March 7, 2014

It's been a long time that I have been writing. It means that I am quite busy.

And I am, since life has become 'organised' here. That is, we got our car, finally AND we got all the insurance papers, so we have numberplates now and we can drive! Hurrah! And yes, I am driving in this ridiculous traffic. 
And yes, that is right: there is no spare wheel! It was stolen while the car was waiting in Djibouti (harbour) for transport to Addis Abeba. Luckily there is a big Nissan garage in Addis, we thought. But at first they didn't want to help us, since 'they were only dealing with big customers', like businesses and governments and embassies. But since Roberts colleagues have some friends working with Nissan, they changed their minds. 

Furthermore, we have quite a full week-programme. When Robert goes to work, usually around 8:00 or 8:30, I go upstairs to my office room, where I work on the English translation of my book. It must be finished  by April 30st, because then we will go on our annual leave, a month, to the Netherlands. I have promised my friend Lindsay to send her one chapter each week, so that she can edit it and turn it into good English. I am only halfway now, so I really need to pay attention. I work on my book on mondays, tuesdays, wednesdays, and somewhere two half days during the weekend. From 12-14:00 I go to the gym around the corner, for fitness training. On thursdays I visit Belatech, Hanna's mum, for coffee or lunch,or she teaches me a particular Ethiopian recipy,  or  we go to the market together. 
On Fridays is my yoga day, being at 08:00 a.m. at Anne's house to pick her up; then together yoga in the Italian Club; coffee afterwards and usually something to do or dicover- an interesting supermarket, a hairdresser who can actually cut fine European  hair into  a reasonable model. And twice a week I have Amharic classes in town, from 17- 18:30. I am learning slowly slowly, but it is coming! 

Every morning we inspect all the plants we put in pots around the house. Yesterday we had this bizarre flower coming out of a cactus. Isn't she wonderful? 
We looked her up on internet and she is a Obea Stapelia variegata



On Saturdays it is weekend. It depends what we do. Today we went to Piazza, to buy a parasol for Robert's birthday party -lunch, next week Sunday, to have some shade in the garden (It is hot here around 13:00). But there were so many traffic jams in town, that it took us 3 hours to go and come back and a lot of irritation. But we realised why it was: there was a state funeral going on of the president of the state of Oromia, about the largest state in Ethiopia. That was also why so many shops had closed today.  

On Sundays we go to the Tulsi wellness centre, to each get an ayurvedic massage, which is really good: relaxing and healthy. Coffee afterwards on the terrace of the German Bakery, where we then also buy nice (European type of) bread for the rest of the week. Then we have a 'free' afternoon, in which I usually call my dad and am allowed to do one of my hobbies, like working on my blog :), keeping up my photobook, or do some sewing- I got this very nice material, waiting for a pair of wide trousers. 

This morning, when drinking our regular morning coffee in bed at 07:00, there was a sunbird sitting in the sun, beautiful. He has a reddish/ golden ring around his breast. I could only just capture it with my camera.  

To be continued next week,
Enjoy your weekend,
Jelleke

Timkat

I haven't even had time to write about the impressive trip from Gondar to Lalibela, through the mountains. I will just show you a few pictures to give you some idea. 

 And I shouldn't forget the beuatiful roadsuiide restaurant where we had a typical Ethiopian lunch, shiro wot and coffe.  

Neither did I have time 
to write about the visit 
to Lalibela churches, 
even more impressive. 

That's it for now. Next blog is about Timkat

Traveling through Ethiopia- 5

 Before leaving Bahir Dar we couldn't resist photographing this lovely bird

On our way we spotted the harvest being carried home on two legs...

 And yes threre are erosion control and soil conservation measures in place 

In Gondar we
visited King Fasilidas
 (16th century) palace,
 impressive!

And of course we visited the famous church with the ceiling covered with angels! 

Travelling through Ethiopia - 4

 The next day ( (january 6th) was- of course- to the famous blue Nile falls. A ¾ of an hour drive on a rough road - along the cattle market -  to the ‘entrance’, from where we walked 20 minutes. 

 The first thing we spotted were the beautiful shiny blue birds with bright yellow eyes. 

 Tehn, an interesting walk, where we were just part of a multitude of Ethiopians on their way to school, to market etc.

 Of course  we found a lot of vendors on our way, trying to sell touristy things.

The falls were impressive, even though the Ethiopian government has diverted 50 % of the water into a channel for electricity generating purposes.

To the left: Jelleke and Joost; robert and Emmy crossing the hanging bridge further on.  

Traveling through Ethiopia - 3

 

The thing to do when in Bahir Dar is visiting the monasteries and churches on the many dispersed islands in lake Tana (twice as large as the IJsselmeer in the Netherlands). Since people couldn’t read or write at the time (middle ages) , the best way to teach them was to depict the bible stories on the inner walls of the churches ... which resulted in the most beautifully decorated churches I have ever seen. Interestingly enough, in north East Romania, we saw similar church decorations, only here they were at the outside walls of the churches, so that the military men, camping in the compound, could be instructed.   

T

We invited Roberts’collaeges and the driver Getinet to come along in the boat trip and that was a great success! We had lunch on fresh fish somewhere in a primitive fish restaurtant and even Emmy – who never ate fish - loved it. 

Notice the pelicans in the background!

Amazinlgly the local transport is still by reed boats. We couldn't believe how they stayed dry! 

Traveling through Ethiopia- 2

Robert and I, with Emmy and Joost and my favourite driver Gètinèt, went to Bahir Dar, the city at the southern end of Lake Tana, near the source of the Blue Nile and near the famous Blue Nile falls. January 4 it was. 

It is a two days trip to get there, mostly  because one has to cross the steep gorge of the Blue Nile  valley. It took us an hour to wind down the hairpin road to the bridge down in the valley and another ¾ of an hour to get up at the other end. 

Before and after that we were crossing miles and miles, hectares and hectares of rich agricultural plateaus, where Teff, the famous gluten free local rain,  was being harvested. People were cutting the Teff by hand an oxen were trampling/ threshing  the Teff. Beautiful sights.

Impressive also were all the people- hundreds - walking along the road, on their way to the weekly market. We drove into a funeral, quite a beautiful occasion actually, very respectful.

Once we arrived in the beautifully situated, but a bit run down Ghion hotel, we couldn’t help bird spotting, as there were so many interesting birds present. Even Emmy – who had no clue about birds before she came here - really got into the fun of bird spotting.  

Next morning, while having breakfastfst, a fish eagle was having breakfast as well, on a ig fish, in a branch overhanging our table. Never seen one so nearby!  

Bahir Dar itself is a bog and prosperous city, full of Bajaj's 

Travelling through Ethiopia -1

We had a great time with Joost and Emmy visiting us from December 27th till January 11th. Since Hanna (our Ethiopian ‘daughter’, now living in Maastricht) and Jaco are also here for the biannual visit to her mother Beletech, it is extra special to be together.  
Robert and I noticed that we have been showing ‘our country’ to Emmy and Joost . We have grown really fond of Ethiopia over the years, since we started working & living here in 1989 and are now back here again.

 The first day after Joost and Emmy’s arrival was for acclimatising. Of course we were invited at Beletech’house for Indjera and the famous Doro Watt, with Gomen (a dark green cabbage), a yellow lentil sauce  and fresh salty tomatoes.  Beletech still cannot believe that ‘her’ little boy Joost has become a man now.

We took Emmy and Joost to some must-visit places, like the museum (with Lucy, the famous oldest ever human skeleton), the Ghion hotel, where Hanna used  to take Joost for a daily strawl, Piassa, the Italian style old part of town, and the nursery at Selam, to buy some more plants for our garden. 
From seeing the old earthenware pot (photo to the right): who were here first? The Templars?  or the Jewish population influencing the Templars when they came here in the 11th century? 

Both Emmy and Joost were astonished by the shapes that life in Africa take: high piled mattresses on a pickup, or even carried by one man; the incredible traffic where  sheep, donkeys,  road-cleaning women, beggars, taxi busses and cars and trucks all try to make their way; the small shops that have their products  outside on the pavement; the sheep for sale sitting patiently in the hot sun on the sidewalk; the colourful dresses and, as Emmy remarked, everyone is smiling and looking relatively happy.

The first outing was to Langano, in the rift valley, where we rent a (shared) cottage. We celebrated new year’s eve with appelbeignets and sharing our dreams for the new year. We lighted a Chinese lantern which took our wishes up into the very dark air, to the stars. On the morning of January first we had our dive into the – not so cold- see. 

The swallows are sitting here, waiting to go back to the Netherlands in April.  

 These flowers were our own 'fireworks' 











And this is the view from the cottage.