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.
Sunday, April 11, 2004
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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