The kittens have grown up fast and are now causing havoc around the house. They are eating for themselves and enjoy a good fight in between entering pillow cases, going under bookcases and down sofas when finding attractive places to sleep. Currently we are trying to find accommodation for them. People like to have them for their mouse catching abilities. Any takers? Will post!
The whole "bus leaving a town" scenario for me is quite familiar now. Waiting for it to fill before it leaves, people staying on who are not planning on going, children saving seats is all normal. However, what I will never understand are the few people who choose not to walk another 200m to the bus station to get a seat; but wait down the road for a bus to pass hoping that there is an empty seat still onboard. There never is!
Despite previous entries, having now driven 3 of the college cars, I fully admire some of the drivers. Although all of the buses are old, some are very much in their "classic model" stage. And like UK cars, old is not necessarily a sign of being unreliable. For my Easter journey, the bus did not even have a radio. Colleagues had not been keen for me to travel on such a bus, but as we overtook newer broken down buses and reached Mekelle quicker than normal we felt reprieved for our decision.
While life here was slow to begin with, daily life has all but stopped. A busy student computer training timetable leaves little lab time to train the staff. I currently have 4 hours work a week – all in the last hour of the day. While that sounds great, it also means I am not able to travel around as much. The World Bank money that was due last October has arrived; and after submitting a proposal to spend some money, I have been told that it has been significantly reduced. With no money to spend, no time to train and the power going off one day in every two, nobody even has a chance to damage or corrupt the computers for maintenance. Still I am making good use of my time; trying new recipes, preparing school ICT materials that will be useful when I return and watching too much National Geographic.
No, I'm not a week late. It will not come as a surprise to regular readers that Easter here is celebrated at a different time. One week later in this case. So last weekend I headed off with many other colleagues to my regular holiday destination – Mekelle. Even on Friday at 6am, the excitement was noticeable on all faces as people boarded the bus with their goats, chickens, stereos and best clothes. Throughout the year, it is typical for people to donate change to small churches along the way; those contributions went up dramatically this weekend.
Like the UK, Good Friday is a holiday; as is Easter Sunday which is the end of the 55 day fasting season. 55 days? the "traditional" 40 day fasting of meat, dairy and for some people this also includes conjugal rights, was extended 15 days by a king who felt the people needed some time to think about him. Of the other common festivals (including Christmas and New Year), Easter is the biggest, being celebrated in much the same way we would celebrate Christmas. Even the last minute purchasing of sweet and biscuit collections was at every shop doorway. Not so familiar is the streets covered in discarded goat and sheep skins. For a change everyone (not just ferenji) is faced with groups of children, roaming the streets, begging for money and food.
Everyone heads off to their family home and invites friends around to eat and drink all day. It is quite common to be invited to many houses on Easter Sunday and stay for an hour. I visited four. At each house, your plate is piled high with injera and wat and a glass filled to the brim with Tella, followed by 2 or 3 cups of coffee. Everyone appeared to be watching a music festival on TV, sadly no Queen's speech or classic film.
When will the bad news ever stop? A number of volunteers have recently become ill or been involved in incidents. Someone has been airlifted to Nairobi with heart problems, another with suspected malaria is back in Addis and a third (in a different country) involved in a serious road traffic incident. I guess probability states there will be clumps of events or is it simply that things come in threes? Either way, my best wishes to all involved.
How can I describe the last few days? I have started writing this entry a number of times so will just go for it. Sadly, after a terrible car accident, my counterpart's father died this week. He had been flown last week from Mekelle to Addis to receive spinal treatment but apparently little could be done. They even considered flying him to Kenya for treatment. Within a few days, another teacher's father also died suddenly this week. Following that, as much as I understand, some shocking news about a teacher in Abi Adi, who stabbed and killed his wife after an argument.
I heard when I first arrived about how a public bus can be diverted and stop at a house for the passengers to get off and show their respect. It is traditional (both culturally and compulsory) for staff and students to visit, on mass, the grieving family's house. There they will sit in silence for about 20 minutes and then leave. I have recently attended three of these "wakes". Although not dressed in black, both men and woman, will often wear "shash" material, like a shawl, over their heads. A family may often stay in the house for a week waiting for people to visit. Close friends of the relatives are also expected to stay with the family for some time.
Over the last six months I seem to be far more aware of people passing away. A large number of teachers have had parents die while I have been here. Life expectancy is around 45 and the infant mortality rate is 1 in 10. The obvious factors are HIV, difference in medical care and higher road traffic incidence. It is yet another reminder that while my focus here is to improve ICT, most people have much greater responsibilities and issues to deal with than I am familiar with facing. Understandably my training seems of little importance.
Yegreta
Baka
Allo
Tsegem Yellem
Yeken-yeling
k t l C r o c h a i
m S W O h a k o k n
a a H M d o g r E o
k b y I i s o a E r
y a o D N u m m H a
a n n E n Q i o S c
t y i R i w U c N a
o t f O s a d I A m
y a n u h b e e R a
s w o l k a r i A T
1. Aranshee
2. bany
3. Beera
4. Bhuna
5. Chai
6. cho
7. Comidero
8. Dinnish
9. ergo
10. fino
11. Karia
12. lows
13. macaroni
14. Makyato
15. MaR
16. My
17. Nkokahow
18. Shinquirt
19. soft
20. Suqwa
21. tsaba
Tea – Chai,
Coffee – Bhuna,
Milky coffee – Mak-yato,
Water – My,
Tea/Coffee Mix – Spris,
Ginger Tea - Kashir
Milk – Tsaba,
Beer – Beera,
Sugar – su-qwa,
Yoghurt - ergo
Potatoes – dinnish, onion – shinquirt, tomatoes - comidero, honey - MaR, eggs – Nkokahow, chilli – Karia, cabbage - gomen.
Orange – aranshee, Lemon – lomin. Oh yes and banana is banana.
Peanut - low-S, Pasta - macaroni, Bread – bany, Flour – fino, Salt – cho, Toilet Roll – soft.
There are also many items that are sold by their brand name. e.g. Pepsi,
N-kok ahow fir-fir – Scrambled Egg
N-kok-ahow Sils – Egg / Tomato mix
Fata – Bread, Berbere, onion, tomato, yoghurt and egg
Full – Tomato and bean served with bread
Kitcha fir fir – tortilla wrap ripped up, fried and mixed with berbere and yoghurt
---
Tibs – Frieds goat chunks and chilli
Ky-wat – lamb curry
Doro-wat – chicken curry
Be-ay-natoo – vegetarian mix of salads, rice and lentils
Shiro – chick pea sauce with onion and berbere (chilli)
1 – hada, 2 – kilta, 3 – selesta, 4 – arbata, 5 – hamushta, 6 – shadista, 7 – shawata, 8 – shamunta, 9 – Tshata, 10 – asseta
20 – isra, 30 – solasa, 40 – arba-a, 50 – hamsa, 60 – sissa, 70 – seba-a, 80 – samenya, 90 – teas, 100 – m-iti, 1000 - she
e.g. 45 = arba-a hamushta
I thought it was about time that I shared some local Tigrinya language with you. So over the next few days, I will add some useful words to learn; particularly if anyone comes to visit.
· Seulam "Hello"
· Dahan duha? "How are you?" (or as they say in English – "Are you fine?")
· Kamay laha/lahe/lakum "How are you?"
· Igzabea-yamusgan "Thanks be to God."
Aim
Conquer is a card game, played with two packs (including jokers), loosely based on "Rummy". The aim of the game is to collect your hand into tricks of 3 or 4, either of the same number or a straight. The four suits are: ©lib (hearts), ¨diamonds, ªspears (spades) and §trees (clubs).
Joker
Before the cards are dealt, a player must designate a new joker. After the pack is "cut", a player must use this card to support their decision for selecting the new joker. e.g. 6§ - "one up" is 7§, "one down" is 5§ or "opposite" is a red 6. For the following game, the new joker acts as any card needed by the holding player. However, the actual joker card takes the face value of the new joker.
Dealing
13 cards are dealt to each player, except the dealer takes 14. One of their cards is "thrown" at the beginning to start the discarded pile. After the cards are dealt, a player may declare "monte" (makes cards meaningless). This is a request to all other players that cards are dealt again. However, all players must be in agreement.
Rules
· The player to the right of the dealer must take from the face down pile and then reject a card to the discard pile. It is not possible to take a card from the discarded pile until you have at least "41" in your hand (see below); or if you require the top discarded card to complete your tricks and win the game.
· A player must collect their hand into tricks of 3 or 4 that total 13, i.e. 3+3+3+4. A trick may consist of the same face value number (although not identical as two packs are used) or a running straight from the same suit.
· A player may produce 3+3+3+3 or 4+4+4; only if they are able to use the final card in another players' trick.
"Double" Games
· If a player's final card to throw away is a new joker and therefore not being used; they can declare a "double game" and score 2 points from each player.
· A player may choose to collect pairs e.g. 2+2+2+2+2+3. Each pair must be the same number and colour, e.g. 9©9¨. However, they may not take from the discarded pile even if they have "41".
"41"
The total value of your hand is based on the card value of your completed tricks of 3 or 4 only, where A=1 or 11 and J,Q,K=10, e.g. 8ª8©8¨=24, 4§5§6§=15. When this state is reached and you wish to take from the discarded pile, the complete tricks must be placed down on the table. From this moment, all players are able to add their cards to the tricks.
Scoring
The winning player takes a point from each competing player. Therefore after the first game, if there are 4 players, the winner is on 3 and each losing player will be on -1. When a winning player, wins a "double" game, they take 2 points from each player.
