The one thing I do not like about my accommodations is the kitchen. While it is spacious, everything is so dirty. All of the cupboards and handles are sticky and grimy, the shelves and cupboards don’t open and close properly, and in general, things are falling apart. I’m not even sure if hours of scrubbing would do it any good. When I first arrived, I tried opening all of the cupboards to see what kinds of supplies were in there. I was a little shocked to see HUMUNGOUS mouse traps with some sort of powder on them. I figured they had been in there for years, but today Almaz mentioned that she threw out the third rat that was trapped in just the past two days! Ugh. Now I really don’t want to use the kitchen…thank goodness I have Almaz to help me out for now. I had plenty of leftovers from lunch, so I told Almaz she could go home early. Before leaving, she baked some bread that had been rising all morning in the oven. It made my house smell so good! I look forward to a little comfort food of peanut butter, jam, and bread for breakfast tomorrow!
When the sun was completely down and night was setting in, we headed back toward campus. Instead of calling it a night, we opted to go get a beer. Students are not allowed to drink alcohol on campus; they can leave campus and drink in the city if they want. For teachers though, they have a little bar area. Solomon and Andarge think that Haramaya is the only university in Ethiopia that sells beer like this for the staff. This is probably because Haramaya is relatively isolated and far from the city; if a teacher wanted to enjoy a beverage after work, it would be inconvenient to do so without this facility. I tried my first Harar Beer which is made in Harar (just 30 minutes away). The brewery opened in 1984, but was bought out by Heineken in 2001. The beer was tasty and heartier than the St. Georges Beer I tried before and was only 9 birr for a bottle ($.50 USD). You can guess where you’ll find me after a stressful day of work!