blairabouts: Spring prep program wraps up

ILAE News

After a nearly two-week break, campus internet access has been restored (yea!). Just in time too because full-time summer class days begin on Monday, July 1st. Our teacher crew (pictured to the right as we decompress after a long day's work today) has been bolstered by the arrival yesterday of a NWS alum who will help out for two weeks. We are eager to welcome back the ILAE prep program students. They successfully completed the spring phase of the program and are now enjoying a well-earned break, during which they took and corrected a set of national exams. (These take place at least at the end of both grades 8 and 10.)

Some highlights from the spring (besides the scintillating reading selections and grammar lessons!) included regular learning sessions in the computer lab, a soccer scrimmage with a local youth team, and some interesting guest speakers (including the woman pictured here who spoke on Ethiopia's environmental challenges).

For the summer session, we are looking forward to expanding the range and depth of our classes. We will, for example, use some theater games to promote confidence and spontaneous speaking. We introduced this approach at the end of the spring session - with some boisterous and hilarious results. One skit group drew "at a medical clinic" as their prompt, and a dubious doctor was soon checking a forehead with his pantomimed stethoscope and prescribing an unconventional treatment. We will also investigate environmental issues (global and Ethiopian) in more depth using curriculum from Seattle-based Facing the Future. Also, after reading a variety of African short stories, the students will be tackling their first novels.

A quiet milestone

Reggae at the Alliance earlier in the month.

Last Friday marked the halfway point in my "deployment" here. It was my first "free" weekend since Easter and the mid-point of a few days off between session. I continued to take full advantage of the offerings at the European cultural centers and actually went to the Alliance éthio-francaise three times that week. Monday for the closing night of the European Film Festival ("A Royal Affair"), Thursday for the screening of a Sengalese film (Ousmane Sembène's "La Noire de..." - followed by a free buffet dinner!), and Friday for a concert of English-language rock covers (Dire Straits, Beatles, Counting Crows).

Even though the rainy season is beginning here, it's still warm for part of each day (usually the morning). Missing my frequent summer dips in Seattle's Lake Washington and Greenlake, I twice tried to get a swim in during my days off. The first attempt, a trip to the pool at the fancy Sheraton Hotel, was foiled by hard afternoon rain. The second was part of the impetus for a road trip to an area of lakes about 50 kilometers southeast of Addis (Debra Zeit, see the map in the May 7th post).

Relaxing on a lake-front hotel's deck.

Here, despite getting quite close to the water on a warm day, I was undone by a combination of factors (all compounded by having forgotten my suit at home!): crowds, access restrictions, cost, and the comfort levels of my chaperones with what they saw as a wild and risky impulse on my part. In any event, it was restorative to get out of the city - and to breathe some fresh air! The benefits of the excursion almost withstood the traffic and pollution that greeted us as we returned to Addis.

Table-side "fishing" in Debre Zeit

A few photos from June

Though still not a regular coffee drinker, I have embraced the serving of coffee as one of the ways that Ethiopians offer friendship and hospitality. When invited to people's homes (which is happening to me far more often here than I have experienced anywhere else - and far more often that I imagine visitors to Seattle experience), the sharing of coffee involved a "coffee ceremony" (as pictured here). The beans are roasted and brewed over charcoal, and then the coffee is served in three tastings - and with a popcorn accompaniment. Here, a friend prepares coffee for our group after running the Coca Cola 7k.