Hello again,
I thought perhaps it was time to attempt a more informative blog entry and provide some information on things I have learned here in Ethiopia. Don't worry, I don't mean about my work.
First of all, as you may or may not know, Ethiopia uses a different calendar called the Ge'ez calendar. Each month in this calendar has 30 days except for the 13th month, which has only 6. There is also a leap year every four years to consider. As such, it would seem that I did a little time travel to get here. The current year is 2005 (the new year occurred on the 11th of September 2012 according to 'our' calendar). The time used here is also different. A 12 hour clock is used that counts from dawn until dusk and then again from dusk until dawn. Luckily everyone is quite accommodating and we are using more universal dates and times. I would explain further or tell you what time it is here in Ethiopian time but I don't fully understand or likely haven't tried hard enough so I can't.
We are driving on the right hand of the road here which is throwing off the Ugandans, Tanzanians and Malawians in the group. All taxis - both private - think metered - and mini bus taxis - think Cape Town style are painted blue and white.
The history is very rich and I'd recommend reading about it. I will not attempt to explain much of it here but big names include the Queen of Sheba and Haile Selassie. Of course there are more but...tonight is jazz night and I've got to run. Feeling tired but hanging in there.
Read some more Ethiopian history! It's so very interesting.
I thought perhaps it was time to attempt a more informative blog entry and provide some information on things I have learned here in Ethiopia. Don't worry, I don't mean about my work.
First of all, as you may or may not know, Ethiopia uses a different calendar called the Ge'ez calendar. Each month in this calendar has 30 days except for the 13th month, which has only 6. There is also a leap year every four years to consider. As such, it would seem that I did a little time travel to get here. The current year is 2005 (the new year occurred on the 11th of September 2012 according to 'our' calendar). The time used here is also different. A 12 hour clock is used that counts from dawn until dusk and then again from dusk until dawn. Luckily everyone is quite accommodating and we are using more universal dates and times. I would explain further or tell you what time it is here in Ethiopian time but I don't fully understand or likely haven't tried hard enough so I can't.
We are driving on the right hand of the road here which is throwing off the Ugandans, Tanzanians and Malawians in the group. All taxis - both private - think metered - and mini bus taxis - think Cape Town style are painted blue and white.
The history is very rich and I'd recommend reading about it. I will not attempt to explain much of it here but big names include the Queen of Sheba and Haile Selassie. Of course there are more but...tonight is jazz night and I've got to run. Feeling tired but hanging in there.
Read some more Ethiopian history! It's so very interesting.
I did no know about the Ge'ez calendar. Trying to figure it out might be a good way to combat insomnia!
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