the opposite direction. Dan and I did manage to get separated from Brad, however, but since he was going to run much faster than us anyway (his brother Luke was a race walker in the Olympics!), that wasn't a big problem.
Five minutes of speeches later (including one from the Prime Minister who had delayed us earlier), the horn blew and we were off. As happened last year, by the time Dan and I had crossed the start line, the street ahead of us was completely filled with red shirts. Dodging people darting in front of you, or suddenly stopping to tie their shoe is all part of the challenge. The other part is the course itself.
The Great Ethiopian Run takes place in down town Addis Ababa (which, at 8,500ft elevation is one of the highest capital cities in the world), and consists has two big loops. The first is about 4km, and the second is 6km. Both loops feature two main hills - the first of which is the smaller, and occurs about 300 metres from the start. The second is about 3/4 of the way around both loops and goes for about 500 metres at a decent elevation. Nothing like what you get in Brisbane, but I've never run 10km in Brisbane.
With so many people together at the beginning, the race started slowly. Which was ok with Dan and I. By the top of the first hill we were doing pretty well. By the top of the second hill, I was still ok, but Dan was slowing, and had developed some nasty blisters. As we went downhill again, and through the start/finish line for the second time (at about the 4km mark) we picked up some speed and were on schedule for getting around in an hour. At the top of the second ascent of the first hill, Dan had to adjust his shoes to ease the pain, so I ran around in circles for a minute (mustn't drop to a walk!). Apparently it didn't help much, but he soldiered on anyway. This time there was an extra kilometre added before we hit the second hill, but we were now past the half-way mark, and only 1 minute behind schedule. Surprisingly, I was still doing pretty well. At this point of the race last year, I was dead on my feet, running purely on stubbornness. This year, I still had plenty in the tank. Dan was struggling, however. We finally arrived at the base of the second (and larger) hill for the second time. Dan slowed a bit, but did pretty well, and we then came to the second change in the course - another smallish hill before adding an extra 2 km to the loop. And we only had 11 minutes left to get under the hour!
I decided to make a last push to try and get under the hour, so I left Dan behind and picked up the pace. After all the hills we'd been going up, there was finally a good downhill stretch, so I keep speeding up, clocking probably the fastest 1km I've ever done. Unfortunately, the first half of the second kilometre went back uphill. With only a couple of minutes left in which to cover about 800m, I resigned myself to failing once again to make the 10km/h average. I finally crossed the line at 1:03:47. Dan came in about 3 minutes later, and we went claimed our medallions. Another race complete!
In other news, we have just completed our first school term. All that is left now is the mountain of grading I have to do and the reports I need to write, before we have another three weeks of school, and then two more weeks off for Christmas. Strange? Yes, but that's how it works here...
In the week off, 5 of my friends here and I are heading off to Egypt for a rushed tour. We leave on Monday the 29th in the evening (at midnight) and return on Sunday the 5th. In between, we'll be squeezing in pyramids, tombs, museums, the Nile, dawn on Mt Sinai, Luxor and Western Fast Food, travelling via camel, bicycle, train, bus, taxi, ferry, horse-drawn cart and aeroplane. Should be exhausting. But fun. I'll try to write another newsletter a little sooner this time with some pictures.
In the meantime, please keep praying for Bingham. As always, we need more teachers for all subjects next year (and if you teach art, PE, maths or science, we could use you now). In the next two weeks, David Hicks will be doing another whirlwind tour of the US and the UK on a recruiting drive, so pray for those he will be speaking with and for his safety in travel.
Well, I've got grading to do. Until next time...
Monday, November 29, 2004
Thursday, September 09, 2004
A week in Addis
Well, it's almost exactly one week since I got back to Bingham, so it's probably time I sent you all an email letting you know I arrived safely. Here's a quick summary of highlites for each day since I left.
Monday, August 30, 2004
Got all my stuff packed. The suitcase weighed about 27kg, which is 7kg over the official limit, but I had that much last time and they didn't even blink, so I figured I'd be ok. It turned out I was correct about the luggage issue. Unfortunately, since I didn't have a valid entry visa in to Ethiopia, the check-in person didn't want to give me a boarding pass for about a minute. She finally let me on since a) I had a return ticked and b) you can actually buy visas at customs anyway. So, I said my farewells, got on the plane and headed off for Bangkok with Thai Airways.
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
After a 9 hour flight with a couple of boring movies, and unconversational neighbour, and bits and pieces of sleep on the way, we touched down in Thailand at around 5AM. My original booking had me scheduled to leave at around 11:45PM that evening, so it was going to be a long day. On the plane, however, I discovered that my neighbour was also going to Frankfurt with Thai airlines, however her flight was departing at about 12:30PM - almost 12 hours earlier. I still wouldn't be able to get to Addis any earlier, but I would arrive in Frankfurt at around 7PM, before departing the next afternoon at around 1PM. I don't know about you, but I find it much easier to sleep in a bed than an aeroplane seat, so I attempted to get my ticket transferred to the earlier flight. Upon finding the transfer desk at around 5AM, I was informed that it only opened at 5:30AM. I have no idea what you would do if your plane was supposed to leave at 5:25AM, but anyway... So I hung around for a while and was eventually told to go to the transfer desk at the other end of the airport to get put on standby. 700m later, I found it, was put on standby and told to come back at about 12PM.
The downside of this was that I wouldn't know whether or not I'd be able to leave earlier until half-way through the day, which would essentially render the possibility of actually getting outside the airport null-in-void. Not being the world's most energetic tourist, this wasn't a big disappointment - it would have just left me with a lot of time to kill in a really boring airport.
In the meantime, I filled in time by attempting to write some lesson plans (not finishing any), perusing the local duty-free stores (not buying anything) and getting passport photos taken for my Ethiopian visa (which I didn't need anyway). Time well spent, in my opinion.
I didn't quite manage to fill in enough time, so I checked in about 20 minutes early, and was summarily told to come back in 20 minutes. Dutifully, I looked at watches for a while in a nearby duty-free store. (My current watch has lost it's backlight, so I was quite tempted to pick up a new one. Everything else works though, so my frugal missionary mind overruled.) Upon checking in at the designated time, I was asked to come back again in another 10 minutes. After resisting temptation for another period (I am well trained!) I was finally given my boarding pass! 30 minutes later, I was in the air again for the 11 hour journey to Germany.
This time I stayed awake for most of the journey. The movies were equally boring (I can't even remember what they were - although I think Shrek 2 was the last one on the trip, which was fun, although I had seen it before). Since I was supposed to be teaching the morning after arriving in Addis, I figured it would be a good idea to get a good night's rest, so I went through about 3 information desks and customs to find the hotel reservation desk at Frankfurt International. At this point I was having a little trouble pushing my baggage trolley in a straight line, but I eventually found the desk, booked a reasonably priced (by European standards, anyway) room for the night and headed to the hotel shuttle bus pick up point. By 10PM, local time, I was showered, toothbrushed and in bed asleep.
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
Being completely out of synch, time-wise, I woke up at around 3AM. After tossing and turning for about half-an-hour, I turned on the TV and flicked to one of two channels that were in English - CNN (the other option was BBC World). They happened to be showing the Republican Convention, and Arnold Schwartznegger was about to begin his speech. So, I watched/listened his speech encouraging people to vote for the Republicans even if you don't agree with all their policies, especially if you were an immigrant (like Arnie himself, of course). Then George W.'s daughters came on and offended pretty much everyone (apparently it was an attempt at humour) while introducing their dad, who then introduced his wife, who then gave a speech which put me back to sleep.
Later, I woke up again at a more reasonable hour, had some breakfast (included in the price, thankfully), and called Bingham Academy to see if they could fax me a copy of the work permit at the hotel. That 2 minute/€12.50 phone call is ranking up there with the 5 minute/$55 doctors consultation I had recently as the most expensive couple of minutes I've had in my life, but I did get the work permit. Mental note: never use hotel phones again...
After a 45-minute security/passport check, I still had a few minutes to kill, so I visited the local McDonald's and consumed what will probably be my last milkshake for the next 10 months. It was ok. Nothing to write home about. Then it was off to the boarding gate, where I found another Addis family I knew - the kids are students at Bingham. Eventually we all boarded, and even through we were originally seated a fair way apart, the plane was empty enough that I could move down near by. This time the airline was Lufthansa, and they actually had individual TV screens for each passenger. Unfortunately, the only movies available were a dodgy romantic comedy with Pierce Brosnan and a red-headed actress who's name escapes me, or 'On the Waterfront' with Marlon Brando. It was a 7 hour flight, so I figured I'd have time to catch them both if so inclined, so I went with 'Waterfront' first time around. It is a classic, even though I'd seen it before, and was a good way to kill the first 1/4 of the trip. After that, the system turned off. I assumed it would come back on fairly soon, or at the latest about 3 hours before we were due to land. It did eventually come back on - 2 hours before our scheduled landing. Ok, I thought, I guess you know what you're doing. We've had 3 hours with nothing to do, but I'm sure there's enough time to show the whole movie before we have to land. Nope. Half-way through the dodgy romantic comedy, it cut out. Not that the movie was that enjoyable, but gee, that's annoying. Note to Lufthansa: you are all idiots.
So, finally we landed in Addis. Two queues later, I finally got to the visa window. Upon examining my passport, the gentleman on the other side informed me that my visa was expired. Thanking him politely, I answered that that was in fact why I was standing in the queue for a new visa. After some consultation, negotiation, conversation, and work permit fax waving, I was informed that he would keep my passport and I would be given a little pink piece of cardboard to take to immigration the next day to reclaim it again. I wasn't very keen on the idea of relinquishing my passport, but having no other options, that's what happened. I got through customs with no problems and was greeted by Brad Adams (a fellow Australian teacher from last year) and Brian Hall (my new house mate - pictured right). By 11PM, I was back in familiar territory - Bingham Academy.
Since I was supposed to be teaching the next day, I figured I should find out what I was scheduled for. At Bingham, we have 8 forty minute periods each day. I have 7 periods on Thursday. In a row. Including 3 subjects I didn't know I would be teaching. At that point, I was too tired to really care, so I hit the sack and tried to get a decent night's sleep.
Thursday, September 2, 2004
After initially waking up at about 3AM again, I managed to make it to all of my classes. Not only that, the lessons actually resembled something with educational value (well, except 8 and 9 PE). Enough for the second day of school, anyway. I also met most of the new staff and students. Fairly productive I think, considering.
Friday, September 3, 2004
I met a couple of other guys around my age who are in Addis for a bit. A Kiwi named Grant (pronounced 'Grant' as in 'Aunt', not 'Grant' as in 'Ant') who is just here for a few weeks, and a Canadian named Dan (as in 'Man', in case you were wondering) who is around for about 9 months. We also watched a couple of episodes of the Simpsons.
Saturday, September 4, 2004
Brian and I hit the town in search of groceries, post offices and bed lamps. We were successful on all three counts, although we nearly missed out on item 3 due to a) not knowing exactly where we were and b) not knowing exactly where the store(s) we were looking for were. We eventually figured both issues out and made our way home. We would have tried to get a couple of other things too, but the traffic was horrendous. Apparently it is due to the Ethiopian New Year which is happening ths Saturday. Everyone comes to town to get new clothes. That's what I've been told.
Sunday, September 5, 2004
We arrived at the International Evangelical Church (aka IEC) about 20 minutes late due to Brad discovering a grieve (apparently a water-bird) on his way to pick up the car. Several photographs later (sorry, they haven't been developed yet) the bird was released back over the wall into the nearby river. The quality of the water in said river doesn't give me high hopes for the longevity of the bird, but you never know. Sunday was also the day that I found out that Binyam, our local Computer Lab assistant would be departing the country on Wednesday. As in, in three days. To marry a girl in America who he has spent a total of one week in the physical presence of. They have been talking continuously since then (email, instant messenger, phone, etc), but it's still a pretty big leap if you ask me, for both parties. Here's hoping it goes well.
Monday, September 6, 2004
Monday is actually my lightest teaching day. In fact, I am only teaching one class - 8th grade PE, last period of the day. As such, I figured it would be a good idea to get Binyam to show me where he usually gets all the equipment we need, and where to get things repaired. So, after morning tea, we headed off into down town Addis. After about 7 different stores and a hamburger at the 'Family Restaurant', I came away with a colour printer cartridge and enough information to get us by for a while. 6 hours later I was wishing I hadn't had the hamburger. 8 hours later I didn't have the hamburger any more.
Tuesday, September 7, 2004
Tuesdays are my second busiest day. Of course. At least it wasn't Thursday. I didn't make it to morning prayers, but I did make it to the rest of my classes. I'm sure the prayers said in my absence helped with the rest of the day. By 8PM I was in bed and didn't wake up until about 7AM the next day.
Wednesday, September 8, 2004
Almost up-to-date! I woke up feeling pretty much back to normal. After Binyam failed to show up at his farewell morning tea (I did get to say goodbye later), I fudged my way through my classes (I didn't get a lot of time to plan in the last couple of days), ran around the compound a couple of times trying to get the generator on during several black outs, and then headed off to the Baldwin's place for dinner. The Baldwins are a British family with kids at the school, and are also Brian's mentors, so they basically have an obligation to have him over for dinner every now and then. As official house mate, I seem to have been extended invitation rights, so who am I to turn down a home-cooked meal? After an entertaining evening, Dave Baldwin offered us a ride home, as long as we didn't mind push-starting his car, since the battery wires had become disconnected. After pushing it downhill for about 100 metres, we came to the conclusion that there were issues we couldn't resolve with gravity and manpower, and then had the problem of storing it for the night. After attempting to push the car back uphill to a friendly expat's place, we were brought to a halt by an unfriendly speed bump. Around the next corner downhill we finally found a compound owned by a local who seemed reliable enough who was also friendly enough to let us park the car there for the night.
Of course, Brian and I still had to get home. But we had arrived by taxi, so we figured we'd go home by taxi. Which we did, eventually. We had to walk a fair way further to find one than we'd hoped, and all the way Dave Baldwin was being hassled by a couple of locals who had provided minimal assistance and were now demanding financial recompense. Not actually having any money on me at all, I left it to Dave, who also speaks Amharic, and they eventually gave up. Not before becoming a little verbally aggravated. But we made it in the end. We suggested strongly that Dave come back to Bingham with us and we'd give him a lift home, but he wouldn't hear of it, so Brian and I eventually headed back to Bingham by ourselves. It took us over an hour for what would usually be a 15 minute trip.
Anyway, it is now Thursday the 9th, but since nothing interesting has happened while writing this epistle, I'll sign off here and head to bed, ready for my busiest day of the week. Until next time...
Monday, August 30, 2004
Got all my stuff packed. The suitcase weighed about 27kg, which is 7kg over the official limit, but I had that much last time and they didn't even blink, so I figured I'd be ok. It turned out I was correct about the luggage issue. Unfortunately, since I didn't have a valid entry visa in to Ethiopia, the check-in person didn't want to give me a boarding pass for about a minute. She finally let me on since a) I had a return ticked and b) you can actually buy visas at customs anyway. So, I said my farewells, got on the plane and headed off for Bangkok with Thai Airways.
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
After a 9 hour flight with a couple of boring movies, and unconversational neighbour, and bits and pieces of sleep on the way, we touched down in Thailand at around 5AM. My original booking had me scheduled to leave at around 11:45PM that evening, so it was going to be a long day. On the plane, however, I discovered that my neighbour was also going to Frankfurt with Thai airlines, however her flight was departing at about 12:30PM - almost 12 hours earlier. I still wouldn't be able to get to Addis any earlier, but I would arrive in Frankfurt at around 7PM, before departing the next afternoon at around 1PM. I don't know about you, but I find it much easier to sleep in a bed than an aeroplane seat, so I attempted to get my ticket transferred to the earlier flight. Upon finding the transfer desk at around 5AM, I was informed that it only opened at 5:30AM. I have no idea what you would do if your plane was supposed to leave at 5:25AM, but anyway... So I hung around for a while and was eventually told to go to the transfer desk at the other end of the airport to get put on standby. 700m later, I found it, was put on standby and told to come back at about 12PM.
The downside of this was that I wouldn't know whether or not I'd be able to leave earlier until half-way through the day, which would essentially render the possibility of actually getting outside the airport null-in-void. Not being the world's most energetic tourist, this wasn't a big disappointment - it would have just left me with a lot of time to kill in a really boring airport.
In the meantime, I filled in time by attempting to write some lesson plans (not finishing any), perusing the local duty-free stores (not buying anything) and getting passport photos taken for my Ethiopian visa (which I didn't need anyway). Time well spent, in my opinion.
I didn't quite manage to fill in enough time, so I checked in about 20 minutes early, and was summarily told to come back in 20 minutes. Dutifully, I looked at watches for a while in a nearby duty-free store. (My current watch has lost it's backlight, so I was quite tempted to pick up a new one. Everything else works though, so my frugal missionary mind overruled.) Upon checking in at the designated time, I was asked to come back again in another 10 minutes. After resisting temptation for another period (I am well trained!) I was finally given my boarding pass! 30 minutes later, I was in the air again for the 11 hour journey to Germany.
This time I stayed awake for most of the journey. The movies were equally boring (I can't even remember what they were - although I think Shrek 2 was the last one on the trip, which was fun, although I had seen it before). Since I was supposed to be teaching the morning after arriving in Addis, I figured it would be a good idea to get a good night's rest, so I went through about 3 information desks and customs to find the hotel reservation desk at Frankfurt International. At this point I was having a little trouble pushing my baggage trolley in a straight line, but I eventually found the desk, booked a reasonably priced (by European standards, anyway) room for the night and headed to the hotel shuttle bus pick up point. By 10PM, local time, I was showered, toothbrushed and in bed asleep.
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
Being completely out of synch, time-wise, I woke up at around 3AM. After tossing and turning for about half-an-hour, I turned on the TV and flicked to one of two channels that were in English - CNN (the other option was BBC World). They happened to be showing the Republican Convention, and Arnold Schwartznegger was about to begin his speech. So, I watched/listened his speech encouraging people to vote for the Republicans even if you don't agree with all their policies, especially if you were an immigrant (like Arnie himself, of course). Then George W.'s daughters came on and offended pretty much everyone (apparently it was an attempt at humour) while introducing their dad, who then introduced his wife, who then gave a speech which put me back to sleep.
Later, I woke up again at a more reasonable hour, had some breakfast (included in the price, thankfully), and called Bingham Academy to see if they could fax me a copy of the work permit at the hotel. That 2 minute/€12.50 phone call is ranking up there with the 5 minute/$55 doctors consultation I had recently as the most expensive couple of minutes I've had in my life, but I did get the work permit. Mental note: never use hotel phones again...
After a 45-minute security/passport check, I still had a few minutes to kill, so I visited the local McDonald's and consumed what will probably be my last milkshake for the next 10 months. It was ok. Nothing to write home about. Then it was off to the boarding gate, where I found another Addis family I knew - the kids are students at Bingham. Eventually we all boarded, and even through we were originally seated a fair way apart, the plane was empty enough that I could move down near by. This time the airline was Lufthansa, and they actually had individual TV screens for each passenger. Unfortunately, the only movies available were a dodgy romantic comedy with Pierce Brosnan and a red-headed actress who's name escapes me, or 'On the Waterfront' with Marlon Brando. It was a 7 hour flight, so I figured I'd have time to catch them both if so inclined, so I went with 'Waterfront' first time around. It is a classic, even though I'd seen it before, and was a good way to kill the first 1/4 of the trip. After that, the system turned off. I assumed it would come back on fairly soon, or at the latest about 3 hours before we were due to land. It did eventually come back on - 2 hours before our scheduled landing. Ok, I thought, I guess you know what you're doing. We've had 3 hours with nothing to do, but I'm sure there's enough time to show the whole movie before we have to land. Nope. Half-way through the dodgy romantic comedy, it cut out. Not that the movie was that enjoyable, but gee, that's annoying. Note to Lufthansa: you are all idiots.
So, finally we landed in Addis. Two queues later, I finally got to the visa window. Upon examining my passport, the gentleman on the other side informed me that my visa was expired. Thanking him politely, I answered that that was in fact why I was standing in the queue for a new visa. After some consultation, negotiation, conversation, and work permit fax waving, I was informed that he would keep my passport and I would be given a little pink piece of cardboard to take to immigration the next day to reclaim it again. I wasn't very keen on the idea of relinquishing my passport, but having no other options, that's what happened. I got through customs with no problems and was greeted by Brad Adams (a fellow Australian teacher from last year) and Brian Hall (my new house mate - pictured right). By 11PM, I was back in familiar territory - Bingham Academy.
Since I was supposed to be teaching the next day, I figured I should find out what I was scheduled for. At Bingham, we have 8 forty minute periods each day. I have 7 periods on Thursday. In a row. Including 3 subjects I didn't know I would be teaching. At that point, I was too tired to really care, so I hit the sack and tried to get a decent night's sleep.
Thursday, September 2, 2004
After initially waking up at about 3AM again, I managed to make it to all of my classes. Not only that, the lessons actually resembled something with educational value (well, except 8 and 9 PE). Enough for the second day of school, anyway. I also met most of the new staff and students. Fairly productive I think, considering.
Friday, September 3, 2004
I met a couple of other guys around my age who are in Addis for a bit. A Kiwi named Grant (pronounced 'Grant' as in 'Aunt', not 'Grant' as in 'Ant') who is just here for a few weeks, and a Canadian named Dan (as in 'Man', in case you were wondering) who is around for about 9 months. We also watched a couple of episodes of the Simpsons.
Saturday, September 4, 2004
Brian and I hit the town in search of groceries, post offices and bed lamps. We were successful on all three counts, although we nearly missed out on item 3 due to a) not knowing exactly where we were and b) not knowing exactly where the store(s) we were looking for were. We eventually figured both issues out and made our way home. We would have tried to get a couple of other things too, but the traffic was horrendous. Apparently it is due to the Ethiopian New Year which is happening ths Saturday. Everyone comes to town to get new clothes. That's what I've been told.
Sunday, September 5, 2004
We arrived at the International Evangelical Church (aka IEC) about 20 minutes late due to Brad discovering a grieve (apparently a water-bird) on his way to pick up the car. Several photographs later (sorry, they haven't been developed yet) the bird was released back over the wall into the nearby river. The quality of the water in said river doesn't give me high hopes for the longevity of the bird, but you never know. Sunday was also the day that I found out that Binyam, our local Computer Lab assistant would be departing the country on Wednesday. As in, in three days. To marry a girl in America who he has spent a total of one week in the physical presence of. They have been talking continuously since then (email, instant messenger, phone, etc), but it's still a pretty big leap if you ask me, for both parties. Here's hoping it goes well.
Monday, September 6, 2004
Monday is actually my lightest teaching day. In fact, I am only teaching one class - 8th grade PE, last period of the day. As such, I figured it would be a good idea to get Binyam to show me where he usually gets all the equipment we need, and where to get things repaired. So, after morning tea, we headed off into down town Addis. After about 7 different stores and a hamburger at the 'Family Restaurant', I came away with a colour printer cartridge and enough information to get us by for a while. 6 hours later I was wishing I hadn't had the hamburger. 8 hours later I didn't have the hamburger any more.
Tuesday, September 7, 2004
Tuesdays are my second busiest day. Of course. At least it wasn't Thursday. I didn't make it to morning prayers, but I did make it to the rest of my classes. I'm sure the prayers said in my absence helped with the rest of the day. By 8PM I was in bed and didn't wake up until about 7AM the next day.
Wednesday, September 8, 2004
Almost up-to-date! I woke up feeling pretty much back to normal. After Binyam failed to show up at his farewell morning tea (I did get to say goodbye later), I fudged my way through my classes (I didn't get a lot of time to plan in the last couple of days), ran around the compound a couple of times trying to get the generator on during several black outs, and then headed off to the Baldwin's place for dinner. The Baldwins are a British family with kids at the school, and are also Brian's mentors, so they basically have an obligation to have him over for dinner every now and then. As official house mate, I seem to have been extended invitation rights, so who am I to turn down a home-cooked meal? After an entertaining evening, Dave Baldwin offered us a ride home, as long as we didn't mind push-starting his car, since the battery wires had become disconnected. After pushing it downhill for about 100 metres, we came to the conclusion that there were issues we couldn't resolve with gravity and manpower, and then had the problem of storing it for the night. After attempting to push the car back uphill to a friendly expat's place, we were brought to a halt by an unfriendly speed bump. Around the next corner downhill we finally found a compound owned by a local who seemed reliable enough who was also friendly enough to let us park the car there for the night.
Of course, Brian and I still had to get home. But we had arrived by taxi, so we figured we'd go home by taxi. Which we did, eventually. We had to walk a fair way further to find one than we'd hoped, and all the way Dave Baldwin was being hassled by a couple of locals who had provided minimal assistance and were now demanding financial recompense. Not actually having any money on me at all, I left it to Dave, who also speaks Amharic, and they eventually gave up. Not before becoming a little verbally aggravated. But we made it in the end. We suggested strongly that Dave come back to Bingham with us and we'd give him a lift home, but he wouldn't hear of it, so Brian and I eventually headed back to Bingham by ourselves. It took us over an hour for what would usually be a 15 minute trip.
Anyway, it is now Thursday the 9th, but since nothing interesting has happened while writing this epistle, I'll sign off here and head to bed, ready for my busiest day of the week. Until next time...
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Returning to Addis
After a generally relaxing and energy-recharging two months back in Australia, I am now about to depart again for another school year at Bingham. Thank you to all those who have helped to support me in many ways this past year, and I'll try to get you all an email every now and then to let you all know I'm still alive. For those who are interested in such information, I'll be leaving Brisbane tomorrow (Monday) night, travelling via Bangkok, Thailand, and Frankfurt, Germany, before finally arriving in Addis at about 9:30PM on Wednesday the 1st of September.
I'll be at the international airport at around 8:30 to check in to flight TG984 (Thai Airways).
Until next time...
I'll be at the international airport at around 8:30 to check in to flight TG984 (Thai Airways).
Until next time...
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Packing in Addis
Hi all,
Just a quick final update before I head out the door. My apartment is looking rather empty at the moment. I will be departing Addis at 3AM Wednesday (tomorrow, as I write this), and getting back to Brisbane on Thursday evening. I'm looking forward to spending lots of quality time in Johannesburg Airport. Yay.
For now, this is David Peterson, Addis Ababa correspondent, signing out.
Monday, May 31, 2004
Travelling in Addis
Well, it's been over a month since the last email, so it's about time I got around to putting together another update. In fact, it is just over 9 months since I first set foot in Addis Ababa - I arrived here on August the 19th, 2003.
What you should see to the right is representative of a typical morning here at this time of year. We are now in spring/summer, and the rainy season hasn't hit yet, so we're getting some warmer days. By warmer, I mean approaching the mid-to-high 20 degrees Celsius mark. Too hot for some of the locals, but I'm enjoying it at the moment. I'm assured it will be raining this time next month.
There haven't been any major festivals, and I haven't been out of Addis this month, so you're getting one of the 'theme-based' newsletters I promised so long ago. This one is about getting around in Addis.
There are three basic methods you can choose from when getting from point A to B in Addis Ababa. You can either be a pedestrian, a passenger or a driver. If you get outside of Addis there are a couple of other options, but I'm not going into that in this edition.
Pedestrians
Pedestrianism is by far the most popular option for the locals. And when I say popular, I mean it is used by the most people. The other two options 
would generally be preferred, but that's not always practical or affordable. If you go out onto the streets, there are people everywhere. Well, up until about 11PM, anyway, at which time everyone disappears and Addis becomes a ghost town. In any case, roads here are open for use by anyone (or anything) at any time, whether there happens to be a fast-moving vehicle approaching or not. There are actually pedestrian crossings, it's just that everybody (pedestrians, animals and drivers alike) ignore them. In fact, if you were to stop to let someone cross at one, it would probably cause an accident.
would generally be preferred, but that's not always practical or affordable. If you go out onto the streets, there are people everywhere. Well, up until about 11PM, anyway, at which time everyone disappears and Addis becomes a ghost town. In any case, roads here are open for use by anyone (or anything) at any time, whether there happens to be a fast-moving vehicle approaching or not. There are actually pedestrian crossings, it's just that everybody (pedestrians, animals and drivers alike) ignore them. In fact, if you were to stop to let someone cross at one, it would probably cause an accident.The most difficult thing as a driver is that people have a habit of just walking out onto the road at any time, often without looking in your direction at all. There is a fairly new four-lane 'freeway' (for lack of a better term) called the Ring Road that has vehicles traveling down it at speeds in excess of 80km/h (as long as they're not stuck behind a wedding party caravan traveling at 10km/h), and even though it has pedestrian overpasses, people still cross at ground level, jumping over the cement barriers and dodging oncoming traffic. And even through the number of deaths due to road accidents was apparently around 1000 last year (from a population of more than 6 million), it's amazing that there aren't more.
Passengers
There are two main forms of public transport in Addis. The blue-and-white van you can see above is the first - the taxis. All taxis have the same colours. There are actually two types of taxis, contract and regular ones. Contract taxis usually seat about 4 passengers, and they work the same as western taxis - you pay the driver and they take you directly where you want to go. They also cost about 10 times what a regular taxi would (and are roughly 10 times faster too). Regular taxis are the vans, and they take about a dozen people between certain specific points around Addis, but there are no specific routs. The cost between points is a fixed fee (usually between 0.5 and 1 Ethiopian Birr - it's roughly 6ETB for every one Australian dollar), and you simply get on one taxi until it's not going your direction any more, and then get off and fine one that is. So, you can get from, say Bingham to IEC (the International Evangelical Church) for about 2 Birr (about AU$0.35) via a couple of regular taxis, but it takes around an hour (if traffic is good), or you can get a contract taxi for about 25 Birr (about AU$4) and it takes 15 minutes. The drivers of these taxis are crazy. They basically take no notice of other traffic that may be on the road and pull in or out of lanes (which are a shaky concept to begin with), squeeze between cars and stop without warning (sometimes even without brake lights).
any more, and then get off and fine one that is. So, you can get from, say Bingham to IEC (the International Evangelical Church) for about 2 Birr (about AU$0.35) via a couple of regular taxis, but it takes around an hour (if traffic is good), or you can get a contract taxi for about 25 Birr (about AU$4) and it takes 15 minutes. The drivers of these taxis are crazy. They basically take no notice of other traffic that may be on the road and pull in or out of lanes (which are a shaky concept to begin with), squeeze between cars and stop without warning (sometimes even without brake lights).The other form of public transport is the bus. These are vehicles with about the same official seating capacity as council busses in Australia, but with often have about double the actual number of people contained inside them. These have fixed routes, and their pickup points are one of the few places you will see Ethiopians forming an orderly queue. I haven't actually caught a bus yet, so I can't tell you how they work or how much they cost, but I have gotten stuck behind a few as they trundle along the roads at around 30-40km/h.
Driving
This is my preferred mode of transport, but it does have issues of its own. For starters, you have to deal with all the pedestrians and other crazy drivers on the road. For some reason, this doesn't stress me out as much as it does some people (usually my passengers, oddly enough), but you definitely have to keep you mind on the job. Secondly, everyone here drives on the wrong side of the road - even the people who aren't crazy! Thirdly, there are two basic types of Ethiopian driver: Taxi drivers and everyone else. Taxi drivers go at full speed and are prone to unpredictable behavior. Everyone else, on the other hand, are usually more predictable, but tend to drive at speeds around 40km/h. This can get a little frustrating at times, and has lead to overtaking maneuvers that I wouldn't even think about doing in Australia. Of course, everyone here expects that kind of behavior, so it generally works out ok. The only contact I've made with another vehicle was at low speed, and I was actually in my lane and a taxi driver decided to pull out a little early from a side street. So I'm not taking any credit for that one...
Another issue with getting around in Addis is that there are no street signs. Streets do have names (often more than one), but you'll never see it written down anywhere. This makes it tricky getting to a new location - directions are usually delivered with reference to nearby landmarks, 3rd lefts, 2nd rights, and gate colours.
Of course, before you can drive, you have to have an Ethiopian license. Getting this was a 3 day process for me, although it has taken longer in the past. First, you have to go to your embassy (actually, Australians have to go to the Canadian embassy - apparently our last ambassador decided to insult the then-Emperor Haile Selassi at a party and had to exit the country in fear of his life) and have them stamp a photocopy of your passport, saying you are indeed who your passport says you are. Then, you go to the Department of Transport (or whatever it's called her) and have them stamp a photocopy of your existing license saying it is actually a license. Then you have to to to the licensing department (also known as the Office of Many Windows) where you hand your details and stamped photocopies in at one window, follow it down through three or four other windows and hope that they'll let you have a Class 3 rating (it lets you drive vans with more than 8 seats - I only got Class 2 though, very disappointing). A guy named Estephanos who works at Bingham sorted out the first two steps for me, which was handy, but I had to show my face for the final one. It only took about two hours in the end, which is a huge improvement over the previous attempts, so I have been told. In the meantime, my Australian license has expired, so I can drive here, but not at home. Hmm. Maybe that's a good thing...
Flying
Of course, if you want to exit the country, the only practical way is by air. There is a train (yes, a single train) that runs to Djibouti, although it is apparently broken down at the moment. I've never actually seen it in real life. But if your destination is to an island-continent some 12,000km away, you really want to catch a plane. And if you have a return ticket that's only half used up, it should be pretty simple, right? Haha! You're new to this newsletter, aren't you?
Problem 1: When I initially booked my flight, there were no flights in the system for June/July 2004. So, the travel agent just booked the latest flights available at the time, which were South African Airlines from Addis to Johannesburg to Perth (I didn't have enough spare kms on my ticket to make it all the way back to Brissie) on April 1, 2004. I was assured I would just have to show up at my local branch of SAA closer to the date and they'd change the dates for me. Which probably would have worked fine, except that...
Problem 2: In October of 2003, SAA decided not to have a direct flight from Addis to Jo'burg any more. Doh! However, in January 2004, SAA and Ethiopian Airlines came to some sort of partnership agreement about co-sharing some of the flights, using Ethiopian Airlines aircraft. Great! That should work fine then. All I need to do is get in touch with the SAA office here and get my ticket switched over. Which was probably true, except that...
Problem 3: After calling SAA here in Addis a few days before my original departure date on April 1 (on a flight which no longer existed) and arranging a 'preliminary booking' to depart here at the end of June, I needed to go into the office to the the physical ticket exchanged. I was unable to get to the office for a week or two, but figured I had plenty of time. So, I show up at the building with 'South African Airlines' plastered above it to be informed that SAA had in fact closed their offices in Addis and I should try elsewhere. Hmm. I decided to try Ethiopian Airlines, since they were now official partners, and headed up to the Hilton Hotel, where EA's main office seems to be. Good idea, except that...
Problem 4: Ethiopian Airlines couldn't do a direct transfer of my flight, since they had only taken over a few of the flights, and mine wasn't one of them. They sent me over to Kenya Airways, since my ticket also included flights with that airline. Which is fine, except that...
Problem 5: Kenya Airways didn't have the authority to transfer the ticket either. So, they telexed KLM (yes, yet another airline) in Brisbane, requesting the authority to transfer my ticket to Kenya Airways to get me to Jo'burg, and then on with my journey to Perth. Fantastic, except that...
Problem 6: KLM never got back to them. Ah, customer service at its best. The Kenya Airlines person suggested I contact my travel agent and get them to sort it out from the Australian end. Probably my best option at this point, except that...
Problem 7: The guy who sold me the ticket has apparently left the company since I left the country. At least, his email address bounced. And a search of the agency's web site provided no direct communication options (other than telephone, and I really wanted to avoid that if possible - overseas phone charges are somewhat ridiculous here). However, Robin Hicks (David's mum) happened to have used the same company, and she had a contact who had apparently been very helpful in sorting out Robin's ticket issues. Great! Now I had a real, helpful, person to contact, except that...
Problem 8: She was in Townsville. However, she was able to find out who the current manager of the branch in Brisbane I had gotten my ticket through was, and forwarded my details to him (and his to me). Fantastic! Except that...
Problem 9: He never got back to me. A week or so later, I emailed the Townsville girl again, and I finally got an email from the guy in Brisbane. Apparently he had been away sick for the week. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for the moment (I've been sick most of this week myself, although I did manage to reply to emails in a fairly timely fashion). Anyway, a couple of days later we had finally sorted out the details. Apparently, I just have to show up at the airport and produce my old ticket and I'll be coming back on a jet plane. I'm still a little skeptical about the check-in people here accepting my ticket dated 'April 1' on June 30, but hopefully there won't be any issues.
So, my final itinerary is:
June 30, 2004 (3AM!!!!) - Addis to Johannesburg (6HRS 45MINS)
June 30, 2004 (5:55PM) - Jo'burg to Perth (9HRS 30MINS)
July 1, 2004 (12:45PM) - Perth to Brisbane (4HRS 25MINS)
...with my arrival in Brisbane at about 7PM on July 1st, 2004. Taking into account the 7 hour time difference, I believe that comes to 29 hours of travel. Yuck. Anyway, I'm just glad it's finally sorted out.
Then What?
Well, it seems this has already become another tome to add to the chronicles of 'David In Addis'. I'll try to finish up quickly.
The options I have been considering for the next year or so are 1) return to Australia and complete the last 1.5 semesters of my Education degree or 2) come back to Bingham to teach for another year. After mulling it for a few months, some helpful conversations with friends and relatives here and in Oz, and lots of prayer, I have decided to return here for another year. While there is a practical need here, that wasn't really the deciding factor in the end. I figured God could fill my spot if necessary (which he has really - we now have two other Computer guys who should be here next year too - although neither is trained in education), but I felt that the relationships that I had been building with students, staff and other locals here were only just beginning to show fruit, and taking a year (or more) away from them now would be somewhat wasting the work of the past year. I fully intend to complete my studies, but it seemed that they could wait a year better than the work I have started here could. If I have less lessons to teach thanks to the extra staff, then I can put more time into activities outside of school, which would be great too. I have been involved in the youth group here, but because I've put so much energy into Bingham there hasn't been enough to spend on much else. Hopefully that will change next year.
So, I'll hopefully be back in Addis by the first week of September, giving me about 2 months back 'home' to recharge my batteries, catch up with friends and earn/raise enough money to last me the rest of year. Bingham has kindly offered to pay my airfare, but the rest I'll have to find myself. Speaking of which, if anyone knows of any jobs going between mid-July and mid-August for a computer programmer/teacher, I'd love to hear from you.
However, it has turned out to be pretty cheap to live here. When I was planning to come the first time, David Hicks suggested a budget of around $500-$600 per month. So far, I've been averaging about $300 per month. After factoring in insurance, medical bills, etc, I'm currently working with a target of around AU$5000 for the next year. Try surviving in Brisbane for that much! Of course, that's still a huge amount compared US$120 per year average earned by Ethiopians. But I'm sorry, I just can't eat Injera and Wut every day - my digestive system just can't take it yet.
Anyway, that's where things are at right now. I will need financial support to make it back, but I'm not concerned about it. If God wants me back here, it will happen. I would add though, that if you are seriously wanting to help the work at Bingham financially that you consider supporting David and Sylvia Hicks. Their expenses are higher, their support level lower, and their importance at Bingham way higher than mine. They will be back in Brisbane for about a month from mid July, so take the opportunity to catch up with them then.
Also, if you know of any science teachers with a spare 12 months on their hands, we could use them. Currently Sylvia is the only science teacher for grades 7-12, which is crazy. I can't see how she'll survive the school year, personally. So, spread the word. I'll be happy to provide any information you want about working conditions, food and water sanitisation and road survival for any potential candidates.
In the meantime, thanks for sticking with me so far this year, and I'll see you all in about a month! God bless!
Sunday, April 11, 2004
#1 Wierdest Phone Call I Have Ever Received
Transcript (Addis Ababa, Sat April 9, 2004)
Phone rings...
David Peterson: Hello, David speaking.
Pause
Mysterious Stranger: Hello?
DP: Hello?
MS: Hello.
DP: (slightly exasperatedly) Yes, hello...
Another pause
MS: (somewhat nervously) Hello. I would like to introduce myself. Would you like to be my telephone friend?
Stunned silence
DP: Uh, no.
Confused silence
MS: No?
DP: No.
MS: No?
DP: (attempting to cross the language barrier) Aye! (means 'No' in Amharic)
MS: Aye?
DP: (emphatically) Aye, NO!
MS: Oh. Goodbye.
DP: Good...
Click...
DP: ...bye.
Phone rings...
David Peterson: Hello, David speaking.
Pause
Mysterious Stranger: Hello?
DP: Hello?
MS: Hello.
DP: (slightly exasperatedly) Yes, hello...
Another pause
MS: (somewhat nervously) Hello. I would like to introduce myself. Would you like to be my telephone friend?
Stunned silence
DP: Uh, no.
Confused silence
MS: No?
DP: No.
MS: No?
DP: (attempting to cross the language barrier) Aye! (means 'No' in Amharic)
MS: Aye?
DP: (emphatically) Aye, NO!
MS: Oh. Goodbye.
DP: Good...
Click...
DP: ...bye.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Alive in Addis
Yes, contrary to the evidence (or lack thereof), I am still alive. Looking back, my last email was November 30, so I’m a little behind schedule. As such, this time around you’re getting the ‘snapshot’ edition. If you want a pretty version with photos and lots of colour, click here (and make sure you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed).
Christmas this year was spent in cheery London. We had three weeks holiday over the Christmas period, so I took the 17-hour trip to the Old Dart to meet up with Gary Dewhurst, my flat-mate of two years, who was returning from a year of exchange study in the US. We tripped around London, getting as far out of town as Windsor Castle Stonehenge and Bath. Christmas Day itself was spent indoors, keeping out of the fairly lousy, apparently typical, London weather. Plus, I got to see ‘Return of the King’!
Field Day at Bingham went over two days, with students from Kindergarten through to Grade 11 competing in events ranging from sack races to sprints to javelin. I looked after the high jump, which we had to finish up quickly so that competitors could toss javelins in our general direction. Bingham has three teams – Carey, Scott, and Taylor (named after famous missionaries). I am in Taylor. We tried hard, but in the end came second to Scott.
Debre Lebanos is an area about two hours north of Addis Ababa. There are two main attractions – a Portuguese/Italian bridge (its original constructors are disputed), and an Orthodox monastery, complete with a cave in which an Ethiopian saint lived, praying for 29 years (the last 8 of which with only one leg).
The view at the bridge was fantastic, and the monastery and cave were also very interesting. We were also given a tour of the monastery and cave by some of the local monks.
Over the term two break, I headed off to Kenya for a few days with some of the other staff here at Bingham. After a few days unwinding on the beach at Melindi, we returned to Nairobi and saw the sights – the highlight being some of the local wildlife. Amongst the many different types we saw were elephants, buffalo, warthogs, zebra and giraffe. Unfortunately we didn’t spot any big cats, rhino or hippos, but it was good fun anyway.
While in Nairobi, we also took the opportunity to visit the nearby schools of Roslyn Academy and the Rift Valley Academy. Several kids from Bingham have gone there (and a few from Ashgrove Baptist, too, I believe), so it was interesting to see how they were set up.
Overall, I’m still doing well here. Time has flown—it’s hard to believe there are only 3 months left until I’ll be back in Australia. And still so much to teach before the end of term!
Please keep David Hicks (our director) and family in your prayers, as they are trying to find out what the condition of his heart is and what will be required to fix it. We worked out the other day that if they have to return home for an extended period of time that there will only be one family with more than two years of experience left at Bingham!
There is still a need for teachers in the coming school year, in both the elementary and high school levels. I am considering coming back myself, particularly since there is a good chance all of the current computer staff will be gone (including Binyam, the Ethiopian who helps keep everything running), and we don’t have anyone confirmed to take over yet.
In any case, thank you all for your support thus far, and I promise it won’t be four months until the next installment.
Christmas in London
Christmas this year was spent in cheery London. We had three weeks holiday over the Christmas period, so I took the 17-hour trip to the Old Dart to meet up with Gary Dewhurst, my flat-mate of two years, who was returning from a year of exchange study in the US. We tripped around London, getting as far out of town as Windsor Castle Stonehenge and Bath. Christmas Day itself was spent indoors, keeping out of the fairly lousy, apparently typical, London weather. Plus, I got to see ‘Return of the King’!
Field Day
Field Day at Bingham went over two days, with students from Kindergarten through to Grade 11 competing in events ranging from sack races to sprints to javelin. I looked after the high jump, which we had to finish up quickly so that competitors could toss javelins in our general direction. Bingham has three teams – Carey, Scott, and Taylor (named after famous missionaries). I am in Taylor. We tried hard, but in the end came second to Scott.
Debre Lebanos
Debre Lebanos is an area about two hours north of Addis Ababa. There are two main attractions – a Portuguese/Italian bridge (its original constructors are disputed), and an Orthodox monastery, complete with a cave in which an Ethiopian saint lived, praying for 29 years (the last 8 of which with only one leg).
The view at the bridge was fantastic, and the monastery and cave were also very interesting. We were also given a tour of the monastery and cave by some of the local monks.
Kenya
Over the term two break, I headed off to Kenya for a few days with some of the other staff here at Bingham. After a few days unwinding on the beach at Melindi, we returned to Nairobi and saw the sights – the highlight being some of the local wildlife. Amongst the many different types we saw were elephants, buffalo, warthogs, zebra and giraffe. Unfortunately we didn’t spot any big cats, rhino or hippos, but it was good fun anyway.
While in Nairobi, we also took the opportunity to visit the nearby schools of Roslyn Academy and the Rift Valley Academy. Several kids from Bingham have gone there (and a few from Ashgrove Baptist, too, I believe), so it was interesting to see how they were set up.
Over and Out...
Overall, I’m still doing well here. Time has flown—it’s hard to believe there are only 3 months left until I’ll be back in Australia. And still so much to teach before the end of term!
Please keep David Hicks (our director) and family in your prayers, as they are trying to find out what the condition of his heart is and what will be required to fix it. We worked out the other day that if they have to return home for an extended period of time that there will only be one family with more than two years of experience left at Bingham!
There is still a need for teachers in the coming school year, in both the elementary and high school levels. I am considering coming back myself, particularly since there is a good chance all of the current computer staff will be gone (including Binyam, the Ethiopian who helps keep everything running), and we don’t have anyone confirmed to take over yet.
In any case, thank you all for your support thus far, and I promise it won’t be four months until the next installment.
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