Archived Blog
Internet at home.
Again another two weeks since I last posted, although I hope that I can post more often from now on, since we've just managed to get internet at our house. This is a real plus point; now I don't have to take trips to Bingham specifically for internet use. So hopefully having the convenience back again will encourage more regular blog posts!!
Life continues as normal here, I'm almost finished another phase of language school. I continue to feel that I am growing in language ability and theory, though at times it can be discouraging when attempting to converse with people on the street and someone speaks extremely quickly. At a small store the other day, I was asking for a certain quantity of mince in Amharic, and the guy fired some crazy mumbled sentence back at me at a hundred miles an hour. I gave him a blank look, trying to pick apart his squished together words, so he immediately switched to very broken English, probably assuming that I didn't really speak any of the language at all. Experiences like this can leave you a little discouraged, but that's all part of the process of language learning I suppose, and I'm sure it will get better with more time and practice.
I'm continuing to get on really well living with my house mates, and really feel blessed by the housing situation that I'm in. I've started having a few friends over and entertaining a fair bit, something that I wasn't really as able to do in my accommodation in SIM HQ. It has been good to develop friendships with people at Bingham, as well as some others outside of the Bingham community as well.
As we are nearly through May, the end of the academic year is looming fast, the time when many people leave Ethiopia. This year at Bingham, as is often the case, there are a large number of teachers leaving. This is hard on those who are staying in Ethiopia, saying goodbye to friends is never easy. Many of those working at Bingham say that June is the worst month of the year for that reason. At present, Bingham has a lot of staffing needs for next year still to be filled, there are large gaps in science and maths. Please pray that God will fill the needs of the school for the coming year. 
Bingham are currently renovating their sports field, and flattening it out. 
This has been a long time coming, as the field has had a number of bumps and hills for many years.
A number of my friends outside of Bingham are leaving this year as well. I've been enjoying fellowship at a weekly bible study with some friends, two of whom I knew when I lived here before. Aaron White, who I used to live with, is returning to the US with his wife, Zide, and David Bock is going to the UK to study for a year with his wife Lemlem. It's going to be tough to lose so many friends who I've gotten close to over the past number of months! I trust that God will bring many other friendships and relationships in the coming year.
Niall
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