Bonjour world,

We are nearing the end of the craziest day of all time. To say that it was a new experience would not do it justice. First though, I'll get you all up to speed after Em's epic post a few days ago.

Yesterday was very sunny. In the morning we met with Abba Thomas to talk about how we would go about filling 4+ hours, 5 days a week with constructive English learning. We decided to focus on speaking while using old English exercise books for grammar and writing. After that we had tea. I have never had this much tea in my life, and Ethiopians like it with lime and sugar, no milk. I've also started drinking coffee sometimes because we are pretty much in the coffee capital of the world. Then we decided to take a short drive a little ways outside of Adigrat to a missionary church/residence where two sisters lived. It was called the house of St Justin, or something like that. St Justin was an Italian missionary who came in the 19th century and was known for his caring attitude toward the locals. His fellow Italians disliked this approach and wanted to more actively recruit the natives to Christianity, and St Justin became afraid for his life. Abba Thomas regards him as one of his favorite saints. We took a short walk behind the mission house which went up to a plateau inhabited by numerous small rock houses and one amazing tree perched on the edge of the cliff, growing straight out of the rock. The sister told us it had been there since St Justin's time. Em and Tom got pictures. While walking on the plateau we were mobbed by kids, girls, and women who were fascinated by the cameras. Em and Tom had to take so many, and after each one everyone crowded around to see the result. It was hilarious. We wandered for  a while before making our way back to the seminary, and soon Abba Thomas came again to see if we wanted to meet the Bishop. We went to his office and talked for a while about everything from Dr Radcliffe to why Colgate was named after a toothpaste company to what Adigrat used to look like. He took us up on the roof to have a nice view of the city. Apparently 15 years ago, it was much smaller. Then, dinner, then TV with the students - their satellite is bad sometimes, and we had to watch Kung Pow - Enter the Fist in stop and go connection...very frustrating. Then Evolution came on, and I went to bed. I finished my first book about Agent Zigzag, or Eddie Chapman, a British double agent who offered his services to the Germans when they took over Jersey in WWII, was trained by them, given the task to blow up the factory making the British Mosquitos (which, amazingly, were made out of balsawood), was parachuted into Britain north of Cambridge, and immediately turned himself over to MI5. He played an important role in much of the deception confusing the Germans throughout the early 40's, and was even awarded an Iron Cross by the Germans for his services. He must have been pretty convincing. Also, he had an insatiable appetite for adventure, and was dropped by MI5 because when he was bored, he strayed into an "undesirable" lifestyle. He made a lot of money from rigged dog races, including one time when he and his brother made £250,000 when they fed all the dogs, except the one which had odds of 20:1, fish soaked in chloretone. It won by 10 lengths.

Anyway, today we woke up, ate breakfast, and then had all 17 students, 3 teachers, and Abba Thomas gathered together to discuss the plans. We all introduced ourselves, said our hometown, favorite sport, and English proficiency level. Based on their judgement of their English, we split into 3 groups. Em had earlier volunteered to take the beginners, which was a relief to Tom and I. I called the experts. My group stayed in that room and talked about English restaurants, steak and ale pie, handshakes, beer, and random other things. I was very nervous and lost all my ideas about what to talk about. Luckily, these experts were pretty good, but not quite fluent. At 10 we had a break. Abba Thomas, Tom, Em, and I talked about what we had been doing so far, and it seemed my group was the only one that stayed inside. So, at 10:30, we went and sat under a tree in the minor seminary. This session went much smoother as we became accustomed to each other. We each told brief life stories followed by most embarrassing moment. I told the one about falling off the risers. Ngassy, who is already very good at speaking English, told us about a time when he was taking a test in high school when the girl next to him pleaded for help on hers. He was too nice to refuse, and switched papers. When the teacher collected everything at the end, and his had a girls name on it, Ngassy was forced to plead for him not to tell his the other teachers, which would have ended in expulsion. He was successful, and ended up 2nd in his class. He never talked to the girl again.

Eventually we made our way back for lunch, followed by several hours of volleyball, soccer, frisbee (which turned out to be a fantastic success, they all love it...except that the frisbees are really getting beat up), and boules. Everyone is fantastic at all of the above, especially volleyball and boules. They can also throw the frisbee better than some people on my team at Colgate after only an afternoon of teaching in sign language and much gesturing. We met again for a little to see what they thought of the first day and outline our plan for the week, which is still sketchy. After that, more volleyball, then a shower, and here I am. We are going to dinner....about now...and watching The Great Escape after. Tomorrow we'll ask a few questions about it to see how well they understood. Em and Tom gave homework from the exercise books, but I told my class we would do it together tomorrow. Time for dinner!

Peter.