Archived Blog
Field Day 2008
So I’ve been a while to post again on this, sorry about that. I’m tentatively back on the old server again, things hopefully have settled down. Things are really getting busy here. I’ve got a large number of classes each week, and have a lot of preparation to do for each of them. Any free time I get during school hours I try to prepare for upcoming days so that, as much as possible, my evenings are free. I’m involved with coaching the Junior Varsity soccer team also, (really good fun; they won their first match yesterday!) who practise on Mondays and Thursdays and have matches on some Tuesdays. On Monday evening, I have volleyball, Wed evening is street ministry and Thursday evenings we’ve started indoor soccer. So my schedule is totally full and I am beginning to find myself losing energy. It is hard to decide what to cut out of my schedule though.
Other than being totally busy, things are going well here. I’m loving the new living situation; I’ve seen more of the city in the last 2 or 3 weeks than I did in the first 3 months I was here. It really improves your Amharic also, and it’s really great to have roommates!!! Living in this house is all good, I’ve even gotten used to the noise made by the church next door. Which is a good job too, because last night they started up at 1am, and finished up around 7am. It doesn’t bother me, but Brian can’t sleep at all when they are making noise. Not really surprising; I’ve recorded a sample of the singing that we hear often at very early hours of the morning. Take a listen!!!
On Friday and Saturday of this week, we had Sports day or Field day as they call it at Bingham. One of my students had designed and programmed a computer scoring system for the day, so that as race results came in, they could be entered into the computer which automatically totalled house points etc. This was essentially my job, ensuring the program ran smoothly. Most of the time it did, with one or two hiccups. We were able to set up the computers in one of the Toukles that Bingham has beside the sports field. Which meant that I was able to stay out of the sun for the day and didn’t get sunburnt like some of the other staff. On Saturday there was a staff relay, which was good fun also.
On Sunday, we went back to the Ghion to chill, and went to church in the evening in a small church service that has recently started. It is organised and run by the family of one of my students. It is really low key, simple and warm. Unlike Beza or IEC, you feel like you’re missed if you’re not there. I’m hoping to help out the musicians with some bongo playing.
Monday was a day of errands, as Bingham was closed for the day; Monday was a holiday because field day was on Saturday. We visited the dreaded Merkato again; I needed to buy some new shoes. I went determined not to get ripped off this time, and adamant to do some good haggling. I was able to buy two pairs of shoes, and got them down from the asking price quite a bit, in particular the second pair which I picked up for 130 birr, about £6, where the guy was obviously desperate for the sale. If you make like you’re not interested, get up to walk away, they usually give in.
Not much else new at the moment, I’ll sign off for now, and try and get more regular posts on if I have the time.
Take care!
Niall
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