Experiences of note

So, yesterday I was walking home from lunch and a random dog was walking across the street with a cow head in his mouth. This is not an uncommon sight, but you still do a double take whenever you see it.

Last week I had some good home visits. These are always fulfilling but often very hard. They remind you of why you left home to serve here. I had injera and some wheat grain in Danut's house while a girl was roasting coffee beans. I shared some passages in 2 Corinthians with her. She has at least 6 sons and her husband passed away a while back. After her house, I went to see Tadessa, a man struggling with TB who was in one of my support groups. He's basically bed-ridden because his TB meds are reacting with his antiretrovirals. The meds take away his appetite so he is weak with a lot of gastric pain.

You would be surprised that a lot of my most interesting cross-cultural experiences have been in the guest house I currently live in. There are many Australians, New Zealanders, Brits, and Canadians. We all speak the same language, but with such variation that we often are confused and even make fun of each other. It has been a great learning experience and quite fun to talk about football (soccer), cricket, rugby, and gridiron (aussie word for american football). Last Friday, I went to an Italian restaurant in Africa with a bunch of Americans and Australians. I also coach with a cool guy from England. I guess because I have much more in common with them, there is more cultural rubbing that you can notice as opposed to me with the Ethiopians. It will take more time to see and understand their culture and language.

This week my team plays against a team from a french school and another from a greek school. This should be interesting. Here is a picture of me with Danut amidst the smoking coffee beans.