Per and Elsa catching our dinner

Munchkins in the mist

After leaving Gonder, we finally made it to the misty mountains, aka the Simien Mountains National Park (sadly, no hobbits). Its the end of the rainy season up here so everything is green and flowering and the weather is foggy and wet. 

Per pauses on a hike to consult his bird book. 

The path connecting our house to the neighbors.

Red hot pokers! 

Brief moments of sunshine! 

More Gonder

Sorry--this is a bit out of order. Here are some pictures on the way to Gonder:

In Gonder:

Gonder taxis! 

Inside a castle

This castle lost its roof when it got bombed in WWII. The Italians moved their headquarters to the castles hoping the Brits would not bomb them there. They were wrong. 

Inside the royal lion cages.

The 'lockers' in the royal baths.

The center of Gonder, the piazza (named during the Italian occupation).   

Gonder, done dat

Gonder is the closest real city to the Park where we work. It is also home to Gonder University, where we will be doing some teaching this year. It is about a 2.5 hour drive from the park. We spent a few days there arranging things with the University. We also did a bit of sight seeing...

Fasil's castle! Gonder was the home of Ethiopia's kings in the 16th century--they each built their own castle. Several are still standing. This is the oldest and the biggest, built by King Fasil. Can you spot the kids? 

Elsa enjoying some incense. 

Coffee ceremony! Ethiopia is where coffee originated and they take their coffee pretty seriously. 

Hotel Life

I mentioned last time that things will get more exciting soon. Well, I just wanted to document the lack of excitement so far. There are brief flurries of activity trying to get things done, but it has mostly been sitting around in the offices of bureaucrats waiting for various signatures and permission letters and other documents. For example, getting a driver's license is a multi-day ordeal that starts with having your license certified by the American Embassy (which can only happen Tuesday or Thursday afternoon). Then you have to have this certification certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (yes, it is a scary as it sounds). That is all before the multi-step process at the DMV equivalent--a process that starts with you finding the window where the lady sells the blue construction paper folders that will become Your File. These types of things are broken up with meals at restaurants and LOTS of time in the hotel room. Witness:

Elsa passed out reading her kindle

Home school! Yes we homeschool. No, we are not going to start making our own clothes or voting for Santorum.

The view from our balcony. I know you can't see it but it is just a few trees and rusty tin roofs on the houses behind us. One of the roofs contains a very loud rooster. Who appears to be a little jet lagged--seems to think the sun rises at 3AM. Hopefully he got eaten today (its the Ethiopian New Year--a day of high mortality for domestic animals). 

Yes, the kids do leave the room. In fact, the mall down the road has some pretty cool video games--here Elsa is flying a jet that moves along with game. Sure beats Space Invaders.  

Let's get this party started!

We're back! Broadcasting live from Ethiopia. We should have more exciting things to post once we leave the city. But for now, here is a picture of the world's saddest birthday party (Per turned 6 last week--don't feel bad for him, he celebrated before we left!). We will be posting via satellite email and iPhones and things so the quality won't be up to Jacinta's usual standards--but we promise to post more often (so expect the next post within 2 years).