few days, or even a week, to transition to living here again. But
there was no delay in transition, it was immediately after I stepped
off the plane. It has been wonderful seeing my friends again, as if I
never left. Also, the weather is nothing short of fantastic. Yesterday
was bright and sunny, probably in the mid 80s - but was rather cool in
the shade. Couldn't ask for more.
Yesterday I got to see Shewayerged (another staff member of our
project) and I also got to see my friend Ruth in the evening. I had
forgotten to email Ruth until a few days before I left telling her
that I would be coming and she still hadn't gotten the email yesterday
- so she was very surprised to hear that I was here. I went out with
her, Frew and Frehiwot for a walk and some buna (coffee) in the
evening. It was very nice. She has a new job and is very happy about
it, her old one was not so good.
Still haven't done much other than spending time with my host family
and friends, but it has been nice. One of the main reasons that I
wanted to come to Ethiopia this time was to re-connect with everyone
here, so this has been a wonderful time.
The food has been wonderful also. I really do love injera and wat
(Ethiopian cuisine). Also, the food sits very well with me - I have no
trouble with the spice. Actually, I feel better than I do on my diet
at home. Another great reason to be in Ethiopia!
Ethiopians are very concerned about the U.S. elections, I guess the
whole world is. I have been talking a lot about it with my friends
here and we have been watching the news quite a bit. Seems to be that
the world is a rather scary place right now (war in Somalia,
Thailand/Cambodia, stock markets falling...). So, Ethiopians are
hoping that if a good president gets elected in America things may get
better in the world. Not surprisingly, most Ethiopians seem to support
Barrack Obama - he seems to have a better plan at helping the rest of
the world than McCain does.
One main reason that they do not want McCain to be elected is that
they fear that he will do very similar things that Bush has done
militarily. This directly affects Ethiopia. You see, Ethiopia and the
U.S. are allies. But the main reason that the U.S. is allied with
Ethiopia is to use the military base here. From here they can launch
attacks to Somalia (which they continue to do) and also to the Middle
East. Also, the U.S. has supported the Ethiopian military, which many
of the Ethiopian people are afraid of. Many Ethiopians believe that if
the U.S. no longer needs the military base here and if they stop
supporting the Ethiopian military that the current political regime in
Ethiopia will change. This would be a wonderful thing if the power
changed hands, given that the current state of things is very
oppressive here.
Not sure what is planned for today. I think that Frew wants to go
swimming, so we may end up doing that. I think we are also going to
start talking about what my long term job/goals could be when I end up
moving here.
Hope all is well with all of you back home.
p.s. I doubt that I'll be able to upload any pictures. I may try going
to a high-speed internet cafe next week if I can find one. But there
is no way that I would be able to upload any pictures from the home
computer. When I get back to the states I'll put them all online and
put a link on this blog.
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