Out of Africa.

I'm an Aunty! My brother is a pa, my parents are grandparetns and we have all moved up a rung on the generational ladder. My brother and his gal have a beautiful wee daughter called Madeline. I'm tickled pink.

So I have finally left Ethiopia. I'm now in Yemen. Yemen rocks! Maybe it is just the comparrison for living in a stinky underdeveloped place for so long. But everything here is just do godamm beautiful.

The yearbook never got printed. I got the files to the printers two days before the deadline, they took over a week to print off a one page proof and then said that they could produce all the books on just two days. (x500 64pp full colour, saddle stiched... aye right) I signed the approval only on the condition that they would be done within the time frame... they were saying 'no problem' right up until the night before, then turned off their phones on the day. Suck.

And another sucky thing is that my camera is stolen. We (Sarah, Darius and I) had a goodbye party at our house, loads of food, chat, drink and all our staff. Had my camera out... as I do at parties and it dissappeared during the night. It was obivious it was gone the next day... but it wasn't until yesterday weh I was doing my final packing that I realised my camera battery charger was missing from the kitchen. Stink.

The thing that pisses me off most, is not the fact that we knew and trusted everyone in our house that night. it is the reaction of anyone who hears that the camera was stolen: "where was it" "it was on the table" "Oh, you should have never left it there." It's the exact attitude that the theif would have had. It's never the mistake of the criminal... it's always seen as the fault of the victim. That's why there is locks on the refridigerators here.

Darius also had a gold neacklace stiolen from the house. Obiviously by the maids, we told the school's owners that we were suspicious so they went thought the girls room, taking everything appaer... aquward, they eventually found a bag with some of Darius' stuff from the same place that he had the neaklace, but no neaklace. They are going to be fired.

It left a real bitter taste on what otherwise would have been a sad and sweet departure.

The school managers were wonderful rigt up till the very end, they gave us our promised 500 dollars US no problems and drove us to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye to them, they really are good people.

I'm here in Sana'a again with Darius. By concidence we got the same flight over. He is heading back to Ethiopia then to Canada in a week. I'm going to London in a few days.