Friday, January 9: Shabbat

Friday is teaching day in our neurosurgery program.  There were two excellent presentations by two different residents; one on stereotactic neurosurgery and the second on brachial plexus injuries.  They are capable of neither of these procedures, and I am always amazed at the quality and depth of their presentations, in spite of their lack of hands on experience.  Actually these presentations provided an opportunity for me to discuss with them several practical, and reasonably inexpensive strategies for adding these capabilities to their repertoire.

I took two minibuses from the hospital to the Ethiopia Telecom office for a problem with my phone.  I can receive phone calls, but not initiate them.  I have an Ethiopian SIM card and you buy cards on the street that have codes you punch into the phone to load money onto the phone.  I bought three different cards and none were working.  I had Ethiopian friends try and still no luck, hence my long trip to the Telecom office.  The lady greeted me with a smile and laughingly told me I have the same problem as everyone else.  The system has not been working for two days.  When will it be working? “sometime”.  How soon?  “I don’t know; keep trying”.  What do I do to make calls? “ buy a new phone and sign up for recurring monthly phone service!”

In addition to no functioning outgoing phone, the wifi at my hotel (and in numerous spots throughout the city) has not been working for two days, but suddenly was functioning again in the evening.

Walked 1 or 2 miles from Telecom to my hotel to greet Paula and Joan, from Rochester,

Joan and Paula

who have been working with deaf children in Bahir Dar for the past 2 weeks.  They left their group a day early to come to Addis so that they could experience Shabbat at Rick’s house. It was the usual spiritual, moving experience with wonderful opportunities to interact with the many children living in his house and his current volunteers, Jeremy and Jonathan.  He gets outstanding recent college graduates who come for a year, volunteering through .. the JDC (the Joint).  Also there for several months is Dan Combs, one of his volunteers from last year who is doing amazing work extending the capabilities of Rick’s various activities.

Walked probably four miles with Paula and Joan, stopped for lunch, when to an Ethiopian supermarket where they bought food related gifts to take home.  Finally back to the hotel for a rest before walking to Rick’s house, just 10 minutes from here for a glorious Shabbat