The Canine Conference

Although this is a strange blog to start our career in Ethiopia, I am finding that there is just too much to write about. I would like to describe to you all the new sights, sounds and feelings we are having here, but I think it would be best to communicate them slowly through various stories (not all at once in one big list). So the following story tells a little of our living quarters and experiences at night. Remember this blog is simply about our personal lives, not work related. To get work related updates, please ask us to be on our prayer partner list.

It is not uncommon to hear many sounds at night: people yelling to one another, the 5 am calls to worship of both the local mosque and the orthodox churc h, and of course dog barking. Last night it was the dogs that were especially wanting their presence known. After listening to their angry exchanges for about 15 minutes, I decided that I would go outside of our room onto the balcony of the guesthouse to see if I could see anything. After all, jet lag was keeping me wide awake at 3:30am so I might as well find some entertainment. Besides, we were told that Hyenas and Vultures hang out near the butchery a few miles away so I thought maybe a hyena had come to our neighborhood to stir things up. By the time I got outside (about 30 seconds), it seemed as if the dogs were taking a break. I poked my head through the coils of razor wire that line the top of the balcony wall and saw nothing below but the empty street. I poked my head around the corner and saw the guard shack near the huge fortress-like gate, closed for the night. Addis Ababa isn’t all that dangerous of a city (I guess) but the walls and razor wire and guards are just the expected way of living for foreigners.

I stuck my head back into the razor wire coil to once again check the street and this time I saw movement on the opposite corner. There were four dogs standing together looking in at each other as if having a middle of the night canine conference. Two dogs were big German Shepherd-type dogs, where as the other two were smaller like our dog friends in the States Chuck or Roxy. Suddenly one of the dogs busted out a viscious snarl, and the conference broke up. One dog headed north away from our house, whereas the other three headed toward our gate, prancing about in a V-formation. As they neared our gate the barking continued as Nikki, our guesthouse guard dog senses the intruders approaching. The trio of dogs, thought clearly on a mission and up to no good, where very content to let their voices be heard in protest against Nikki’s inhospitality. However, they didn’t let Nikki slow them down too much, as they soon turned the corner to head away from our guesthouse, possibly hunting down the hyena I was hoping to catch a glimpse of. With that momentary action concluded and the chill of the night starting to set in, I headed back into to bed for another 2 hours or so of sleepless listening. There’s plenty to hear in the Addis Ababa nighttime.