May I always will and will not what God wills me to will, and may I never will and will not what God willest me to not to will.

Day 26, Sep 6, Mon,

Made some decent progress learning Microsoft access today, I think I should be able to learn most of it before I teach it. Tomorrow Br. Endalkachew will be heading to Addis on a part finding excursion, and I will be finally able to get the rest of my things, Including my telescope, Hurrahh!!!



Day 27, Sep 7, Tue,

Set off for Addis today at around nine this morning, and after a 10 hour drive and one flat tire later, we made it to Jimma, which is approx. the halfway point at 300km.

Geographically the area we have been driving through is somewhat similar to Washington state, lots of rolling hills and mountains, just replace the various African fauna with evergreens, and the crocodiles and baboons with trout and deer.

We made a couple of stops on the way, to stretch, as well as to pick up some honey, tea, and butter, (also to change a flat, & later to repair it at a gas station) Other than that the trip went smoothly…Metaphorically speaking that is, as the roads are very bumpy.

For lunch we stopped at a local restaurant in a town we were passing through, we ordered lamb tips and Wot, and for dinner we ate at the hotel we were staying at, roasted chicken, it was pretty decent.



Day 28, Sep 8, Wed, 6:00am 73 F, 5:00pm 68.6 F.

Started out bright and early this morning (6:00), From Jimma onwards, the roads were better, so we made good time. At 8:00 we stopped for breakfast……More lamb, and some coffee. (which I’m beginning to develop a taste for.) We didn’t have any roadside emergencies this time, so it was smooth riding for the rest of the trip. We past by some amazing landmarks, Including a large mountain jutting out of fog covered hills, flooded grasslands, rolling hills, coffee plantations, maize fields and swollen rivers. We made it to Addis at around 2:30, The first thing we did was go to fetch my things at mekanesa, but once we got there I found out that my things had been shipped off that morning, oh well, at least they will be in gambella when I get back, also I got to say hello to Marie. We had enough time to talk for a little bit about our respective sites, (she is doing well) before we had to head off to the Salesian provincial building. On the way we stopped to give the butter and chickens we had gathered to Endalkachew niece. At the Provincials I met Abba Sandro, who showed us to our rooms, which were very cozy, (They had SHOWER CURTAINS!!) I’ve got free time until 7:00, (when we will have evening prayer and dinner) so until then I’m just chillin’ (and I mean that literally, it’s only 68 degree’s, brrrrrr.)



Day 29, Sep 9, Thu, 6:10am 68.2 F,

Another Chilly morning, Attended Mass at the chapel, ate breakfast with the Salesians (among them, Abba Sandro, Abba Samala, Br. Tegrit, and Br. Dagm.) (Also, yesterday evening I bumped into Br. Ephrem, Who was here on vacation, Twas nice to get to see him again) And then I went out with Br. Endalkachew and an Associate of his to gather various things for gambella, including computer parts. Unfortunately we were not able to find the correct ones, so we went auto-part shopping, or should I say, Haggling, Br. Haggled for almost an hour to get a decent price on some new tires. Afterwards we grabbed lunch, (guess what…more lamb, I think it has to do with the new year coming up) and then headed to a local garage to get the truck serviced, while we were waiting, I was sent back to Mekanesa to have a meeting with Abba Emmanuel about how things have been going. The meeting went well, and I was left with some free time until I was scheduled to go back to the Provincials, and Marie was out and about, so I decided to take a little nap. I awoke in time for what I thought was group rosary, but no one was there, so I started it by my self, but halfway through a priest came into the chapel and started celebrating mass, so along with a rosary I was able to attend an extra mass today. Afterwards I was driven back to the Provincials, where I ate dinner with my fellow salesians,, and retired for the evening.



Day 30, Sep 10, Fri,

After Mass I found out we would be driving a novice who had come up from gambella to his novitiate at a town called ziway, so after two tasks, (dropping a Br. Off at the airport and to drop of some books to a convent, which took forever to find {due to some humorous directions from Abba Salama who was riding with us} but we found it eventually, we were greeted warmly and invited for tea and biscuits by Sister Martha, and after chatting for a bit we excused ourselves and went back to pick up the novice.) and lunch (followed by a rousing adrenaline pumping game of chess, which I unfortunately lost) we headed of to Ziway, and guess what? Halfway through our trip…we got a flat tire, a conspiracy I say!! But after a speedy repair, we were on our way again in no time.

We stopped in the city of mehi to see the novitiate of the region, where we met Abba Loretto (who was 84 and still lively), who invited us for…you guessed it, tea and biscuits, (Hurray for Tea and Biscuits!!) and after we chatted a bit about the history of the place, we were back on the road. We made it to Ziway at around 7:15, just in time for the evening meal. It has been a tiresome day, so I shall retire early today, but before I do, Happy Ethiopian New Year’s eve.



Day 31, Sep 11, Sat, Happy New Year!!

After Mass, Br. Endalkachew took me on a tour of Ziway, Turns out this is where He grew up and went to school, we met a few of his old teachers as we were walking around the school compound. After picking up Abba Samala we invited to Br. Endalkachew’s parents house, and we got to meet his family (his mother is an incredibly sweet lady, and even though we had already eaten breakfast, she insisted on feed us more.) we tarried there for a bit before setting out for addis. The trip was nonevent full, and we made it back at around 3pm. Br. Went out to do some errands, so I had some free time until evening prayer, so I spent it updating my facebook, and downloading AVG antivirus so I could load it into the computers back in Gambella. After that, had evening prayer and a rosary, ate dinner, and retired, not a bad day for the first day in the New Year.



Day 32, Sep 12, Sun,

I attended a Geeze rite mass this morning, It was somewhat similar to the tridintine rite as far as solemnness goes, it was fascinating and wonderful to attend. After mass I grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading out on our trip for gambella, and after a few detours to pick up some books and gas we hit the main road. We made decent time, only having to stop a couple times, to buy something from street venders, (and once to pay for a sheep we accidentally ran over, it was the owner’s fault though, he was walking all over the freaking road with his sheep, it was only a matter of time…..which might have been his plan all along….hmm) It seem whenever we stopped for the street vendors the children would crowd around my window and beg for money, apparently to them all westerners are rich, it can be very tiresome at times, because no how many times you say you don’t have money, they keep asking. I have started making it a habit to empty out my pocket whenever I am going to travel somewhere because I literally have to turn my pockets inside out to show them I don’t have any money, then they will leave me alone, lol. I was a strait shoot to jimma, where we again spent the night.



Day 33, Sep 13, Mon,

We started out bright and early again today, and other than stopping twice to buy some roasted maize, once to visit a friend of Br.s, and once to visit a technical school to see how they did things, our trip was relatively uneventful, and we made it back to Gambella by 4, and I have to say, it feels good to be back, this place has begun to truly feel like a home to me. The weather that greeted us was equally nice, with the temperature hovering in the lower nineties, a fair change from the mid sixties of addis. And I finally obtained my things! Br. Legesse was keeping them safe for me, so after putting together my telescope (which appears to have suffered a little damage from the rough journey, but should still be able to function properly) and putting away the rest of my things, I decided to freshen up, but to my disappointment there was no water, so that plan was moot. Any further plan was halted by the quickly developing storm front, and before long rain was coming down in sheets, which quickly turned into streams. Pretty soon the water had risen in the courtyard so much that it started flooding the walkway, threatening to enter my room soon if nothing was done. So as the lightning started to flash, and the thunder started to grumble and roll from one side of the sky to the next, I was doing my best to halt the approaching onslaught of Mother Nature’s wrath. I stuffed one of my towels in front of my door, and rushed around searching, until I found a floor squeegee, and so as the water came forward, pushed it back, and so we went back and forth like this for a couple minutes, neither of us gaining any ground, until the gush of water finally abated enough that I could force the rest of the water from the walkway. After my victory, I proceeded to the chapel, which had also started flooding, and after a bit of squeegee-ing, I managed to get the place cleaned up. All this time the thunder and lightning keeps elevating, startling me several times by its sheer ferocity. Eventually it spent itself out, and just as quickly as it had come it went. I ran into Abba Thomas on the way out of the chapel, and after our greeting and my condolences, (I have recently learned that he has contracted malaria, He is doing okay though, and is taking medication for it.) He informed me that he was going to St. Josephs, because it had flooded, so I went along with Abba, as well as Br. Legesse and Br. Dagm to clean up the mess. After we were done we got back to the compound just in time for evening prayer and supper, which was extra special because it was the first meal together in the New Year. Br. Endalkachew brought out a bottle of amoretto and we toasted to the New Year. After dinner I helped Br. Dagm operate his Mp3 player and retired for the night.