Latest addition to the family.

We have a cat!He is called Baal, he is very cute, very affectionate and very independent. He just goes out all day long and then comes back at night to sleep, preferably on Ben’s face! Pictures to follow very soon.

I am a star, but not a photogenic one!

I opened the Addis monthly equivalent of Time Out, and guess what, I found a picture of me!!!! A travel agent used a photo taken during the teff day and without asking anything just stuck it in the newspaper that every single Farengi read. Great. I have already received 3 emails about it, may be people will start stopping me in the street and ask for my autograph??

Learn, live, die...

Yesterday I learned something very interesting… There actually IS a reason why Ethiopians do not turned their light on at night when they drive and therefore risk death (theirs and mine) every time they take the wheel. Did you know it uses the car’s battery and therefore it is bad for the car? I really need a life insurance…

Hier j’ai appris quelque chose de très intéressant. Il y a apparemment une bonne raison pourquoi les Ethiopiens n’utilisent pas leur lumière quand ils conduisent la nuit, risquant leur vie et la mienne à chaque fois qu’ils prennent le volant. Saviez vous qu’allumez vos lumières utilisent de la batterie et réduit la durée de vie de votre voiture? J’ai vraiment besoin de souscrire à une assurance vie !

General trends about Ethiopians.

In my two months here, I have met my fair share of Ethiopians, and have noticed some common trends. Here is what you need to know not to get too vexed whilst living here!

Ethiopians are proud, as mentioned before in this blog. They don’t say thank you much (which is a relief after living in the UK for 3 years) and they never, sorry NEVER complain. I noticed that during our trekking. Ethiopians are never thirsty, never hungry, never tired. They are never too cold or too hot either.

Ethiopians are not ultra-sensitive like Europeans. They don’t say many compliments, except if you speak Amharic and they can be quiet blank. My Amharic teacher told me on my second lesson not to get vexed if someone came to tell me I was fat, or getting fatter…

Ethiopians are not patronising at all. It is refreshing, especially when visiting cultural sites. I always get slightly annoyed when I am going down the stairs of a 16th century castle and there is a big panel telling me that the stairs are slippery. I understand the legal motive behind it, but really, really, do I need to be told to be careful when the stairs are irregulars, steep and dangerous? In Lalibela for example, you have no reminder at all. You are going down an extremely dangerous path, around 15 meters above the ground and nobody tells you to be careful. It is nice.

Another aspect of the above is during learning activities. I experience it first hand every Monday during my tennis lesson. My teacher never really tells me how to improve but get slightly annoyed when I do the same mistake again and again and again. It does not say encouragements as such, I don’t think I have ever heard him say well done yet. When the ball is (miraculously) doing what it should, he says: “ichi”, yes in Amharic. When I finally manage to serve he acknowledges by saying, “in”… My tennis teacher is also very competitive and nicely treats me as a real opponent! His two favourite sentences are: “I am still winning” and “I am here, but where are you?” whilst throwing the ball at the opposite side of the tennis court.

Finally, French sense of humour does not work in Amharic (not that it did in English either…). So, there is no point at all trying some joke because Ethiopians already find me hilarious when I just stand in front of them, trying one or two sentences in Amharic. My vegetable lady has seen me every week for the past month and she still thinks I am the funniest thing in Addis. When I get in the shop, I can see her eyes brightening and she waits for the next stupid thing I will do, like asking for 2 kilos of tomatoes or if there is cucumber today…

Lake Langano

Last weekend, Ben and I treated ourselves with a romantic weekend at Lake Langano. The British Embassy owns some bungalo near the lake, comfort minimum but lovely, peaceful location. It was like going to the sea... Well, except for the color of the water (brownish/redish) and for the hippos.

We swam (not long because of the fear of crocodiles!), we canooed (loads of fun), we read (whilst burning like a lobster), we grilled marshmallow on a fire at dawn, and we played baggamon... Absolutely fantastic weekend!

News on the job front

Good news! I found a job. It is irregular so far, but it pays the bill so... I am an interpret, French to English, English to French. It is very challenging (simultaneous translation), I meet interesting people, I get to eat buffets and I learn a lot about human brain (and Intellectual property rights so far).

My first conference went OK. After having to translate into French a Japanese speaker who could barely speak English, I feel pretty confident that I can do the job. Of course, it is far from being perfect: I have trouble speaking whilst still listening to what is being said, accents (especially French from Guinea) are a real challenge and I found it difficult to focus for more than 8hours. But it is a great experience, it get me out of the house and it is a JOB! Yeepi!

En français ça donne: j'ai un boulot!!!!!!! vous avez devant vous l'interprete 2.0 nouvelle génération. C'est plutot stressant comme boulot mais très interessant et je suis ravie de travailler, de rencontrer des gens et de gagner des sousous!