After almost two months with the new gig, I am finally back into tennis. I played yesterday for 1 1/2 hours, and it was fun. Especially since I won… We’ll see how much I can sustain this, though…
Joy… pure joy…
After two years of being a stay-at-home dad and doing various project related to our family (construction, moving, kids, new schools for kids, vaccinations, moving again, etc.), I am finally gainfully employed. Big kudos go to the Department, the Embassy, AAFSW, EPAP, and my immediate/extended family for a variety of reasons. (OK, I did have a 7 week full-time stint as a Macedonian Language Instructor at FSI, I know…).
At any rate, I am loving the first few weeks. I’m learning a lot, each and every day. And I am finally starting to contribute, at least a little bit. An equally important thing – I am starting to get my life back into balance (I am basing this on the fact I played tennis twice last weekend, and I managed to go to the CLO luncheon, sufficient early signs in my book…).
Again, I would recommend the EPAP program to EFMs looking for a professional challenge (well worth the trouble and wait)…
(I really like it when people write cool stuff in parenthesis, it makes the reading much more interesting, no?)
The star of the show – everyone loved the pumpkin soup. Mark Bittman and his “How to cook everything vegetarian” is da bomb!
Also, our cook/nanny is a one-to-two star chef, so that had a little something to do with it… All told, very good times… Looking forward to the next!
I’ve thought about this a few times so far – why is no-one commenting on any of my posts? Well, today I know – in the settings, I have asked people to register, plus I have retained the rights to moderate the posts.
Gee, I wonder why…
So, I tried to match up and see what is the difference in speed from the official meter in the EVDO modem application and the actual speed shown by a trusted app like Facebook.
The difference? A whopping 89% (156.58KB vs. 14.14KB). Screenshot below…
Actual vs. official internet speed in Addis Ababa
We love ICS Addis Ababa, did I mention this? The school is fantastic, our kids love it, it’s very social. We consider it our personal park as well, since it’s so close to home… The teachers and TAs are fabulous, very understanding, focused on the kids and the ICS way (their philosophy: take care of yourself, take care of others, take care of this place)… It is the very much the right place for the kids, and we are very happy with the school.
There is one thing that really, really pisses me off – afterschool activities registration process. Last time, the registration opened at 3:30pm. I was online, waiting for the time the website was up. I refreshed the site each 15 seconds or so. It took me a few seconds to become familiar with the interface. I was done with registration at 15:32, only to find out that I was sucessful for just one out of four activities I was planning to register for.
It felt like a land grab in the wild, wild west. I feel it’s very unfair, especially for new parents (to the school) and parents with multiple children. I can only image what happens if one had five or six kids at the school. And what if your internet connection is down during those two minutes (hey, that happens all the time in AA!)?
Today is the second registration deadline, set again for 3:30pm. I feel the panic attack setting in… Aaaaa… 
OK… Focus… Let it rain…
Below is the ASA registration form. No, I am not scared of you… No, I’m not… OK, just a bit intimidated…
ICS Addis Ababa Afterschool Registration Form
PS – ICS, please consider a better and fairer ASA registration process, please…
One of the more fascinating things about AA is the fact most signs here are “interesting”. And when I say interesting, I really mean colorful and well intended, sometimes funny and mispelled. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I will post up some of the ones I find most interesting. So, here goes…
You need to figure out which caption goes with which photo…
- Prepare to be WOW’ed by the burgers here…
- New construction methodology: “toothpick” style…
- So, why does distance education gets such a bad reputation exactly?
- The source of DeLuxe furniture around the world, right here in AA…
More soon…
Well, it’s been a while since I posted anything. After packing out everything and leaving the States, the kids and I went for a few weeks back to good ole’ MKD for a few weeks vacation. The kids had a blast. Me, not so much, as I had to deal with a big admin backlog. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed all the BBQ, rakiya, friends and relatives… It was very good for everyone to re-connect with folks they knew.
In early August we all landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We landed in temporary digs for a few days, and then we got our own place.
I’ve gotta say, the city was a bit intimidating at first. Perhaps it was the location of our temporary house (nothing to walk to) and the lack of transportation. Or perhaps the mud during the rainy season… Or perhaps the piles of garbage in the street… Or the thick, black smoke coming out of 80% of the cars/trucks/vans/buses… Oh, well, doesen’t it sound fun?
After a very short while though, the kids went to school which was great. We LOVE ICS Addis Ababa!
I started with some light tennis in the past few weeks, waiting to start my new job (DS, please let me see the light!). And one of the people we hired is a fantastic, fantastic cook! Even the kids branched out and started to eat most of what she makes. At this point, with all our stuff here (including our car), with a very nice network of new friends (including a American/Macedonian couple)and the rainy season over – it’s a really nice and fun place to be! I need to figure out the tambourine situation, though…
Last weekend was fairly social as well – had visitors from the 154th in town (congrats on the engagement again, R&C!), a hike up Entoto Mountain to see the hyena den, dinner at Yod Abyssinia, day trip to the Portugese Bridge at Debre Libanos, and dinner with friends at home (farewell and smooth sailing, H!). A few pics below…
Oh, did I mention I got a working (and paying) gig next week? More soon…
So, it’s been really fun three weeks. For so many reasons, the job is making such positive waves in my attitude, it’s not even funny. Each day is different in very good ways. It’s been a fun process getting to learn the “FSI way” of doing stuff, meeting new colleagues. I also took a speaking Serbian test. I’ve no idea what I got, but I’ll keep you posted…
On another note, Vladimir Cetkar got DC on jazz fire! His band played on Wednesday night at the Blues Alley in Georgetown. I was fascinated, especially by the disco and funk influences. If you know me, you know I love that stuff, so it was a very cool mix of jazz with stuff I really love…
Of course there is a least one bad thing – I’ve no time to get a hair cut. Well, maybe this time…
Finally, after several weeks of your general hang-around, go-speak-about-social-media, apply-for-a-#StateDept-badge, today was my first day of work. Yes, apparently I landed a full time job (at the end of our stay), albeit a short lived one. Како што би рекле македонците: коа не бараш, ќе те најде…
My new job title: Macedonian Language Instructor at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). Am I a government employee, of course not! I’m a part of the government contractor community, which is aparently growing at a steady clip in the metro DC area. Still, after a morning of hap-hazards, IT/account setups and near misses as to where/if I’ll be sitting (anywhere at all), I steadied in the afternoon, where I was offered a chance to lead a part of a class. Such a great feeling…
In any case, today I spoke more Macedonian than I do in an average week. My colleagues are way cool, the MK students are amazing and very motivated, and I am fascinated and perplexed! At the same place where I went for 8 weeks as a student not even eight months ago, I am now part of the teaching staff. How amazing is that?
More on the job front soon… Oh, did mention I became a member of the Corridor, the new State Department internal social media network? More on that as well…
Who said what when