So apparently there are some things like blogging that are not looked upon favorably by some people. So I was trying to write but I couldn't save or post. Hmm. Anyway, I've figured out how to get back on the site so for now anyway, I'm back in business. Yeah!!
So here's the update. I went to look at one house they had available (for someone of my rank and family size) but there had been an incident in the house and I wasn't sure. This is one of the rare times I had the option of saying "no". And I exercised that option because it I was totally skeeved out. As soon as I walked in I got this awful feeling. So the good news is I don't have to leave in a creepy house. The bad news is there is no other house for me. So they have to find me one and "fix it up" to our standards. That means I'm looking at another few months in temporary quarters. So yesterday I looked at a little temporary apartment place. It's nice! It's a living room/dining room, kitchen, bedroom and bath. So I'll get set up there in early April (when they have space) and will hang there until my house is ready.
It's close to the "main drag" where there are super markets, shops, restaurants, the spa--yes there's a spa here-- and more. And it's close to a few of my friends. So it's all good!! I'll send pictures if I can once I get set up.
Even more exciting is that my air freight (I was allowed to send 250 lbs of stuff) has arrived a cleared customs so once I"m in the apartment I can open up my boxes of clothes, sheets, a few books and movies, etc. Yeah!! It'll make it feel like I'm finally settling in.
This Sunday I'm heading out to the field again for a week...a different region. It's fantastic that I'm able to see so many of our programs so quickly. In the three years I worked on Darfur there were some programs I never got to see because of security. That will be true for some of our programs here, but at least there's a lot more accessibility.
So all in all, I'd say I'm doing ok. I'm settling in, learning the ropes, getting a feel for my job, etc.
If you have the time, drop me an email!! In the meantime...I'll keep sending these messages out into cyberspace!!
Love,
Jane
Thursday, March 19, 2009
field, meetings, no power, meetings
From Sunday 3/15/09 (due to technical difficulties I was unable to post this sooner)
Hi,
So since I last wrote I've been on another program intro and monitoring trip. I headed south of Addis to check out a slew of water, sanitation and hygiene promotion programs. The programs look good, especially since the conditions in the program areas are so, so dry! So a quick trip leaving early Monday morning and getting back Wednesday around 1. The traffic in the city was brutal! Especially since I'd had a lot of water to drink during the 5 hour drive. Ugh.
We got back and after a quick shower and change it was off to an afternoon of meetings. That was followed by another full day of meetings. Then another full day on Friday. Thursday night the power went out and the Sheraton said it's the first time in their history here that the generator hasn't worked (it was a power surge I guess). So there was no power or water from 10:30 pm Thursday until sometime after I'd headed to the office. So that was gross. A full day where I felt skanky. Boo. Normally on Friday we close around 12 noon but I was there until about 6 pm trying to finish up meetings and get caught up on emails. When you're not in the office for 1 1/2 weeks things tend to get away from you! Like turning in your timesheet. Oops.
So this weekend has been a bit about recovering, and a bit about getting to know Addis. And thanks to my friend Kimberly, a bit about doing laundry! yeah!!
Addis is a huge, huge city and because most of the streets aren't named it's kind of hard to learn your way around. But I guess I'm catching on slowly. I'm still at the hotel but hopefully not too much longer. I'm looking into a few other options this week. I can't stay here forever!! Plus it's super expensive.
I've been trying to get caught up on facebook, my personal emails and through this posting but I've been having some internet problems. Boo. So instead of loading my photos from my most recent trip to the field on this post, I've uploaded them to picasa. Hopefully this link will take you there. Enjoy!!
Jane
Hi,
So since I last wrote I've been on another program intro and monitoring trip. I headed south of Addis to check out a slew of water, sanitation and hygiene promotion programs. The programs look good, especially since the conditions in the program areas are so, so dry! So a quick trip leaving early Monday morning and getting back Wednesday around 1. The traffic in the city was brutal! Especially since I'd had a lot of water to drink during the 5 hour drive. Ugh.
We got back and after a quick shower and change it was off to an afternoon of meetings. That was followed by another full day of meetings. Then another full day on Friday. Thursday night the power went out and the Sheraton said it's the first time in their history here that the generator hasn't worked (it was a power surge I guess). So there was no power or water from 10:30 pm Thursday until sometime after I'd headed to the office. So that was gross. A full day where I felt skanky. Boo. Normally on Friday we close around 12 noon but I was there until about 6 pm trying to finish up meetings and get caught up on emails. When you're not in the office for 1 1/2 weeks things tend to get away from you! Like turning in your timesheet. Oops.
So this weekend has been a bit about recovering, and a bit about getting to know Addis. And thanks to my friend Kimberly, a bit about doing laundry! yeah!!
Addis is a huge, huge city and because most of the streets aren't named it's kind of hard to learn your way around. But I guess I'm catching on slowly. I'm still at the hotel but hopefully not too much longer. I'm looking into a few other options this week. I can't stay here forever!! Plus it's super expensive.
I've been trying to get caught up on facebook, my personal emails and through this posting but I've been having some internet problems. Boo. So instead of loading my photos from my most recent trip to the field on this post, I've uploaded them to picasa. Hopefully this link will take you there. Enjoy!!
 |
| Ethio-SNNP 3/9-3/11 |
Jane
Sunday, March 8, 2009
First trip to the field
Well hello again from the beautiful Sheraton in Addis. I'm here after a 5 day trip to eastern Ethiopia to check out some of the projects we fund. It was a great trip and I'm already learning a ton about Ethiopia and its people and about the projects that are going on to address identified needs. Here are a few shots from this trip....I forgot about the uploading order for blogspot so these are totally out order and the connection's not fast enough that I want to redo this...so bear with me....
As we drive on the road in the early morning, we pass a few men heading to their fields....
One of the projects brings spring water to a village through an enclosed (and there for cleaner) system. It's used for people.......
agriculture (here one of the men of the village show the large potatoes they've been able to harvest far from the spring becuase of the water overflow system that waters the field)
and for livestock. Even though the trough is just starting to fill up, a thirsty cow gets a drink.
While we were walking around the village, we had quite a following. Here are a few of the friendly faces.....
The view on the road as we drive to one of the projects.
More friendly faces....
Some roadside traffic slows us down. It could be these guys, or sheep, cows, etc.
Some terracing can be seen as people try to take advantage of every available inch of land for agriculture....
Some of the vehicular traffic seems more scary than the animals meandering along....
And the view was lovely. My colleague remembers when this small lake was actually quite large and could provide much of the water needs for several villages. Now it is being overused and with less than average rain for the past year or so, the lake isn't quite as plentiful....
As we get to the bottomor of the hill (from the road picture above) we come through a typical town....
Here are some of the first friendly faces we saw.
This little guy was a bit more suspicious...
but with the large crowd following us from the spring, to the animal trough, to the fields and then finaly the water source, it was a bit overwelming for me too!
These women, part of a savings and loan program, show us that the lock box has three locks and three keys held by three elected women of the group. Maybe we should have thought of that for some of America's financial systems??
Anyway--there's more to share that's not related to the trip but it's late on Sunday evening and I'm heading out on another trip tomorrow at 6 am so I'm off to bed. But these pictures should give you a bit of an idea of what I'm seeing....
More soon, love Jane
As we drive on the road in the early morning, we pass a few men heading to their fields....
One of the projects brings spring water to a village through an enclosed (and there for cleaner) system. It's used for people.......
agriculture (here one of the men of the village show the large potatoes they've been able to harvest far from the spring becuase of the water overflow system that waters the field)
and for livestock. Even though the trough is just starting to fill up, a thirsty cow gets a drink.
While we were walking around the village, we had quite a following. Here are a few of the friendly faces.....
The view on the road as we drive to one of the projects.
More friendly faces....
Some roadside traffic slows us down. It could be these guys, or sheep, cows, etc.
Some terracing can be seen as people try to take advantage of every available inch of land for agriculture....
Some of the vehicular traffic seems more scary than the animals meandering along....
Most of the road was pretty good.....
And the view was lovely. My colleague remembers when this small lake was actually quite large and could provide much of the water needs for several villages. Now it is being overused and with less than average rain for the past year or so, the lake isn't quite as plentiful....
As we get to the bottomor of the hill (from the road picture above) we come through a typical town....
Here are some of the first friendly faces we saw.
This little guy was a bit more suspicious...
but with the large crowd following us from the spring, to the animal trough, to the fields and then finaly the water source, it was a bit overwelming for me too!
These women, part of a savings and loan program, show us that the lock box has three locks and three keys held by three elected women of the group. Maybe we should have thought of that for some of America's financial systems??
Anyway--there's more to share that's not related to the trip but it's late on Sunday evening and I'm heading out on another trip tomorrow at 6 am so I'm off to bed. But these pictures should give you a bit of an idea of what I'm seeing....
More soon, love Jane
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Settling In And Getting To Know My Surroundings
So just as I was finishing this, I got moved to a new (and better room!) More on that tomorrow. For now, here's what I had written.....
The Sheraton...my new home for at least a few weeks.... is shaped like a U and at first I was at the base...so to my left I saw a long side....
....as well as the gardens/fountain and a bit of Addis in the background.
This weekend is a three day weekend. There was an organized trip for some those of my colleagues and their families who were interested to go to Debre Libanos--a historic site about 100 kilometers from Addis. Debre Libanos has a famous church and cave and is located in a beautiful gorge.
During the drive to Debre Libanos we passed a lot of haystacks (and teff-stacks) by the road. Harvest season is in full swing.
When a group of us stopped for a view, we were quickly surrounded by local kids selling basics and crosses made out of pink marble....
The view of the gorge was gorgeous---even if it was a little hazy.
At the chuch, a monk walks by our group.
The view from the church:
Inside the church, the stained glass was unexpected, and beautiful.
After the church and a hike to a cave--where the water is considered holy--we stopped for a picnic and another little hike to the "portuguese bridge".
The bridge--built by the Portuguese about 400 years ago out of limestone.
A family of baboons walk nearby as they graze.
The Sheraton...my new home for at least a few weeks.... is shaped like a U and at first I was at the base...so to my left I saw a long side....
....as well as the gardens/fountain and a bit of Addis in the background.
This weekend is a three day weekend. There was an organized trip for some those of my colleagues and their families who were interested to go to Debre Libanos--a historic site about 100 kilometers from Addis. Debre Libanos has a famous church and cave and is located in a beautiful gorge.
During the drive to Debre Libanos we passed a lot of haystacks (and teff-stacks) by the road. Harvest season is in full swing.
When a group of us stopped for a view, we were quickly surrounded by local kids selling basics and crosses made out of pink marble....
The view of the gorge was gorgeous---even if it was a little hazy.
At the chuch, a monk walks by our group.
The view from the church:
Inside the church, the stained glass was unexpected, and beautiful.
After the church and a hike to a cave--where the water is considered holy--we stopped for a picnic and another little hike to the "portuguese bridge".
The bridge--built by the Portuguese about 400 years ago out of limestone.
A family of baboons walk nearby as they graze.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)