Dyspnea, mud, food and orphans

Muddy run

Addis Ababa is 5^th highest capital in the world at about 2500m or 8000 feet .  This fact became quite apparent when we went on our first run with the Hash Harriers.  We started with a most minimal incline; we were short of breath after about 30 paces and none of us could get up the hill.  In the end the run turned out to be a slippery affair through mud and rivers. Some of the local kids (who at the age of 7, seem to be responsible for herding the families goats) joined the run wearing their mismatched flip flops.  They were faster and much more adept at river crossing than we were.  We’re hoping we didn’t contract bhilarzia.

This week the pick pocketers were more creative.  This is how it went:  a young man leans over and pretends to clean his shoe.  Then he “accidently” spits on Mike’s hand.  Comes over to apologize and help Mike clean his hand and also helps himself into Mike’s pocket.  Seems strange to us that in all of our travels we have never encountered this before.  We’re interested to see what happens next week.

Coffee at Kaldi's (Ethiopia's Starbucks)

Bamboo scaffolding

Addis is definitely a growing city.  There is construction going on everywhere.  All the scaffolding for these huge buildings is made from bamboo—very safe for the workers.  Amazing to see all these huge buildings going up and then in the same space kids herding cattle.   Also lots of lovely coffee shops with beautiful pastries in the mix.

Lots of new and good food this week.  Who knew that an avocado mango shake was so good.  Tebs and injera are another hit.  There is also a mixture of coffee and tea called spriss; Mike says it’s good.

Mike and I are easing into work.  We are meeting with some prospective residents next week.  Last week we attended psych rounds.  The case presentation was about an orphan, who was about to be discharged “home”.  Unfortunately home is the street.  There are almost 4 million orphans in Ethiopia; most have been orphaned because of HIV/AIDS and poverty.  For some sober reading check out this Unicef site: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ethiopia_30783.html

Words from Aysha and Sunil “we are tired of having ants in the house;

we saw a naked guy peeing on the street; it was nice to run with kids and goats yesterday and we’re enjoying our nightly routine of watching an episode of I Love Lucy on our tiny DVD player.”

Cabs that are taking the kids to school

Another interesting week.  Our only real struggle is the distance our place is from the school.  We’re hoping that CUSO will “let” us move to a closer place.