Back in Dessie

Well very very sorry I haven’t written in so long, I have been out of Dessie more than I have been here lately. After Gondar I came back for just a few days and then I had to head off on the college tour which was fantastic from start to finish even if we didn’t visit that many colleges or do so many educational things we had great craic and now the college is like one big happy family so it was a successful tour all round. We went to Awassa which is a really nice lakeside town and then to Dire Dawa and Harar and then Jijiga which is close to the boarder with Somalia in terms of distances it was probably like travelling all over Europe and many of the teachers had never been to any of these locations before so it was great fun the highlight for everyone was getting to swim in two thermal pools as there is no where to swim in Dessie so they were all like beginners splashing around. After the tour I had two friends coming to visit so I hung around in Addis for a few days waiting for them and then stayed in Addis a few days with them to let them settle.
Then we came to Dessie where they visited lots of schools playing the bodhrán and feadóg for all the children which the kids and they really enjoyed. Our unit is hosting a national conference on School Clustering next week although invites are yet to go out in true Ethiopian style so we are very busy getting ready for that so I didn’t travel with my friends who have gone to Lalibella, Gondar and Bahir Dar. I hope to go to Addis at the weekend to say goodbye to them, there was a time when I wouldn’t have dreamt of travelling for eight hours to see people for one night but now I have gotten use to Ethiopian distances. Also my two friends had so many funny incidents in just the few days I was with them that I can’t wait to hear how they have gotten on for the rest of the holiday. The funniest incidents were when one of them refused to let a woman on the bus thinking she was a beggar but actually she was sitting beside him on the bus! The other incident was when my other friend mistook a sink for a urinal in a hotel and the sink was in full view of everyone!!!
I have put a photo of me eating a toasted cheese sandwich with this, it was to be top of my list of things to eat when I got home but i found a cafe in Addis which makes them so might as well stay!
No seriously my school have kindly agreed to extend my leave and the college have kindly agreed to let me stay so I will be staying in Dessie for another year.
Anyway this is a very short post as there are no taxis and I am in college and it is getting dark so I need to head home soon!
Ciao and I will write more again soon,
Orla