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Published: October 26th 2008
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Federal Policeman
Sporting an unusual hair piece... Since we have been back it's been feast of Johnny Morris tales.
The rats have been running egg and spoon races in the attic space under the tin roof.
Sara has had a sheep walk into her office, take a seat and start dictating a memo...well, almost. No doubt she will tell more but it was raining and her office gained an extra staff member for the afternoon. Not a common occurance at Jisc back home she says - but then maybe only because she's on the top floor and the sheep just can't reach the buttons in the lift...?
The cats are back round the house. Only the loud (I think deaf) one is still alive from the happy threesome that we took under our wings earlier in the year. We have fed him milk and cheese and he now pitches up from time to time when he's desperate.
Sara is busy feeding up the heavily pregnant neighbour's cat in the hope it will nest in a box we have put out in the porch. Presumably so she can steal a kitten 😊
The cat seems interested so the chances are even.
My favourite
Monkey business
It'll make you go blind, little fella! furry friend story has to be the Federal Policeman's cheeky monkey. One morning we are in the office (while Patricia was in Assosa) and she asks if I had seen the monkey outside the main gate?
Interested I followed her out and there was my Federal Police chum - the really nice smiley one - with a monkey on a rope; just about to strip the final leaves of the tree behind the guard.
Wow! Never been this close to a monkey before! I always avoided them in South Africa because if they don't like you they are smart enough to jump up and bite you in the neck and that would
not be good.
This one seemed remarkably relaxed, and my Federal friend was happy to let me take pictures while the monkey performed.
Unfortunately one of his performances was a bit, uh, shall we say, basic.
Particuarly in front of Patricia, the VSO Country Director.
It was clear the guard and the monkey had an affection for each each and if either of our Amharic skills (or anyone's English) had been better we would have found out the full story.
Fortunately,
Ato Sinjero
The Don Corleone look. I'm impressed! later that day, Bekema filled me in on the details.
He had sat next to the guard and his pet monkey on the bus from Addis to Assosa (takes 2 days) and had been chatting with the guy about his pet. Yes, he had raised the monkey from when it was a baby and was bringing it to Assosa to live in the same lodgings as the policeman.
Our theory that it was the regiment mascot was blown completely out of the water and come to think of it, 'The Marching Monkeys' or 'The Beneshangul Baboon Brigade' would hardly send fear and dread into the hearts of the enemy now, would it?
Bekema made me chuckle though. He really is a naughty boy.
The Federal was trying not to give the monkey too much water to drink as it was busy pis*ing all over him every time it felt like it wanted a 'comfort break'. Of course, every time the guard wasn't looking Bekema would quench the monkey's thirst from his bottle of water and wait 15 minutes for the inevitable and somewhat amusing results...
Eid Only a matter of days after Meskel, there
Spot the cat
You know you want to Mr Puddy is the main Muslim holiday of Eid (id). I can get a bit confusing as no one knows which day it will happen on until the night before, when the clerics in the middle east agree on which day it should fall.
This year it was either 30th September of October 1st. I was hoping for the 1st as I was flying on the 30th so my day off would consist of hanging round Addis airport, Jimma airport and Assosa airport. Not a great way to spend it.
Various sources claim that Ethiopia is half Christian, half Muslim, though some think the Muslims are now in the majority. Either way Eid is a big festival as it marks the end of Ramadan.
Muslims had been fasting (no food or water; not just no meat or dairy products) for 40 days and were no doubt looking forward to a big old party. You cannot smoke during Ramadan either so the cigarette addicts were all gagging for a puff (though I don't know if you can smoke at nightfall in the same way you can eat after evening prayers).
We were lucky enough to be invited to Mustapha's
Eh? Say again?
You want to know what's for the main course?? house (he lives opposite us, in Marc and Ellie's old Education Bureau house). His wife was with him - she normally lives in Addis - and we had a coffee ceremony, some really nice food and a good old chat about the muslim religion, Ethiopian names, the situation in Beneshangul-Gumuz and the various dances that were being showcased (as ever) on Ethiopian TV.
Mustapha was enjoying his food and coffee as he said Eid is followed by another, shorter period of fasting for 6 days before fasting finishes altogether. He also explained that you can eat food/drink liquids during the day if you are a child or if you are sick, as this has concerned me, that given the heat in Assosa, it wouldn't be healthy to not drink any water for 14 or so hours.
No rest for the wicked After Eid and Meskel finished we were hoping the loudspeakers might fall silent and give us old gits a chance to get in a full nights sleep. How wrong we were.
Eid happened to co-incide with one of the big saint's days here and an almightly wailing war opened up on about 4 fronts. It
Yahtzee!
Good work sir must have been a big festival as people were up late, there was drums, processions and all sorts going on.
As it happens each church has a cycle of saint's days that it celebrates every month, though the big day is the saint's day of that particular church. So St Gabriels day is the 19th of every month and the church of St Gabriels will have an all day/night party.
In fact, on these special saint's days, very religious people are not supposed to work. This used to mean that there would be one or two days a week where people would rest and not turn up for work, because it was a special saint day.
Ultimately the government had to put a stop to this but Mulatu tells us that "in the rural" people still honour saints days by refusing to do any farming.
It's got Full House written all over it To celebrate Sherri's return to Assosa she invited us (Steven, Lesley, Sara, Me & Bekema) over to have fish that she had brought with her from Addis. You can't get fish in Assosa so it was a bit of a treat. Everyone
was looking forward to a battered fish and chips taste extraveganza; though I was looking forward to vegetable chilli & cheese on chips.
Sara is now eating fish so I was the 'special' friend who had my own little dish and it was fantastic!
We finished the evening teaching everyone to play Yahtzee - a game we have both enjoyed before, particulary over late night lock-ins on Lundy Island (the barman was an addict) - very handy for Ethiopia as you can play it by candlelight and it doesn't really need any more than a pen, paper and 5 dice.
Bekema led the way with a straight-in Yahtzee of three's, followed by Lesley with a Yahtzee of ones.
By the end of the evening everone was doing the "it's got full house written all over it" and Sherri - the dark horse - with no yahtzees but a top deck bonus (the key to success I say) snuck the game from Lesley by a single point!
Ahh. Life in the fast lane...
Better go - we've got Enid Blyton coming round for ginger beer at 6...
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