From:        RomaneWorQ
To:            Melak?
Subject:    Saichegirr Teff biddir...

Ewnetim Melak?:

u sure are heavenly, living on cloud nine while the rest of us are faced with the harsh reality that our dreams are more like Qijet. I love reading ur emails…they have an uplifting effect on me….I guess I don't need to take my 'busbar' today….

egziar yiyillachew editors….i was not able to sleep last night…besides being completely wiped out from the trip, I kept on waking up in the middle of the nite… as if I was going to the olympics…why do I feel this way…I doubt that this will be a lucid entry of any sort….

endet neh, hoday? as for me, I am ready to drop any minute. It's already in the afternoon. I want to go home so badly but I don't think it is possible. The boss, apparently, woke up on the wrong side of the bed and he is a maniac. Besides that, since everyone is out, it's me that takes all the crap from him today. I have so much on my 'to do list' but I decided to just finish off this LD so I can get it over with.

On the upside, if I have not told you already, Perky has gone home. Friday was her last day and gosh she perkified herself to the point that I almost strangled her. We had this lunch for her and she went on and on and on about how the organization has a big reputation around town and how great everything is….the whole nine yards…of course those suckers believed every word she said while I was ready to give her a whack on the head. BiCha ferenje….

anteyewa, I could not stop laughing about ur attempt to actually click on the link….that was the whole idea. it works every time.

u strike me as a person with great character. But as far as having had a lot of exposure--- yene geta, I think u have a different kind of exposure-- the kind that would make u more 'cosmopolitan' and 'idealist'. When I say we have not been exposed in ethiopia, I mean we have not seen evil, we have not suffered…and for that matter, we have never been part of the system. when I speak to some of my friends who have actually gone to the university in addis or have had real jobs there--- I hear horror stories. Trust me, finishing high school in a private school and traveling the world does not give us even the slightest clue on how the day to day life in 'Addis' is. I hear it is very frustrating especially if u want to make a difference. Change is something our society doesn't accept too well. I would give you a simple example: if a relative asks you to send him a sony XX brand radio and u end up sending him sony XXX ( an upgraded version), he gets upset b/c he prefers the one that everyone has/ knows…..u get the idea. one thing I have to remind u is that the population of Et is close to 60 million and u and I don't even represent one percent of the whole population. It is really easy for us to romanticize the whole Ethiopian experience. Hilm aykelekelim……as my amharic teacher used to say 'deha b'enQilfu Qibe bayTeTa noro NiQaQat yigelew neber'…….so keep on dreaming….it is our dreams that keep us alive.

A good friend of mine was here from out of town and we were reminiscing about the old times. We were laughing and at the same time were surprised at how much we have changed. This is a friend who I was more like a 'mom' to when I was in high school. I was one of those unique/weird people who was very serious/ambitious/sort of Qelem yet very carefree/careless and a complete brat. But when it came to this particular friend, I was more caring…the type that calls to remind him that he has finals to study for, he has an overdue library book,… Now our roles have changed and he is the 'serious big brother' who constantly looks out for me and I am the one with tons of unpaid parking tickets, overdue blockbuster video tapes,…etc. Over the years, we tried to keep the friendship going and thanx to the internet we are doing better now than before. But one thing about having a guy friend is that they give u attention whenever they are single. if they are dating someone, we--meaning the platonic girlfriends--would be ignored till ajjerit is no longer in the picture.

I miss my girl friends a lot, especially the ones I grew up with. We are all scattered around the four corners of the world. I envy the older generation because they went back home after they finished school in the US. They had mahber with their childhood friends. They sent their kids to the same schools, carpooled, and enjoyed life to the fullest. My kids would be lucky if they grow up in the same city as their cousins whether it be in addis or here in the states. bicha lezia yadrisen mejemeriana…

beterefe, Melak?iye, my end of the day is approaching and I still have not done a single thing … this entry took me the longest to write and I don't even know what I have written. The boss actually told me that the past week I was more distracted than ever….little did he know, that I have taken a second job as LDst for Seleda….by the way, I just finished updating my resume. I added 'Co-authored --- Chipper is as chipper does: inside the life of the charismatic, the sanguine, and the cosmopolitan.'

it has been real; it has been fun but heck, editors, this Monday deadline was a complete drag….wendimen…if I don't get a reply by tonite, Melak?, asebebet…biCha…when I check my email on Wed., there better be an email from Monday waiting for me.

bel degmo andanday Taff Taff argiliN, eskeziaw gen Timrtihin YigileSilih, injerahen yawefrrelih…..

ROMAN

From:        Melak?
To:            RomaneworQ
Subject:    Fleeting Idealism...

Ehtewa,

… maybe you are right, maybe I do live on clouds most of the time. I think that is the best explanation I can come up with for my famous drift offs in the middle of conversations -- I go to play with my buddies up in the clouds. keQidus Giorgis gara kwas lemeCHawet … My attention and retention spans have been of grave concern to me lately. I gots to do a better job in class this year … or else, poor Sara, my savior, iswam siyaQebTat she took a year out like me and will be back at school in two weeks, which means she will be taking notes for two people

iwnetim igzer yiyilachew yeSeleda editeroch … what a skill they have honed, masking BULLYNESS in eloquent phrases … maybe I should have just let the Seledawi/t send Tony, 'tiny', and Leroy to take care of business. Maybe they would have done their job well beyond the expectation of their boss, breaking my hand and blackening my eye, exempting me from stripping off my clothes on LD …

yanchiNawas Aybisim … in your rush to re-PERK-tize me, you rush and say that I have claimed to have had a lot of exposure. I didn't know you missed Perky already … I believe I said I have sufficient exposure, enough not to cloud my reasoning with infatuations. I won't disagree with you about 'cosmopolitanism', and had you written this a couple of years ago, 'idealism' -- unfortunately, some of that has fleeted over the past couple of years. True, we may not have seen evil in the eye (but then again, evil comes in all sorts of shapes and colors) and we may not have suffered (you and I are among the fortunate ones who have had a roof over their heads and three meals a day … leAndandoch, yeEnriko cake for dessert included) … but, we WERE part of the system, because we did not exist in a vacuum. I lived my life to a large extent through the pain of my family. You, I, she, he, they, them, and us lived in a country deprived of many of its basics, some may even argue all of its basics, be it justice or a functioning health care. And whether we like it or not, a country deprived deprives all her children -- not equally, but she still deprives. She has deprived my family of three lives and has failed to provide necessities for one.

But I will never say I was among the unfortunate. I hope that is not the message you got. In fact, I strongly believe that to fail to recognize fortune, luck, blessing, and comfort in a country like ours amounts to trivializing the pain and sufferings of the poor and downtrodden, not to mention the hard work and effort of our parents and family. Yet, it is our experiences that shape us, and those experiences are fundamental in our cognizance of what she has and does not have to offer us. And when the day comes to go back, to at least give it a try (don't worry, it ain't anytime soon), it is with that cognizance.

By the way, as for societal change vs. Sony stereo, you definitely set yourself up for a good gibe, but I will spare you … yene geta silalshiN … one of the few things I miss about the mid West: going to a diner or restaurants where the motherly waitresses will say "how you doin today sweetheart, what can I getcha …" sweetheart, honey, pumpkin and darling sure were plenty and they were enough to put a smile on a face blasted by a blizzard

Talking about friends, I got a sad e-mail today from one of my very close friends (friends ever since first week of orientation at undergrad, when we were these two skinny terrified kids from Africa) who is currently working at Skopje, Macedonia … mind you, he is from Senegal, and of course the first thing he wrote to say when he got there was that he felt he stood out. I wonder why … anyway, he was apparently transiting through Bangkok with a Macedonian colleague of his, and my friend was refused a confirmed seat on Swiss Air … what is worse, when he got upset, the Swiss Air agent declared that he was a danger to himself and to other passengers, and refused to sell him a new ticket … poor Papa (for that is his name, like eight million other Senegalese), I can just picture smoke coming out of his nose and ear … the sad thing is, of course, before smoke started coming out of his nose and ear, it is his skin color that made him a danger. A Programme Officer in charge of Micro-credit Projects with Catholic Relief Services stationed in the Balkans a threat to Swiss Air in Thailand … ay Qoda, ay Qelem, ay mekerachin

Well, it is back to school in a week-and-a-half's time … personal goal for the year: finish without pulling an all-nighter. Something tells me it may not happen, so if you get random e-mails at 3:33 am, 5:17am or 6:04 am, please ignore the time … pay attention to them to the extent they determine how far down I can go in your anjet or hod … yes, it has been real, and it has been a lot of fun … for the flattery, ahunim leTTTT biye iJJ Inesalehu … my updated resume would read, 'Co-authored - Anjete seffeewa: weTta yeQerechiw AsiQeewa, Astewayua' loved your humor

BeLelaNaw mesmer inigenaN

CHIPPER