These days in photos

Loyal readers, below are some photos taken over the past few months.
Downtown Nairobi
 
Matatus:  Nairobi’s minibuses for local transport.  Many are painted with spiritual slogans, soccer players, but most with rappers.  I’m not sure who this rapper is, but I can make out some dollar dollar bills…
 
 
Mwanza, Tanzania
 
Fun with giraffes, part 1
 
Fun with giraffes, part 2
 
Flamingos [...]

Tanzania

Last month, my sister and I traveled to Tanzania, visiting national parks in the Rift Valley and beaches on the Indian Ocean. Here are a few pictures from our journey.

Elephant dust bath at Manyara National Park

Giraffes and flamingos on the shore of Lake Manyara

Family fun, baboon style

Herds of wildebeests, seen from the descent into [...]

Lalibela

Lalibela is a village in the Wollo region of Ethiopia and is home to centuries-old churches carved into the rock under your feet. Some of the churches are nearly three stories tall, and the thirteen churches in the village are connected by a series of tunnels and narrow passageways. Each church is carved [...]

Getting around in Addis

 
Getting around in Addis isn’t always easy.  There are several wheeled options:  private car, contract taxi, public taxi, and public bus.  Few of the roads have any lines, and those that do, are ignored.  So the most important rule is:  if I get there first, I have the right away.  So it’s a car culture [...]

The past few months in pictures

 
Student taking an exam in Awassa  

Manufacturing facility for appropriate agricultural technology, Awassa

Well-drilling near Lake Langano

Kids near Lake Langano

Bricks made with water newly installed pump.  These bricks are being used to build a new house and replace the old ones in the background.

Kids from a village near Lake Langano using their new water pump

Addis Ababa skyline 1

Addis [...]

Greetings!

I’ve got a long way to go in learning Amharic, but I’m getting pretty dang good at one of the most important components—the greeting.  Its not like English or Spanish (the only two samples I personally have to choose from), where there’s just a variety of hellos and goodbyes and how are you’s for each [...]

Arsenal vs. Manchester United

 This is a pivotal question here in Ethiopia.  European soccer is enormously popular here, and the Premiership League is of particular interest.  You’ll see an occasional Liverpool, Chelsea or even Bolton fan, but the other 90% of fans support either Arsenal or Man U.  The windows of minibuses are plastered in headshots of favorite players.  [...]

Update: 6 months in

Well, once again, its been a while.  Maybe I set some unreasonable expectations in posting.  But at any rate, I’m back.  I’m about halfway through my term with Cherokee Gives Back here in Ethiopia, so here’s an update of what we’re up to.
 
Work has been busy over the last few weeks.  In January, Cherokee Gives [...]

Back in Addis

So its been a long time. I know.  But now I’m back in Addis, after two wonderful but short weeks in the US, and back at it again.
 
I did get to use my Amharic a bit when back in the States.  In fact, I was using it within 15 minutes of my arrival—at the Starbucks [...]

A month in pictures

The bus to Bishoftu

Lake Langano from a cliff

Lake Langano from the shore

Students from Kechene

Ethiopia Orthodox Church in Lideta

Soccer at Meskel Square

Cliffs at Durba

Valley below

Baboon!