Had a fantastic evening yesterday – a couple we know got married and had evening drinks at a lakeside hotel as part of the celebration. It was an Irish-Ethiopian wedding, with quite a contingent of family and friends out from Ireland for the occasion. So I had gin and tonic (very large gin with very little tonic on an empty stomach) at the lake whilst the sun went down and we were entertained by the Awassa Youth Campus theatre – a local group who specialise in amazing gymnastic performances. There was lots of tumbling and an incredible contribution from a wee guy who must have been 3 or 4 years old. It would never get past health and safety regulations in the UK but the whole thing was breathtaking. The backdrop of the Rift Valley hills and the lake was fab. Sadly, we didn’t take the camera so you will have to take my word for it. The group somehow manage to incorporate storey telling and traditional music and dance into their shows. After that there was a group rendition of Molly Malone followed by the Hokey Cokey before we were restored to Ethiopian traditional music and song accompanied by a mesinko player.

Afterwards we had a long walk home in the darkness and I cooked up tagabeno. This is a fabulous local dish. It involves a pile of fresh tomatoes, red onions and garlic cooked in a liberal amount of olive oil. Berberi (a blend of about 14 spices including chillies, cardamom, cloves, ginger, garlic, onions, cinnamon & basil) is then added followed by shiro (powdered chick peas I think!). Tagebeno is best served with injera but it is also the best way to disguise the crap white bread you get here. It all seemed to soak up the gin very well.

Last Monday was New Years Day so we had a couple of days off work. A very quiet, relaxing, long weekend. We were invited out to breakfast with a couple of colleagues – really good to have some normal, social contact with Ethiopians! We also climbed Lamora (a local hill) again last weekend. The route back takes you past lots of local toukals (traditional houses) and involves lots of greetings and handshakes. So many wonderful smiles…

College is quiet at the moment as there are no classes. Big changes afoot though as plans for expansion progress. They are opening a medical and a business faculty this term and the education faculty is expanding to offer degree courses. The other day we were showing a new VSO worker around college only to be surprised by a gym full of bodies – not real ones, demonstration ones for the medical faculty. All white, bizarrely. They have since been moved to a “demonstraton classroom”. College are also opening several branches, one in Arba Minch, about a day to the south and another in a town just south of here. Several of our candidates on the HDP are in line for a range of positions at these colleges, ranging from registrars to academic deans. Not sure what impact that will have on our course as they might leave Awassa before we have finished the HDP. Another thing which will affect the Higher Diploma is people leaving to go and do Masters degrees in Addis. Although courses will start this month, perspective students do not yet know whether they have gained places. Demand far outstrips the number of places available – someone said for one course there were about 30 places and several hundred applicants. And everyone wants to do a masters degree here, it is the way to get on.