Life as normal

Hi,
Well this Saturday is very different from last Saturday, we have electricity and running water for one and there hasn't been any trouble since Tuesday and in typical Ethiopian style, Tuesday seems a life time ago and life here in Dessie has returned to normal.
On Tuesday a house behind ours was set on fire and there was lots of shooting but since then it has all been quiet.
We resumed the workshops yesterday afternoon and to make up for all the missed days we will be giving workshops every weekday, twice a day for the next two weeks so we will be tired but the teachers appreciate it.
My Amharic language is coming along, I can understand most of what people say now and use simple sentences back which is useful for shopping etc.
Was speaking to one of the school supervisors here during the week and it turns out he use to be in scouts when he was young, but scouting had to stop here due to the communist regime but he is very keen to get it up and running again, there is one small scout troop in Dessie now. So I offered my assistance and he is off on a mission to find the leaders so we will see what happens.
We were supposed to go to Addis this weekend but with the trouble we couldn't so we are hanging around Dessie, today we went into town and had lunch bought a few things such as a blanket for our night guard who is freezing!! and we watched "I dream of Africa .." a film on TV in a cafe.
I think we will watch a DVD tonight, in our sitting room cinema, may even make pop corn! Its a far cry from my life at home, however life here is an awful lot simpler and everyday is a joy with clear blue skies and sunshine in November and of course the work feels worthwhile so it helps.
Yesterday we went to see a new church they are building here in Dessie. It was incredible, there were stone masons working by hand to carve different pictures from the bible on every wall and pillar - it will be fantastic when finished a real tourist attraction, however it will cost one million pound to finish so it may not be done in my life time but still the people are happy to work on it bit by bit - the people here have such reverence for God it is unbelievable but I suppose if this life isn't great they must hope the next will be better.
Our housekeeper Sercalum has no English, yet if we talk to her about religion she will with mime and simple Amharic speak for ages on the subject.
So it will be a busy week here in Dessie, with workshops on continuous assessment up until Wednesday and then on English methods from Wednesday on.
So take care
Orla