Pictures

Doing Laundry...bucket style (July 21st)

roasting coffee beans (July 28th) my sister and niece in the back ground

grounding the beans, sorry picture is sideways

helping clean the chicken

my first attempt at making Injera

finishing the coffee ceremony but pouring the coffee

My first attempt at making Injera and coffee this weekend was interesting. My family said I did a good job, even if the coffee was strong and the Injera was oval instead of round.

July 19-21

Some things I haven’t mentioned:

A little information before continuing: when I say sisters I mean Etsub and Ruth, some talk about harassment, bowel movements,

v  OH here’s an important bullet….everyone paying attention! On SATURDAY, AUGUST 10^TH, I WILL FIND OUT MY PERMANT SITE!!!!  This is an important day for all us G9ers (I’m a part of G9, it’s my group).

v  The weather hasn’t been too bad. The weekend was a bit chilly, but I’d say between 65*-70*. It’s hasn’t rained too much that I’ve noticed, I think I rains during the night. It sprinkles for a bit then stops, from what I’ve noticed thus far.

v  I did laundry on Sunday (July 20^th) and it was rough. I hadn’t watched anything except for my underwear and bras (which I hand washed in King’s Hotel before leaving Addis). It was a lot of work. There were like four buckets involved, I’m not sure the purpose of each, I know the one I was using was for scrubbing the clothes with soap and kneading them (or that’s how I would describe it) it was a hard process to learn. Mekides the relative living on compound pretty much redid everything I did, so she pretty much did my laundry for me.

v  The sint-bet (toilet) is a hole in the ground. I share this with everyone in my family. Sometimes it smells really bad, other times its bearable. There are two concrete rectangles around the hole, which one puts their feet on. It’s not as bad as it sounds, sometimes. I prefer it to hovering over a toilet without a toilet seat. It is getting easier and easier to pee and poop in a hole, I just have to make sure my aim is right.

v  This bullet may sound really bad, but its okay, PC is teaching us to deal with this. Harrassment! Yes, it sounds horrible, but the harassment I have received has thus far been verbally. There is a lot of “Frenji, Frenji”, “China, China”, and “Money, Money”, it’s just one of those things you ignore. It is hard at times, but I’m hoping it gets easier. Frenji means foreigner and no one is really sure why they associate people as China, even if they don’t look Chinese. Then most Ethiopians assume as foreigners we have money, so they shout money, money, hoping we will give them some. Harassment is a part of PC and PC does everything possible to teach us how to deal with these and other types of harassment.

v  On Saturday, July 19^th, I taught my siblings how to play Go Fish. It took a game or two, but they know how to play. I even used my cards I brought from home, which they loved; they were cards I purchased at the Dulles airport one time with the capital building on them.

v  We, my host family, celebrated my youngest brother’s birthday yesterday, Mickey turned 8. We had coffee with milk, popcorn, difo (a type of bread, don’t think I spelled it right either), another type of bread and two types of cookies. It was completely different from a Western style birthday. The celebration lasted maybe an hour and then everyone parted their separate ways. I shared a movie with my sisters, “Another Cinderella Story”.

v  I brought out a pair of children’s scissors, I think I purchased at Dollar Tree or something, and they loved them. Ruth and Etsub were using a pair of metal scissors which looked like were hurting their hands, so I decided to share my children’s scissors. I think I may leave them here after I leave as a little reminder of me.

v  Language class is going good. I feel like I can say the words in class and understand what the meanings are, but when my family tries to talk to me I get lost and confused and I’m not sure what they are saying. My dad is trying to teach me new words all the time, but unless I’m writing it down it goes in one ear and out the other, my sisters also try to do this. 

v  I have had boiled milk with sugar twice this weekend. It’s not so bad; it’s just not what I’m used to. I get to add my own sugar which is nice, because then I can sweeten it how I want.

v  A few Amharic Words: these words are spelled correctly because there should be certain symbols over certain letters, however I don’t know how to do that, so I wrote them without the symbols.

Isi-okay (pronounced like i-she)

Aye-no (pronounced like eye)

Awo-yes (pronounced like ow)

Muz-banana (pronounced like muz)

Dahna nas-(female) Are you fine? (pronounced like dana nish)

And one of my favorites is

Gobaz-clever (pronounced like gobez)

Okay I think that’s enough for now. I write my blogs during the week and when I have internet (whenever that may be I post online). This blog was written on July 21^st.

July 24-26

I haven’t really felt well all week. I started taking some medicine from my Med. Kit on Tuesday and it seems to be working a little. It’s just a cold and I have to let it run in course, however when you’re walking what seems like miles a day, it’s hard to kick a cold. I have no time to rest until after 6:30 pm, any time before then I’m on the go. I’ve wanted to cry the past few days and I have, because I just hate being sick and not being able to do anything. On Wednesday, my homestay coordinator came to visit my language class, because Joel was sick and his host mom wanted to take him to the clinic. While she was there, she asked how I was doing and I started to cry. I wasn’t feeling good and my family was pushing me to eat that morning (like they do with most meals), but I just didn’t want to hear it. So I mentioned this to my homestay coordinator, so that night she came to visit my family and ever since I eat what I want and leave what I don’t want. It’s been nice to only have to eat when I feel full instead of consistently hearing “Bi” which means eat. I have to stay PC has amazing staff. The next day I went to the PC office and my homestay coordinator was there and she asked if everything was better. PC hires understanding and supportive staff!

I started practicum on Wednesday and I co-taught Grade 8 and 3. It was interesting needless to say. I don’t really know how to describe it. Things did seem to get better as the week progressed. I taught Grade 7 and 8 on Thursday and Friday. I wasn’t too excited to have the same Grade 3 all three days, but it wasn’t too bad. The school I am at is about a 20-25 minute walk from my house. Luckily Joel is at the same school, so I don’t have to walk by myself. Kat got placed at a closer school, she got lucky! Next week I teach by myself. I’m really nervous about that! On Monday I’m teaching Grade 8 again. Luckily I was told it would be the last time I have to teach grade 8. It’s not that it is difficult; it’s just that the English for Ethiopia books really stink. The textbooks for all the grades is either over their head or too easy and there is never enough activities or material in one lesson, so I have to come up with my own material. Since I have never taught before (just like many of my fellow PCTs) it has been a challenge.

I experienced physical harassment on Thursday; I was walking home from the PC office when a young boy tapped my butt with a stick. I turned around and yelled “NO, AYE, AYE”!!! Aye means no in Amharic.

Something I have yet to understand is why my host brother, who is 15, listens to Eminem unrated. Sometime last week everyone was in the living room, playing cards or something, and he has his phone playing music they all the sudden, Eminem comes on and is dropping every word imaginable. Oh, also my host brother (the 15 year old) also drops words outta nowhere. Things like this would not fly in the states. It’s been interesting listening to the music choices of my siblings and on the T.V.

I’m trying to remember if there is anything I am forgetting and I just can’t remember. I feel like my days run together and I never know what day of the week or what the date is. I feel like I’ve been in Ethiopia for longer than I actually have.

Last minute note: when I get to site, in less than two months, I will post a wish list of items I already miss. However, hand sanitizer, tissues (6 pack from Dollar Store) and gum (peppermint and fruity) are always appreciated. Or just letters about what’s going on in your life or the US…or magazines! I don’t get much news over here, so I have no clue about what’s going on in the world. Help me stay up dated! If you want to drop me an email, I would love that too! When I have internet there isn’t much I check except for Facebook, my email, my blog and yahoo.  

July 13th-17th

On July 13^th, I arrived in Butajira, which is about 2.5-3 hours southwest of Addis Ababa. I will be here until mid-September. Upon arrival I was immediately introduced to my host mom. PC had drinks and snacks available to us. After snack, PC took us to our homes. My host family consists of my father Tekalegn (Techaling), mother Kelemwa (Kelemua), siblings Tsiyon (Sion-18), Besrat (Bisrat-14), Etsub (Esub-13) and Mechale (Michael-8), and a relative Mekides (Mekdas-23), all the children and relative are students. My host father works as a supervisor in the Education office and my host mother is an accountant. There has also been another guest staying in the house. Here name is Ruth, she is from Addis Ababa and speaks really good English. My father speaks good English, while Besrat and Etsub speak a little. I have yet to meet Tsiyon. She is out of town or something. I forget what they told me. Our compound consists of the main house, the shower, sintbet (toilet), and a few other rooms connected to the sintbet. I have yet to find out what these rooms are for. I believe one is for cooking and another is for food storage. The front of the compound has an avocado tree and coffee bean plant. There are chickens in the compound; also they pretty much run free during the day, even in the house at times. My room is located at the back of the main house. All I have to do is open my door take a right and I’ll be out back in a matter of a few steps.

The last two days have been interesting in some of the things I’ve done. Yesterday morning I took a bucket bath, my first but not my last that’s for sure. I was going to take a shower on Monday after dinner, but my father said I had to wait 30 minutes after eating. By the time I wanted to shower, the water was turned off. I was hoping the water would be back on by Tuesday morning, but that was not the case and my father was concerned I had not yet showered, so I really needed to shower. This morning was another milestone. I pooped in a hole. I know some of you may be thinking gross or you’ve been there two weeks and you’re just now pooping in a hole. I have not been constipated, I promise. It’s just that I’ve had Western toilets available to be in other circumstances, this morning was not one of them. I found this to me a huge milestone thus far.

Here are some things I have realized since being in my host home:

·         I have very little privacy, unless I’m in my room

·         I consistently feel lost or like I don’t know what to do, once I leave my room

·         My host father tells me “techewash” all the time, which means talk

·         My host family eats a very late dinner, I don’t even see them eat dinner

·         I am feed dinner (irat) between 6:45-7:00

·         I feel like a spectacle, everyone is always watching me eat or checking on me every few seconds to make sure I’m doing okay or getting enough food

·         They eat a lot, they are always asking me if I want more

·         I have learned many new games

·         My host father gets home late

·         My host mother speaks very little English, so I can’t communicate very well

·         Children do what they are told, when they are told (huge sign of RESPECT)

·         I am consistently being treated as a guest and I can’t wait for it to stop: I am trying to stop it by doing some things for myself, such as washing my own hands instead of having one of the children bring me water and soap and taking my dirty dish to the bucket

Over time I hope to feel more like family and less like a guest. I want to learn how to cook, wash my clothes, and whatever else it is I can learn from them. I’m excited, because this morning my father said one day I will learn to make whatever it was I was eating for breakfast (k’oars).

Besides this I’ve just been going to trainings and language class. Language class is going good. My language group consists of Joel, Kat and myself. Our teacher’s name is Helen and she lives right around the corner. Kat lives like 2 compounds to the right of mine and Joel lives behind both Kat and I. We are part of Kebele (community) 2. It is just the 3 of us in this Kebele, the other 4 Kebele’s have many more PCTs. I feel this just means, the 3 of us will become really close, but it’s not like Butajira is a huge city (I believe like 30,000), but it doesn’t feel like that many. All the PCTs seem to be close.

Until next time, I hope you enjoy learning about my family and my home stay. Pictures to come, I have yet to take any of my family and compound.

Pic.

Photos from Demystification (1st weekend in Ethiopia)

Panoramic view of the gorge (not sure where the gorge is) and a pic. of me at the gorge

week 1-2

I flew out of Tampa International on Monday, July 1^st at 8:00; I arrived in Philly around 10:30, where I waited to meet a few of the people in my group. Monday evening was spent in Staging, which is a brief orientation on PC, its goals, and some ice breakers between all 58 of us trainees. Tuesday actually began travel. The bus departed from the hotel around 7:45am to JFK airport, about a 2 hour drive. Upon arriving at the airport, we were early and the check in desk was not open yet, so we waited for what seemed like forever (I think it was about 1.5-2 hours). The plane left JFK at 3:50 heading to Frankfort, Germany. We arrived in Germany at 5:30am local time. The walk from our arriving gate to our departing gate seemed like miles and took like 30-45 minutes, where we waited yet again to get through security. Our plane left Germany at 11:15am (local). We had a stop in Sudan, can’t remember the name, but it was just to let some people off. Finally the plane landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia around 9:00pm (local). After getting everyone’s luggage and making our way to the buses, I was glad to be able to get to a bed. The hotel we stayed at was very accommodating. The next day began at 8:30 with training, we didn’t do training all day which I was thankful of, because we had just traveled for 2 days. Training happens every day from 8-6 with a lunch break at 12:30-2:00 and two, yes I said two, coffee/tea breaks, one in the morning from 10-10:30 and the second in the afternoon from 4-4:30. I do enjoy these breaks; just too mentally put my brain on hold. Okay this all leads up to my first weekend in Ethiopia.  

My first weekend I spent in a town called Malameda(????). PCV’s broke our large group up and send us to various currents volunteer’s homes/sites to see how they live and what they do on a daily basis, which PC calls Demystification. My demyst was in a small site, on the top of some mountain, where the elevation was 10,000 feet. The bus ride was horrible, but I guess you’d get used to it. The first half of the ride was on paved roads, whereas the second part of was on unpaved roads going up mountains and round sharp curves. It was scary at many times, but I the view going up was beautiful. I didn’t take any pictures of the ride, but I will see about getting some from the other trainees that I was with. So upon arriving in this town, it was pouring and the roads, well let’s just say it was rocks with dirt. We immediately went to our hotel (which had Western toilets!). The first night I had a room with a community sintbet (hole in the ground), however after that night, everyone got a room with a Western toilet. Leslye, our PCV, took us on a hike to a gorge. The hike wasn’t too bad, mostly flat land, with very few hills, however the elevation was so high it affected my breathing and I consistently felt out of breath. The gorge and landscape were beautiful though, it was definitely worth it!  To wrap up the 2 full days in Malhameda (????), it was lots of fun and informational. The second day, Leslye and Julia (another PCV) showed some of us how to cook; I sat on the couch and talked. Besides showing us things like that, they answered numerous questions, concerns and just were very informational about what life is like in Ethiopia. The whole weekend (Sat-Tues) was supposed to demyst our first reactions to like as a PCV.

I arrived back in Addis Ababa on Tuesday. Oh, I forgot to mention the worst part of the trip was the Mercado (the bus station). It is supposed to be the most dangerous place in Ethiopia; however it was the only way to get to Leslye’s site. We arrived there at like 5:45am on Sat. and it was a disaster and scary. Okay, back to being in Addis. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were training, just like the week before, the only difference being I had to find my own dinner. I ate pizza on Wednesday and Thursday, at two different places, and on Friday I ate at Kaldi’s, a Starbucks knockoff. This wraps up my first 2 weeks in Ethiopia. Next blog will be on Butajira!