Today started well, with a physics lesson that felt a good deal more lively and interesting than the lacklustre one I did yesterday. We are both feeling very tired and drained. Two non-VSO volunteers who are working in Gondar, Gemma and Steve, came round to our place last night for dinner. They both pointed out that after working flat out in Awassa to get things finished we then left our "home", relocated to a new town and started new jobs within a few days. I think we need to be a bit less hard on ourselves and accept that life here is just harder and more tiring than we would expect it to be at home. We had a good evening, helped by the bottle of Ethiopian red wine. If you haven't heard of Ethiopian wine it's for a good reason, but in the right company and in the right mood it can be surprisingly drinkable.

After a satisfying lesson (students here love being taught by a ferenji - my class of 51 students actually consisted of 56 such is the desrire to attend a lesson by a ferenji, even if it's not a class you are supposed to be in!) the rest of the day did not go so well. I had arranged to meet with the Vice Dean to discuss the cluster unit action plan I have been working on, only to discover that he had gone into Gondar on other business. His secretary didn't know when he would return, does not keep any sort of appointments book for him and generally couldn't tell me anything useful. Just one of the many frustrations.

I teach another class tomorrow morning, and then head off to the airport to fly to Addis Ababa to attend a volunteers committee meeting on Friday. Gill flies to Addis on Saturday and then the following week will be spent with all the VSOs in Ethiopia at a conference. The break will be good and is much needed! We will be back at work in Gondar on Dec 25th - Xmas day but not here! Dec 25th is just a normal day here.