Saturday was market day in Lalibela. The market started about 10 or 11am - late, because people walk for several hours from the surrounding countryside to get there.

Went to Lalibela last weekend. It is one of the must do sights in Ethiopia. You’ll have seen it on TV no doubt, on some travel show. We had. Lots of rock hewn churches built by angels (according to legend!) some 900 years ago. I don’t want to sound un-enthusiastic, but it was hot and I got bitten to death by fleas. Had some fairly awful Ethiopian food too. Anyway, here are some photos so you can see for yourselves:

The first two are Bet Giyorgis or Saint George, unusual as it was set apart from the others. Apparently, Saint George was upset that none of the churches in Lalibela was dedicated to him so he went to see King Lalibela to complain. Lalibela then built the best church in the town for him!

When we got home, after the usual argument with taxi drivers, Mekdes had made lunch and prepared a coffee ceremony. Fabulous! The mesir wat (spicy lentil thing) is delicious and I got her to teach me how to make it this week. Of course, I have plenty of time for cooking lessons now as I told the Dean I wouldn’t go in to college until he phoned me with some work. I’m not going to pretend to work. I said to him that I thought it was a shame that they weren’t using my skills! VSO have said there is a possibility of something short-term at the Ministry of Education in Addis so I am waiting to hear. I’d rather be in Gondar but I would go to Addis if there was work.

Rainy season seems to be over and the garden is starting to look parched. Apart from the parsley, that is, which seems to have taken over.

We’ve been waiting a couple of weeks for parcels to arrive from the UK and then, as usual, they all arrived at once. Loads of goodies including some divine shortbread which we have just finished (thanks mum!). Mike has finally got started on his OU course now so we both have studying to do.

Happy New Year! It isn’t everyone who can say they have lived through two millenniums, must be why I am looking so old. There has been a mad build up to the event: up till Tuesday there were sheep everywhere, being led home on a rope, carried over shoulders or fastened onto the roof rack of line taxis. Tuesday was New Years Eve and there were big parties in Addis – maybe you saw it on the news? It was on BBC World Service, concerts, fireworks and speeches by dear Meles. Wednesday, the sheep were heard bleating in yards or seen tied to gate posts having their last suppers. This was New Years Day but Wednesday and Friday are fasting days for Orthodox Christians so the great meat eating fest was postoned to today. Today, I expect the streets will be running with blood and there will be the usual heads and horns strewn around. Mike said there were piles of fleeces at the side of the road when he went out. 400 birr for a sheep - apparently things have never been so expensive here. That’s about the monthly pay of the lowest paid teacher.

We were invited round to a neighbours yesterday – really they wanted to invite us today and don’t seem to be able to cope with the fact that we don’t eat meat. Belete keeps saying ‘But I really wish you ate meat’ and looks really sad! It was great anyway, injera and misir wat (spicy lentil dish), special New Year bread (cooked in a kind of water oven) and the usual fab coffee ceremony. We stayed for the full three rounds (it is traditional to have three brews of coffee) and watched some TV with them – lots of the partying in Addis and the fireworks.

We found out on Tuesday that the government had declared Thursday and Friday national holidays – bit last minute, didn’t they know the millennium was coming??? So we are confined to home. Fortunately, on Tuesday I got the books for my next OU course. Some of it is a bit easy – stuff I remember well, but there is also a lot of more applied maths which looks interesting. Don’t laugh. And mathcad – anyone used it? Seems quite straightforward. Got some good video stuff too about applications of maths. So it should keep me busy for a while. Thanks to my friend in the Royal Mail for getting it to me so quickly.

Last night we started watching 24. Wow, anyone seen it? I said at the start that we would only watch one episode but it was so good I’m afraid we watched the first 4. Brilliant.

Well, things are going on much as usual here. Living with giardia seems to be a permanent fixture here – I got it a few days after returning from the UK and it is proving drug resistant so far. Thought I’d try alcohol next, tho my first attempt last night failed as the Ethiopian red wine I opened last night was fizzy and ended up down the sink. What a waste of 35 birr (£2). One of the 3 shops (I can’t call them supermarkets here really because that would conjure up a vision of well-stocked shelves, a wide variety of food…) in Gondar has farenji wine I noticed so I might need to investigate how much it is. Web wisdom seems to say that giardia clears up by itself and there is some question over the prescribing of antibiotics. Yes, I am becoming quite an expert.

Enough of that. We actually did something interesting yesterday and went to visit Debre Birhan Selassie church. This is the most famous church in Gondar (the guidebook says there are 44 altogether) – hard to know how old it is but they reckon there has been a church on the site sincethe 1690’s. This one is an unusual shape (most churches are ciccular) and famous really for its paintings. The ceiling is beautiful, paintings of 80 cherubic faces as you see. Some of it has been water damaged but the roof of the building was restored recently. The walls are the traditional mud on the inside and covered with paintings depicting various saints, the life of Christ and Ethiopian historical figures.

The setting is beautiful, about a kilometre out of town, on top of a hill. There is a high stone wall surrounding the grounds full of juniper trees and others I didn’t recognise. It was a windy day went we went, cloudy and very atmospheric.

Went for lunch at Steve and Gemma’s too and had a great veg curry. Gemma is a optometrist and was telling us why we see so many blind people. Can’t remember the technical details (but I sure Mike will) but basically most cases are from an easily curable infection spread by the flies you often see round peoples eyes. Simple hygiene would prevent most cases.

I’ve finished ‘Researching Mathematics Education’ – the final part was a project. I have to say I think mine is crap but hopefully it is enough to pass. I think I peaked on assignment 4! Started my next course now, doing some hard maths and trying to really understand it.

Kibeb, the daughter of one of our neighbours, called round the other evening with her little sister Kizzy. Kibeb is studying laboratory at Gondar Uni and was one of the most open Ethiopians we’ve talked to. When I said we were going to visit the church she asked if I was Christian. Well, that started an interesting conversation – she can’t believe that we have no God or anything we believe in and are still happy! It is quite common here for people to dispute evolution and I think it is something we will talk more about.

OK, Mike has been making pancakes so I’m off for breakfast…