Category Archives: Addis Ababa

Wardrobe malfunction

Posted on 26 May 2014 by lornaofarabia

Everything in our house here has a lock on it. The desks, the cupboards, even the refrigerator. We don’t use most of the locks (if you can’t trust your guards and housekeeper, who can you trust?), but there are a … Continue reading →

Posted in Home life | 4 Comments

1:1

Posted on 13 May 2014 by lornaofarabia

ICS is what’s called a one-to-one laptop school. Here, that means that every kid in grade 6 is entitled to his own school-issued computer. It’s funny to think how normal this seems to me now in Addis Ababa, yet how … Continue reading →

Posted in International Community School, Teaching | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Continuity

Posted on 16 Apr 2014 by lornaofarabia

Our school is 50 years old this year. It’s hard for me to picture what this school would have been like in 1964. That year I was in kindergarten at Merriewood Elementary School in Lafayette, California, where Mrs. Collins taught … Continue reading →

Posted in International Community School, Teaching | Leave a comment

Home improvement

Posted on 6 Apr 2014 by lornaofarabia

An Ethiopian family with a house like ours usually employs a cook or housekeeper who prepares meals in an outbuilding. Ethiopian cooking is slow and spicy and this arrangement keeps the onion and pepper aroma from permeating the house. There … Continue reading →

Posted in Home life, International Community School | 2 Comments

Gotta go to Ghana

Posted on 26 Feb 2014 by lornaofarabia

My family’s been on the move lately. Last week Andreas took eight Model UN team members to a conference in Doha, Qatar. While he was away, Alekka traveled with eleven of her classmates to the Global Issues Student Summit in … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Around Africa, International Community School, Volunteering | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Step right up, folks!

Posted on 17 Feb 2014 by lornaofarabia

The Fekat Circus came to ICS this weekend. It’s not Ringling Brothers, which in my opinion is a good thing, and I think the tigers and elephants would agree. This being Ethiopia, and Fekat being a not-for profit operation, you could … Continue reading →

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Fun with guests

Posted on 7 Feb 2014 by lornaofarabia

I love guests! We are fortunate to have had three – count ‘em, three! – adventurous visitors this winter. Our daughter Alice was here for about ten days in December before we all flew off to meet the rest of … Continue reading →

Posted in Addis Ababa, Around Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Family, Home life | Tagged , | Leave a comment

My big fat Greek glendi

Posted on 3 Feb 2014 by lornaofarabia

At Andreas’s birthday party last January, one of our Varnero neighbors brought up how much she loves the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  Did we have a copy of it?  Yes.  Could she come over some time and watch … Continue reading →

Posted in Addis Ababa, Family, Food, Home life | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Timket

Posted on 22 Jan 2014 by lornaofarabia

Once again I find myself in a blogging backlog situation. And once again it’s because I’ve been so busy being a tourist myself that I haven’t had time to write. Which is actually a happy thing, but now it’s catch-up … Continue reading →

Posted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Smells like Christmas spirit

Posted on 21 Dec 2013 by lornaofarabia

I’ve been finding it a little hard to get into a holiday mood. If you live in a country where Christmas starts as soon as the back-to-school sales are over, it might be hard to imagine anyone feeling nostalgia for … Continue reading →

Posted in Addis Ababa, Expat experience, Home life | Tagged , | 1 Comment