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Camels and Hyenas


I've been here in Ethiopia for four days. In those four days I've been dealing with a lot of third world problems that many really take for granted. These days I wake up happy if there's WATER & ELECTRICITY.

Back in Denmark I've never once woken up with the doubt of being able to take a shower. In the evenings I never once doubted that the street lamps would be on, when returning from a long day in the lab.

Ethiopia is quite a different story. Its put things in perspective, thats for sure. It is for sure the best decisions I've made in a while to move here. Challenging in many ways - as part of the rent here, meals are made every day leaving us with no access to a kitchen. This means we eat Ethiopien food every day - which is quite good - only issue being they serve the same for dinner as they do lunch. I have a feeling like this might get difficult in the long run. This is the stupidist thing to complain about though.

The photos posted of camels and local Ethiopians was taken while visiting pastoralists, in order to pick up camel milk for the experiments performed here. They are among the friendliest people I have yet to meet (some kids were quite shy), but these people live in houses made with some wood and mud. How they even get drinking water is a good question too. Yet these people seemed as though they should win an award for happiest people.

This village (kind of) we visited is part of the reason for me to want to move back here again someday. I love this country.

Now apart from the lack of water and electricity at times, some may know that hyenas exsist in Ethiopia. We'd also heard that they come onto campus during the night, and heard many howls from a distance. This being said, I did not expect my first near encounter with one on my 4th day in Ethiopia. I was working late in the lab tonight, with the door and windows open to try to keep the lab cool. At one point I hear dogs begin to bark nearby and don't think much of it. The footsteps that followed this barking I did not register clearly before a howl errupted that I recognized only to be one animal: Hyena. Right. Outside. My. Lab. By right outside my lab I mean within 5 meters from the lab windows.

Alone in the lab at 11pm, I was terrified. Then I ran to close the door to the lab, knowing the windows were too small for it to fit. I'm glad I managed to get a sim card for my phone yesterday & had a university staff members phone number programmed. Apparently the hyenas here aren't afraid of humans, nor aggressive towards us.

So my days here have been quite eventful & I love this country (as long as the hyenas don't attack me).


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