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January 6th 2014

Published: January 6th 2014

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TeeBee81

Bahir Daar

Beautiful sunset

It's been a while!

Since my last blog I have been pretty busy. I won't bore you with all the details but will highlight a few recent events...

I went to Bahir Daar for a weekend (see photos) which was great – a refreshing change from Gondar. The town is situated by lake Tana and has the Blue Nile falls and source of the Nile close by. We visited monasteries and even saw a hippo in the lake! Went to an “Asmari bet” one evening which is a place where they have traditional music and dancing. I got dragged onto the stage and had to dance with the professional dancers in front of everyone. It was so embarrassing.

Then disaster struck – I ran out of dental floss (no joke!). I promptly booked a flight home to get some more. While I was there I went to a wedding, presented at a conference, caught up with friends and family and spent Christmas at home. In fact, I think that over the 10 days I was at home, I spent more money and consumed more calories than I did in 2 months in Gondar! No prizes for guessing which

Bahir Daar, Teller - traditional beer

My face looked like that too. Does not taste good at all.

photos were taken at home and not in Ethiopia!

My new nemeses in the guest house are the pigeons. I am now living in a different apartment (the one which I had mentioned in one of my first blogs as being nice but had a rat in it.). There is a nest on the roof and the pigeons are doing my head in. As soon as it gets light, they make a terrible din– their flapping around make all the windows and roof shake. It sounds very similar to someone trying to bash the front door down so I often wake up with a fright. If only I had a shot gun……. (says the vegetarian….well it’s not as if I will eat them……)

I went to a babtism party yesterday. The actual church service was 4 hours long so only a few devout orthodox family members went. Even the father, my colleague, only went for half an hour! We all went to the party instead which was in my colleague’s in-laws’ home. The house consists of a lovely ground floor but an unfinished 1^st floor. This is usual in Gondar – people start building and then run out

Bahir Daar

Trip on lake Tana

of money so finish the 1^st floor a few years later. No comments please about the fact that none of the babtism photos actually include the baby - my camera battery ran out!

It is now the weekend. I have been up since 0600 because of the pigeons and am currently sitting in the lounge in my pjs procrastinating, I have loads of preparation to do for teaching next week – so of course I am writing my blog, chatting on facebook, planning more adventures....

(So, after writing the previous paragraph, the author of this blog ended up site seeing around Gondar all day (after getting dressed first of course 😉 ) and then spent the evening in a beer garden. Nice!)

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