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.