Wow, what a difference a few days can make. We have two completely working bathrooms, showers included. The third bathroom should be coming on line soon. The majority of electrical and plumbing problems have been solved. And today, there’s water service for the first time since Sunday. Water service in Mekele is spotty; sometimes you have it and sometimes you don’t. But our house has a large water tank on the roof (most houses do) and we work at keeping it filled. So when there’s water, the reservoir tank on the ground will fill up. When it’s full, I turn on the pump that pushes the water onto the roof. Each cycle takes 10-15 minutes. When the reservoir fills again, I do it again. That way, even though we may not have water service for days, we still have water in the house. But if I forget to pump water we may run out.
We also have a maid. Actually, we hired one on Monday, but she didn’t show up. So yesterday we hired Mowcha and what a difference she has made already. She went shopping for kitchen stuff yesterday and then turned out a lovely meal last night from the meager supplies we had in the kitchen. This morning she brought us margarine, honey, flatbread, bananas and tea. A perfect start to any diabetic’s day. By the way, my insulin dose has dropped by 35% since I’ve been in Ethiopia. We are going home for lunch today (a first) at 1:00 PM (7:00 Ethiopian time) and look forward to what she’s prepared for us.
We have a watchman for the nighttime. He’s a grumpy sort who has had it easy up ‘til now as the watchman for the landlord while the house was empty. Essentially he got 350 Birr a month for sleeping. But now that we have a maid, he should vacate the maid’s quarters out back, something he finds very inconvenient. In fact Mowcha slept in one of our bedrooms inside the house last night and the watchman slept in her quarters. Should be interesting to see how this plays out.
Our friend, Connie Beyene, took us around to furniture stores on Saturday. We saw just about everything we needed and will buy most of it after we get our residency permits. As legal residents, we will be at an advantage regarding air fares, banking arrangements, etc. But since we live in a “glass house,” we needed draperies and two wardrobes for our clothes right away.
The draperies were easy. Pick out your fabric, let one of the employees ride home with you, let him measure your windows, and then have another young man come and install them the next day. All for one low price of 3500 Birr (about $200).
I bummed a ride to town yesterday and went to the furniture store. I purchased two wardrobes for a total of 7000 Birr and thought they’d deliver. Instead, they loaded the wardrobes, which come as a kit, onto the roof of a taxi and the installer and I rode by taxi to our house. The driver helped him take the boxes to the bedroom, then left. The installer took about an hour to put together both pieces and then left. Tipping is unusual in Ethiopia, but I tipped him 30 Birr. As a fat, white American, I can get away with it.
So in just two day’s time, we have hot water for our showers, drapes, somewhere to put our clothes (we’ve been living out of suitcases for three weeks), clean laundry, some help with the housework and regular meals. Today Gebre, the school’s driver, and Mowcha went to town and purchased an enjera stove so we can have enjera with every meal, just like everyone else in Ethiopia. I’ll tell you more about that sometime.
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