Archived Blog
A very busy November
Wow, a much overdue blog this time. I've been meaning to get it done for some time now, but as I'll explain, I haven't had the chance! Things have gotten very busy here at Bingham.
The school is preparing for one of the biggest musical events in the school calendar, the production of the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoatâ€. The entire school is involved in this production, some of the students are the main cast and singers, but all of them are involved in at least one dance routine on stage, they have been rehearsing for the whole academic year so far, and are looking very competent on stage now. All of us as staff have been roped in to help out; I'm playing guitar in the band that accompanies all of the songs, as well as assisting and advising about sound requirements and setup. I'm really enjoying playing in the band, the songs are so catchy and fun to play. As we do more and more dress rehearsals, we get better and better, and it's enjoyable to see how much things have progressed. It will be quite a show! Apparently, there will be some professional photographers who will be taking photos, so I'll make sure to post them as soon as I get them. It's been a very busy month or two, getting everything ready, and rehearsing all of the performances. This Friday and Saturday are the end performances, please pray that all aspects of technology behave and that it all goes smoothly!
As well as the demanding performance and rehearsal schedule, I've been kept very busy with the busy end of term report-writing fever. As well as having to calculate grades and write reports for my own classes, as the IT coordinator, I have needed to assist with any problems that other teachers have had with the electronic report system (along with teaching my regular 12 hours a week). It's meant for a very busy, and quite stressful couple of weeks that has made me long for the 3 week Christmas break. I've spoken to the school administration about my work load, I'm worried about my ability to maintain it for the rest of the year. Please continue to pray for me and the other staff here, I know I'm not the only one feeling overloaded.
I had the pleasure of a couple of trips outside of Addis this month. Firstly, I was asked to join the GCSE P.E. hiking trip. The students have to undertake a hike for 40km over mountainous terrine as a part of their grading. Here, we traveled to Wenchi Crater Lake, about 2 1/2 hours outside of Addis to take the trip. I've been to Wenchi many times previously, but have never walked anywhere near as much of it as we walked on this trip. It was quite interesting to see the entirety of the landscape, it is such a beautiful location, but it's quite a strenuous hike at 3000m above sea level with all of your equipment on your back! One feature of the area that I've missed on previous visits is a rather wonderful hot-spring mud bath and waterfall shower. The locals have dug a hole which is fed by a hot-spring into a perfect temperature mud-bath; perfect for relaxing after a long hike! Afterwards, a quick jog across the field and you come to a waterfall fed by another hot-spring, at perfect shower temperature. Bliss! Despite the strenuous hike, it was an enjoyable time away with the GCSE P.E. students. 
Wenchi Crater Lake
Hiking down one side of the crater
A basic water mill that the local people use to grind grain
Climbing toward the top again!!
The other side of the lake
More pictures
A second trip outside of Addis was in the form of the Bingham Staff retreat at the SIM resort in Babogya for one weekend. It was a wonderful weekend of doing absolutely nothing. I very much enjoyed a weekend relaxing by the lake reading, and sleeping!
I had an interesting cross-cultural observation the other day at school. One of the IT assistants had a death in his close family, and I found out that the funeral was that day. I felt that it was important as his supervisor that I make an appearance, so I mentioned to some other Ethiopian staff at Bingham that I would need to go home before attending as I had to change into more suitable clothes, as in Western culture. However, they advised me that it was OK to attend in whatever I was wearing; jeans and a very casual shirt. As I pondered this seemingly offensive funeral attire, they challenged my perception. As they said, often in Ethiopia, you only find out about a funeral the day in question, and are often already at work. One of them questioned me directly "Is it not more important to be present at the funeral, rather than miss it because you don't have a prescribed set of clothes and don't have time to go home to change?" I couldn't come up with an answer to that.
Niall
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