I am sorry that it has been so long between posts. Between getting settled in and getting the team up to speed, this blog hasn’t received the attention that I would like to give it. That said here is an update of how my first 3 weeks has gone.
After my adventure of getting to Addis Ababa, I quickly jumped into the digitization workshop that Steve had begun that morning. We had 14 students for our workshop and it was a lot of fun working with them. They all had a solid grasp of how to photograph manuscripts by the end of the week and we made some very interesting connections that could result in future projects. They were great students and it was very enjoyable to see them really understanding and enjoying the work that we are doing.
After completing the workshop, my apartment was finally available for me to move into. My apartment is above a school that is run by the Norwegian Lutheran Mission and is only a few miles from the university. It is a really nice place with two large bedrooms, a nice bathroom, and a good sized kitchen/living room. There is also a nice field and basketball court that has provided some excellent stress relief… even if my roommate, Kaleab, just about killed me when we played one-on-one and I discovered very quickly that I had not adjusted to the altitude yet!! It was a very close game until we tied it up at 12-12 and then I ran out of air and then he whupped me. The best part of this apartment is definitely the high-speed internet. Now high-speed here and high-speed in the US mean two very different things, but this connection is fast enough that video chatting is possible, which I never thought would work in Ethiopia!!! It has been a real blessing to be able to talk with Heather and with family as well as keeping in contact with Steve and keeping him updated on how the project is going.
The project is going really well. In our first 2 weeks of work, the four of us have combined for 40,485 shots!!! I am very pleased with this number and the guys on my team have improved quickly and continue to improve, which has been a lot of fun to see. Even if it means that the single-day shot record that I set last trip is certain to fall any day now… I guess it will give me some motivation to try and get it back! However, the problem has been that the manuscripts this time take quite a few more shots than the manuscripts that we shot last winter (Instead of averaging an expected 117 shots per manuscript, they are taking 158 shots. Though 51 more shots doesn’t sound like a ton, it becomes a very large number when multiplied across 3,300 manuscripts!!!). This means that the 3,300 manuscripts that we promised to the British Library could be very hard to come by if we don’t get into some shorter manuscripts soon. They won’t be able to question our shot count, but our number of manuscripts just isn’t as high as I would like.
Other than work, I spent Ethiopian Christmas (January 7th) with Demeke and his family. It is always fun when I get invited over for dinner at their house and I always feel very welcome and always get fed waaaayyyy too much food. Every time I would get close to making some progress on the food on my plate, Demeke or his wife would add another heaping helping of something tasty and look very disappointed when I would say that I couldn’t possibly eat any more. Even though I came prepared by not eating lunch before going over, I was still very full by the end of the evening. Last weekend, Kaleab and I went to the Holy Trinity Church and to the National Museum, which are too major tourist attractions in Addis that I had never visited. Holy Trinity Church is a very impressive church made in the style of a western Cathedral. It is very impressive and it was very interesting to visit the tomb of Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia, which is inside the church. The National Museum has a great art display of both religious and modern art that was a lot of fun to look through. Kaleab was also a great tour guide when it came to the art and to the exhibits dealing with the different cultures within Ethiopia. It was a really fun day!
Well, I think that mostly catches you all up on what I have been up to. For those who aren’t on Facebook or for those who are and missed my post, I have put up some pictures of my apartment and of Holy Trinity Church and everyone should be able to check them out if you follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.
I hope that you are all well and I hope to update this blog much more often now that I am a bit more settled in. Until next time.
