Birds

October 18

Our time in Ethiopia is beginning to wind down.  Dave had a much more productive day as his IT person was available to him. Dave was able to do what he’d set out to do in this training session and tomorrow will be a bonus day to tie up loose ends. 

I had another enjoyable day at the program, learning Amharic and teaching English. One of the staff asked me what I was finding the most challenging about this country.  My answer was about the money.  The currency is called birr and it's about 20 birr to $1.00 Canadian.  The largest bill is a 100 birr note and the 1 birr is a coin that looks exactly like a tooney. I feel like I don’t have a clue what I should be paying for anything, and the price of something varies so much. When I went shopping this afternoon with Misgana, I told her I wanted to pay the Ethiopian price for something, not the tourist price!  I’m not sure if that truly happened, but that’s how it goes. 

As I’ve mentioned, Bahir Dar is a beautiful lush green city.  There are also lots of beautiful birds. I've enjoyed meals by the lake in an outdoor cafe, listening to the bird sounds. I’ve been trying to take photos of birds which is quite a challenge. Here's a sampling.  I have no idea what any of them are called. 

This one was quick to scavenge food at the restaurant.

This one is a dove, I think.

That's a long beak!

(We had no internet last night so this one is a day late.)