Residents of Gondar

I can’t believe Gondar has been home for an entire week already. It’s been good, we’ve seen a lot, met many people, learned some basic Amharic and can get ourselves to the Piazza. We’ve ridden in a minibus (for only 1birr a person), had a drink at the Dashen beer garden (fine, a few), purchased fresh garlic and onions on the streets of the Merkato, and been caught in a rain storm. The rains here are something out of a movie. They start around noon and don’t let up for hours.  Winds howl, thunder shakes the city, and the rain comes down with a vengeance, sometimes hail too. The town sort of stops during these bouts. People huddle under tin roofs and even find shelter beneath the massive trucks brought here by the Chinese to construct roads.  The rain is cold and turns the 2 main roads in the city into rivers.

We met Alicia and Liz (Florida Gator!), two Pediatric doctors who are here through a program with Baylor University. It is my understanding that it is co-sponsored by JDC. They are working at Gondar University’s Medical School in the pediatrics division. They train the teachers who will then teach pediatric medical students.  The rate of educated doctors who leave the country is astounding. There are more Ethiopian doctors in the metro DC area than the entire country of Ethiopia (I believe everything Dr. Hodes says so feel free to prove him/me wrong here…I’ve also lived in DC for years and would attest that he’s spot on).  We joined Alicia and Liz for dinner tonight at the Habesha Kitfo in the Piazza. It was a neat little restaurant, also home to an artist, Abenezer Mengistu, who’s work was pretty incredible and very reasonably priced by American standards. Dinner was fun, it’s very nice to connect with fellow Americans who are in similar positions with us and can relate to our tribulations. We live in the same neighborhood and Liz is without water as well.  Dinner discussion was lively and a bit of travelers health 101 for Max and me. They are definitely good friends to have nearby. Best part of the night was the bijaj ride back to our neighborhood. Bijaj’s (or Tuk Tuk’s as seen in India) are three wheeled motorized bikes essentially with a cart on them. Fit 5 of us including the driver comfortably and maneuvered these muddy rocky roads bravely (effortlessly on our part but the poor thing slowly huffed it’s way up the hills).

We remain without water. It was nice to spend last evening at the Florida (!) International Hotel and enjoy a hot shower (I’ll speak for myself because I used all the hot water, sorry Max). It is the newest hotel in Gonder and the pool and gym facility they are building has been in the same stage since they broke ground, but hopefully it’ll be completed in enough time for us to enjoy them.

We are attempting to spend our free time before school starts by traveling to Addis (would be nice to celebrate the New Year, September 11, with our friends there) or Bahir Dar (we need malaria meds and Alicia and Liz offered some from their supply) but we have yet to get clearance from the higher ups, so we hope we’ll have enough time to make arrangements.

The rain keeps coming, the dogs keep barking and the mosquitoes keep biting but all in all we’re happy and making the best of our time here.