New Office and the Orthodox Church

July 22^nd, 2010 Addis

The last couple of nights I have been tortured by mosquitoes buzzing in my ears. Night before last I arose twice and killed two blood laden mosquitoes before I could sleep restfully.  Last night I couldn’t find the culprit(s) but they returned as soon as the lights were off and I was snug in bed. I pulled the pillow over my head and tried to just ignore them.  You would think with the mosquito repellent that I had on that they would leave me alone. On the bright side the sore on my nose and face has almost completely healed.  I don’t have any idea what it was but I am very grateful that it is gone.

The Orthodox Church Compound across from the office. The building closest to us is the dormitory . The three large domes are on the Cathedral itself. They have the humongous speakers that blar the prayer chants. To the right you can see the round water container that provides water to the dorms. 

The company is moved into the new office building across the street from the Orthodox Church so we get to be serenaded. I haven’t figured out what the schedule is but it seems to be at least once every day for several hours. The first couple of days in here we were short chairs so if you didn’t get here early you had to go search for a chair.  Apparently the staff has been jockeying for office position and has about driven Paul crazy with their requests. There has been some moving around of personnel. I have been in the conference room most of the time but now have been moved into the room that will have work stations for the people that travel from outside Addis to use. They brought in a bunch of chairs today so I think everybody has a chair and some offices now have chairs for visitors also.

The office looks alright by US standards but is probably the best that I have seen in all of Ethiopia including the government offices which are some of the best. The staff is very excited about it after being cramped into Paul’s house or in the outside offices for several months.  There are a few interesting things about it.  For example the stalls of the bathrooms on the top floor are against the back wall and there is a large window that sits right between the men’s and women’s bathrooms. So in one stall of the men’s and one of the women’s there is half a window. There are about three inches open between the wall and the window so two people, one in each stall, could easily touch each other. Sound also carries very nicely from one side to the other. The bathrooms are very nice but like all washing places in Ethiopia there are no towels or blowers to dry your hands. There are two towel racks so maybe eventually they will have something.

Paul took me to lunch today at the Beer Garden Restaurant. It is a German Restaurant so we had spritzle, bratwurst, and sauerkraut. The food was very good much different than anything that I have had in Ethiopia.  I made a Spanish tortilla for breakfast so I have had an international food day. I finished the day off with ramen noodles, tomatoes and a banana.

We didn't have rain all day today in fact the sun came out and it warmed up.  Tonight we are getting dumped on again.  It is pounding so loudly on the roof I can’t even hear myself think.