In my last
blog, I wrote that I could not do the Dr. Denker this year, but Jos provided me
with a link to a website, so I was able to do the puzzle. However it is not the
same as doing it under the Christmas tree with your family and friends. It
killed time though and with the help of Jaspers site, I was able to solve all
40 puzzles.
On Christmas
Eve I drank a few beers with a guy from Cuba, who worked all over the world and
now in Ethiopia. That was a very pleasant way of spending the evening and gave
me a little bit of a Christmas feeling, because the next two day it was just
work the whole day.
On New
Year’s Eve the Supervision was still not finished and there were not a lot of
festivities where I was (Gewane). The next day we returned to Semera and in the
evening I went out for a few beers with Emon, who also lives in Western time
;-).
 |
| 2 Girls of the Boarding School |
After my
return, I picked up my English teaching at the Girls Boarding School. It is
very enjoyable to do, but also hard. I have given 4 lessons now and they really
have not (yet) a good understanding of English. The girls are not used to
speaking and just say: ‘No English’, but also do not comprehend most of the
things I say. I have talked about it
with the director of the school and she will address these issues with the
girls and also my line manager will go to school with me soon and tell the girls
to at least try to speak English, come to classes and do their homework. Still,
I like to go there, because the girls are so curious and have a frankness (if
you can use the word like that in English) about themselves which I really
adore.
 |
| Girl of Boarding school reading a poem |
In January,
I visited Semera University (SU) or Samara University as I see it spelled most
of the times. Abu Bakr, a lecturer showed me around at the campus and
introduced me to a few deans of different Faculties. Just as I was about to
leave, he saw the president of SU called Adem Borre and he asked me if I would
like to be introduced to him. I said yes please. So I was introduced and
expected to only shake hands and speak a few words, but he invited me into his
office and we talked for almost an hour about how we can strengthen the links
between the REB and SU. At the time I was wearing my pink VSO T-shirt from the
Netherlands and he was very enthusiastic about the previous VSO volunteers who
had worked at SU and also about the Netherlands which he visited when he was
doing his PhD. He also gave me goodies, like 2 T-Shirts, the Dagu (book of the
University) and a big cup for drinking tea. It was really a nice meeting. And I
think some cooperation between the REB and the SU will be the result.
Next to
that, I met up a few times with my new friend Rosy. She is a lecturer at SU in
ICT and next month we are most likely to do a seminar on maintenance (hardware,
software, administration and so on). So
my teaching wishes will most probably be fulfilled.
 |
| Gennet & Patricia |
And to end
this part, I am also a private teacher in English to Aly and for swimming to
Gennet. Aly is a very eager student. He lives close to my home and when I go to
a restaurant nearby for dinner, lunch and so on he passes by, then we talk some
and I provide him with six words (just from a page in the book I am currently
reading and he looks them up in my phone which has an English Amharic
dictionary. Last Saturday, I went
swimming with Gennet only to find out when we arrived at the swimming pool,
that she could not swim. So I tried to teach her the basics and at the end of
the day she overcame her fear and I think after a few more times, she will be
able to swim properly.
 |
| Me taking a plunge in the pool |
Also at work
things are slowly beginning to get shape. At the end of January I presented my
observations on the first three months in Afar to the Management. It was
appreciated and hopefully some things will change. This weekend the end report
of the supervision is presented to High School Principals and to the Woreda
Education heads. After that I expect that the biggest challenges and gaps are
identified and that I can start with the capacity building for the staff in the
AREB and at the Woreda level.
Some
unpleasant news: I lost my E-reader in December and last Tuesday I found out,
that the person who took it, had the nerve to order two books with my account
and unfortunately that will also be paid by me. :-( The books are called: ‘The
Sheik's Virgin Lover.’ and ‘Romantic Acquisition.’ by Elizabeth Lennox. I assume
there not very good books, based on what I read in the reviews. We call those
sort of books ‘flut- or stuiverromannetjes’ in my language. I think Chick Lit
is the word in English, but since I paid for it (yes I am really Dutch), I will,
as soon as I have a Wi-Fi connection, download it on my phone and read the
books. Maybe in one of the next blogs, I will write a review and be not so
biased about this Elizabeth Lennox anymore ;-)
 |
| Afar man |
On January
25, the 15th pastoralist day was celebrated in Semera and the 4
pastoralist groups of Ethiopia came to Semera and performed a show in the
stadium, which was beautifully renewed for this purpose. The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam
Desalegn was present and also the Minister of Education. He started his visit
to Semera a few days before the pastoralist day and I met him and briefly spoke
to him in the Educational Bureau, which was nice.
I am going
to write an article about this day for the Hyperbole Magazine, so I will only
include pictures in my blog. It was a striking and well organised event.
 |
| Afar women |
 |
| Afar man jumping |
 |
| Afar women |
 |
| Afar men dancing |
 |
| Circus |
 |
| Circus |
 |
| Pastoralist groups |
 |
| Afar women with traditional headscarf and hairdo |
 |
| spectator |
 |
| spectators |
 |
| spectators |
 |
| Gambella men and women dancing |
 |
| Oromia men dancing |
 |
| Somali men and women dancing |
 |
| Traditional hairstyle Afar man |
* The
Ethiopians use sticks for brushing their teeth. These sticks have some
antibacterial substance in them and according to some research are as good as
the brushes used in the western world
* When the
Ethiopians listen to you, they inhale as if they are choking. At first I had to
get used to this and thought the person had some respiratory problem, but then
the whole population are asthmatics. I am not the only one who noticed this,
because I talked about it with e.g. Oscar and he said he thought the first time
that his driver had a heart attack or something.
* On the
supervision my lips became very dry and I had to search (again) for some lip
balm. I have not learned anything from my previous visits, as I took three
different lip balm with me to Ethiopia which I bought in Slovenia, Spain and
Scotland. And besides that I bought lip balm in Mekelle.
* I am
learning the Feedel (Ethiopian Alphabet) as well, but prior to that, I learned
how to write my first name in Feedel.
* I have
spent two nights in an Ethiopian home during supervision.
* The
Ethiopian do not use sofas and chairs in their homes. Instead they have pillows
on the floor and against the walls.
* I am the
sister of Robin van Persie (although that has been asked many times, so I
concluded that I am ;-)).
* Ethiopian
use the words ‘off course’ a lot, when they actually mean yes.
* If you eat
spaghetti or pasta you get at least 250 grams of pasta and only a little bit of
sauce and I was used and liked it the other way around.
*I have met
Filemon Wesselink black twin brother. He works at the Commercial Bank of
Ethiopia in Semera and I think he is the spitting image of him.
 |
| Installing water tank |
* Everywhere
in Semera you see piles of rocks. They are used for building houses (see
pictures) and hacked into shape to build a wall or anything else, like the pillar for the water tank next to my house
 |
| Installing water tank |
