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. 

conversation and birthdays

Conversations

On Tuesday, April 8, 2014 I realized I don’t have real conversations. I don’t know how to any more. Most of my conversations exist of “Are you fine?”, “I am fine”, “how is work?”, I am good”, “how is your family?”, “how is your friend?”. I don’t remember how to hold a conversation. I need help. How do I have a conversation with someone who speaks very little English and I spend very little Amharic? I don’t remember what is part of a conversation. Are there parts? What makes a good conversation good or bad?

Birthday parties

Last night, April 10, 2014, my compound family (landlord and his family) celebrated their oldest child’s birthday. Now birthdays are a bit different here. During PST I celebrated with my host family my youngest brother’s birthday, Micky. Last night I was invited by the worker girl to come drink coffee. I didn’t realize it was Samuel’s birthday until I sat down and saw he was dressed up. I mean a silk, silver, pinstripe suit. He looked handsome. Then his father told me it was his birthday. Next thing I know my landlady brought me a plate with bread, popcorn and kolo (roasted grains). I was told to eat. Shortly afterwards a few other people came and everyone began talking. The adults were given Tela (a local beer/sort of) and the men were also given Arake (similar to moonshine). The night continued like this for about an hour. In the process I was given three sinis (cups) of coffee. It wasn’t until almost the end of the night that Samuel asked for bread and tea. Otherwise he just ate the kolo and goofed off like a normal boy. There were printed signs saying it was his birthday and how old he was. Birthdays just aren’t the same here. 

South Africa

This post has some information about medical stuff, read at your own risk

My trip to S.A. began on Sunday, March 16. Let me backtrack a little first. I had been in Addis Ababa from March 2nd-13th. I flew to Bahir Dar on the 13th, got back to site around 11:30 am and spent the day seeing friends and packing for my trip to S.A. I left Injibara on the 14th to stay in Bahir Dar for an early flight on the 15th. For a few days, all I did was travel. The flight from Ethiopia to S.A. is about 5 hours, luckily I was able to watch some T.V. shows and a movie.
On Monday, I had a meeting first thing in the morning with PC doctors. Then around 11:30, I had an appointment with Pretoria Eye Institute. This appointment led to me having to have surgery on Tuesday. I was put under so that the doctors could put a syringe into my tear ducts and flush anything that may be causing an obstruction. The doctors were also going to be sticking a q-tip type thing into my nose and squirting a dye through the syringe to see if the dye would come out on the tear duct, that is how they confirmed that there was no longer an obstruction. The procedure went well. I arrived around 7 am, was taken back into a room where I rested/slept until around 11:30ish. The procedure took about half an hour. I rested afterwards and left around 2:30. It was a long, tiring day, but now my eye doesn't water! I went back for a follow up on Wednesday. The doctor said everything went well and he had no idea what caused my tear duct to clog. On Thursday I saw an ENT. I also had a CT scan and blood taken. The PC doctors think that while I'm down here we should see what is causing the headaches. And I was right, it's my sinuses. The ENT took a flexible scope and put that in my nose first, then he took a medical scoop with a camera. It wasn't too bad. The conclusion is that I have a deviated septum and my maxillary and sphenoid sinuses have the start of inflammation or I have chronic sinusitis (thanks dad). I'll be on Augmentin/Amoxicillian  and a nasal spray for 6 weeks. I go back to the ENT on Tuesday to get the results of the blood work, which is testing what I'm allergic to.

It hasn't been all doctors though. When I got here, I met a PCV from Madagascar and there was a PCV from Ethiopia. They showed me the Brooklyn Mall, which I have been there a few times (mostly to do some grocery shopping). I went to the zoo with the Ethiopia PCV on Wednesday. The Madagascar PCV left Tuesday and the Ethiopia PCV left Thursday, so it's just me. When I say just me, I mean I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the guest house this weekend. Friday was a holiday here, so everyone must have went home or something, there are no other guests. The guest house is beautiful. There is a pool out back. I have my own room with a claw foot tub (I've taken a bath every day I think). Breakfast is included (I've had french toast all but yesterday). The staff are nice. I've done two loads of laundry with a washer and dryer (I plan to do one more load before leaving). I've read and watched TV. I'd say not a bad week. Today I went to the Brooklyn Mall, walked around the whole place. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I've had a like three smoothies!

I'm trying to think of anything else I should add, but I can't think of anything. I've still got a few days here. Tomorrow I plan to go to a flea market at another mall and Monday I haven't decided yet, maybe a bird reserve. Tuesday is my appointment in the afternoon and in plan to spend the morning at the office or around the office. Then I have a return flight on Wednesday (or at least that was my original return date, so I'm assuming it still applies). Wednesday is also my BIRTHDAY!!!! I should be back in Injibara next weekend!

Health issues

Another unexpected trip to Addis Ababa. I arrived on Sunday afternoon. Upon exiting the airport I headed to the underpass to find a line taxi, the first people I ran into were some boys who wanted me to buy something. I was annoyed because I kept telling them to go away, I didn't want anything, but one boy was persistent and grabbed my shirt a couple times. On Monday, I had a CT Scan, not so fun. I still have a bruise on the back of my hand from the needle. I was a nervous wreck waiting for the results. I didn't get them until Tuesday afternoon. Luckily everything came back normal. So then I waited to hear what would happen next. Okay, I probably should back track. In one of my previous posts I mentioned that I was having headaches and a teary right eye. So that is why I returned to Addis Ababa yet again. The CT Scan confirmed that my sinusitis was cleared up by the antibiotics. However, there was no information about why my eye was still tearing. So I didn't hear anything again until Thursday morning when I went to the Peace Corps Office and met with one of the PC doctors. The PC doctor told me that Regional Medical (South Africa) said I could go ahead with the procedure the eye doctor wanted me to have last time I was in town. This procedure is called Diagnostic Probing and Irrigation. Yeah, doesn't that sound fun. Well, it's not. I had the procedure done on Thursday afternoon and I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy. Luckily, PC has amazing doctors and I had one by my side (except during the procedure, he wasn't allowed to come back), however he was right there for me when it was over and before it began when I was terrified. I was the worst. I was in pain. I've been having headaches since the procedure and my eye has hurt on and off. Now, I'm still in Addis Ababa because I have to go back to the eye doctor and see if the procedure worked. Oh, I forgot to tell you why I had this procedure. The eye doctors think I have a blocked tear duct, so the procedure was to unblock the duct and clear it out. I'm unsure if it is unblocked because during the procedure I was suppose to feel water in the nose or throat and I didn't feel anything but a lot of water/eye drops running out my eye and into my ear. So I go back Monday, in hopes that everything is better. Trust me you don't want to know some of the things I've worried about this past week that could be going on. I'm not sure what the next step will be if the tear duct isn't unblocked. I've been trying to stay clear of all that and letting the PC doctor take care of things. So until Monday, I'm in Addis hanging out with a headache. I so hope to figure out what is going on. Please keep me in your prayers, I could really use them right about now! Thanks! Much love!!! <3

Unexpected visit to Addis Ababa

This post is going to be a rant of my time in Addis. I’ve been in Addis Ababa for 10 days and I can’t wait to get back to Injibara. Yes, Addis Ababa is fun and there’s plenty of American food to choose from, but aside from that it’s expensive. I’ve spent so much money in the past 10 days then I normally do in a month. I’ve eaten a burrito, numerous hamburgers, lots of ice-cream, a few steak sandwiches and so on. Even with having all this available, I am ready to go back to my site. I’ve done a little shop looking, but other than eating and using the internet at the PC office, there isn’t much to do. I have traveled the city by myself and I am not as scared/nervous any more (as long as it’s day time). Even with the positive, sometimes the negative outweighs it all.

The verbal harassment is crazy. Last week I was sitting in the eye doctor’s office waiting for my ride (I was leaning out the door), when this guy going the other way in a truck started yelling at me. He wasn’t yelling anything mean, just yelling. This kind of thing happens all the time. I’ll be walking down the street when a car/bus passes and someone yells. Normally what’s being said is “you, you”, “frenji, frenji”, “anchi, anchi” (you (female) in Amharic), “shoe shine”, “how are you”, or things along those lines.

So it got me thinking, what would happen in America? Well, for one, people wouldn’t yell at you. People wouldn’t walk past you and pretend to bump into you or hit you (yes this almost happened). Children wouldn’t ask for money or birr, which happens all too often. As someone living in this country, I see the poverty, I see what people live like, and I live it (sort of). I know how hard it is. I’ve learned to live on 20 gallons of water a week. Another thing that aggravates me is the amount of trash floating around in this country. People just throw everything on the ground. There are trash cans throughout the city, but I don’t think anyone uses them. Then there are people who clean up the trash and sweep the roads. I understand that is giving them a job, but have some respect for your country, your city. It’s not only the big cities this happens in. Everywhere I’ve gone in this country; people have thrown trash everywhere, in the streets, in the streams, rivers, buses, anywhere you could think of.

Construction is everywhere in Addis, so I never really know where I am going, especially when I have a PC taxi taking me, they always take me a different way. I get lost finding areas of town and I get confused on minibuses. I guess it’s all about the experience, but sometimes it’s better to stay put in my hotel or to only go places I know how to get to.

I’ve been here for medical reasons. I’ve had headaches for five months with very few other symptoms. Last week I found out it was sinusitis, on top of that my right eye has watered for about two months now. So last week I went to the eye doctor twice and got an x-ray. Today I went to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. I’m on a bunch of medicines, I have a mini-pharmacy. I’m hoping the medications work and everything gets cleared up.

Okay, so today is a new day and I have to say things haven’t changed. I do get to go back to site. I was walking down the street and a half dozen people said hi or how are you? I know it’s polite. I understand it is culture here to say hi and have extended greetings, but it’s not my culture. I’m sure if you ask me in five months how things are, mostly greetings, I’ll say that I have extended greetings with everyone. It’s different between my small town of Injibara and the big city (Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar). In my small town I say hi and wave to people, but in the big city I always feel as if they want something. As a female in this country, I feel that is why it is hard to make friends, because when someone talks to me, all I can think about is “what does he want?” and “why is he talking to me?” I know this sounds crazy, but it’s how I feel as a female in a country.

what's happening???

Okay, things are crazy. I'm back in Addis Ababa. I was at site for about 2.5 weeks and during that time it was exam week and break week. School resumed yesterday and I am missing the first week. Yesterday I went to the eye and will go back on Friday. I know you probably don't care about me going to the eye doctor, but now you know. Tomorrow I go get an x-ray for my sinuses, because I've been having headaches for about 5 months now. So, I'm not sure when I'll be returning to Injibara at this moment. I'll find out more on Friday.

The new group of volunteers arrive tomorrow night! I'll no longer be the freshmen, I'll be a sophomore. It's crazy to think that I've been in country for 7 months already, 20 left.

I'll be starting programs when I return to site. My plan for this semester is to have 13 English clubs (grade 5&6 club and Grade 7&8 club), a teacher English club, and at least 3 trainings. So hopefully I'll stay busy. I also want to begin working at one of the high schools.

Here's somethings that happened within the last few weeks.

On February 2 I attended an Ethiopian wedding. I didn't know what to expect. I went with Deborah (my sitemate) and an Ethiopian friend (who invited us). We (Deborah and I) were picked up from our hotel at 11:15 and were taken to the grooms house. We ate and there was a celebration, before leaving for the bride's house the groom cut the neck of a chicken. Next everyone went to the bride's house. At the bride's house there were 2 wedding parties. The bride and her sister were both getting married. It is customary for the grooms men to fight for the bride, so there was a little pushing and shoving going on. There was a little ceremony at the bride's house with more food and the marriage vows (or at least that is what I assume was going on, I couldn't hear or see what was actually happening). Next was a boat ride on Lake Tana. The bride, groom and wedding party were on one boat and the rest of the attendees were on 3 other boats. It was fun. The bride and groom stood on the front of the boat, so that everyone could see them. After the boat tour, we headed to a park. Where apparently 25 weddings were being held there (including this one). Right now is a high wedding season, because it is right between two major holidays and fasting seasons (or that is what I've been told at least). The last thing we did was go back to the groom's house. Deborah and I gave them a gift, which we purchased like 10 minutes before getting picked up. Overall, it was a great experience with lots of clapping, singing and travel.

On Saturday, February 8, I attended a Gender Fair in Addis Kedam (a town 15-20 minutes north of mine). A volunteer living there put on this fair for young females. There were 33 girls and 7 PCVs and 3 counterparts (Ethiopian adults). The girls really enjoyed the day. There was a session on leadership, health, education and a drama. At the end of the day, each town got together and talked about having a gender fair in their town, asking questions such as when, where, who to invite, what aspects we would take back to our town, etc. It was a great experience and the girls loved it, plus they got to meet other girls from other towns.

Other than that, I've been watching lots of movies and the 2 TV shows I have. I think that's about all for now.

IST overview

Overview on IST: Overall the last 2.5 weeks has been fun, overwhelming, exhausting, and draining. I enjoyed getting to see the rest of my G-9ers, eating ferenji (foreigner) food (especially ice-cream), and hanging out with the friends I never see and I miss dearly. Oh, I also was able to go to the doctor’s. You see, for like 4 months I’ve been having headaches at least 3-4 times a week and the last 1.5 months my right eye has been watering. So the PC doctor sent me to an eye doctor. The eye doctor gave me some drops and pills and said she wants to see me in 10 days -2 weeks. So overall, it was a good 2 weeks. I just don’t know if I’d want to do another 2 weeks of training.

IST travel home: I asked the hotel I was staying in three times before I finally was told the shuttle driver that would take me to the airport was not there. So at 9:30pm, I called a PC taxi and asked if he would pick me up at 5:30am. I was so upset with the hotel. The airport was normal, waiting for my flight to be called so that I could get on a bus to take me to my plane. There so many tourists on the flight. I had the last row, the guy in my row took my window seat and luckily I didn’t care. Oh, and when everyone got off the bus to get on the flight, I swear no one knows what a line is. The make lines to go through security, but not to get on a plane. It’s so frustrating. Ok, I land in Bahir Dar, not knowing how I’m going to get into town, specifically the PC Office. So as I’m walking through the airport, a guy asks if I need a ride. Now this guy works for a hotel and was there to pick up other people. I graciously took him up on his offer, because it saved me money and time.  I didn’t have to find a taxi or bajaj and pay the 50 birr it costs. I was stoked. So I’m at the office for like one hour then I decide to head home to Injibara. I really just wanted to be in my house. I get to the bus station. I hate the Bahir Dar bus station, but I’ve figured out where the buses park that are heading my direction. I walked toward them and found a bus pretty quickly and it left within minutes (now that is an accomplishment). I didn’t have to put my suitcase on the top of the bus either, and I was only charged 43 birr instead of the usual 45 birr. It was a good travel day. I was glad to be home, to check the mail, to unpack and re-clean my house. I cleaned the house before I left, but my floors were gross upon my arrival.

On my way to the post office, I was walking down a side, dirt road, when I noticed a woman lying in the middle of the street. I really couldn’t even tell you if she was breathing. I know that sounds bad, but sometimes it’s hard to tell, especially in Addis Ababa when so many people lay on the side of the road all the time. It weirded me out.

Then later today, I was walking towards the shint bet (toilet), when someone was peeing. So not only do guys pee anywhere in this country, sometimes people don’t close the door to the shint bet, sometimes there is no door.  This also weirded me out. 

Changes within my self

Some things that have changed about me:

I…

·         now drink hot tea without milk with just sugar

·         eat onions

·         eat garlic

·         even eat peppers occasionally

·         drink multiple small cups of coffee with a bunch of sugar on a daily basis

·         cook

·         do laundry by hand

·         sweep my room every day

·         don’t have to be on the internet every day…I can even go a week or so without it

·         don’t have to watch T.V. anytime I’m not working

·         can get by with eating 1 or 2 good meals a day and a snack

·         do my dishes the same day I dirty them

·         don’t need to shower daily or even every other day…twice a week is plenty (as long as you baby wipe between)

·         have become very clumsy..not a day goes by where I don’t almost fall flat on my face

·         my fingertips are slowly growing  a tolerance for heat

·         when I cook I sometimes throw whatever I have into a pot and hope it turns out good, most of the time it does

·         lived with a rat for who knows how long, I first saw the rat like 2 weeks before finally finding him but only like twice, well he apparently found a place to live in one of my suitcases

·         tried baking with a Dutch oven…my cookies didn’t turn out how I’d like them to

·         hardly ever drink milk…I miss cold milk! L

·         I drink beer…sometimes not so good beer sometimes okay beer

I know this list seems crazy…like why weren’t you doing this in the states, but I still lived at home and my parents are amazing! 

Holiday season

The holiday season was easier than expected. I spent Christmas and New Years with 16 other volunteers. Christmas was spent north of Bahir Dar. We had tacos, chocolate chip pancakes, and kabobs over three days. There were decorations sent from states. Each volunteer received a stocking. We did secret Santa and White Elephant. I got to talk to my parents and Grandma. Things didn’t seem too bad, being surrounded by other people helped to make it easier. New Years was spent about 15 minutes north of my town. There were also 17 PCVs. A fellow PCV has an awesome contact in her town of an Ethiopian who owns a café on the hill with lots of land. He provided dinner. We projected a movie and had a huge bonfire. After the movie we played music and danced around the fire. I stayed up until like 4:30 am. I had a blast.

Sorry this is short and I haven’t written in a while. I’ve been crazy busy. I hope to have a few more posts up within the next few weeks, as school break is right around the corner along with exam week.