Phil and Chris in Ethiopia

Blogging this week has presented me with a few challenges.

One thing I didn’t expect in the middle of Africa was some quality professional development training. We received two days-worth on ‘Authentic Enquiry and Disciplinary Literacy’. A whole new world of jargon opened up to describe literacy features (mentor authors, graphical brushstrokes, linear rays and crafting leads) which are familiar to Americans. Brits I discovered, have their own unique set of terms for the same features.

I wonder when we'll have a normal week? Just when you thought Christmas was over another holiday happens. We took the usual days off over Christmas and New Year (the British ones - Americans don't do Boxing Day but we did), then the Ethiopian "Gena" happened (7th January), then this Monday there was another holiday. It wasn't entirely clear that it would be Monday or Tuesday until the last minute, but Monday it was so the clinic was closed.

Remember those two "cows" Chris saw after the SLC whilst doing washing at Bingham? Well they were bulls. Haile my now permanent taxi driver tells me they are oxen.

When we were last in Ethiopia, The school had an area of woodland in part of its campus. Over time this has been removed and a lovely new building erected. It will house the High School teachers and students giving them purpose built facilities and greater identity.

Looking at the BBC storm warnings for the UK recently, prompted me to blog about the weather here in Addis which I still appreciate every day. Since we arrived in November, the weather has remained the same. Usually cloudless blue sky and sunshine. There is a big contrast in temperature between shade and sunshine, so we dress for a British summer but with extra layers to wear indoors.

SIM Ethiopia has 150 missionaries plus spouses and children. Lots and lots of children. (I almost feel guilty at only having had four). These folks, plus several hundred Ethiopian employees and their families, are my patients. How to get to know them? Go on a five day residential conference and all get into a swimming pool together, on New Year's Eve. We knew before we arrived here that there was pretty much a three line whip for attendance at the biennial "Spiritual Life Conference" (SLC) from 30th December to 3rd January at a "resort" 120 km (that's 2-3 hours drive) south east of Addis.

A defining moment happened on Monday of Christmas week, as I was driving from Bingham Academy to the SIM HQ clinic for my first day doing the job I came here to do. It wasn't the unusually chaotic and gridlocked traffic at the bottom of the road from Bingham, although as a result I had to go a different way - a route I wasn't sure of. It wasn't the unexpected closure of a major road with no hint of a diversion or where to go (they've dug the road up to install a light railway system).

I don't have a lot to report on this week, although I'll blog about Christmas at some point. Anyway, to save me from getting bored I created a map on Google Maps that has some pins in it showing where a few significant places are. Top left is Bingham Academy; even more top left is Lemma's place which has been a focus of a lot of my blogging so far.

Supermarkets (think little independent places in small seaside towns in Britain) require a vehicle to reach them. I needed a few items so I shared a friend's regular taxi. The taxi was 40 years old and the driver looked double that. There was a wooden bench seat at the back and I slid in along with two Ethiopian ladies. The back doors just had a couple of ratchet stubs where the door handle and the window winder should have been, and our driver produced a winder from the glove box and leaned over to close the door and the window.