I'm just still so excited about the hyena and monkeys that I want to talk all about that right away. But, I'm fighting the urge to do so because I figure I should write chronologically. That's just easier for everyone.
So let me start with an update on the running water situation. It's been a good 24 hours since we were informed of this blessing, and amazingly, the water is still running! I know, it's just shocking! The water heater doesn't work in our bathroom, so we have two choices:
1. Shower in very cold water, or
2. Shower in the other bathroom with warm water that comes out of a hose-like apparatus.
Really, either option is so much better than a bucket so we're very pleased. Let's just hope this water keeps on runnin!
Now on to the hamburger news. Last night, we had cheesburgers. They were amazing. It was nearly like eating in America! Masresha and Ready took us to a restaurant that we were told has very, very delicious hamburgers. Oh my goodness, it's true! We don't get much meat here, and although many of you at home think I'm practically a vegetarian, I'm not. In fact, certain days I quite miss meat. As a result, we were pretty pumped for a chessburger! I was envisioning a cheeseburger with bacon...even more meat. It sounded just fantastic. Unfortunately when we got there, it said on the menu, "Due to a bacon shortage in the city, we will not be serving bacon for the unforseeable future." Too bad, but I got over it fast. I got a regular cheeseburger and Kendra got a BBQ Burger. We cut them each in half and traded so we got to try two kinds. Needless to say, it was quite the wonderful meal. Yum.
After we enjoyed our hamburgers, we went with a whole group of people to a thing called street ministry. Every Thursday, a bunch of people from the organization we're working for go to hang out with a group of people that live on the streets. They talk, sing, and bring some food for them. We hadn't been before, but we went last night and it was a good time. Definitely interesting to see how these people live. It was very late when we went, so I pretty much loved looking at all the stars while we were there :)
This morning, Dundee and Amare took us to the Nile Gorge. It's about two hours away, so we got to go on a little roadtrip! We were very excited to get out of the city for a second time. It's funny how fast you leave the city...Dundee turned down one of the roads and all of a sudden there were no more signs of city life and we were driving up a mountain. The ride there was really pretty with lots of hills and beautiful scenery. After awhile of driving along, Dundee slowed down the car and said, "Ok by the way, that's a hyena." We looked out the window and there was in fact a hyena! It was a dead hyena...roadkill...but still, a hyena! Oh my goodness, that's just crazy!
So anyways, we arrived at the Nile Gorge and it was very pretty. It reminded me a lot of the Grand Canyon, only it's in Africa so that's like five times better instantly. And then it got approximately one hundred and ten times better when we came across the monkeys! When we arrived, the guys ordered some lunch for all of us. Kendra and I took of to explore while we waited, and began walking down the gorge. About five minutes into our exploration, we turned a corner and there were just ginormous monkeys right there! We literally almost ran into them. There were maybe five of six, and they were just hanging out under a tree. We took lots of pictures, and were totally shocked that we just walked right into a bunch of wild monkeys. That's just awesome. A little creepy cause they were pretty big and we weren't sure how to handle an attacking monkey....but luckily the monkeys weren't attacking. They were just staring at us. Since they spotted us before we spotted them, we figured no sudden movements was the best approach. Obviously, we made it safely away and continued our journey.
We walked pretty far down the gorge, and saw a bridge called the Porteguese bridge. Evidently it was built a very, very long time ago. You can cross it, but we decided it was best not to take that risk...the bridge looked a bit if-fy. As we headed back for lunch, we crossed paths with our monkey friends again. This time, one of those big guys stood up and started walking right for us! We walked away as quickly as we could without running, just in case he was after us. Well actually, Kendra walked away as quickly as she could and yelled at me when I was trying to walk and take pictures at the same time. But again, no monkeys attacked us so we're good. It was just the coolest thing ever - monkeys, not in a zoo! Oh my gosh I loved it. Awesome.
After lunch, we were sitting around for a while just observing the gorge. As we sat, we spotted some more monkeys! These were tiny little guys walking around together, and they were adorable. Unfortunately for the entire world, they were too far away to see on my camera. Thus I have no pictures. Sad day.
We left in the early afternoon to head home for a "movie night" party at our house. On the way home, I had the opportunity to throw a moose out the car window, so that was fun. It makes it sound a little less cool when I tell you that it was not a "moose" so much as a banana. But in Amharic, "banana" is "moose". Since Kendra and I are kind of easily amused, we like to make jokes about how we ate a moose and other such things. Well I was enjoying my moose, but it had quite a lot of bad spots. Obviously I should throw it out the window…especially because then I can say I threw a moose out the window. And anyways, apparently there were monkeys around, and they like bananas right? Win win.
On the ride home, things almost got really exciting. As we were driving through middle-of-nowhere Ethiopia, nothing in sight but hills and dust, our car broke down. As the Ethiopians put it, it "lost some energy". Luckily, we got the car some more "energy" somehow, and made it all the way home. Phew! Who knows, we could’ve been attacked by hyenas or something! Dangerous.
Alas, we made it home safely and had a fantastic time. Tonight lots of people came over for dinner and a movie. As we were beginning a game of "Mafia" before dinner, there was another one of those wonderful power outages. They always happen at the best times! Clearly total darkness makes the game way better. We ate a yummy dinner, and continued playing games since we couldn’t watch a movie…what with the lack of power and all. Our night was, instead, romantically lit by many, many candles. Solid.
Oh Ethiopia, I just love you!
So let me start with an update on the running water situation. It's been a good 24 hours since we were informed of this blessing, and amazingly, the water is still running! I know, it's just shocking! The water heater doesn't work in our bathroom, so we have two choices:
1. Shower in very cold water, or
2. Shower in the other bathroom with warm water that comes out of a hose-like apparatus.
Really, either option is so much better than a bucket so we're very pleased. Let's just hope this water keeps on runnin!
Now on to the hamburger news. Last night, we had cheesburgers. They were amazing. It was nearly like eating in America! Masresha and Ready took us to a restaurant that we were told has very, very delicious hamburgers. Oh my goodness, it's true! We don't get much meat here, and although many of you at home think I'm practically a vegetarian, I'm not. In fact, certain days I quite miss meat. As a result, we were pretty pumped for a chessburger! I was envisioning a cheeseburger with bacon...even more meat. It sounded just fantastic. Unfortunately when we got there, it said on the menu, "Due to a bacon shortage in the city, we will not be serving bacon for the unforseeable future." Too bad, but I got over it fast. I got a regular cheeseburger and Kendra got a BBQ Burger. We cut them each in half and traded so we got to try two kinds. Needless to say, it was quite the wonderful meal. Yum.
After we enjoyed our hamburgers, we went with a whole group of people to a thing called street ministry. Every Thursday, a bunch of people from the organization we're working for go to hang out with a group of people that live on the streets. They talk, sing, and bring some food for them. We hadn't been before, but we went last night and it was a good time. Definitely interesting to see how these people live. It was very late when we went, so I pretty much loved looking at all the stars while we were there :)
This morning, Dundee and Amare took us to the Nile Gorge. It's about two hours away, so we got to go on a little roadtrip! We were very excited to get out of the city for a second time. It's funny how fast you leave the city...Dundee turned down one of the roads and all of a sudden there were no more signs of city life and we were driving up a mountain. The ride there was really pretty with lots of hills and beautiful scenery. After awhile of driving along, Dundee slowed down the car and said, "Ok by the way, that's a hyena." We looked out the window and there was in fact a hyena! It was a dead hyena...roadkill...but still, a hyena! Oh my goodness, that's just crazy!
So anyways, we arrived at the Nile Gorge and it was very pretty. It reminded me a lot of the Grand Canyon, only it's in Africa so that's like five times better instantly. And then it got approximately one hundred and ten times better when we came across the monkeys! When we arrived, the guys ordered some lunch for all of us. Kendra and I took of to explore while we waited, and began walking down the gorge. About five minutes into our exploration, we turned a corner and there were just ginormous monkeys right there! We literally almost ran into them. There were maybe five of six, and they were just hanging out under a tree. We took lots of pictures, and were totally shocked that we just walked right into a bunch of wild monkeys. That's just awesome. A little creepy cause they were pretty big and we weren't sure how to handle an attacking monkey....but luckily the monkeys weren't attacking. They were just staring at us. Since they spotted us before we spotted them, we figured no sudden movements was the best approach. Obviously, we made it safely away and continued our journey.
We walked pretty far down the gorge, and saw a bridge called the Porteguese bridge. Evidently it was built a very, very long time ago. You can cross it, but we decided it was best not to take that risk...the bridge looked a bit if-fy. As we headed back for lunch, we crossed paths with our monkey friends again. This time, one of those big guys stood up and started walking right for us! We walked away as quickly as we could without running, just in case he was after us. Well actually, Kendra walked away as quickly as she could and yelled at me when I was trying to walk and take pictures at the same time. But again, no monkeys attacked us so we're good. It was just the coolest thing ever - monkeys, not in a zoo! Oh my gosh I loved it. Awesome.
After lunch, we were sitting around for a while just observing the gorge. As we sat, we spotted some more monkeys! These were tiny little guys walking around together, and they were adorable. Unfortunately for the entire world, they were too far away to see on my camera. Thus I have no pictures. Sad day.
We left in the early afternoon to head home for a "movie night" party at our house. On the way home, I had the opportunity to throw a moose out the car window, so that was fun. It makes it sound a little less cool when I tell you that it was not a "moose" so much as a banana. But in Amharic, "banana" is "moose". Since Kendra and I are kind of easily amused, we like to make jokes about how we ate a moose and other such things. Well I was enjoying my moose, but it had quite a lot of bad spots. Obviously I should throw it out the window…especially because then I can say I threw a moose out the window. And anyways, apparently there were monkeys around, and they like bananas right? Win win.
On the ride home, things almost got really exciting. As we were driving through middle-of-nowhere Ethiopia, nothing in sight but hills and dust, our car broke down. As the Ethiopians put it, it "lost some energy". Luckily, we got the car some more "energy" somehow, and made it all the way home. Phew! Who knows, we could’ve been attacked by hyenas or something! Dangerous.
Alas, we made it home safely and had a fantastic time. Tonight lots of people came over for dinner and a movie. As we were beginning a game of "Mafia" before dinner, there was another one of those wonderful power outages. They always happen at the best times! Clearly total darkness makes the game way better. We ate a yummy dinner, and continued playing games since we couldn’t watch a movie…what with the lack of power and all. Our night was, instead, romantically lit by many, many candles. Solid.
Oh Ethiopia, I just love you!
Oh my goodness. Who is this and what have you done with my daughter. What are you thinking making friends with monkeys? Didn't your parents bring you up better than that?? ;-)
ReplyDeleteGlad you're ok!