Monday was the 4th of July, America's Independence Day. Laura and I knew that we had to do something to celebrate. So, since there aren’t any small fireworks or grills in back yards, we decided that the only option for us to even remotely act as though we are Americans would be to have a hamburger for dinner (see dark picture below). We went to our new favorite pizza restaurant and ordered hamburgers and fries. There are a couple places nearby that serve these burgers and fries, but Laura insisted that we go to this place, “Right Spot”, because of their advertisement. The sign outside read “the burger that honors the meat” and “we have an ambitious menu”. What does that even mean? Anyway, we decided to also honor the meat and our nationality and eat at this place. So we made our efforts as Americans and ate our native foods even though they didn’t exactly taste like they do at home. I hope we can at least get an “E” for effort, even if it’s out of pity.
At work I continued to progress through the procurement manual draft. My goal is to have a solid draft to Alem by the next Monday evening, that’s exactly two weeks from the time we initially met and he gave me the assignment. I continued to gather information from what seems like a thousand different places in order to try to compile something linear and sensible for this thing. It continued to come together little by little and should be finished by the time that I had intended. I also went on my first procurement adventure with Birkti. We took a ride outside of Addis to what would be analogous to a suburb, but it’s a more like just a suburban village. There were lots of horses with small carriages out there. Generally, it was much more rural than Addis Ababa. I'm still kicking myself for not taking my camera with me. We were going to a government-run steel company. They don’t manufacture steel there, they just distribute it. MVP’s business with them concerned pipelines for irrigation to be dispatched to the village cluster in northern Ethiopia.
On the way back to the office we stopped at a few stores in the city that sold light bulbs and fixtures. After pricing two or three different vendors, Birkti finally settled on one place with the best price. The interesting thing about Addis Ababa is that when one looks to procure a certain genre of goods – stationery, computers, plumbing, electrical supplies for example – there are areas of the city where these things are generally sold. So, the same general place that has a bunch of tailor shops may be about ten kilometers away from where the stationery stores may be. It isn’t like going to Wal-Mart and being able to find 50 completely different things for almost always the lowest price possible. It takes a lot more traveling and research to really efficiently and cost-effectively procure supplies here.
On Friday evening, I thought it would be nice to take Laura for her first Ethiopian Cultural Dance experience at the cultural center right around the corner from our house. Hiwot accompanied us as she loves to do when we experience Ethiopian culture intentionally. She is such a great little Ethiopian hostess. And she does all of this for us while having a 4 year old at home and another little one on the way. She is a champ. We always make sure to treat her as well as we possibly can when she gives us some of her time just to try to show her how much we appreciate her.
Laura participated in her first shoulder dancing lesson from one of the dancers, which is always entertaining. I haven’t done it yet, but all parties involved, excluding myself, keep threatening that I have to be next. I’m going to try to avoid that like the plague. I don’t really want very much to do with dancing in public… It’s just not my scene. The video below is of Laura shoulder dancing with one of the dancers. Hiwot even joined in with a bit of her expertise at the end.
On the way back to the office we stopped at a few stores in the city that sold light bulbs and fixtures. After pricing two or three different vendors, Birkti finally settled on one place with the best price. The interesting thing about Addis Ababa is that when one looks to procure a certain genre of goods – stationery, computers, plumbing, electrical supplies for example – there are areas of the city where these things are generally sold. So, the same general place that has a bunch of tailor shops may be about ten kilometers away from where the stationery stores may be. It isn’t like going to Wal-Mart and being able to find 50 completely different things for almost always the lowest price possible. It takes a lot more traveling and research to really efficiently and cost-effectively procure supplies here.
On Friday evening, I thought it would be nice to take Laura for her first Ethiopian Cultural Dance experience at the cultural center right around the corner from our house. Hiwot accompanied us as she loves to do when we experience Ethiopian culture intentionally. She is such a great little Ethiopian hostess. And she does all of this for us while having a 4 year old at home and another little one on the way. She is a champ. We always make sure to treat her as well as we possibly can when she gives us some of her time just to try to show her how much we appreciate her.
Laura participated in her first shoulder dancing lesson from one of the dancers, which is always entertaining. I haven’t done it yet, but all parties involved, excluding myself, keep threatening that I have to be next. I’m going to try to avoid that like the plague. I don’t really want very much to do with dancing in public… It’s just not my scene. The video below is of Laura shoulder dancing with one of the dancers. Hiwot even joined in with a bit of her expertise at the end.
The ensuing weekend was rather quiet and relaxing. We met Birkti for some Indian food on Saturday afternoon since she spent five years studying in India. We share an office, so we always find time to chit-chat about India. She’s much more familiar with that place since she spent so much time there, so she’s usually teaching me a bit about it. However, I do know an Indian or two from the U.S. who also fill my ears with stories and customs of their motherland. And, of course, what would an afternoon in Ethiopia be without coffee? We headed then for some traditional coffee and even had a bit of ice cream before Birkti dropped us off at our house and headed home.
Another thing that happened last week was that I was the first one of the American volunteers here to fall ill. I battled a sinus infection all week that Iwould imagine arose from a number of factors including the altitude, pollution, physical adaptations (or lackthereof) and germs that my body still doesn't recognize even after the eleventeen vaccines that I had before I left for this place. It still wasn't completely clear by the end of the week, but there was no fever, and I can deal with the sniffles, sneezes and congestion. Thankfully, life goes on.
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