Interesting items.... or oddities

Did I mention that I have been "editing" the newspapers here and sharing an opinion of one with the news folks. I read a column yesterday regarding seed distribution to farmers which are supported/funded by some group and will be throughout 2002-2003 E. C. Yup...we are in the year 2002-2003 here and this follows the Ethiopian Calendar, hence, E.C. Now, the right hand corner of the page had yesterday's date, and 2010. I was confused so had to ask. I guess the dates get a bit confusing...they just celebrated the millenium a couple of years ago also.

At the Capital, a business/economic newspaper, we are spending time in a room about the size of a kitchen. The woman to the left, Teguest is the GM, and Nebiyu is the circulation distributor and Eniyat, is the advertising and marketing manager. By the way, yesterday, I wore one of my seizure inducing dresses and when I got to the Capital, Teguest had a similarly patterned black and white dress but her outfit was topped with a stylish short sweater jacket.

We are all quite stuffed into this tiny conference room and exiting is not an option...until the people closest to the door leave. Nevertheless, we have had lots of fun and I have had a great time learning more about the Amharic language and how we do things here in Ethiopia.

Today, we ordered sandwiches in and sat outside under the umbrella. Ignore my ugliness...not looking good at all today. One interesting point is that there are female managers here...didn't see that at The Reporter. I have one more day with this group and then, move on to Addis Admass, another newspaper.

The chair just under the US map is my chair, butting up against the wall. We were conducting a SWOT analysis and I did have to ask about the US map and why it is in this room. Seems there was an old editor who loved all things American and he used to use this room, which is outside the building, back near the bathrooms and kitchen area.

One of the guys asked me today if I would like some, "spris" to drink. This just means, "mixture" in Amharic and you can have mixed sodas, mixed juices and even, mixed tea and coffee! So, he had a cup of spris and he offered me a sip of this concoction. Going to get some...yummy.

Forgot to mention that appetizers and desserts are not part of the Ethiopian dining experience. "Dessert" is popcorn. They deliver a bowl or two of it and one just sits and munches! Oh, and coffee happens after meals but tea is served in the mornings. For me, they bring coffee, but everyone else drinks tea.