Blogs from Ethiopia, Africa - page 94

Arrived at Lalibela! Hurrah! but internet here is even more expensive.. 1birr/min.. so i think my internet time will be very limited here.. planning to stay here for maybe 3 nights before heading down to Addis.. Staying at the alief paradise hotel.. pretty nice room.. have my own bath.. 50bir/night.. but it's downhill.. so if want to go town centre mus walk uphill.. pant pant.. lalibela is where this king called Lalibela answer God's instruction and built 11 churches hewn into rocks.. and supposedly wih the help of angels.. will see how impressive these churches are maybe tomorrow.. woke up this morning and boarded the bus at about 530am.. again. the same mad rush when gate opens etc.. the gate guy wanted to let us foreigners in first.. but there was this ehtiopian girl who ... read more

After spending two nights at Bahir Dar, i bade farewell to Dave and our partnership in travelling.. and took a lift from a british couple to Gonder.. north of Bahir Dar, 3hrs private car ride away.. The drive with the British couple was great.. they drive quite fast .. =) and we stopped by this Guzawa Castle along the way.. perched on a hill top.. qiute nice. .we had the entire castle to ourselves.. no admission charge.. and 2 little ethiopian kids (3-5yrs) came and wanted to be our guide.. haha.. they opened a gate into the castle for us (which we could have found on our own anyways actually).. and blabbered lots of amharic (the ethio language in the north) to us which we did not understand.. in the end, the british couple gave ... read more

Happy Easter Sunday everyone! I dun celebrate Easter, but it is a great day for many Ethiopians.. especially in this area.. where many follow the orthodox christianity faith.. I am now at Bahir Dar, the southern tip of Lake Tana, which feeds into the Blue Nile.. well it's not really the source of the Blue Nile... as the lake is itself fed by many tributaries.. of which one main tributary, the , which itself is fed by a spring.. and that spring is supposedly the true source of the Blue Nile.. and since the Nile is the combination of the blue and white nile. .and blue nile has more water volume.. so many argued that this spring is also the source of the live-giving Nile.. I'm staying at this Ghion Hotel.. nice place.. right by ... read more

The journey from Shihedi to Bahir Dar was a really pleasant journey.. I drove most of the way so that Dave could rest further.. From the border to Shihedi, the gravel road is still relatively flat.. shortly after Shihedi, the gravel road starts climbing as we begun to be greeted by Ethiopia's mountains.. As we came round the mountains/hills.. we passed by so many villages.. many without electricity.. and all of the round huts were made entirely of wood and grass and some covered with mud as wall.. And Saturday is market day.. and we saw lots of villagers walking along the road to the bigger regional villages/towns.. some with their sheeps.. some with their shopping basked balanced on their head.. etc.. You feel like you've taken a step back in time.. and the feeling's ... read more

One of the other things that I was keen to do, and that has taken a while to happen (for all sorts of reasons) was to teach in a local Elementary School, mainly to demonstrate that Active Learning Methods (which I teach on the Higher Diploma Programme) can be applied in Ethiopian schools with large classes. My first lesson was a nightmare! I expected better behaviour and the Module that I was given to teach suggested quite a high level of English. Neither assumption was correct. In my second lesson, I displayed ground rules and lowered my expectations. I teach one English lesson a week to a Grade 6 class (ages 10 - approx. 16). Now, lessons are going well and the students seem to have got used to my Farenji ways of teaching. It is, ... read more