My Anniversary and Working Through Government Red Tape

Apr. 26th, 2010

I had a hard day today even though work wise it was pretty good.  Today is our 19th wedding anniversary and we are half a world apart.  I am not sure why but this trip has been the hardest on both of us and today is by far the worst.  Today as I thought of Erika I missed her so badly that my whole body ached.  I am afraid that this week is going to drag on forever.  It was bitter/sweet to talk with her this morning.  I wanted to talk to her all day long but at the same time it was torturous to talk to her and not be able to be with her.  She provides me with incredible strength.  I love her so much!

The Love of My Life and the Wind Beneath my Wings!

I tried to work on my presentation for tomorrow but I couldn’t concentrate so I cleaned out and repacked my ET supplies carrying cases.  I decided that I should make sure that I had my priorities set for this week so I called Abera in and we talked through our progress and plans.  We selected the most important items to focus on this week.

This afternoon we went with Ashaber to the Oromia Regional Investment Office to correct the lease on the Kokosa property and to tie up the loose ends on the structures.  What we found out was that the current lease that was drawn up in the Zonal Office has no validity at all.  In other words we have no property.  We explained to them that we were just following instructions and we needed their help to get everything worked out.  They were willing to help and asked us to write up a letter explaining what had happened and what we wanted to do and they would help us get everything settled.  On the way back Abera said that he had been trying to tell Paul and the office staff what they needed to do but nobody would listen to him.

This afternoon we went over our proposed yearly budget and made adjustment based on what we had and had not accomplished. After spending a couple of hours on it I could see why we felt so overwhelmed.  We have a lot of different projects and tasks going on at the same time.  We have control over most of them but some of them are subject to outside factors like the weather, the government, etc.

This evening most of the Farenge crew from Beltu came in.  They were thrilled to be back in Addis.  They went out to Avanti’s tonight for dinner but I didn’t feel like going so I watch parts of a couple of movies with Weson, Radit and Elans.  The DVD’s here are frustrating to watch.  You get about half through with one and it starts skipping, pausing and other crazy stuff until you finally turn it off in frustration.  I need to work on my presentation but I’m having a hard time thinking about it.