May 6th: Day Five of the Ethiopia trip.

Me in the central area of our Ethiopia hotel

This morning it rained quite a bit as we drove to the Brant's house for breakfast. The electricity was on and off throughout the morning, but with daylight, it wasn't to bad. After breakfast, Mrs. Brant got a call from Tadesse and he told her that he wanted to have a talk with us about how he was hoping this trip would play out. She invited him to come right then, so pretty much as soon as he hung up, we finished the breakfast cleanup, and he arrived. He talked to us awhile about what he hoped this trip help with and we got the rundown on how the week was going to be. He also offered to take us to the new school building that is in progress right now, and a scenic view of the whole Gurage area from up on top of a mountain.
Wow! There has been a lot of progress made on the school building from the last time we had a team come. Almost the entire bottom floor is completed. Natalie and Daniel H. took some pictures, but I accidentally left my camera in the car. :( Sorry.


You can kind of see some of the traditional mixed in with the more modern tin roofed houses

from left to right: Me, Dad. Natalie, Mr. Hageman, and Tadesse

 

The trip up to the mountain was truly beautiful, and a little scary since it had been raining, and the road was still slick. It was worth it to get to the top though. Here are some pictures of the view:


Isn't is beautiful?

There were some kids that followed us down, and we took some pictures of them, just because they were being cooperative. Daniel and Natalie jumped into the picture too, just for kicks.

 

Mr. Hageman got his telescope out and let the kids take turns looking through it. They loved being able to see far away things up close.

 

I learned my first word in Guragine on the way down the mountain. You pronounce it: bow-hey-car, (don't forget to roll your r's), and it means goodbye, roughly translated. It was fun to say that to people and get their reaction. I'll never forget the look on people's face when you said good bye in their own language.

We drove back down the mountain, and had dinner at the Brant's. After that, we went back to our hotel for some much needed rest. Better go, 'cause tomorrow is coming! Good night!