Rain, Rain Go Away

This is the hardest I've seen it rain in a long time. It's been at it for almost three hours. The alleyways around our house have small rivers flowing freely through them. The leak in the roof is now spilling water into one of our buckets, after we discovered it spilling water all over the first floor of the house.

Yesterday we had a quick coffee at the Gondar Hospital with two American women and their colleagues. The two Americans are doing a program through Baylor University in conjunction with JDC and will be in Gondar for one year with the possibility of extending for a second. They are working in the Pediatrics Department of the hospital. Hopefully they will be a good resources to help Liz and I find good food and fun bars. They were very nice and we look forward to getting to know them. We also met the head of the Pediatrics and Child Health Department and he was great. I believe we will be working with him in some capacity in the future.

We had a relatively slow day and ended up meandering from the Piazza all the way to the JDC Clinic, which was a sizable hike. It felt great to walk around and get more comfortable with our surroundings.

Last night we went to the Dashen Brewery. The Brewery has a great beer garden and the beer is good. The beer itself is named after the highest mountain in Ethiopia, Ras Dashen. We met some of our friends there and had dinner. I had a hamburger, note to follow.....

Learned something new and important: Wednesdays and Fridays are fasting days for Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia....so avoid the butcher and eating meat at all costs during those days. Sadly, this notion slipped my mind last night and I had a hamburger. Still going strong though so who knows.

View from Mintewab Lodge

We slept late today and got up to great coffee and some oatmeal. Liz and I walked over to the entrance of Gondar University. I'm told the only way to see the campus is to be a student or know one. Maybe we can find someone with some connections to get us on that campus. We'll have to meet one or both soon because from afar the campus looks beautiful. Perfectly situated atop one of the many hills in Gondar.

From there we walked up a dirt road to the Mintewab Lodge. Unbelievable views and the best fried lamb tibs I've had thus far...and I've had a lot. Liz and I got some good pictures of the city. They had a pet monkey there. Liz was the brave one and got in a picture with it. It started to drizzle as we left but nothing threatening. The walk was great and it thundered the entire way. Literally the second that we stepped foot in the gate it started to pour. It's still going.....

Our water has been unpredictable the last two days. As such I thought it'd be a good idea to shower in the rain. It was cold but it felt wonderful. Lilly and Sophie (our dogs) sat on the back porch looking at me like I was crazy. Maybe I am.....

Hope all is well in the world with everyone. Til next time!


The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Oh, and forgive any spelling or grammatical errors.