Sunday morning… good to have a lazy day. I’ve been really busy at college – I am enjoying it. It is so good to see the Higher Diploma Candidates develop and become more confident. There doesn’t seem to be any system of staff development at all here so they lap up any feedback and support I give them. The course itself is fantastic really, all about reflective practice and matches up with best practice we had developed in Camden. We’ve just established peer observations where all candidates pair up and go and observe each other teach. It feels like a really powerful development tool, exciting stuff. The teacher trainers also spend five days in a local school as part of the course, observing and teaching. For some of them it is the first time they have taught in a school and it is great to see how motivated they are by the whole experience. Several have been in and done more teaching than the course requires and the kids have applauded them at the end! I feel like I am really getting to know people now. I am in my second round of observations and can see a huge difference in practice already. They are a really talented bunch of people. I was given the most amazing portfolio of work the other day, packed full of drawings and diagrams to illustrate various active learning methods and with a glowing acknowledgement of my support! I’ve identified three candidates to be tutors and start work with them properly this week – the idea is that by the end of October some of them feel confident to run the whole course again with the next bunch of people.

We are already starting to think about what happens at the end of this placement – due to various reasons it finishes at the end of October. There are a couple of interesting placements in the north of the Ethiopia which we are investigating – it would be good to see more of the country. It feels weird though to be thinking of leaving the college so soon – we are already working to help develop systems etc that will continue after we have gone. Everything changes so rapidly here - our college has just built new science and language labs and a sports hall and is hoping to be approved to run degree courses for next semester. Management and staff development are all in their infancy so there is plenty to do. I am keen though to get involved in some work that will have bigger impact – after taking part in Global Education week I realised that there was a lot more I could contribute. The placements we are trying to set up next would be piloting a more coordinated approach to CPD for teachers that hopefully could be adopted nationally. We think we have identified one area where things don’t seem to be too held back by p & b ( politics and bureaucracy). Time will tell!

I have to confess that we were quite sinful last weekend – we went to Aragash Lodge at Yirga Alem (look on the net for photos!). It is a tourist lodge about an hour from here, hideously expensive on a volunteers allowance, but well worth it. Sadly, it is probably the sort of thing that tourists here see the most but it doesn’t give a picture of real life. We got the usual mini-bus to Yirga Alem – not so packed because it wasn’t a public holiday and there are plenty of police checks. (Interestingly the police only seem to check numbers – not quite sure of the point of it – if they only checked tyres I am sure many lives would be saved). From the bus we walked about 4km down the main street to the lodge. As we got further through town we attracted more attention until by the end we had a troop of a dozen children – all quite good natured, practising their English. I guess the only ferenji they see are heading to the lodge and therefore wealthy so of course they asked for money but actually they were much less hassle than many in Awassa. The lodge is amazing – you go in the gates and you are in this oasis of tranquillity, on the ridge looking down into the greenest valley ever. The grounds are extensive and full of fruit and coffee plants though the best thing for me was the flowers (and butterflies). There are about a dozen “toukals” – traditional round houses built of bamboo and thatch. Inside they are stunning and very calming, divided into two bedrooms, a sitting area and bathroom, all furnished with bamboo and traditional fabrics. We had a tour of the grounds and spent time relaxing, watching the birds and monkeys and generally enjoying a bit of luxury. I felt so guilty when we came back though at the thought of all the money we had spent – tho as Mike said, it was equivalent to a night in a youth hostel back home!!!

It is slightly cooler and wetter here these days – I think a bit spring like. The birds are nesting everywhere and sweetcorn is now on sale at every street corner. We had an exciting ride home from college one day last week – it usually starts raining around home time but if we are quick we can make it home before it really hits. This particular day it started about 4.30 and was really heavy. We sat it out till about 5.45 pm but it really didn’t look like it was going to pass over so amidst much protest from the remaining staff (most people wait till the rain is over before going out, even if that means they are late for work) we went for it! It was like real mountain biking, great fun and we got jeers from the crowd sheltering under the tree at the bottom of the hill!

Friday night I went to the post office to pick up a new jar of Promite from the Australia shop. Yes, I know – sad really but we have become food obsessed I think. There is such a limited choice here. The only bread we can get is crap white stuff and we can’t make our own coz we have no oven. All you can really get to put on your bread is either chocolate spread or laughing cow “cheese” – hence the need for promite. Anyhow, when I got there I was greeted by name – the express mail man was particularly pleased to see me as there was mail from VSO (more bird flu updates) and it saved him a trip to college. They are great down there and so far we have had everything that has been sent – we were warned that lots of things don’t get through. We managed to get a key for the college mail box which is much better as the guy who is meant to go and collect the mail only goes about once a month I think. Anyway, back to food – we are both looking forward to wholemeal bread and butter. Which reminds me – we have cracked and booked a trip home for a couple of weeks! We have justified it as it is the rainy season here and we won’t be able to do anything at college as there are no classes going on. We fly back on 27^th June and are continuously thinking about the food we will eat the people we will see!!

Haven’t blogged for a while – been to Addis for injections. We got the bus up on Friday – very interesting! Driver chewing chat non-stop all the way, I guess at least it kept him alert. When you get on public transport here you enter a different world. No timetables here, we were told that buses go when they are full. Not true, they go when they are fuller than full – people sitting in the aisles. It is all very good natured though – no point stressing about anything. Hopefully you get where you want to go eventually and in one piece.

It was interesting being in Addis again – felt quite normal. Last time we were there was when we had just arrived in February and everything seemed alien and frightening. We appreciated having TV in the hotel but weren’t so happy when we had no water! I got landed with doing a presentation at a national conference on education for global education week – the theme of the week was “Every child needs a teacher” and they asked me to do something giving the perspective of a developed nation. So I did “Valuing teachers – the English experience” and just picked out all the positive things that are happening at home. Those of you teaching might struggle to think of them but compared with here your life is a doddle, believe me! I’d love to get more involved at a national level, there is so much more that could be achieved here but I think the big block is with the government. Politics and bureaucracy … Anyway, I enjoyed working under pressure again.

Had some fabulous meals out in Addis – don’t know how anyone could afford to live there on a volunteers allowance, there is just so much temptation. The first night we went to an Armenian restaurant in the Bole Road area (the posh part of town). Only downside was it was full of expats. But the food was great – falafel, humous and fish kebab, washed down with some superb, chilled white wine, my first in three months. Cost a fortune but well worth it. Also had a bean burrito (another night!!) with cheese. Yum. Can’t get decent cheese in Awassa.

Mike and I finally got some time apart as he went back to Awassa on Sunday to do some catch up classes and I stayed up for the volunteers committee meeting. The first time we have had apart since arriving and it was nice – we didn’t plan to be living and working together!

Coming home on Wednesday I waited 15 minutes before I managed to get into a line taxi down to Stadium near the bus station. Nearly gave up – made me realise how lucky I was not to live in Addis. Bus station was chaotic but I was quickly directed to the Shashemene bus and thought my luck was in – only two empty seats! I took one and waited for the bus to leave – it took another half an hour to squeeze another 10 people on and get permission to leave but we were off by 8.30. Five minutes outside Shashemene we had a big oil problem but it took the conductor only minutes and a liberal doussing of oil to fix it and we were off again. At Shashemene I was loaded onto a minibus and we set off down the hill to the lake, speedo on zero all the way. Good to be home – 3pm by then so I had a late lunch and stayed at home.

Now I am re-adjusting to being back in Awassa – seemed more hassle than usual today but maybe because you are more anonymous in Addis.