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
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
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 the food we will eat the people we will see!!
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