Our home leave begins June 20. I remember on New Years Day sitting down and drawing up a preliminary schedule. It was very exciting but it seemed so far away. Now it is imminent. We are getting out our luggage, opening up the suitcases and starting to put things in them that we want to take home. Not organizing just yet, but simply putting things in. We are buying special things for our friends and family (especially those who are hosting us!).
Here is our schedule; check the local listing to see if we will be coming to your hometown:
Friday, June 19 – 10:30 p.m. leave our house and the MCC compound, bags packed, and head for Bole International Airport.
Saturday, June 20 – Begin the journey on a 1:35 a.m. on a Lufthansa LH 653 flight. Arrive in Frankfort in the morning, a layover of about 7 hours. Take off in the early afternoon and arrive in Toronto on LH 470 flight at 4:15 p.m. Arrive at our destination on the same day (I think we’ll be a bit tired). Meet the families (both sets of parents/grandparents and possibly other Roth family members) at Pearson International and travel to Tavistock. Eat a good meal and go to bed (if we can. Those of you who travel know the feeling of being ‘wired and tired’ at the same time).
Sunday, June 21 – Enjoy a unique Father's Day with both fathers, Amstutz and Roth, gathered around a table to eat. Say good-bye to Mom & Dad Amstutz as they head home (see you soon!).
Monday, June 22 – Get up early and travel to St. Catharines. Yes, if you are a friend of Amani, Abby and Sophia and are a student at Port Weller, here is a little surprise for you, they plan to show up in your classroom that day, surprise! Meanwhile Wanda and I will be going to the dentist (hm-m-m, let’s see, who will have more fun; our daughters or us?). If our teeth are relatively good and we get out at a decent time I hope we can ‘pop in’ on a couple of friends during the day. But if you are a friend in St. C and don’t see us that day, don’t worry, we’ll be back the following week. We will drive back to Tavistock that same day/ night.
Tuesday, June 23 – So the rest of the week will be spent in the company of our family ([grand]parents Roth, siblings and families). Yes we plan to R&R but with our Power-of-Attorney in our midst, I’m sure there will be business to conduct. And to inspect one of the storage facilities we are using. And to go online and begin ordering things that we want to take back to Ethiopia. But yes, to hang out.
Sunday, June 28 – It would seem that we are invited to share our MCC Ethiopia experience at East Zorra Mennonite Church, Wanda’s home church. So we hope to have a little power-point-presentation ready for them (and for friends and family as well).
Monday, June 29 – travel to Niagara region where friends have arranged for us to stay in the ‘Coffman Cottage’ in Vineland. From there we will have a week to do health appointments and visit friends. We look forward to that.
Saturday, July 4 – travel to Kidron, Ohio and arrive by mid-afternoon. I anticipate we will be seeing not only [grand]parents but also my siblings and their families. For a family that is far flung from each other, this will be a real treat. And hey, it’s the 4th of July, might we see some fireworks?
Sunday, July 5 – sounds like we have tickets for the Cleveland Indians – Oakland A’s game at Progressive Field (I still prefer Jacobs Field). The whole Amstutz family is going and it will surely be great fun.
Friday, July 10 – Drive out to Hamilton, IN to Lon and Heidi’s lake cottage. But wait, might there be a chance to go to Cedar Point that day?
Monday, July 13 – Drive over to Goshen, IN for the day (and overnight at Tim & Jen’s) and return to the lake cottage on the 14th.
Friday, July 17 – Drive to Indy to the Boschstutz house for the weekend. It’s been a while since we hung out there. I remember going to Steak & Shake just before we left for Ethiopia. Maybe we’ll get to visit there again . . .
Monday, July 20 – back to Kidron for another week. Hopefully we can relax a bit then. Eat fresh fruit, lots of ice cream, chicken BBQ from Gerber Poultry . . .
Saturday, July 25 - Drive to Scottdale, PA to see our friends for a week.
Saturday, August 1 – Drive across Pennsylvania to Akron, PA to see more friends and, of course, pay a visit to MCC Head Offices (where the Africa desk is located).
Wednesday, August 5 – Last big drive of the summer. Travel from Akron to St. Catharines in one day. Stay overnight.
Thursday, August 6 – Travel to Tavistock. Back with family.
Sunday, August 9 – Travel down to St. Catharines to Grace Mennonite Church for Sunday morning worship. Meet old friends at church. Return to Tavistock on the same day.
Monday, August 10 – Travel with Kindler family to a cottage for 4 days, one last getaway for the summer.
Saturday, August 15 – Back to Tavistock. Time is running out now (wow, I’m feeling it just writing about it!), time to prepare to travel back to Ethiopia.
Thursday, August 20 – Depart from Pearson International Airport at 6:05 p.m. on LH 471.
Friday, August 21 – Arrive at Bole International Airport at 6:20 p.m. on LH 652. We’re back.
There you have it. Two months is even too short to do all we want, but we’ll try! We’ll miss our friends here in Addis but can’t wait to see family and friends on the other side.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
All Systems Go
On a good day the electricity is on. On a great day there are 4,000 liters of water in our two tanks. On a really great day the hot water pressure is working. And on a perfect day all this is combined with the fact that everyone is healthy and happy. That was a day a couple of weeks ago but not today.
I am looking back on that moment now because it is so rare. In recent months the water tables have slowly gone down in Ethiopia causing a two-fold problem. The shortages of water and of electricity. That’s because this nation is powered mostly by hydro-electricity. The good news is that the rainy season is coming and the country is nearing completion on several more dams, including one that is slated to begin operation at the end of July.
But right now we don’t have electricity at least 3 days a week. We have heard the government has announced that there will be more power shedding with the power going off every other day for the foreseeable future. In addition we haven’t had water coming into the compound for at least 3 nights. No water comes into the compound during the day normally, but usually comes at night. Unfortunately we haven’t had any water at night now either. So we are imposing water rationing on the household. If the water doesn’t come over the weekend we’ll have to truck some water in with a tanker.
The other week we did have water, two tankfuls, but no water was coming in. We called Master Plumber. Normally I would say that with a smirk but Mr. Addis is truly a master plumber compared to his competition. Most plumbers have no training other than learning on the job from someone. Most plumbers bring no tools, you need to supply the tools. Most plumbers don’t have transportation, they either come on foot or you go pick them up. And if they need parts, you take them around to the hardware stores to shop. This is true of all the trades here. So when you can call a plumber and he says, I’ll be there in one hour, and he comes in one hour; when he arrives in a car with his own tools, when he speaks good English and knows plumbing terms in English, when he goes out shopping on his own, when he charges you a reasonable rate, then you know you have struck gold.
So Mr. Addis came and found dirt in our plumbing. It is ancient plumbing, he pointed out, inadequate for current household needs. But for the moment the water is running again and our budget is looking to be strained, so we’ll hold off for a bit. It turns out Addis has just started a construction company. Building houses, remodeling houses. So we plan to see if he can give us a good deal on laying down new flooring, painting several rooms, and building a shelter.
Right now living here is not ‘convenient’, but if there is a normal rainy season here then much will go back to ‘normal’. When we come back in August I hope that much will be improved such as;
• A steady flow of water coming into the compound
• No more power shedding, electricity 24/7 thanks to the rain and the new dams online
• All the roads in our area that have been under construction over the past 2 years will all be done, good-bye to all the traffic jams due to construction (there will still be traffic jams).
• Our house will have new flooring and fresh paint.
If all goes according to plan, all systems will be go, is that too much to expect?
I am looking back on that moment now because it is so rare. In recent months the water tables have slowly gone down in Ethiopia causing a two-fold problem. The shortages of water and of electricity. That’s because this nation is powered mostly by hydro-electricity. The good news is that the rainy season is coming and the country is nearing completion on several more dams, including one that is slated to begin operation at the end of July.
But right now we don’t have electricity at least 3 days a week. We have heard the government has announced that there will be more power shedding with the power going off every other day for the foreseeable future. In addition we haven’t had water coming into the compound for at least 3 nights. No water comes into the compound during the day normally, but usually comes at night. Unfortunately we haven’t had any water at night now either. So we are imposing water rationing on the household. If the water doesn’t come over the weekend we’ll have to truck some water in with a tanker.
The other week we did have water, two tankfuls, but no water was coming in. We called Master Plumber. Normally I would say that with a smirk but Mr. Addis is truly a master plumber compared to his competition. Most plumbers have no training other than learning on the job from someone. Most plumbers bring no tools, you need to supply the tools. Most plumbers don’t have transportation, they either come on foot or you go pick them up. And if they need parts, you take them around to the hardware stores to shop. This is true of all the trades here. So when you can call a plumber and he says, I’ll be there in one hour, and he comes in one hour; when he arrives in a car with his own tools, when he speaks good English and knows plumbing terms in English, when he goes out shopping on his own, when he charges you a reasonable rate, then you know you have struck gold.
So Mr. Addis came and found dirt in our plumbing. It is ancient plumbing, he pointed out, inadequate for current household needs. But for the moment the water is running again and our budget is looking to be strained, so we’ll hold off for a bit. It turns out Addis has just started a construction company. Building houses, remodeling houses. So we plan to see if he can give us a good deal on laying down new flooring, painting several rooms, and building a shelter.
Right now living here is not ‘convenient’, but if there is a normal rainy season here then much will go back to ‘normal’. When we come back in August I hope that much will be improved such as;
• A steady flow of water coming into the compound
• No more power shedding, electricity 24/7 thanks to the rain and the new dams online
• All the roads in our area that have been under construction over the past 2 years will all be done, good-bye to all the traffic jams due to construction (there will still be traffic jams).
• Our house will have new flooring and fresh paint.
If all goes according to plan, all systems will be go, is that too much to expect?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)