Shopping has never been my favourite pastime, but in Addis it is certainly an amusing experience. We didn’t need to buy much, but what we did want managed to cause many problems. The main theme is for shop assistants to randomly select an item that they think you should buy -usually bearing no resemblance, at all, to the first item that you looked at in the shop or on the stall. So, on Saturday we were in Shola Market where Clare wanted to buy some shoes in preparation for the VSO Ethiopia 10th Anniversary celebrations later this week. In one shop, she eventually found some that she liked and having tried on one shoe, asked for the other. It took a while for the assistant to understand the concept of wanting two shoes. Then, while one ... read more

Clare and I moved into David and Nadia’s old house in Addis Ababa. We are both working in the capital over the summer and VSO have given us a very nice house to live in. My summer job is working for the National Road Safety Coordination Office. The organisation of road safety in Ethiopia is excellent and they are doing much of what is recommended to improve road safety in a developing country. So far, I have been very impressed. There are many benefits to living in Addis Ababa (or Finfinne - the Oromo name) - nice restaurants (Indian, pizza, croissants …), supermarkets that sell essential items, such as ground coffee, chocolate, cheese and imported wine, and leisure activities. Last weekend, Clare and I spent much of the weekend shopping - buying those necessary household items, ... read more

2nd - 13th July 2007 I have been learning Afaan Oromo since living in Robe, as the majority of people in the town are Oromo. Amharic is the national language, and is the first language of 32.7% of the population. Afaan Oromo is the first language of 31.6% (according to the World Factbook from the CIA). VSO organise a 2-week intensive language training course for volunteers, held at the Fura Institute in Yirgalem, half way between Awasa and Dilla, south of Addis. Most of the participants were learning Amharic, but two of us (me and Jane from Nekemte) were taking lessons in Afaan Oromo with Solomoon. The course was excellent! And not as intensive as it could have been! Unfortunately for Jane, I accidentally had a cup of ‘sprise’ (mixed tea and coffee), which is popular ... read more

What is the point of having access to a horse and walking yourself? Apart from the fact that it would be faster! Daamaa is the slowest horse in Robe, and possibly in Ethiopia - old women on foot overtake us! Being a Sunday, I decided that we should go out for a trip, especially as I would be away from Robe for the summer. I chose Hora Boka as the destination as one of the schools I will be working with next year is there and it was as good a destination as any. The ride there was very pleasant … and very slow! There are no cars on the road and we were very quickly (or slowly in this case) out in the countryside, ambling past teams of oxen ploughing in the fields. Once in ... read more

I went for my first horse-ride this afternoon! Bashiir, one of the guards at the College very kindly came to teach me the basics - how to fit the saddle, how to tie the rope around the horse’s head to act as a bridle, how to get the horse to move faster (“Chi”) and stop (Shhhh!) and how to tie the rope to his leg at the end of the ride. I had such a great time. I have, after consultation with some Ethiopian colleagues, named the red horse “Daamaa”. I wanted to call the white horse “Bakakaa” which means Lightening as every time I try to stroke him he moves away very quickly - but my colleagues laughed and said it was not a good name for a horse, so instead he is named “Daallee”. ... read more