Ethiopia log: Year = 2005, 23rd day of the 11th Month and every year there is 13 Months of Sunshine!!

Today in the “In Country Training” we had some cultural and language lessons and we learnt some very useful things about the calendar, alphabet, names and times.

Today is the 23^rd Day of the 11^th month and the year is 2005 in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopians use the Julian calendar so each month has 30 days and then there are 5 or 6 extra days...hence 13 months of sunshine! Or so they say  - Today we had thunder and lightning storms for the morning then we saw some sun!

The year is different as the Ethiopians only found out about Christ when he was 7 or 8 years old and so AD for them starts at that point!

Round bottomed letters
In Amharic there are 32 characters and then all of these can have up to 7 derivatives for the different vowel sounds and these all have slightly different ways of writing them depending on whether they have 1 leg, 2 legs, 3 legs or if they are round bottomed letters. So I guess I have a lot of learning to do in Amharic!!

Fiona Roger Brian
There is no such thing as a first name and second name – you have your name and then the next name is that of your father and then if it is a coincidence that there is someone in the room with the same combination you go to your grandfathers name so my name would be Fiona Roger Brian. Then you would not change your name when you are married as why would that change?

I will start work at 2 o’clock in the morning!!!!!
When it is 7am here the Ethiopians actually call that 1 o’clock in the morning as they have a 12 hour day starting in the morning and a 12 hour night. As they are so close to the equator there is little change so it makes perfect sense! Also they do not work when it is dark – but I am not sure that the babies know not to come out when it is dark!

Ready to go!!!

....well almost ready to go! I fly at silly o’clock on Sunday (28^th July) morning. My belongings for the next 6 months are strewn around the flat and are making their way into my case and rucksack. Do I need to take a potato peeler - how easy it is to acquire one of these in Gondar? How many immodium is too many? Have I remembered my cagoule and umbrella? – the weather in Gondar is very, very, very wet with plenty of thunderstorms every day!! (http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/336014 - weather in Gondar).

Things I have learnt....
Don't feed the hippos
http://www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_sirolli_want_to_help_someone_shut_up_and_listen.html

This man is great! A very dry sense of humour about how he "helped" the African nations!

(If you haven’t found TED talks yet then I really recommend them – totally diverse talks which overall are about Spreading Ideas.)


It's not my "project" - I am there to facilitate improvement and change - not take over - when I leave, any improvement or change still needs to endure.
I am likely to see corruption - I think this will be really difficult to deal with but it's all part of the challenge.
I do not want maggots living in my buttocks!! - Therefore I will not dry my clothes under mango trees (I don't know if there are Mango trees where I am going) - apparently the larva drop into your clothes and then when you wear your underclothes the larva find a nice place to rest!! - if you iron your underwear it sorts out the problem!!

So all in all, I think am I am ready! I have heard that Ethiopian people are very friendly and kind and I can’t wait to get there and meet everyone who I will be working and living with!