Blasts

"Blasts" was the subject line of the email I received from Ethiopia today. My initial thought was "oh no, there have been some bombings in Addis". This has happened in the past near large hotels and the Ethiopian Airlines offices. Then, it hit me. And, I was right. C'mon now, you KNEW this was coming.......

"Sher, Rick and the Three Tornadoes,

How come we don't get the blog? I imagine you are pimping us and don't want to be limited by us reading it. Kidding!

After talking to you the other night and bragging about how healthy we were I woke to a rumbling sound which turned out to be coming from my stomach. I hustled to the toilet and almost made it. Seven more times during the night I blasted until I thought my back bone would come out next. Needless to say I was unable to go to the first day of school. The head doc, Bea, brought me water with salt and sugar and I started cipro. It was a long day laying in bed and occasionally running for the dumper. Then, since I had slept most of the day, I lay awake most of the night trying to figure out a pattern for Ma's snoring and jaw clicking. This along with the loud rumbling in my stomach created a syncopated rhythm that in some way was soothing to one for whom sleep would not come. I am better this morning but still unable to go to school.

I don't know if I told you about the time I had with a little, maybe one and a half year old street kid in front of Gabrielle Church while waiting for Mulbach and Belisle. This kid and his young mom were begging and the kid was kicking and throwing an empty water bottle around and of course I couldn't stay out of the game. So for about half an hour I would kick the bottle to the kid and he would throw it back. Intermittently I would hide behind a pillar and peek out at him and he would laugh hard. His mother and the other beggars seemed to be enjoying this. When a car pulled up Karen thought it was Mulbach so I gave the mom a birr. It turned out that was the wrong car so the game resumed. Eventually the car arrived and as we were leaving the kid and his mom gave us a mighty wave. I had a great time with the kid but I wonder how long he can survive given what his life must be like. I guess this reply has no more room. Oops I guess I was wrong. Any way, many places in this beautiful city make Red Lake look like Edina.

Ma had a case of the missing yous last night. She was really feeling lonely. It is hard not seeing you. We were really spoiled having you so close and watching the girls grow day by day.

Sher, tell the kids at school I am thinking about them. Tell Cruiser and Lefty "hocus pocus you must focus."



So, several things about this email are funny to me. First, He thinks I'm pimping him on the blog??? snicker, snicker, snicker.... Funny how they can't access blogspot in Ethiopia. I sort of feel like Jay Leno or David Letterman did when George Bush was president - more than enough GREAT material provided every day to get laughs.

Second, I have been waiting and waiting for him to get the diarrhea! I can't imagine he is remembering to brush his teeth with bottled water every time and, we all know how he likes to eat :) The syncopation of the snoring, jaw clicking and rumbling had me rolling on the floor!

In the next paragraph he keeps referring to a woman named "Mulbach". When I knew this woman her name was "Yulemwork". I'm not sure he ever saw it spelled out, so its interesting what he came up with!

The comparison between Red Lake and Edina will only mean something to you if you are from Minnesota. Edina is one of the wealthiest cities in MN. Red Lake is the Indian reservation 30 miles north of Bemidji where almost 100% of people live below the poverty level. In trying to explain the standard of living in Ethiopia to my Dad, I would often say that spending time in Red Lake or parts of Mexico would never prepare him for Ethiopia. I guess I was right.

So, in conclusion - fear not, dear readers. The only blasts coming from Addis Ababa were in my Dad's bathroom :) And, thank goodness for their roommates, they have a private one!