one week of the two years

So, the end of another week, they’re passing so quickly. It’s been a very full week at work, full of meetings and trying to get a report of the pilot study on the new Grade 3 book in. The report is a joint effort by the whole team, due in last week but as usual, still a work in progress. No matter, it will be finished next week.

Cooked a veggie curry for friends last Sunday. In my usual manner I cooked enough to feed an army so it kept us going for food until Wednesday, I like it when that happens, so nice to get in from work and not have to think about preparing vegetables, especially on a Monday.

We took Tuesday morning off to get our spare gas bottle filled. We’ve got kerosene too, started using it for rice and pasta to save on gas. Also got a small pane of broken glass in our front door fixed, it’s coloured glass which I guess is why it cost so much – 585 Nakfa – half of my monthly salary – couldn’t really manage without the VSO top-up. The glass place is just down the road and run by an elderly Italian lady. Her father came here to Eritrea in 1934 and she was born here. Everyone we meet here has a story to tell.

Wednesday, the usual walk to work at 7.30, sun, lots of greetings from school children and our regulars, overcrowded busses, big 4-wheel drives, sheep, bicycles, and the last of the beles sellers (season is almost over.) The farmer came to cut our grass at lunch-time. The amount he cuts is limited by what he can carry on the back of his bike to take for his animals. He’s done something nasty to his legs – 2 abscesses - and needed some help. We weren’t sure what he was asking for, Phil’s Italian wasn’t up to it so we gave him 100 Nakafa which we hoped would cover medical expenses. After work went out to the Roof Garden with other volunteers for a meal. It’s not somewhere we go very often, Cliona came out with “I’d forgotten how swanky it is here, there’s no flies” as we sat down. She’s classy.

Thursday, just another day at work. Got very upset about some family news. It’s at times like this I feel a long way away.

Friday, the usual breakfast of porridge, bananas and sweet tea and off to work. Lunch break is at 11.30 on Friday so we get an extra 30 minute’s sleep after eating. Walking home we discussed whether to go via one of our local shops for weekend shopping, “no” I heard myself saying, “we’ve got three carrots, two courgettes and tomatoes, if we have eggs tonight that should do us for Sunday.” How things have changed. I seem to remember at some time in another lifetime we used to do a big supermarket shop on a Saturday morning …
And before anyone starts feeling sorry for us I should add that we’ve been invited to a dinner at the Ambassador’s residence on Saturday evening. Not quite sue why we’ve been invited, possibly as a VSO presence as there is no Country Director in the country at the moment, and I think invites have gone out to other aid agencies and NGOs, but at the very least it’s a good opportunity to stock up on protein (Andrea and Chris – that’s supposed to be a joke.)

Always up early on Saturday, the dustcart comes at any time from 7 onwards and you have to be ready to take your rubbish out to them – the concept of dustbins doesn’t really exist. Spent three hours cleaning, having got rid of the cockroaches once we're not giving them any excuse to come back, then hot shower and hair wash (our once a week luxury – great), lunch (fata - bread with silsi - tomato, chilli and onion)with a friend at Massawa Fast Food - our local cafe and slobbing for the rest of the afternoon.

C