New Year approaches: Monday will be New Years Day in the year 1999 in the Ethiopian calendar.

The summer programme at college is now finished, and instead of lesson observations my time will now be taken up with marking. Out of the four modules in the Higher Diploma course we finished Module 2 on Wednesday, and now I have to assess the candidates and comment on their self-assessment forms. I also have to mark and write feedback on the candidates Active Learning Projects. They had to teach four consecutive lessons with the same class in which they used a variety of new active learning methods. The reports have highlighted the lack of experience many of the candidates have about how to write a formal reflective commentary, complicated of course by them having to write it in English. I can see that many of them have made progress, and despite a lack of experience at reflecting on their teaching, there are a few “stars” in the group. The willingness of some of them to put in extra effort and to really try to make their teaching better, despite disenchantment with the college (and of course not wanting to be teachers in the first place!), demands respect and is quite humbling. Would I be as dedicated in the same circumstances?

Compared to how malnourished and gaunt we felt before we visited the UK in June, our diet is now healthier if limited in choice. When we first arrived we didn’t know how far our money would go each month, and we were a bit cautious about what we could eat given the many gastric horror stories we heard during in-country training. Over time our diet has become a bit more varied and interesting as we have spent more money on treats and become more creative with ingredients. Breakfast in particular is now worth getting up for now that we can buy South African cornflakes and once, Weetabix!!! Other highlights so far include: pancakes made with wholewheat flour and fishcakes made with tuna. What we really lack (in the healthy food arena) are greens. The green bean season is clearly over. The other options are a variety of spinach, which needs lots of cleaning and preparing, and cabbage. Now, I like cabbage but I don’t find it the most inspiring vegetable to eat. As the only easily available green vegetable I’ll have to look around for some advice on fun things to do with cabbage.

No matter how hard we try to eradicate bugs there always seems to be one mosquito that survives and buzzes my ear in the evening.