Ok, all gifts gratefully received. Chocolate was a bit soft but I can't complain. You can't get everything in Awassa, in fact you can't get much at all - I shouldn't grumble tho really, we aren't suffering from the drought at all. Tea bags are much appreciated - the coffee here is fab but you can't get a great variety of tea! Looking forward to the grand prix and anything else that will fit in the parcel. Just keep the parcels small and then hopefully I won't have to pay storage!

Susan, I love you!! Today we got your parcel at work - so exciting! Who would believe that we could get so excited about a two week old newspaper, a couple of packs of blutac, some pens, chocolate and some fruit tea bags.... I think the trick to get the chocolate through without it being nicked worked well. We also got the first edition of Guardian weekly today (dated 3rd March so I hope they don't all take that long). As if that wasn't enough excitement, later in the day I was given a ticket to take to the post office to collect a parcel. My first experience of the post office - I had to wait whilst a form was completed, complex calculations were done and then 5 birr 25 was demanded from me. Apparently the parcel had been there for a couple of weeks and I had to pay storage! Hmmm..... if I'd known it was there, I'd have gone to collect it... Anyway, our first delivering from Amazon. I'm amazed that we have managed to get things through in one piece - we've heard lots of stories about things going missing in the post.

Caroline asked about Government policy – well! Where to start? I tell you, I am glad I am in a private college – now that’s something I didn’t think I would ever say! The government institutions are so hampered by politics and bureaucracy it is a wonder anything gets done. There are some VSO’s in a government college in our region who have had to wait over a year to get a table and chairs for their office. At my college things arrive before you even realize you need them. Government schools are so poor, with class sizes up to 100 and no resources so anyone who can sends their children to private schools which are often supported by foreign NGO’s. A lot of the appointments at senior levels in government colleges are political and staff can change almost overnight. Not great for stability or strategic planning.

Interestingly (apart from the lack of chilled wine) I feel I am having it easy here! I guess the tough times will come but the people make it all worthwhile. It is very humbling. I am three weeks into the course and have seen three lessons today – all very good. Although lesson planning is not part of the culture here I was given a lesson plan for each and observed teachers trying out various active learning methods. Teachers sharing lesson objectives with students for the first time, using pyramiding (starting from pair working, then to fours, then to eights), ice-breaking activities and spider diagrams – so refreshing and frankly much better than I was expecting. I even saw one teacher try using some peer assessment! We have so much to learn from them in terms of attitude you know – the majority of candidates on the course did not choose to be teachers, they were assigned and yet by and large they have devoted themselves to it. They really see the value of education – all have had to really struggle to get where they are, I mean really struggle

Induction at Debub Ethipia College of Teacher Education - the vice deans and friends!

Policing the bike race….

Settling in to a Sunday routine here – for the last three weeks it has been my only day off work as we have had series of lectures on assessment at college on Saturday s. More of that later… Up at 5.30 a.m. again – I hate it until I am out of the door and can see the stars! The moon was lovely this morning too, a crescent but you could see the whole disc. Seemed slightly lighter this morning – no need for torches – and I managed a bit more of the hill. I have to confess that this is the first run for a week, not good going but I blame Michael. The sky as the sun rose was gorgeous.

Did the washing on the terrace before breakfast (discovered affordable oats so had porridge as an alternative to bread and bananas) then roped Fasil, our landlord, in to help us out shopping for parts for Mike’s bike. It needs a new saddle, pedals, mudguards and a rack…. Anyway, being Sunday and a holiday (halfway through the 55 days fasting period) most places were shut so they will have to go again tomorrow. Then off to buy veg and stop in at Pinna hotel for a mango juice – still such a treat and healthy too. The main street was closed off to traffic with police stationed at intervals to keep people off the road. Wondered if it was a political protest but then all became clear as some incredibly fit lycra clad women hurtled past us on bikes. There were a couple of police motorcycles clearing the route in front and the guys stationed along the road had assault rifles slung across their backs! They also had sticks and whips and weren’t afraid to use them… we kept well clear! A bit later the men’s race went off – seemed to be several circuits up to the church and back down to the lake – a bit like final day of the Tour on the Champs but with more vigorous policing. Although with the way things are going in France these days who knows….

Waiting for the usual afternoon storm but I think it may have bypassed us today – thankfully it has clouded over though so is much cooler. I was at risk of getting sunburnt when I was ironing!

On Friday night we were invited out to watch a film. Marion has a projector at her workplace and a collection of DVDs so a load of us piled round to watch “Bonnie and Clyde”!

Busy week ahead – as part of the Higher Diploma candidates have to have four formal lesson observations and I am starting the first round this week. Mostly people are teaching in English but there are a couple who only teach in Amharic or in another local language. This is a good opportunity for me to do some joint observations with candidates who may become tutors on the course. Over the next couple of weeks I need to identify 3 or 4 likely candidates to become tutors – they will then work with me planning and delivering the course and hopefully one or more of them will go on to lead a new group when we finish.

Had two phonecalls from home this week, makes me feel less distant. Mum’s birthday tomorrow – but I guess she will be too busy out on some long hike in the dales to celebrate! Hope it is a good one anyway mum!

10^th March 2006 or 1/7/98 Ethiopian calendar!

I’m missing the cold, frosty English mornings but not the wet and drizzly ones. Miss running in the Hertfordshire countryside – Mike and I went for our first run in Ethiopia today. I know it has taken far too long! I found the altitude hard in Addis for the first two weeks. We were in a hotel and by the time I got to my room on the second floor I was out of breath! We are slightly lower here in Awassa and I am acclimatised now. So we were up at 5.40 am and out within 5 minutes. Still dark and the stars were lovely. Only one or two lights along the road so we needed headtorches for the first 15 minutes. They are doing major roadworks in Awassa – at present only two roads are surfaced and they are doing all the other main roads at once it seems. Sometimes you find a deep trench right across the road – no warning signs or lights here! Hence the need for a headtorch. Ten minutes along the road, passing only early churchgoers, and we head across a field at the bottom of Tabor Mountain (well, that’s what it is called but it is only a hill – nice bare rock though, with some eucalyptus trees on top, so easy running – apart from the gradient!). Managed to run part of the way up, then back before sunrise (just) and before the kids are out on the streets with their constant shouts! About 40 minutes so a good start. Often there are Ethiopian runners out doing hill reps but I think we were too early for them today. Really it is the only time for us to get a run in – too much hassle if we leave it any later. Mostly it’s just tedious not aggressive – shouts of “you, you, you”, “ferenji”, “money, money” is as bad as it gets – often though people (kids mainly) just shout “good morning, how are you?” You have to be in the right mood for it otherwise it gets a bit wearing.

I’m enjoying work so far – I started my course this week. It is for teacher trainers (‘teacher educators’ here). I have 25 on the course including the Dean of the college and two vice deans – a bit daunting! They are all so lovely though. College set up a fabulous induction programme – took me round Awassa, showed me the best places for coffee and juice (fresh mango juice), went out on the lake in a boat, fed the monkeys (!) and had a traditional dinner at the local hotel.

College is a 10 minute bike ride from home. Mike hasn’t been so lucky – the job he came to do seems not to exist so VSO are trying to sort out something else. Meanwhile he is practising drinking juice and coffee…. We were sharing a house with a Belgian volunteer for the first 3 weeks here but he went yesterday so now we have the place to ourselves. First thing to do is cleaning.

Living quite primitively in some respects – no fridge, so no COLD WHITE WINE!! In fact, no decent, affordable white wine at all!! How can I survive? Yes, so anyway, no fridge, no TV, no bloody radio at the moment but that’s another story… We do have a flush toilet tho and hot water for the shower! Even so, we have so much more than most of the locals. We do have our laptop and a phone at home so we can (sometimes) get email (dialup).

Thursday 23rd March 2006

Well, we’ve been here more than six weeks now so I guess it is time to start my blog! It has been a time of major readjustment but I am feeling relatively settled now. We had good news yesterday – Michael finally has a placement!! I can’t believe it has taken so long but apparently for Ethiopia the decision has come quickly! He is going to run another Higher Diploma group at the same college as me. It means that by the end of October 50 of the 115+ teaching staff at the college will have done the course and we will have at least two Ethiopians ready to lead two new groups.

I have done 5 sessions with my group now and interviewed over 20 of them individually. I feel I am really starting to get to know people at last. I have learnt so much about individuals, about the Ethiopian education system and generally about the culture here. I’m really impressed by commitment everyone shows to their education – it has a real value here, something I think it education has lost to some extent at home. In Ethiopia, you don’t get to choose the subject or the university you go to - I have talked to people who wanted to be architects or engineers but were assigned to study education or biology. It takes them a year or two to adjust before they do fully accept the future career they have been given.

We got a radio about a week ago so we can get world service now and keep in touch with what is happening in the world. Difficult to get any accurate sense of what is happening in Ethiopia as all the media is government run. The opposition members were due in court this week in Addis so they were expecting some trouble in high schools in particular.