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Home and Away
May. 25th, 2009 03:24 pmRight, so things are improving - my fellow volunteer is recovering, although medical repatriation is definite, and there has been a break in the rain. We still have no power about every other day, though. :(
Also, my housemate has finished her service and returned to the UK, so I've now got the place to myself. I anticipate this lasting for about three moths, so if any of you fancy a visit, do let me know - although, the rains are likely to begin in earnest quite soon, so really, this is the time.
It's odd in a sense that this is probably the most domestic living situation I've ever experienced - as a self proclaimed bachelor, I've preferred studio or one bedroom apartments, or even en-suite rooms to the situation I'm now in - a two bedroom bungalow, with courtyard/garden, bath, kitchen and living/dining area. I'm fortunate in that it's quite a pretty, homey place with wood and brick floors, as well as a day guard who assists with cleaning and laundry. (Important, as all washing must be done by hand and hung out on the line to dry.) In the absence of microwaves and ready meals, I am also doing things like baking cookies and making soup (most recently, real chicken noodle boiled from the bones of my housemate's roast chicken dinner) out of sheer necessity - if I want nice food, I have to make it from scratch. My most recent visitor from England (a former work colleague) was duly surprised at what she called my 'domestic goddess' makeover.
The other aspect to this is that I don't go out as much as I used to, again from necessity rather than choice. In light of recent events, I'm even more careful about not being out alone after dark (7:00pm), and this makes even going to an early evening film, as I did last night, and exercise in carefully arranging my journey home through a combination of accompanying friends and night guards - it's either that or a taxi, which can become quite expensive (relatively speaking). So, I go to language class, I invite people to dinner quite a bit (at least once a week, on average), and watch DVDs. Oh, and I babysit, since a number of my friends here have small children. Ethiopia is actually quite a child friendly place, since the majority of the population is young (under the age of 30). Most theater, music, dance, etc is out of my price range, particularly once you add in the necessary cost of safe transport. The same is true for many restaurants. Overall, I find it a bit more restrictive than I'd like, but I'm adjusting.
All the more reason, though, to look forward to my holidays - as I've mentioned before, I'm in Cairo from 28-31 May, and I've now booked my visit to England for 6-16 August. I know this will overlap a bit with Worldcon, but I'm hoping I can see you con-goers the following weekend (15-16 August) when you've returned. (I couldn't schedule it earlier in the end, as I want to be eligible for the intensive Amharic course that will take place in late July.) Anyway, I'm hoping to find time for London, Bristol, Bath and Oxford in my ten days, so let me know if you're around?
Also, my housemate has finished her service and returned to the UK, so I've now got the place to myself. I anticipate this lasting for about three moths, so if any of you fancy a visit, do let me know - although, the rains are likely to begin in earnest quite soon, so really, this is the time.
It's odd in a sense that this is probably the most domestic living situation I've ever experienced - as a self proclaimed bachelor, I've preferred studio or one bedroom apartments, or even en-suite rooms to the situation I'm now in - a two bedroom bungalow, with courtyard/garden, bath, kitchen and living/dining area. I'm fortunate in that it's quite a pretty, homey place with wood and brick floors, as well as a day guard who assists with cleaning and laundry. (Important, as all washing must be done by hand and hung out on the line to dry.) In the absence of microwaves and ready meals, I am also doing things like baking cookies and making soup (most recently, real chicken noodle boiled from the bones of my housemate's roast chicken dinner) out of sheer necessity - if I want nice food, I have to make it from scratch. My most recent visitor from England (a former work colleague) was duly surprised at what she called my 'domestic goddess' makeover.
The other aspect to this is that I don't go out as much as I used to, again from necessity rather than choice. In light of recent events, I'm even more careful about not being out alone after dark (7:00pm), and this makes even going to an early evening film, as I did last night, and exercise in carefully arranging my journey home through a combination of accompanying friends and night guards - it's either that or a taxi, which can become quite expensive (relatively speaking). So, I go to language class, I invite people to dinner quite a bit (at least once a week, on average), and watch DVDs. Oh, and I babysit, since a number of my friends here have small children. Ethiopia is actually quite a child friendly place, since the majority of the population is young (under the age of 30). Most theater, music, dance, etc is out of my price range, particularly once you add in the necessary cost of safe transport. The same is true for many restaurants. Overall, I find it a bit more restrictive than I'd like, but I'm adjusting.
All the more reason, though, to look forward to my holidays - as I've mentioned before, I'm in Cairo from 28-31 May, and I've now booked my visit to England for 6-16 August. I know this will overlap a bit with Worldcon, but I'm hoping I can see you con-goers the following weekend (15-16 August) when you've returned. (I couldn't schedule it earlier in the end, as I want to be eligible for the intensive Amharic course that will take place in late July.) Anyway, I'm hoping to find time for London, Bristol, Bath and Oxford in my ten days, so let me know if you're around?