Oh Man, Oman!

Categories: Exploring the World, Islam, Muslim, Oman, soccer

Oman has got to be the sleepiest place i’ve ever been… well I only had a chance to check out the Muscat region – but it was still boring… really beautiful with white washed houses all less than four stories, and surrounded with mountains, trees and the ocean – but dead boring… The most excitement I had is when I … Read More

Authentic Ethiopian

Categories: Ethiopia, Exploring the World, Restaurants

To be honest, although I really like it now, I wasn’t a huge fan of Ethiopian food when i first tried it… i found the tastes completely different to what i would expect – but the atmosphere of going to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant is a lot of fun… I had to go again before leaving just to get … Read More

Watch out goat – the good times are over

Categories: All things Cultured, Animals, Ethiopia, Random Thoughts

Up until Easter last weekend, most Ethiopians had been fasting for the previous 55 days…kinda like Lent, but stricter and longer… they basically don’t eat anything until 6pm each day (some break their fast at 3pm), and then even after that they won’t eat any meat or meat by-products.  I haven’t really understood the reasoning – some … Read More

Hanging in the Rift

Categories: Animals, Ethiopia, Exploring the World, Nature, Photography

So I finally got a chance to go out to the Rift valley this weekend – although it wasn’t really intentional.  We were supposed to be on a flight to Harar (a walled Muslim city from the at least the 12th century), but Ethiopian Airlines gave us the wrong time… they gave me an itinerary … Read More

FGM

Categories: All things Cultured, Ethiopia, Health, Islam, Muslim, Random Thoughts, World News

Girl(fairly senior in an NGO here): FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) is very common around these countries because there are a lot of Muslims here. Me: ? What does Muslim have to do with it? Girl: The Muslim tribes say they perfrom FGM because of their religion. Me: Just ‘cuz they say something, doesn’t make it true… … Read More

Blog posts flood

Categories: Ethiopia, Random Thoughts, Technology

Don’t worry – it ain’t an error somewhere – i just haven’t been able to get proper access to my blog for the past couple weeks and that’s why they all went up yesterday… WordPress needs a way to post via email or mobile… i’m sure there’s a plugin for it somewhere…

Ethiopian Calendar and Clock

Categories: All things Cultured, Ethiopia, Exploring the World

Woo- hoo! I’m seven years younger out here! According to the Ethiopian Calendar (based on the Coptic Calendar), it is only 1999 here and their new millenium celebrations are on September 27th, 2007 – I’m 26 again!  The way the clocks work out here help us party like it too!  Their clock system actually makes a lot … Read More

Mon deuxième blog en francais…

Categories: Ethiopia, French

Je n’aime pas des chiens! Hier, je suis allé a la maison d’un ami pour du cafe.  Elle a deux chiens – deux grande chiens… (avec grandes dents et claws aussi…) Mais, quand nous partions, le chien a couru across la jardin, et elle est mordu ma cuisse…  je sais que je suis la ‘sweet … Read More

Bahir Dar

Categories: Ethiopia, Exploring the World

In my opinion (and as usual against the norm), this place sucks…  I took a minibus from Gondar to Bahir Dar which was decent enough – only a 3 hour drive on a fairly well paved road.  Non-eventful but interesting – in particular in one of the towns we passed, a couple of the women … Read More

Africa’s Camelot

Categories: Ethiopia, Exploring the World

So maybe the Lonely Planet romanticises this place a bit by calling it Africa’s Camelot, but it also is much better than I was led to believe by other expats.  First, if you like architecture and aren’t like most ‘fly-by-seen-it-check-it’ visitors who refuse to pay 5 bucks for a guide, you’ll love this place.  Check … Read More