Friends,

I am home….

Having been back in Baltimore for almost three weeks, I have been contemplating  just how to tell everyone about my return back to the life that I previously had…the life here in the US….

Surreal is the one word that comes to mind. I have often felt that I am dreaming, and will wake up one day…however it definitely hasn’t been a dream….in the course of 3 weeks I have:

-Traveled to see friends and family (in my every sturdy 1999 Honda Civic…still going after 175,000…hopefully it will never die)

-Eaten more food than I think I ever have (First meal back? Buffalo wings and chicken sandwich and a good beer)

-Enjoyed power and water that is not intermittent…

-Been able to relax (a bit) and also have down time….that has been quiet…

Really, though, during these past three weeks, the quietude of my surroundings has really impacted me. Very rarely was there a moment in Addis when there was nothing going on…save for the power outages (one GOOD thing about them!), I had found it difficult to find quiet…

Here at home, though, it is different…I don’t hear the disco outside playing various pop hits and our neighbors cooking sauces at all hours of the day….I don’t hear dogs barking and traffic snarling around, either…I don’t see swarms of people on the road, fighting for minibuses…in essence, the “life” that was in Addis…it is gone from my senses…

I had learned to enjoy these sounds and sights of Addis many times…but when you are taken out of it, you also remember what you had missed before.

What does it mean to be quiet? For me it is the art of staying quiet, reflective, pensive and still, reflecting on what the last two years have imprinted on my heart…my mind…my soul….

All being done without a dance mix of John Denver’s “Country Roads” playing in the background…

More to come…

On the road in Baltimore,

Derek

So,

As I write this post, I leave Addis in 3 weeks to return back to the states…

Yes, my time here in Addis is almost finished….not to say that I won’t be back, it is more of a “See you later” sort of thing. But for now, God has been preparing me for the next chapter in life…

My last days (sounds like I am on death row) have been full of preparations to return back to the life I had before, to my family and friends,church, car, high speed internet and running water (constant running water, that is), and Wegmans…

So what have I been doing in my final days here?

Well, besides preparing to go to Thailand  for a week starting next Monday, I have been earnestly practicing viola duet music and quartet music for 2 concerts a week before I leave…as well as preparing to teach some of our beneficiaries about TB disease and active case finding in the community….oh, and also finishing up my work with the lab at Black Lion Hospital, so that Sami (our Ethiopian staff member working there with me) can take over (which he basically has already, this is more of a formality)

Oh yea, and I need to pack at some point, say my goodbyes, eat plenty of good Ethiopian food, and drink LOTS of coffee…

All in a day’s work….

So, here is something to ponder….has anyone ever felt like their life was a book, and that each chapter represented a different time in their lives….and with the close of each chapter, there is a mixture of surprise, wonder, fear, amazement, and worry about what will happen next?

Or is it just me?

All for now….oh, and I went to a music rehearsal at a Finnish woman’s house last Friday (never actually met anyone from Finland…go figure I would do so here in Addis)…hence the Title…

On the road in Addis, but not for much longer…

-Derek

Oh how I love Addis….really, I do….but there are some interesting days sometimes….such as this past Saturday….let me tell you all about it.

It started out as any other day, and I planned on NOT working at all….but received an urgent call to do some labwork for one of the missionaries here. I definitely did not mind doing this, and at 745am, a special delivery arrived for me to work on for the next couple of hours.

After this, my plan was to go to the gym, go grocery shopping, and head over to the White’s house for a game evening….

Did it go that way? Well, read on….

Things here in Addis have a way of just “happening…”, which makes it difficult for planners like myself (those of you who have been here before totally understand this, and realize the need for increased flexibility and patience!)

So, after the lab work was finished, I decided to actually clean the bathroom before going to the gym…it was an impulsive decision, really, but I figured I had time, which I did.

I am not a neat freak….at all. In fact, I am definitely more of a pack rat than anything else, and have been known to store things for extended periods of time “Just in case” I may need them 25 years later. Every once in a while, when I get inspired, I do a whirlwind cleaning, and end up eliminating these things, and more (it really can be a crazy sight, don’t give me any coffee at that point…).

However, the one thing that I am VERY anal about is a clean bathroom…I enjoy cleaning the bathroom. Yes, that is weird….I am strange….but hey, that is what is going on. The rest of the house can be a mess, but I detest dirty bathrooms. So I cleaned it…well…

Now onto the gym…it was getting to be lunchtime, so I ate a bit of whatever odds/ends we had in the fridge (a zucchini salad mix) and bread, and it was off to the gym about an hour later….

So you may be wondering, STOP! You have a gym that you go to in Addis?  They actually exist? Definitely….in fact, the one I go to rivals most of them in the states, with great machines and facilities….in fact, the showers there alone are a reason to go, they are great. However, with many things here, there is inconsistency in services…which will be evident in a few sentences…

As I entered the hallway leading downstairs to the gym, a lady was polishing the floor (it seems like people are always polishing the floors….) and I just about killed myself as I slipped on the “Welcome” mat in front of the steps….not a good start. But I regained my composure, and went downstairs.

BodyWise Gym is located in the basement of a large shopping mall, where most of the stalls/spaces are empty, waiting for employers to peddle their wares there. Downstairs in the gym, it definitely feels like you are in the basement, with very little natural sunlight coming in…which is not good if the power goes out…

Which it did…just as I was preparing to run on the treadmill.

Usually it goes out for a minute or so, and then the generator kicks in, and everything starts up again. It can be a bugger though, if you are in the middle of one of your routines on the treadmill or stationary bike. Fortunately, I hadn’t started yet, so I just went to lift some weights, waiting for the power to return…

Well, it did return, about 45 minutes later. It was definitely surreal as I did various weight machines in the dark, save for the candles around the room as well as two small holes that emitted light from the outside world through their portholes….fortunately I had my music with me, so it wasn’t a huge deal…but after 45 minutes, the power came back on, and I was able to finish.

After showering and finishing, I had some time to go grocery shopping…which was mostly an uneventful experience. Coming back to a restaurant, I met Jon and Jessica and their kids for dinner, before we went back to their house for an evening of games. Again mostly uneventful, except that my order of “chekna” tibs (Ethiopian meat dish) came out as chicken tibs because I forgot to explode the “Che” of “Chekna”…..

Upon arriving to the Whites house, I remembered we needed a few more things at the store around the corner from their house…especially flour. Fortunately, the store was open, but the flour I was looking for was not there, nor did they have the fruit we wanted, instead they had decent vegetables…so we bought those instead (again, you totally have to be flexible with these sorts of things)

Back at the White’s house, we found that they had only half power….not completely off, but very dim, so we just sat around for about an hour talking, and then realized we were too tired to play any games….so, we started to watch Airplane 2…..only for about 20 minutes, and then went home….we were tired…

Thus ends my interesting Saturday….the best laid plans of mice and men….well, you know the rest…

On the road in Addis,

Derek

Friends,

Think about these words….or better yet, listen to the recording by eastmountainsouth (check them out online iTunes, from the Elizabethtown soundtrack)….beautiful and haunting words…they are really echoing through my ears right now….

Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears,

While we all sup sorrow with the poor;

There’s a song that will linger forever in our ears;

Oh Hard times come again no more.

Chorus:

Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,

Hard Times, hard times, come again no more

Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;

Oh hard times come again no more.

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,

There are frail forms fainting at the door;

Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say

Oh hard times come again no more.

There’s a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,

With a worn heart whose better days are o’er:

Though her voice would be merry, ’tis sighing all the day,

Oh hard times come again no more.

Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,

Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore

Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave

Oh hard times come again no more.

Stephen Foster’s original lyrics: 1854

On the road in Addis,

Derek

That’s right, March Madness is here….and while it is difficult to follow NCAA tournaments here due to the fact that college basketball is not popular here on TV, we have enough “craziness” here to go around right now….

We are in a time period now where things are dry….really dry…and hot too (especially in the afternoon). The short rains should begin in about a month or so, so all of the “abuorah”, or dust, will hopefully be gone…

But that is not really what is on my mind right now….this past week Coca Cola closed its factory here for a while (not sure what this means, it could be a month, or it could be permanent…)…this was due to the shortage of hard currency (foreign $$) available here, so they couldn’t continue with some businesses here.

We have heard that Coca Cola may be harder to get come June…good news for Pepsi, huh?

In addition, there are talks of forced power/water outages around the city starting soon (now?), because of poor infrastructure and lower water levels. While we haven’t permanently had this problem since last year, this is something I am not looking forward to…..

Throw in the neverending traffic confusions around the city due to permanent construction, and this is life in Addis….never, NEVER a dull moment.

While things may be nuts here and there, one thing has been nice….higher speed internet! Finally, after a week of calls and 3 technicians coming over to install on different days, not to mention an extra weekend to wait b/c it was not properly configured, we now have faster dial-up…it has been nice, actually, to be able to download things and actually have them within a couple of hours or days, instead of weeks to never ever…

Our work at Black Lion Hospital has been going extremely well….and in the TB lab, our increased findings of TB cases has started to make some doctors wonder about our new procedures and even come down and see for themselves what the lab is doing….pretty cool! We are hoping that within a month or so these protocols will become standardized in the lab….we shall see.

Some friends and I celebrated St. Patty’s day this past weekend in style…with a turkey, veggies, cranberry sauce and chocolate covered strawberries, not to mention Breyers mint choc. chip ice cream….not too Irish, I know, but hey, it was fun….(much of the food came from the American embassy’s commissary department, too…)

Some interesting things have happened, (as you see) and the near future looks to be just as surprising….thanks for your continued support, encouragement, and prayers!

On the semi-paved road in Addis,

-Derek