It's the rainy season here in Ethiopia.  It goes until the end of September.  We've had LOTS of rain, but it's a lot like Arizona when it rains.  It will rain really hard, then the sun comes out and it's warm and beautiful! It does rain a LOT MORE though! Sometimes 3 or 4 times a day!  It is VERY green and pretty. : D

The Ethiopian calendar has 13 months.  There are 12 months with 30 days and the 13th month, which begins this Friday, Sept. 6th, has only 5 days.  Their NEW YEAR'S DAY is September 11th.  School starts that week after the new year.   I guess they REALLY celebrate and it's pretty wild because the missionaries here are on "lockdown" that day.  The elders here will spend the day at a member's home. He works for the American Embassy and is YM Pres. in the branch and also teaches the only Institute class in Ethiopia in that branch.  Sad to say, he will be heading home in October after being here for 2 years.

We just SKYPED with our kids and it's EARLY Tuesday a.m. so we will post a few more interesting
photos.....

We see women sweeping the streets EVERY morning when
we are out driving around.  They are even on the BUSY
highways!! They have handkerchiefs around their faces
with only their eyes showing. The streets are pretty clean!

Check out the scaffolding made from eucalyptus poles!
It doesn't look too sturdy to us!

We love the makeshift stairways!

These young women were walking down the street in front of our house.  
You can see how they carry things on their heads.  Sometimes they are 
HUGE baskets or bundles!!You will often see women walking side by 
side, one in westernclothes and the other in their traditional clothes 
with theirheads completely covered.  All the women in the 
Ethiopian Orthodox Church have their heads covered, mostly 
with special white scarves.  We will have to get a picture....

Because bricks, cement and everything is made by hand,
buildings take a LONG time to be built!! There are dozens
and dozens of concrete buildings unfinished all over Addis.
All homes have a stone wall around them with a locked gate 
and most of the time razor wire!  The property is called a 
compound. Some have guards too.

Here is another photo of a building under construction.  
All of these photos were taken near our neighborhood in Addis.
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