Salam!

Life in Addis is going well. The weather finally seems to turn and the last few days have been really nice with sun and no rain! The Amharic is also getting better and we can almost order our food without using English. Our Ethiopian friends are teaching us more and more every day and we practice as much as we possibly can! The goal is to learn at least the basic phrases, so that we can communicate with the local people.

In Friday we were at the animal market. The plan was to visit the slaughter house in Mexico Sq., but the head wasn’t there so we couldn’t enter. Instead we visited the animal market nearby. It’s the biggest one in Addis so it’s a good source for our data collection! The head was really helpful and he told us to call him whenever we wanted to go there, very nice! He actually has a background in animal science and hopefully he can give us some input in our study. The market itself was big with lots of animals, mostly cattle. We got lots of good data and movies, but it was a bit difficult. Even if we had permission to videotape, the handlers and traders didn’t know and were really upset. Anyway we got the data and got home safely, exhausted after 4 hours of animals and crazy men.

Today we have had class in Environmental Engineering and now we are in the IT-office to make some internet-stuff. Our e-video is really problematic and we need to upgrade it at tele-office. The problem is that we need to go with our ex-supervisor and he has no time for that at the moment. So now we use the internet in school and that’s why we don’t update the blog as often as we should. Sorry guys!

Now we need to continue studying, the final exams are in the end of May so we really need to study! Tomorrow we have class in the Economic Geography of Ethiopia, really looking forward to it The teacher is so good and the class is awesome!

Love from us.

Antonia & Josefine