i think i'm on my way to finishing up a lot of the basics for the trip, so now it's on to the little details, like getting phone lines installed, buying office furniture, securing meeting space for iri's workshops...and then on to even more fun stuff like meeting the political parties and local civil society organizations that all want money, money, money!! of course we'll tell them we don't have any to give, but if they want training as election observers, then we're the ones to call!
i'm behaving horribly on this trip, and all these expat tendencies are coming out, but i can't seem to help it because it's apparently the only way things get done here. for example, i blew up at the poor customs officials who wanted to open my box of office supplies at the airport, after already putting through the x-ray machine and because i was pissed that it took 4 days to get here.... so i whipped out the whole "your government invited us here and i don't appreciate this kind of treatment," while handing over all these papers signed by the ethiopian electoral board, the u.s. government, etc. man, i never knew i could be so mean! well, at least it got the job done, and they left it alone after that....
security measures seem to be pretty ad-hoc around here, with some people getting checked and others not, tons of barbed wire at some houses, and others nothing. one funny thing i've seen is broken glass bottles being glued or cemented to the top of walls around people's houses, kind of serving as barbed wire....talk about creative deterrents!! i guess people here are pretty resourceful with what they have, which is pretty admirable....
okay, off to begin my weekend!! i'm sure i'll be working tomorrow, though i might take some time off to visit lucy at the national museum. nothing like millions-year-old fossils to keep things in perspective...
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