Tuesday

Wake early - kids downstairs make a lot of noise each morning. Furniture
scraping on floor rattles through building.
Take sleeping bag into living area and on to couch to watch the sun rise.
Cold-thing developing, nose runny, it's a good thing. Hope to be over it
soon.
Tim rises and promptly prepares stewed apples for breakfast - A wonderful
treat and good for a sore throat.

Japi picks us up at 8 and we do another home visit. In Kisanches (?)
district. Traffic snarly on way back. Beggars of all sorts approach car
windows. Guiltily we ignore them.

Back to KM to record interview translations with Japi. Really good to do
this.

Walk out to meet guy who's organising our trek next week. A good natured
British fellow aiming to bring cash into remote northern communities by
organising small walking groups - more on this next week. We all go to
lunch (at Lucy) and we learn of what it's like for a white guy with family
to live in Addis.
Tim & I walk to Ethiopian Mapping Authority for some truly soviet style
bureaucracy ...and a couple of maps.

Hilton for bank and phone card then short walk to taxi and Post Office
area to pick up some touristy souvenirs. Some exhausting haggling leaves
us feeling smug but realise later that we still got ripped off! Home now
for a little rest.

Tim and Ollie venture out by bus across town, (we have come such a long
way in a week) to Serenade, for a mediterranean feast.
The restaurant was exceptional in its presentation, service and menu but
the food itself, while looking like it could be photographed for a
magazine, tasted like it had been copied from pictures from a magazine. On
eating, it was bland and unsatisfying. Imaging being a critic here of all
places!?
Tim thought the waiter gave us strange looks - that we were on a date!

We journey back to KM by taxi and Tim continues on to Monicas to stay the
night for an early morning photo session at Orthodox Church with the
children.