Return from MSC

My first week back at site after MSC (mid-service conference) and medical was busy and at times not fun. After Djibouti, I spent another three weeks in Addis Ababa. The first few days I went to the movies and ate lots of food. I had my routine medical, which involved a physical and dental visit, the normal stuff. MSC was great; everyone was excited and optimistic for the second year of service. The week was informational and exciting to see everyone after being in Ethiopia for 15 months. After MSC I stayed in Addis for another week to see more doctors, because I was having a slight trimmer in my hands and my nails were discolored. I know what you’re thinking, more medical problems….the answer is yes. I just can’t stay healthy in this country. So after spending another week in Addis I was excited to get back to Injibara and be in my house.

I however, was not looking forward to cleaning my house. Once I got to Injibara, I met with Deborah and Lauren (my new site mate). We had dinner and caught up. I couldn’t wait to get to my house. My house was dirty, moldy and smelly. I already had a bunch of laundry to do and I just added to the pile when I got home. Throughout the week I was able to clean the mold off my shelves, but the laundry pile is still piled high on my living room floor. I enjoyed making my own dinner and breakfast.

This school year, Deborah and I plan to work together on projects. Throughout the week I had meetings, but when it came to having a meeting at my assigned school, no one showed up. I was upset and almost cried, but then I realized that I had other things to do, other places I could be putting my time, so I left. I wasn’t happy and I’ll try again to have a meeting at my assigned school, but if it doesn’t work, then I’m not going to waste my time. 

October 21st....a good day

Today has far been one of the best days of my service. I wasn’t looking forward to school because I was let down last week when no one showed up for my English Teacher meeting. So I took my time getting to school. I took laundry to the clothes house (libs bet), stopped for coffee and went to the bank. When I finally got to school, I went to my office to drop off my backpack. My next stop was the director’s office, where I asked for another English teacher meeting. He agreed and a time and day was set, Thursday at 12:15. I then went back to my office to decide what I was going to do next. My decision was to think of a day and time where I can have English hour with the teachers. I made a sign stating “English Hour Wednesday from 11:15-12:15 and 12:30-1:30 Come practice your English skills”. I showed the sign to my director and asked if I could post it for the teachers to see. He said okay, which I was thankful for. I showed the sign to some teachers and told them about the program.

            Next thing I know I’m playing soccer with two KG (4 year olds) students in a skirt. It was fun, until the rain came, yes it was a sprinkle but I still was ready to stop. The three of us went to my office were we got crayons and paper. The KG students copied my print and wrote the ABC’s. After a few minutes a 1^st grade student joined us. She was waiting to go to class, so she joined us and wrote the ABC’s, numbers (in number form and in words), and also words I would ask her. She is very smart for a 1^st grade student. After all the kids left, the Grade 5 English teacher came to my office to ask me some questions about the text book. It is the first time this has happened this semester.

            After leaving school I went to lunch with Deborah. I stopped by the post office and picked up some laundry from the clothes house. I then went for coffee. My plan was to sit by myself and read and write letters, however plans changed. As I was sitting there, a little boy I know, 3^rd grade student joined me. I put my notebook away and got a piece of paper out and asked him to write things I was saying. For a 3^rd grade student he was struggled. I wrote the ABC’s and words that start with each letter, then had him copy it. His handwriting was decent, but not that good. After working for a little while, he went and got two  younger boys. So the three of them goofed off and showed off for me. The three year old was very smart, he knew body parts and was very talkative. Most younger children don’t talk to me or open up like he did. The boys were entertaining.

            When I got home, Samuel and Mulugeta (Sammy’s friend) came into my house. I had them sit down and read “Spot goes to School” to them. They enjoyed it and we pointed out certain pictures. After reading they got out the cards, subtraction, addition, Uno and NatGeo animal cards. The Uno cards they lined up on the floor. I then asked them to find a number and how many of the number there was. They practiced their numbers this way. After doing that, I got out cards with the ABC’s. I mixed them up, held them up and asked them what letter it was and something that started with that letter. While all this was going on, Eldona (the baby, 1.5 year old) came in my house; she actually walked in the door, which has never happened before. She came in almost 5 feet from the door, which shocked me. I also had the soccer ball out and played with her.

            So all in all…..I’d say a good day. I wrote three letters and made three Halloween cards, played with lots of children and helped them with their ABC’s. The best day thus far. I hope teachers show up at my English hour tomorrow and English teachers show up at the meeting Thursday. 

Djibouti

September 15-22

I went on vacation with Katie Cole and Kat Whitton. We originally were to go the week of September 22-26, but plans changed and they continued to change throughout our time in Djibouti. The plan was to stay on Moucha Island, however tourist season hadn't begun and the island was closed. So upon arriving it was like 100 degrees to begin with and when we walked into the airport there was a guy checking everyone’s temperature. We didn't have a hotel reservation or anything, so we arrived at a hotel and checked in for the week. Since Moucha Island was out of the question, we looked into other tourist attractions, but they all fell through or we just decided to not go. So we found the Sheraton and Kempinski Hotels and lounged there most of the days. We also found amazing grocery stores and food. We frequented a place called “Melting Pot” which has Japanese food. I tried new food, sweated off a few pounds and got a nice tan. During the week, we spent two days at the pool at Kempinski. There was a swim up bar in the pool, which was nice. Everything seemed to be closed between noon and four, the hottest part of the day, so on some days we would stay in our hotel and watch movies. The views were beautiful. The harassment was very little, very different than Ethiopia. On Saturday night we attended an American Party at the Kempinski, where we met a few American contractors working on the military base. Overall vacation was amazing! I would love to go back during tourist season and visit some of the islands and swim in the gulf, I hear there is great snorkeling and swimming with whales. *I wish I could explain how beautiful it was, but I’ll add photos to help with the description. The comparison between Djibouti and Ethiopia is very difficult to explain. 

*photos to come later*

Travel home

It all started a few months ago. I told my parents and sister that I wanted to come home for a few weeks to surprise my Grandma D. My journey began on July 21st around 10:30. I left my house and headed to Bahir Dar for the night. I got to Bahir Dar and had a late lunch/early dinner with a friend. On the 22nd I had an early flight to Addis Ababa at 9:20. I got picked up at 7:20 and headed to the airport. I arrived in Addis Ababa around 10:30, by the time I got to the Peace Corps office it was around 11:30. I had to see the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) to pick up some paperwork. My flight for the States was scheduled for 10:15 pm. So I decided to hang out at the office for the day. I didn't feel like spending money and I didn't want to fight for a spot on a line taxi. I got the the airport around 7:30 to check in and found out my flight was delayed for 2 hours. The flight didn't leave until almost 3 hours after it was scheduled to leave, take off was around 1:00 am. Which put us in Rome for our 1 hour fuel stop 3 hours late, then we left Rome about 45 minutes late. I was suppose to land in D.C. around 8:30 and I had another flight to Sarasota at noon. Well my flight didn't land in D.C until 11:45, which put me at the check-in counter at 12:05. At this point I was very upset, I actually started crying waiting in line to get through immigration. The lady at the check-in counter got me on another flight at 6:30 pm with a transfer in Atlanta. So I spent the afternoon in Dulles airport. I grabbed a frappacino, pumpkin bread and double chocolate chip muffin from Starbucks, before leaving I ate at Chipotle. The 6:30 flight from Dulles to Atlanta got stuck on the runway for about 20 minutes, so the plane landed late in Atlanta, which made me miss my late for my 2nd flight. I was unset again and almost started crying, missing 2 flights in 1 day and all I wanted to do was get home. When I got to the customer service desk there were about 20 people in front of me. I was not hopeful that I would get to Florida that day. It was 10:00 pm and I was extremely exhausted and running on about 5 hours of sleep. The lady at customer service was extremely helpful and found me a flight to Tampa. The flight was suppose to leave at 11:10, but was delayed about an hour. So I was lucky enough to get a seat on that flight. I made it to the gate at 11:15 and they found a seat for me. I had traveled for almost 48 hours and I just wanted to be in my bed! I landed in Tampa, Florida around 1:20 am, by the time I got to in my bed it was around 3 am. I was extremely exhausted.

flying between Rome and D.C

Leaving Rome 

Leaving Rome 

Chipolte steak burrito with chips and salsa

Flying into Addis Ababa from Bahir Dar

Camp G2LOW

My summer has been quite boring, at least when I was in Ethiopia it was. I didn't do much for most of May and June. I did a lot of TV and movie watching and some reading. I spent some time with friends and did quite a bit of baking. July 11-17, 8 volunteers and myself put on a camp for 36 campers and 9 junior counselors, there were also 8 Ethiopian counterparts. Camp G2LOW stands for Girls and Guys leading our World, its focus is leadership, HIV/Aids awareness, and empowerment. We came from all around the Amhara Region. It was a lot of fun and very exhausting. I met with my campers around noon on Friday, July 11 and we rode to Bahir Dar. I took a sibling group and their father came with us, because he wanted to see the campus. There was a miss communication  and I didn't realize it until we arrived at the campus and I had to pay almost triple what I expected to pay, I wasn't happy about it. Camp consisted of 5 different topic days, gender, environment, health, business and leadership and education. There were many fun activities and plenty of free time for sport and cheers/games. The theme of camp was World Cup. My team was the Netherlands, were I had 5 campers, 2 junior counselors, a counterpart and myself. The week went by fast and there was very little drama. Camp ended on Thursday and I returned to Injibara with my 5 kids. I slept for almost 2 days and watched TV. The next thing I know it was time for me to head back to Bahir Dar to leave for my 3 weeks in the States.

Playing telephone

Strong Girl, Supporter Boy pinatas

Gender reversal...boys put on a coffee ceremony for girls

making a Netherlands flag

digging for a permagarden

Team Nethlands

My Campers!

The Girls...Fanuta, Liele, and Truzer

camp game

Easter Week

Easter Sunday

My day began at 6:40 when I woke up. I was invited to a teacher’s house at 7:00 for the killing of the goat. When I arrived the goat was in the process of getting its neck cut. I sat down and continued to watch the rest of the process, which takes about an hour. During the wait I was given absi (which is injera with shiro paste or berberi paste), dabo (local bread and homemade, delicious) and doro wat (chicken with a sauce). I was also offered tela (local beer), actual beer, tea, and soda; this was all before 8:00am. While the goat was being cut apart, the guys were eating some of the parts raw. Apparently the liver, kidneys, fat, and stomach (in water and salt) are good. What surprised me was when they were eating the stomach, I could hear a crunch, never would have though the stomach would be crunchy. While I was watching all this some of the meat was being prepared, again I say this is before 9:00am. I had to leave around 8:40, because I had another program/invite I had to go to. Deborah met me at my house and we headed to another house, where we had more doro wat. We didn’t stay long at the second house because there was another invite we needed to head to. So around 9:50 we headed to a College teacher’s house. We had coffee, 3 shots of Gin, bread, a little popcorn, absi, and before we could eat we had to have sheep meat. We saw the sheep get killed then we said we had to go, but were told we could not leave until we had some meat, so we stayed a little longer. The meat was cooked directly on the charcoal. By this time, we were so stuffed; we didn’t think we would make it to the next invitation. Luckily we made it, but were about two hours late. We told this family we couldn’t eat anything else, but were offered absi and dabo. We accepted because we didn’t want to be rude. Needless to say I thought I would go back to my house and rest, but right when I walked into the gate, I was told to come site down in my landlords house, where I was offered absi and popcorn right away. I was I stayed there for about two hours, before I felt like I was going to fall asleep. I was given a shot of ouzo, which was really strong; it took me about an hour to finish the shot. I was also feed for the umpteenth time, tibs with a butter/berberi paste (which was pretty good). I have decided I won’t need to eat for a few days. Nothing else happened the rest of the day. I relaxed at home watching Harry Potter movies. It should be all finished, but in this culture you never know. So all in all, I spent my day house hopping, eating and drinking.

Monday after Easter:

I didn’t leave my compound, except once to go find bread. However, I was unsuccessful and both places near my house were closed. I did laundry, dishes, sweep my house and watched Harry Potter. It was a relaxing day.

Tuesday after Easter:

I was woken by a knock on my door at 7:30 from the worker girl at my landlord’s house. I was told to come drink coffee, which surprised me because Ethiopians don’t drink coffee that early in the morning. I walked into the house and saw my landlord, a friend and Samuel (landlord’s son who is 5) eating tibs (like fajita meat). I was they offered tibs. I graciously excepted and had a heaping pile of meat, meat on the bone, and cooked, diced fat with injera. Not something I would normally have for breakfast, but there really aren’t breakfast foods here. While I ate, my landlady made coffee. Normally one drinks three sinis (cups) of coffee, but I was given four. This was all before 8:10 this morning. I couldn’t believe it. I then went back to my house and got ready to head to school. I arrived before 9:00 and immediately started working on lesson plans for my first English club for Grade 5 and 6. Many of the teachers were not there along with most of the kids, only about ¼ of the students were there. The bell for break rang at 10:00. Many of the students had their backpacks/bags with them, which surprised me because normally they leave those in the class during break. Next thing I know, a few students came to the director and asked me something, I don’t know what was said but I have pretty good guess. The students then left the school compound. There were still three classes left in morning shift. Once a few students left, all the students left, then the teachers. So I left. School had ended for the morning shift. I didn’t dare go back for the afternoon shift, because I am sure there were very few students and teachers present. I spent the rest of the day with Deborah. We ran into a college teacher and were invited to his house for lunch. Then we went to the post office which wasn’t opened at 3:00 when we got there. Deborah had to call the post man to see where he was. He arrived shortly after. Still waiting on numerous packages, but received an Easter card.

Wednesday after Easter

Nothing much happened today.

Thursday after Easter

Went to school in the afternoon, but didn’t feel very well in the afternoon. More and more students are returning to school.

Friday after Easter

Arrived at school in the morning and the cluster supervisor asked if I wanted to visit another primary school. It took about 20 minutes one way to get there. It is the second largest school in my cluster. I got to meet the vice director and a couple of teachers. I plan to return next week and began observing the English teachers. The campus/compound is similar to Kosober Primary School, my main school. The townspeople were very friendly today saying hi and how are you? I saw two boys who are family of the buna bet I frequent and they informed me the buna bet was opened after being closed for almost two weeks due to a death in the family. I was so excited to see the boys. I returned to school and had a short conversation with the grade 7 and 8 English teachers about starting English club this week when the grade 5 and 6 club begins. Overall the day was a good one, minus the fact I went to the post office and nothing was there. The day ended with Skyping my sisters.

Saturday after Easter

Not much happened. Relaxed, Skyped my parents and baked sugar cookies.

Sunday after Easter

I did some laundry, then it started pouring. I had a plan to be in Addis Kadem, a city just north of mine by 10-15 minutes. I was going there to have lunch with a fellow PCV and to go to a program she was holding. The program was on a film “Girl Rising”. I couldn’t find a minibus to take me, I tried for nearly 40 minutes, before someone found a bajaj (a small 3 seater that normally stays in town, this time we fit 7 adults and a child). It cost me almost triple to get to Addis Kadem then I would normally pay, but I really needed to get out of my town and the PCV there needed my help with the computer/projector. When I finally arrived, we spent nearly half an hour trying to get the projector to work with my computer. It never worked. The program ended up going pretty good. Afterwards we went to eat. We ran into many people the PCV knew, one even paid for our meal. After eating I tried to get a bus back to Kosober. we practically walked to the north end of town before I finally pushed my way onto a bus. It cost more than normal but less than the bajaj. I met Deborah at our usual coffee house and we had coffee, before leaving we were invited to another sini of coffee and bread. The day ended with me relaxing and staying warm in my house. I learned a very valuable lesson though. Never attempt to travel within the following week of a holiday or the week before a holiday. Travel just flat out stinks around that time!

school

Monday, April 14, 2014 was a productive day. I went to school in the morning for a few hours, then to meet Deborah for lunch. After lunch we went to a lukso (sp). It was a friend of ours that pasted away. The place we normally frequent for coffee, the woman passed away. She was a friend and a sister of a friend. So we wanted to pay our respects, however we had no idea how to do that. We went with two Ethiopian friends. We walked in the house and sat down. It felt strange. We only stayed for a short time. After leaving, I headed to the post office, you see I’m waiting for several packages and they are taking longer than normal. I then had a meeting at one of the high schools to discuss how to get books donated. Deborah and I have decided that we are going to do a community book donation, 2 high schools, the public library, the college library and my library (many a few other primary schools also). The meeting went well. I meet the director, the head of the PTA and the English teacher I have been in contact with. I was able to see the current library which consisted of maybe 250 books, all text book material. The group of us talked about potential projects I can start next school year and what was currently being done at the school. To end the day I made lential hamburgers and chips for dinner. I invited Deborah over and we enjoyed a homemade meal. All in all a good day.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014 began English day on my school compound. I arrived at school around 7:45 to find out I missed flag ceremony, but that is okay. I posted a sign outside of the teacher room that said “today is English day, please try and communicate in English.” So I talked with teachers and some of the administration staff. I had one teacher sign up to be observed during third period, which I enjoyed. It’s always nice to get into the classrooms and see the teachers teach, plus it gives me something to do. Around 11:30 I left for lunch. I returned to school around 2pm and saw another teacher signed up to be observed on Wednesday so that got me excited. I sat in my office due to rain for about 40 minutes now. The thunder roared and the sky grew grey. It kept raining and I didn’t see a stop to it. There is a slow leak in my ceiling; every once in a while I would hear a drop of water hit the floor. I was excited that, that afternoon I was able to share a Tedx video with a teacher who missed the Tedx program on Saturday. I enjoyed the records keeper, John, telling the teachers and staff that today is English day they need to try to speak English. It was a pretty comical day, along with an English day. Some teachers have tried to speak English and some have not. Early that morning someone said if you can’t speak English then don’t speak, which lead to someone else saying it should be a silent day then, because not many people will speak English. I noticed more people speaking in the morning (cycle 2) than in the afternoon (cycle 1). I don’t know if it is because grade 7 and 8 are in cycle 2 and more of those teachers speak English or if they are just more eager to learn. No matter what, it has been another good day. I received grade 6 English club roster to go with grade 5, which I received last week. Wednesday I have a short meeting with the students to figure out the best day and time to meet. I tried to talk it over with a teacher, but I don’t think the teacher understood/comprehended what I was saying. So I guess it will be figured out at the meeting. At school I sat, freezing, the wind blowing, the rain drizzling, children’s laughter outside, the ceiling dripping, and the thunder roaring. I don’t know when I’ll get to leave, but for now, I’ll stay at school in hopes that once person will walk through the door and ask me a question or want to speak English with me, however with the rain my hopes and expectations are low.