July
22nd, 2010 Addis
The
last couple of nights I have been tortured by mosquitoes buzzing in my ears.
Night before last I arose twice and killed two blood laden mosquitoes before I
could sleep restfully. Last night I
couldn’t find the culprit(s) but they returned as soon as the lights were off
and I was snug in bed. I pulled the pillow over my head and tried to just
ignore them. You would think with the
mosquito repellent that I had on that they would leave me alone. On the bright
side the sore on my nose and face has almost completely healed. I don’t have any idea what it was but I am
very grateful that it is gone.
The
company is moved into the new office building across the street from the
Orthodox Church so we get to be serenaded. I haven’t figured out what the
schedule is but it seems to be at least once every day for several hours. The
first couple of days in here we were short chairs so if you didn’t get here
early you had to go search for a chair.
Apparently the staff has been jockeying for office position and has about
driven Paul crazy with their requests. There has been some moving around of
personnel. I have been in the conference room most of the time but now have
been moved into the room that will have work stations for the people that
travel from outside Addis to use. They brought in a bunch of chairs today so I
think everybody has a chair and some offices now have chairs for visitors also.
The
office looks alright by US standards but is probably the best that I have seen
in all of Ethiopia including the government offices which are some of the best.
The staff is very excited about it after being cramped into Paul’s house or in
the outside offices for several months.
There are a few interesting things about it. For example the stalls of the bathrooms on
the top floor are against the back wall and there is a large window that sits
right between the men’s and women’s bathrooms. So in one stall of the men’s and
one of the women’s there is half a window. There are about three inches open
between the wall and the window so two people, one in each stall, could easily
touch each other. Sound also carries very nicely from one side to the other.
The bathrooms are very nice but like all washing places in Ethiopia there are
no towels or blowers to dry your hands. There are two towel racks so maybe
eventually they will have something.
Paul
took me to lunch today at the Beer Garden Restaurant. It is a German Restaurant
so we had spritzle, bratwurst, and sauerkraut. The food was very good much
different than anything that I have had in Ethiopia. I made a Spanish tortilla for breakfast so I
have had an international food day. I finished the day off with ramen noodles,
tomatoes and a banana.
We didn't have rain all day today in fact the sun came out and it warmed up. Tonight we are getting dumped on again. It is pounding so loudly on the roof I can’t
even hear myself think.
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