Rest Stop Between Projects

I had a great night's sleep last night and woke up, all ready to go, at 5:30am. I worked on my journal for a while, and then called my family on Skype. We had a good chat with my camera working, so it was really fun to see their reaction when they saw me. I have had problems with it almost every time that we have tried to talk. We had a long scripture study, and then family prayer.  I am so grateful that all is going well at home.  Erika is a real trooper J.

We cooked pancakes for breakfast, with butter that actually tasted like butter. Most of the butter here is made after the milk has aged a little without refrigeration, so it has a sharp rancid taste to it, not very appetizing to me. I have become the self-appointed dish-doer unless Wesson beats me to it. I spend so much of my time thinking, that I enjoy the change of doing something that doesn't require me to think.


I cleaned up all of the embryo transfer equipment and packed up for my next adventure. I will be giving most of the stuff to the three research institutions, so I brought it along with me to drop off on my way back. Tadesa came over at noon and we headed south. We saw grain being harvested all along the way.  I did see one combine out in the field, but most of the work is done by hand with the oxen threshing it by walking on it.  I stopped and took a couple of pictures, and we had to stop for a herd of camels crossing the road. We visited Dr. Hailu on the way down. We had a good visit, and I encouraged them to keep practicing.  He feels comfortable with the embryo transfer part, but would like me to help them through the flushing (retrieval) part one more time.

We stopped at the Sabana Resort for an early dinner, since we had skipped lunch. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries, but was really disappointed with it. {Erika here: maybe one of these days, Lonny will learn not to order American-style food in Ethiopia!} Tadesa ordered a rice, egg, and meat dish that looked really good.  He must have seen me drooling, because he scooped up a bite and put it on my plate. It was really good.  The mango/strawberry esprice that I had was excellent. For Ethiopia standards, the Sabana Resort is really a nice place.

We headed to the hotel in Shashemene, and had just checked in when Abera arrived. We spent about an hour talking about our plans for Kokosa. On Wednesday we will meet with the community leaders in Kokosa, so I talked with him about preparing for that meeting. Overall, it was a good day.