Merry Christmas everyone! Starting tomorrow at noon, I will be officially out-of-contact until about January 7th. My email box will fill up, so if you get a bounce back or something, I have not changed addresses, fallen off the planet, been eaten by a wild animal, bitten by a Black Mamba, succumbed to Ebola, Hemorrhagic fever, typhoid, yellow-fever, or any number of other exotic possibilities. I'm simply acting like a tourist in Ethiopia. Being out-of-contact is a bit scary - as my computer and telephone help me feel tethered to my other life. Still - I will TRY to have fun ;-)
Out cell phones don't work over there - so we'll try for sim-cards, but in all likely hood we'll all go in together and buy cheap Ethiopian phone so we can call home or get calls.
In Kampala now - Mid-service medical is done. I'm doing stuff for headquarters: volunteer lounge, helping arrange space in the new offices... Peace Corps had its end of year party today under tents out on the lawn - huge cookout - all the usual Ugandan fare and BBQ chicken and as a nod to their Muzungu staff there was CHOCOLATE CAKE complete with icing. This is extremely rare - as this is absolutely NOT Ugandan in any way. That was followed by a White Elephant gift exchange among the thirty plus staff and it was great fun to see their great sense of playfulness come out! There were a few other volunteers there, so it was lovely to be included in what was really a staff event.
Staying at the Annex again and there have been more burglaries here. Seems a ring of thieves does pretty well with this MO: someone will check into a targeted room - typically a single that can be easily watched from an adjoining room. While acting as a "guest" they take the key and duplicate it, then check out normally. Sometime later, they come back as a guest across the hall - and wait for their next victim to check into the room across the hall. Since they can be sure there will only be one person in the room (too cramped for two), when that person leaves to go shower or to the bathroom, they simply use the key and take the electronics. All very well orchestrated. They do it at high end hotels as well, but pose as businessmen and dress in keeping with that hotels clientele.
What that means for us is that every time we go to shower, etc. using the detached showers or bathrooms, we have to take all our gear. A friend thought his belongings were safe locked inside three locked bags which he then chained/locked to his bed frame. The thieves waited till he left to shower, opened his locked door, cut through all three bags and took his gear. Only the fancy-pants hotels have electronic keys and changing the locks doesn't work because all it takes is one guest between victims to copy the new key and go again.
Frustrating... especially at Christmas. Traveling with our passports, travel money etc. it adds an extra layer of stress and vigilance. This the season... Locking my computer up at Peace Corps while I'm gone.
And that's all the news that's fit to print. I'm thinking of you all these holidays and and count my blessings for your friendship. Know that I miss you all and will think of you going to celebrations, parties, gathering with friends and families and celebrating life. Have a sip of bubbly or Nog for me; otherwise I will have far too much catching up to do when I get back. I send my love and toast you all. I'm looking forward to seeing what type of energetic shift occurs around the 12-21-12 and welcoming in 2013 while discovering one of the most ancient civilizations in the world, visiting underground churches and Axum - said to house The Arc of the Covenant. Then there's Lucy, the 3 million year old hominid discovered in the Awash Valley and resulted in Ethiopia being labeled the Cradle of Mankind. What a place to welcome in the next chapter.
Blessings!
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