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.