Social Life

I have cooked dinner twice for my favourite VSO volunteer – Nicholas from Kenya who is based at the college as an IT worker. Two sessions trying to sort out my computer and connect me to the internet. Well worth the price!

Saturday evening, Kibab called round to see me. The daughter of local neighbours, she came to chat and invite me to come and eat with her family on Sunday.

Sunday – Kibab came at about 8:30 E time (2 o’clock – 11am GM time) working in three different time formats gets a bit tricky! Kibab said we would stay at my place for awhile and then go to her home. We sat and talked. I showed her all my family, explained (as best I could) about my religious background. We talked about families, her life and ………then we ran out of things to talk about.

Kibab took me to her home where I met her mother, sister, cousin, father, brother. The coffee ceremony was performed (must remember that I have to have three cups of coffee from three separate brews and it’s not a good idea to accept a second cup before the second brew!) Looks like I’ll be spinning tonight. I took photos of the ceremony and everyone. I also promised to deliver copies of the pictures – not sure how I’m going to achieve that.

Later dinner was served ‘do reu waut’ (phonetic interpretation) served with injera. Basically a very spicy lentil and chicken stew with lots of garlic. The injera and lentils are served first followed by the chicken. The meat is eaten from the chicken, then you chew the bone. As the guest, I was constantly having my plate replenished and no amount of remonstrating would change that. I struggled to eat my portion/s much to the hilarity of Kibab who said that her mother would be offended if I didn’t finish my plate. When her mother left the table, she quickly changed plates with me and thankfully finished my food off.

Had a long conversation with Dad (Belud). The same age as me and a high school teacher. He explained about the difficulties of teaching with over 70 in a class but acknowledged this was a great improvement on the 100+ he used to have to teach. He teaches English – we discussed the issue of why subject teachers are also expected to teach in English as I couldn’t see the reason for this. He explained, there are no text books in Amharic! But the problem was the teacher’s English was rarely up to the task of teaching in English so the text was often written on the board and then translated into Amharic. He had recently observed a class and asked the teacher why this was. The teacher was so upset, he left the class. Belud felt very bad about this. He said the teacher was afraid of making mistakes in English. Belud thinks this is leading to a deterioration in subject teaching in Ethiopia.

Mum (Adna) then came to chat – a phenomenal woman. At the age of 46 she has raised 5 children and put herself through college – she now teaches elementary children. Again 70 to a class. In addition to all this, she runs a small shop from her back garden.

Belud meanwhile plays cards with his friends in the yard.

Like last Sunday, the roads are full of decorated cars and guests celebrating weddings – it’s the wedding season in Ethiopia – squeezed in between the many fasting periods.

Think I might fast tomorrow!!!!