New House & Hotels

So I feel like I should do this now before I move out of the hotel on Wednesday. Hooray! I have a house to live in. It doesn't have hot water and it only has a sink in the bathroom, but it's not a hotel, which is a relief. I've also been told I get to keep the sofa which is a really nice one. But more on my new house later.

The hotel trade in Ethiopia is huge. Way bigger than I thought it would be for a nation where a lot of people never leave the town that they are born in. There's a lot of hotels everywhere you go and there's a reason for this that I initially found puzzling. Apparently despite having phones (sort of reliable) and the internet (a little less reliable) Ethiopians insist on conducting as much business as possible face-to-face. No one can really give a more satisfactory answer for this than cultural differences. As a result the majority of people who have to do much business outside of their town are traveling quite regularly to meet their business partners. For example when I arrived in Gondor the dean and both vice-deans of the college were away on business trips that were about two weeks long to a variety of places. They got back a little after me. Talking to other volunteers this sort of behaviour is quite common with most of their bosses disappearing without warning to go to another city with some regularity. As a result of this there's a thriving hotel industry in Ethiopia and if you're so inclined to the thriftier hotels it's actually quite cheap, probably because there's so many people who use it. (think $2-$3 a day for a small room and shared bathroom, but watch out for fleas).

That's all for now will post again later this week about my job (which has started), my house (after I move in), my possible trip to Bar Hadir sp? (we have a long weekend coming up) and the Battle of Adwa (the reason we have a long weekend). But no guarantees I'll post on all these things.