HALF A YEAR!!!

Ok, ok, I know! I am late updating! I apologize... I’ve either been too busy or too lazy...both really but at different times. Actually this has been on my computer for weeks and i haven't got around to posting it. Lots more has happens so ill have to make a newer blog post soon. But, no excuse!  

SCHOOL

The school year here has been wrapping up and that has seen a few things change. Previously I had been helping with a few English classes, but I now was unable to interfere during end-of-year Testing. I did, however, go to an end-of-year Environmental Club meeting. I had been hoping to attend a meeting and get to know a few teachers involved. I didn’t expect what I got.

When I arrived there were near 200 students sitting outside.

And they had me sit in the front at a table, along with two other professionals. Apparently I was a guest speaker! Thanks for informing me -_- after which they had some traditional dancing and a question game show, none of which I understood. 

After finishing that, it was suddenly announced that I was going to hand out the awards to the winners. I, of course, being the "Town Celebrity" shook the students' hands as they proudly walked to the front where I handed them a little notebook and pen. At the end I was asked to speak to everyone, and so I rambled off a ‘thank you and hope to work with you in the future’ speech… in English, I might add. Not sure if much was understood. There was more planned for the event, but it then started raining so everyone was dismissed. 

While everyone was filing out, one of the teachers introduced me to a deaf student. The teacher knew sign language and was responsible for teaching both the deaf and blind students. There are a decent handful of these students that I have seen pass me as I go to work and I have wondered whether they are all from this town or if they come from neighboring towns due to our town having a special needs teacher available. Regardless, as the teacher was introducing me I noticed something about his signs. Even though the alphabet signs were different than I've seen, there were other signs that I recognized. Back in junior high and on a few other occasions I have picked up a handful of signs and the ones being used here were fairly recognizable such as “name”, “person”, “father”, “mother”, “world”, “day”, etc. This made me quite excited as more than likely Ethiopian sign language is adopted in part from ASL and therefore only have a few local words as different. Sign language had always been on my to-do list and I could see this being a great way to connect to a specific group. So I expressed my desire to learn sign language to the teacher and he agreed to give me some Amharic/English sign dictionary, as well as a local sign starter video. I have realized, though, I will likely need to pick up more Amharic simultaneously because when a sign is unknown you need to spell it, and I would have to spell it in Amharic… that may be a challenge.

MY WEEK IN ADDIS ABEBA

Soon after that, I left for Addis Abeba the capital for our three month reconnect. We were allowed to stay in a very nice hotel called Ghion, which is clearly geared towards foreigners on vacation. One of my favorite things about Ghion is the amazing hot showers. Not only is it a shower instead of a bucket, it also is hot and has decent pressure!!!! You have no idea. It had been a long, LONG time. The hotel also had a nice swimming pool which I intended to use later that week. [Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance since it closed at 4 and classes didn’t get out till closer to 6.]

After cleaning up on Sunday, I headed out to the city for what was my only day to have any free time. I got a massage. It was nice and consisted of another two showers one to relax me before and another to wash off the oils after. Unfortunately, I ended up a bit bruised the next day. Oh well, that was only $15. 

The other luxuries of Addis included the wide host of ethnic restaurants. I was able to enjoy a bit of Ethiopian food, along with Egyptian, Thai, and of course, good old-fashioned hamburgers… which really can only be found in one restaurant in all of Ethiopia. 

The first few days were all about debriefing and need to know on reporting and such. Very full schedules anywhere from 8-10 hours each day. 

BEES

After the first few days the environment group headed out to a town where we learned about local bee-keeping, how to make a transitional hive, how to process honey and bees wax, and capped it off with a night class of hive transfer…  [***More details on honey and bees at the end of this post.]

My class practiced building traditional hives in small groups… pounding eucalyptus is harder than you would think, especially when the nails are so cheap they almost always bend.

Our final night at the bee apiary was spent doing a colony transfer from a traditional hive to an intermediate hive we had made. We got on our full bee suits (which I was allowed to keep) and headed out in the dark. You see in Ethiopia you are only allowed to open a hive after night fall. This made the experience slightly more terrifying. I had been super excited about working with bees up to this point, but let me tell you, there is a reason this is often on Fear Factor. Not to mention it was African bees we were working with, which are far more aggressive. You can feel their anger as they try to penetrate your suit. A few of us ended up with bees in our suits! Even though I walked away unscathed, I had a bit of an overreaction to any friendly bee for the next few days. Regardless I braved the hive, smoked the buggers, and cut away some comb to sew into the new hive. In the end, we unceremoniously dumped the remaining hive into the box and closed them into a new home <3 …. Just don’t ask me to do it again please.

The next day we stopped at an apple orchard to get some Ethiopia-specific management tips, and finished the last day back in Addis... learning about how to make a composting outhouse! I finally got a few hours off in order to shop for a few supplies. I got a cheese grater (for hash browns, not cheese = real cheese isn't that abundant) and some ramen! I had a last shower, then woke up at 4am the next day to catch the only flight to my region. In Labibella I found olive oil, margarine, and quick oats, which sufficiently improved what I can make in the kitchen.

SCHOOL pt 2

Finally I got back home in time for another end-of-year event where the students graduating from 7th grade made food for their teachers. I somehow got invited. (Not sure how though.... local Celebrity, again.) During the eating I chatted with the English teacher who has become a friend and somehow got on the topic of family planning. Though contraceptives are available, there is very low use due to the belief that they are sinful, or that if you use them, you’ll somehow lose the ability to have a baby later in life. This is another issue for the spread of AIDs, though comparatively, Ethiopia has fairly low numbers of infected. So I offered that I could pull together a family planning/ HIV prevention class. He was enthusiastic and I’m hoping to pull together the curriculum in the summer and be able to teach during the next school year.

I had known that a Health PC Volunteer is stationed in a town about an hour away. Her hub town was about half that distance and rumored to have a good selection of goods not available in my hub town. So I planned a trip and met up with her. We did a bit of shopping for more kitchen supplies and I even bought a Gabi (modeled by my "brother" Binium on the left, white cotton handmade sheet designed to drape over the body in place of a jacket). I was able to connect with her and pitch the idea of doing the HIV/AIDS program in the school with me, and that we could then switch off and do the same in her town. The plan is to get it ready over the summer to be implemented in the fall.

GARDENING AND CHICKENS

My day to day work has been fairly empty since my Counterpart has spent the last two months either handing out Urea to farmers or going to meetings with supervisors. As a result I spent one or two days sitting at the distribution sight watching farmers collect bags of fertilizer and leave. I usually only spent about an hour or two in my garden which is doing very well… Well, the one bed I planted is doing well. I still have no perennials for the berms. I’m hoping someone will send me seeds for garden herbs. That would be perfect! 

As a bonus, my walking through town carrying a hoe has garnered some interest. As a result I was asked by a man about my garden when I was walking home, so I started explaining how it worked and what I was growing. He was surprised I was growing multiple crops in one bed. So I started explaining how intercropping worked and how certain plants complement each other and can improve growth. Next thing I know I’m surrounded by about 15-20 men asking me to draw out in the dirt exactly how to plant two plants in the same bed. I was using twigs for onions, big rocks for potatoes and small rocks for cabbage and drawing circles around them to show how potatoes must have a 30 cm range to grow while onions only needed 5cm diameter. And how you can plant them in the places between… for a spur of the moment lesson, it worked fairly well! It also gave me an opportunity to announce I’m willing to give home garden training at their home as long as they have a handful of friends to help and simultaneously learn. 

My host brother, Binium, was at the impromptu training and of course repeated what I had taught to anyone who would listen. I hope the others did the same spreading what I taught around. I was informed that a few days ago someone planted their garden in triangular spacing like I had taught instead of row cropping, though I don’t think they did the intercropping method. I’ll have to check that out in person.

I also have spent time with Binium discussing some improvements to his chicken coop, namely that he needs a roost and nest boxes for them… He had no clue what they were or why he would want them. So I was able to explain a bit about chicken habits and natural inclinations, and how the birds will be happier, healthier, and even be able to encourage egg laying in specific areas which ease the time for maintenance of the chickens! I’m happy to say we now have a makeshift roost and will be making nest boxes shortly. They aren’t old enough to lay anyway. I’m going to see what I can do about an automatic watering bucket, but that’s for later. 

I’m also working with Binium on getting a garden going, and have discussed intercropping, crop rotation, and natural soil amendments.  We have the first bed by the house planted and will soon plant more across the street. I’m starting to think my host brother is my “early adopter” and will be a great link to the community. Every time I go out with him, he is talking about all my ideas, and the benefit is he explains them in Amharic. As a result farmers go to him to ask if I can help them. I have a line of 8 farmers so far that wish me to show them how I do things. I already helped my neighbor(right). Though they decided to do just one bed like I said. I suppose through the season we can compare the normal bed planting method with the one I suggested. It’s actually a good thing. Seeing direct comparison will convince more people. And now that I have a bed in the front yard, people don’t have to go to the FTC to learn my techniques. It’s like rolling a boulder... at first there’s a lot of inertia, then "kess ba kess" (slow by slow) it starts to roll, then pick up speed!

Also, I finally got my second garden bed planted! I had gone to work and this time the sight of my hoe brought in ten curious bystanders, who just sat and watched as I pulled weeds. Finally one stood up and decided to help me. Soon all ten had cleared my garden and I decided to show them how to dig and amend the bed. The next day I finally got my Counterpart to come out and I did a short training (for his benefit alone) on bed preparation and intercropping. Now I just need perennials and annuals for the berms. If anyone could send me seeds for common cooking herbs as well as other garden seeds like squash, watermelon, sweet corn, peas and beans, carrots, etc… it would be much appreciated. I’m a bit limited on selection for my garden. And I really need perennials. I would particularly love rosemary, thyme, and basil.

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE

I have begun to make an Ethiopian basket called a “Suffet”. It is made from Teff straw and either plastic strips, or colorful string, sewn into it in a spiral. I don’t spend much time on it so it’s slow going, but I’m trying to make a fruit basket.

In other news, I have discovered how to make Butter! It took a while! I finally figured out how to properly boil the milk and separate my cream. Basically, after letting it sit for about 12 hrs you skim the top, and instead of throwing it out (as I did before!!) you save it in a jar- this is heavy (whipping) cream. If you then shake or blend or whip the cream for a few minutes it turns in to whipped cream. Those of you who have done this know whipping too much will turn it back into a fluid. If you whip it even more it soon turns to butter, and  the leftover fluid in the jar is buttermilk. 

I also have a lovely little kitten named Oliver (despite being a girl)… she’s orange, what can I say? On the down side, I now have fleas… I’m waiting to receive flea powder and collar from home. 

My computer unfortunately is telling me to replace the battery, which is strange because I changed it a few months before I left home. It shouldn’t have any issues, but it does, and I’m not sure how to get a new one here.

Well, that’s all I can think of at the moment. I wish I could come home for a visit to see you all, but it’s a bit outta my price range. Much love from the land with 13 months of sunshine. <3 

*******************************************************

More explanation on bees and honey: 

Ethiopians are very proud of their local honeys; each region displays different properties and colors. The most unusual is the white honey found in Tigrey and Labella, and perhaps a few other locations. Instead of a caramel or amber, this honey is white and fetches a high price on the specialty market. But all of Ethiopia does honey to one level or another. It is eaten straight, or with bread, and used as a sweetener in coffee on occasion. It is also used to produce a popular alcoholic drink similar to wine called Tedge.

Bee-keeping in Ethiopia is normally done with traditional hives which require little-to-no management. They are made out of a woven, conical basket, and coated with mud. Usually in order to collect the honey you destroy the whole hive, dropping it from a tree or such. The government is trying to make the people use modern hives which require a lot of skill in management as well as high start-up costs, but also produce far more honey and preserves the bee colony after harvest for the next year. 

In order to be easier on the locals, who don’t know how to manage the hives nor have the high start-up fee, the government is also promoting a transitional hive model. This is made out of a local wood frame (smaller on the bottom and wider on the top) and woven sides, then it is coated with mud manure and hay mix. Finally there are top bars laid the top of the hive with a line of bees wax to guide the bees on where to build the comb. This allows the bee keeper to make the hive smaller or larger throughout the year, as well as open the hive to inspect the hive, lifting each comb away attached to each top bar. This is something the traditional hives cannot accommodate. 

Usually the honey you buy in market is unprocessed. You get a bucket of honey mixed with comb and a bunch of bee bodies to boot! [For the American in me, used to nice processed table honey, this has induced honey nightmares of bee zombies crawling out of the honey to sting me as I slept! I’m completely serious.] Ethiopians seem to think its normal! Usually the quality of honey is not considered because the main purpose of honey is to be fermented into Tedge. Luckily, processing honey is not all that difficult. In modern hives you would put the comb in a centrifuge. It spins the comb around, the honey basically flies off from centripetal force, and then drips down the walls of a metal drum into your honey pot! However this contraption is again expensive and needs to be upkept. Instead for the intermediate or traditional hives, it is better to simply melt the honey and strain it through cheese cloth. Or as I did in my own kitchen, let it cool and the wax will dry in a solid layer on the top. The wax can then be used to make candles, or a variety of salves and natural medicines. It’s valuable stuff!  :)

Settling In

So the excitement of me being a “new arrival” has died down quite a bit. I finally got the town to call me “Nikki", rather than Frenji (foreigner), as I walk by... mostly anyways. Of course if I try to leave my home I usually get about 20 greetings, and sometimes people simply follow me. Everyone wants to know how my day was, and where I'm going. And sometimes they will call my name simply because they want me to look at them before they run another direction. If you ever want to know what being a celebrity is like, move to a small African town. Just last week I was walking back from work when a man shouted at me to stop so he could take my photo.

*I took one of him as payback!*

 While I was waiting for the bus, a little girl said, “Hi Nikki, Hi Kiki” repeatedly every 30 seconds, for like half an hour. And then when I visited my hub town Filaket, me and another PCV

Alben, got swarmed by a dozen kids wanting us to sign our autographs...Autographs!

On the plus side, I FINALLY found peanut butter! A local variety, but still absolutely craved. I also found a way to get the wax and bee bodies out of my honey! I had been having nightmares about eating honey and getting stung by dead bees stuck in it. Turns out melting it down and cooling does the trick. Now I just need to get some bread. Other culinary joys, I finally got charcoal! Which means I can actually cook full meals! It still takes a few hours, but it is way faster than the electric stove. I only use the stove in the mornings now, for when coals take too long to start, or to reheat soup. I usually get a little visitor during the mornings... a young cat, which I have named Sammy. Technically I’m not allowed to own any pets, but since I don’t own it and it

simply stops by for grub I think I’m fine. He's let me touch him like twice. But I think I’m slowly winning him over. Tell you what, dogs got nothing on cats that beg.

I'm starting to really like certain Ethiopian dishes, such as Doro Watt. I only get meat like once every two weeks and not much even then. So Doro Watt is a special treat. Basically it's a ton of onions cooked in oil, then lots of chili powder added along with a bit of salt, water and surprisingly cumin. Then you put in chicken and hard boiled eggs, and eat with Injera. Though really you only get one small piece of meat and a single egg, you still crave that savory bite of protein.

I've found myself consistently adding to the number of eggs I eat a week. I started out buying 10. Then 15. Now 20. And I honestly don't think it's enough! Admittedly the eggs are rather small. It takes about three eggs to equal two American eggs. But I eat about three eggs scrambled with onion each morning, and if I want more protein I have add egg to my lunch and dinner. In the end, I really need to double my egg intake. But people are already shocked at how many I buy…

I finally visited the tree nursery in my Kebele (town administrative district). It's about a 3km hike

down a cliff (which once you start hiking you realize you've been on a plateau the whole time).

 It takes about an hour, and it was muddy since the rainy season has started. I was laughed at the whole time because my guide hadn't even broken a sweat, yet I was breathing hard and chugging water! Half way down the cliff I spotted a few small monkeys called Tota and am told the larger monkey called Zinjiro is also around, though I have yet to see it. The cliff side had a bunch of native plants that I hadn't seen yet due to everyone just growing eucalyptus everywhere.

At the bottom of the cliff is a valley and a bunch of farms with rather clever flood irrigation systems.

They store the stream water in a large water catchment then guide it into their fields and close the water at night to store more.

As we reached the bottom we found the tree nursery site. Basically only three tree species are grown by a single family. A few thousand are grown in flood irrigated beds.

 And transplanted onto hillsides at three months old. Luckily the other two tree species are actually native, unlike the Eucalyptus. Still I'll have to look into the diversity available. I did find out that somewhere in surrounding Kebeles there is a more diverse tree nursery for fruit trees; I'll have to check it out.

Visit complete, we began our trek back up the cliff, which was much harder because going up is harder than down and I was already tired. By the time I got back I was starving and collapsed into bed for the rest of the day.

In other news, I finally started my permagarden!

Of course I was supposed to teach a single group how to make a permagarden over the period of a week. Instead I had no translator and a new group of farmers every day.

 I'm pretty sure they thought of it as "help the foreigner because she can't dig", rather than a lesson in gardening skill. Also the sheep herd got into my compost pile and started eating it. I’m worried about them eating my plants once they start to grow. I’ll have to build a fence. I've only actually finished one of the two beds. And I don't have any perennial plants to go in the berms so it's still gonna take a lot of work. But at least it is a start.

It's two and a half weeks till IST, which is a weeklong reconnect with PC and my fellow G12 trainees. Gonna be fun! I finally received my first package in the mail. Which is good and

means my mail box works. According to the date it takes around 4 weeks to get to me. So plan ahead and don’t send anything that would spoil! For those of you who forgot my mail address is;

Nicole Stinchcomb

Box 41, Filakit

Semen Wollo, Amhara

Ethiopia

I don't expect much, a box of one or two items from the list below would be great!

Things to send LIST:

Food: beef jerky (great as a straight snack or maybe added to my cooking!), chips (doritoes or pringles), seasonings, ramen, mac n cheese, powdered milk, oatmeal breakfast pouches, pancake mix, flour, chocolate chip cookies, powdered drink mixes (koolade, hot chocolate or those crystal light peach tea would be great [I have sugar]) trail mix, nut mix,... [you get the idea the list goes on]

Toiletries: deodorant, razors, face wash, lotion, face cleansing pads

Entertainment: Games, movies, drawing pad, or books (sending a flash drive full of music, ebooks, movies, or a TV show would be awesome and not much space... if you have a computer game you don’t want any more, I would love to have it!)

Most of all Pictures and letters about home. I share photos off facebook all the time trying to explain who my mother and father and aunt s and friends are.

Miss you all terribly. Hope you're all doing well. <3 

PS you better enjoy the photos they took like 3 hrs to upload.

PSS comments are apreciated

Starting over

So it’s been awhile due to some technical difficulties. Sorry. Let me catch you up.

I spent my last few weeks in Butijira and said a tearful goodbye to my host family. We all headed to the capital of Adiss Abeba (new flower) and spent our last week of training and household shopping. I finally bought a cultural outfit, though not the really nice one I want. And a cultural scarf called natella, and made from cotton. I also was able to see the first movie in theater since coming to Ethiopia, Cinderella. We were able to meet some PCVs that are already in country and see some of the Capitals sights.

The last day there we all dressed up nice got in a bus and headed to the US embassy. We were let into a very nice garden area that made us feel back at home rather than the other side of the world. A bunch of officials showed up and people connected to the Peace Corps. Then the ambassador came gave a speech then a representative of each language from our training class got up and gave a speech in the local language they have been learning. After we received a certificate of training completion from the US ambassador, who is an inspiring and strong woman. Following the service we took pictures together and had some good food.

The next day we got up and left all familiar to us for the small town life. After spending a night in lalibelle we got on an early bus that was two hours late and headed to our final destination. Overcharged the whole way due to being foreign. A few days after arriving my clothes were delivered for me.

My normal schedule since arriving has been to get up around 6:30 eat breakfast then go to work. Which people may or may not be at. If they are then I follow around their activity such as; teaching a class of row cropping, giving a survey, introducing new plow technology or handing out baby chickens. This is usually held around 10 am since the farmers never come on time. When it’s over it’s around noon. After that I’m normally invited to my Counterparts house for coffee and food prepared by his wife. I go home for rest if I can or get dragged around town meeting people or simply sitting at my counterparts house till nightfall. If I do go home I’ll be invited for coffee and food at least once if not twice in the afternoon. This is my basic day, since at the moment I’m only supposed to be observing and learning.

On Saturdays we have market day and I walk to it hoping to find good fruits and vegetables. So far I’ve only seen, onions, garlic, potatoes and tomatoes. Though people are growing carrots and beets they haven’t reached market yet. They have had local bananas available at market, though I know it is possible to get apples, lemons and oranges. I recently traveled to the district hub town Flaket and found and avocado and mango due to a special event. I learned they are growing them in the tree nursery, yet I don’t think they are generally available at the time. I’ll have to look into it. Eggs are also available along with a variety of spices that I don’t actually recognize since they aren’t labels and if they were labels they would have a different name such as Rue being called Tinadam (which some people like to dip in their coffee). If I wanted I could also buy soaps and buckets and plastic shoes. And if I had the guts I could buy a live chicken as well. I don’t think I have it in me to kill one and besides women are forbidden from the actual slaughter.

A few large events have happened since I arrived. The first was Fasica or Easter. The orthodox Easter is there biggest holiday and is conducted a week after America celebrates theirs. This is a culmination of a 3 month fast called t’some, were among other things they cannot eat meat or eggs. On Fasica they get up before sun rise dress in their best cultural outfits and walk in the dark with flash lights up to their church. Everyone wraps themselves in these white blankets called Gabi which are entirely and made from cotton, in the dim light all you see are whit figures covered from head to toe holding little lights gave me the distinct impression of ghosts at Halloween time. At the church the shoes are removed and you bow your head at the entrance touching your head heat and shoulders in a cross. Then men are sent to one side and women the other ass you pray along the building bow your head, do the cross, then step to the side and repeat three times. Then you exit the church and sit in family groups to break your fast by eating a spicy chicken and chili powder stew called Doro Watt along with a spongey sour crepe like bread called Injera. Supposedly if I had gone even earlier I could have heard the priests chanting and some preaching. After that the day is dedicated to feasting, mostly on Doro Watt but some people come together to slaughter a lamb or goat sometimes even a cow. As the foreigner everyone wanted me at their house for the festivities though I tried to remain at my counterpart’s house and my compound family’s house. I think I ate 5 times that day.

After Fasica as is right before t’some starts there tends to be a lot of weddings. The reason for this is that weddings eat a lot of meat… so for three months of t’stome no one marries at all. As it so happens my compound sister had gotten engaged and was to wed two days after Fasica. As such family started showing up that Sunday and I barley had a moment without someone showering me with questions. I felt drain as the true introvert I am, too much socializing! It lasted all week! The first days after fasica were spent transforming the backyard by building a huge shade structure out of eucalyptus poles and tarps. Further was a big hulabaloo about cooking all the meat. I even got roped into cutting garlic till I cut myself. After they saw I got hurt they refused my help. Lots of drinking of the local beer called Tella, they had barrels of it and would top off a glass as soon as you took a few sips so you couldn’t keep track of what you drank. I refused politely but sternly time and again. I did have one glass of Tedge their honey whine and a shot of some hard liquor but that was hours apart.

The bride wore the classic wedding dress and had bridesmaids and all. She waited in the house and I was called to join in the festivities as we waited for the groom. In the room they started banging on a plastic jug like a drum and started chanting/singing. And doing a traditional dance called Iskita, which is done by shrugging the shoulders and popping the chest to a rhythm. It’s called Iskita cause when you dance people stop singing and go “issk issk issk issk”. I was somehow dragged into this dance and even asked to sing though I have no idea how to do their songs. Finley we hear chanting outside as the men arrived from the groom’s party and they entered the room and everyone started dancing. Then bake to the yard were we all had lots of meat and Injera. Up at the front the bride groom sat surrounded by their bridesmaids and groomsmen. Then there’s an offering of a gift which was a suitcases full of clothes and then the bride signs a paper hands it to the priest and then the ring. But to be honest all the ceremony is done quietly as the people feast. Finally the couple rise after a while and everyone cheers as they get in vans and drive to the grooms place for another part of the ceremony.

I thought that would be the end of it but was wrong. The bride’s family stays there and party’s all night. I was somehow dragged into dancing again with everyone staring at the Frenji, which now people are always asking me to dance. The next day I went to work and was surprised when came back that the bride and groom had returned and they were feasting again. I was ushered up to the front to sit next to the bride as if I was a maid of honor. After a while they started to “Gorsha” me (which is a sign of affection by placing food in someone’s mouth). And then they brought out the raw meat which is only served fresh after slaughter, I’m just glad I didn’t witness it… When I didn’t immediately dig in they decided to feed it to me. So now I can cross eating fresh dead raw cow off my bucket list. Again the couple left and went to the grooms house and the family partied outside my room till midnight at least. By the third day I was tiered of the festivities, but of course they continued feasting and partying like before. By the time I got to bet I was happy that it was finally over and that I could get some privacy at last. But of course there was another two days of cleanup with the family all still feasting. What a week!

The following week on Wednesday was my instillation meeting. Meant to be a brief 1-2 hr introduction for important people in my town to who the Peace Corps are and how they can help me feel welcome and capable to work here. I had spent the previous week filling out official invitations and hunting people down. We had told them all that the time was 8 am for the meeting, though officially it was at 10 am. I got there at 8 am and helped set up. True to form no one even started showing up till 9:30 am. However everyone seemed to want to make a big deal out of this event. They started throwing leaves all over the floor and making coffee and popcorn (which is the official snack and drink for any true occasion) for close to 40 people, despite my protests that it wasn’t necessary. I felt like they thought the meeting was some sort of ceremony by the way they set things up. The Peace Corps staff finally showed up half an hour late, and then waited another hour to get more people to show up. We finally started around 11 am for an event we claimed was supposed to start at 8 am (habisha time at its finest). To be honest I was barley even needed, I set a 10 second self-introduction then sat down and listened to them present in Amharic while Bunna was passed around. Then it was over and I showed the PC staff my Farmers Training Center and my House and that was that.

The final thing of interest happened this last week. I was sitting in my back yard when a 7^th grader shyly handed me a piece of paper inviting me to school to introduce myself and talk about my experience of Ethiopia. When I got there to class all the other classes suddenly decided that the class I was in was more exciting so the tried to slip in or stand by the windows and doors. Since the purpose of my visit was to let them practice English I was able to introduce myself in English, then answer a few shyly asked questions and somehow ended up singing songs like the national anthem and “marry had a little lamb”. I was trotted from class to class after that cause everyone was jealous if I visited one class and not another. By the end I was asked to come back in a few days and teach a full period in order to expose them to a new teaching style. I decided that instead of just word lists or writing assignments I would make them do pantomime to guess the clothing. I forced each child in the 7^th grade class to stand up in front of the class and pretend to put on a hat or to wear a skirt and the class had to guess the word in English. By doing so the word was reinforced with an action, further it helped by breaking down their shells and making them embarrassed. Many of these students are too scared to speak even when they know a word, helping them be comfortable in class is the first step. If they are too shy hear then they will never be able to use their skills in real life.

The second class I taught was for 8^th grad and I asked them to draw up a simple skit one acting as a shop keeper the rest of the group as a customer. The goal was to have one come in ask for an item try it one, and complain about one fault (ex the skirt is to small) the item would be exchanged then bought. By the time class was over they had yet to finish the practice so I agreed to come back. As I explained to them words are just words till you use them in a sentence or conversation. Context is everything, and language has to be spoken or else you will never be able to use it. I’ve seen what these kids write in English, it’s impressive! They have been learning English for 7 years, but getting them to speak anything is torture. So my goal is to get the words out of there brain and onto their tongue! 

Teaching was the most fun I've had since i arrived at site a month ago! hopefully tomorrow i can finally see that tree nursery!

That’s all for now, sorry it took so long. I had technical difficulties…

site visit- almost done with PST!

Site Visit!

So it’s been a month since I last wrote and I know I left at a pretty big cliff hanger so let me dive in and tell you all what you want to know….

Or at least that’s what we thought would happen when we went to get our placements… we were wrong. Instead we all gathered and were assigned a photo scavenger hunt in groups. We had to run around like crazy tourist asking random strangers for favors. Among the photos we had to take was our whole group in a public shint bet (like an outhouse… just nothing to sit on) in a bajaj (a 3 wheel three seat taxi) get three Ethiopians to dance with us in the traditional style, and get a picture riding a donkey to name a few! To be sure it was harder to find Ethiopians to dance with us than we thought. I mean imagine a bunch of foreign tourist running up to you in America all excited asking in broken English for you to dance with them so they can take a photo… we had one person say he’d do it only if we paid. Even the kids were hesitant, though we did finally get the kids to agree at least. Besides the photos we had activities to accomplish, the first was to do a wheelbarrow race at one of the hotels, and then chug a bottle of sparkling water (which we had to actually buy L ). After doing so we were given our first clue… ZEBIT! Next we had to rush to the other side of town (on foot) to another restaurant/hotel and create and sing Peace Corps related lyrics to a backstreet boy’s song.

Tell me now!

I really want to know my site!

Tell me where,

I’ll be living for two year!

Tell me where!

I really want to know now!

I want my site now!

Original I know… I’m actually the one to come up with the lyrics. But in my defense no one else had any ideas and it WORKED! After singing our heart out to a camera we got a second clue… DEBERE! Finally we got to our third clue. Which in order to learn we only had to buy coffee for our Language teachers. And though it was heard to sit still from all the excitement we finally got our third clue… Amhara!

With all three clues collected we made our way to a big room where they had taped a giant game bored onto the ground. We were arranged by region, mine being Amhara, and given a dice to role our way through our journey, losing a turn due to “a bus issue” or even starting over due to “illness” in my case we finally made our way to the goal and using our clues guessed my site and found it on the map. DEBRE ZEBIT located in the Amhara Region in the Semen Wollo Zone. In other words either a two day journey by bus from Addis Abeba or an all day journey by plane to Lalibella and 4 hr bus from Lalibella to site.

The following day we packed into buses and drove up to Addis, settling into a very nice hotel with amazing warm showers and apparently a pool though no one had a swim suit. I felt very pampered! The next day I woke up with a swollen eye due to a bug bite in the middle of the night… go figure. Regardless we were given another all day of classes leading up to our introduction of our local Counter Part. Mine is a man named Endewek, he is married, has one child, speaks mostly decent English and is a DA in the government run Ag-department at my site. One of the things I appreciate about Ethiopia is there provisions or Ag experts put in almost all of the rural towns to provide technical trainings and support to all there farmers, and to deal with issues such as erosion and failing crops. In a lot of ways these people are rockstars. Not perfect by a long shot, but they are tackling giant issues with very little funds.

The next morning (around 3 am) we got up got packed and headed out again. This time to the airport. Shortly after noon we landed in Lalibella which is a big tourist draw due to the rock churches cut into the stone (they are stunning, look it up on google!). I would’ve loved to see them in person but we didn’t have the time. We did have to by a mattress in Lalibella though, else we would have nothing to sleep on. Though I’m still confused why we bought it there, my counterpart insisted. Lalibella knows Tourists have money and so most things cost far too much there. In addition we then had to transport a mattress for hours on top of multiple buses to get it to site. I was completely lost the entire time my Counterpart was running around arranging transport. I have no idea how I’ll be able to use public transport on my own from now on. After being jammed into the backs of a few van/ “minibus” we arrived at site in mid afternoon.

I expected to be brought to my new home, instead I was brought to my counterpart’s home, and given my first meal since 3 am that morning. Interestingly its bayonet on “Red Injera”. Bayonet is an assorted vegetables with a spicy sauce served on Injera. Injera is like a sour spongy large crepe made from fermented Teff, a local grain. Normally Injera is made from White Teff, but as I discovered in the rural towns (kebeles) Red Teff and hence Red Injera is more common. For me getting used to normal Injera took a long time, the Red Injera has an even stronger flavor and for me made eating a bit hard… something more to get used to.

During the meal a man came in who was in a formal looking uniform carrying a huge rifle. Hugging my counterpart I find out they are brothers and that he is a police of some sort. Finishing up the meal I am then treated to a traditional Bunna Ceremony (coffee). Ethiopia is the birth place of coffee and it is a cultural cornerstone in their daily lives. In a ceremony they will roast the bean, grind them by hand then place them in a pot with water to bring to a boil. They will have 3 tea cup size cups of Bunna each ceremony waiting for a new pot to boil each time. As a result it can take an hour to get all three cups, this is why it is used as a social time. These ceremonies will take place from 3-5 times in one day. Even if you can’t have a full ceremony you will stop by a bunna bet (coffee house) every few hours for another cup. In PST I have had maybe two cups a day and not in the evenings though I have had bunna ceremonies before. I heard rumor that bus drivers will stop every few hours for bunna even with a whole bus load of people, which makes travel take quite a while.

For me the coffee in this ceremony tasted a bit stranger than normal. I have come to enjoy Ethiopian style bunna quite a bit, even without my preferred milk with it. On occasion the richness has a chocolate warmth and aftertaste. But this bunna for some reason reminded me of sweet soap. As it turns out the flavor difference was due to the addition of salt to the coffee as it’s brought to a boil normally I just have black coffee with sugar. Some PCVs have really liked salt in it, but I still found it a bit odd. The third way Ethiopians drink their coffee is with butter, I have not tried this yet, but I’m open to it if it’s offered some time.

Soon many more people start showing up at the house, first DAs from the ag office, then a bunch of village leaders show up (also holding rifles) all apparently as a welcome party for me, which I hadn’t been told about pre-hand. It felt odd to be around so many guns, held so casually.

I was then given more food because apparently the meal I just finished wasn’t enough. The party lasted late into the night and I attempted all the language skills I knew, yet was still being told I was being too quiet. What do they expect, I can barely understand what’s being said, let alone contribute to the conversation. At the end I was told I was actually expected to spend the night at my counterpart’s house, given his queen bed, while they took the floor. Guest status protocol is still confusing to me and makes me feel very uncomfortable, yet I can’t refuse it. They treat me half as a child and half as a queen. And of course I needed the bathroom in the middle of the night, my option was either use the chamber pot with the family in the same room or wake someone up to accompany me to the shint bet so the dog wouldn’t attack me. I chose the latter but felt awful for dragging someone out of bed.

The next day I went to my new house, met my new compound family and saw my rooms. I have two, about 3m² each which is a good upgrade from my current space. It’s made out of mud and sticks and covered in blue paint so you don’t fully realize it and a tin roof. Surprisingly I do have a cement floor! Only two other PCVs are supposed to have one this round, everyone else has dirt. One of the rooms is meant to be my kitchen but really it was just an empty room. I’m starting from scratch I have a mattress and sheets that’s it. I had to buy lightbulbs and sockets but I do have electricity when the power is working, but no water… I’m not actually sure where the water comes from, all I know is a woman disappears and when she comes back 30-45 min later she’s lugging a huge can of water on her back.

I was then shown the rest of town. It’s really only one main streets and two side streets. The main street is one of the main travel roads made of assault by the chimes. It’s really nice and comparable to American roads, and gets pliantly of traffic. It takes about 10 min to walk from one side to the next. The houses are all crowded close together in the town, leaving less yard space than I had in America. And all the houses look the same. Mud and wood is rarely painted on the outside. I’m not sure I’ll recognize my house let alone my town next time I have to travel to it alone. The farmer training is located right next to the school which is right next to the health center which is right next to the governmental/committee center. Makes tings convenient. I was given a tour of each and was talked up in Amharic about all the awesome things I’d be doing to every person I met. Then they all looked at me expectantly as I stumble through my memorized introduction. They then all say I’ll be fluent in a matter of weeks, which I highly doubt. The level of expectation is daunting, I’m not sure I can live up to all that… not even sure everything they expect of me cause it was all done in Amharic.

The next day I traveled to my hub town Felakit via hitch hiking, which I’m not allowed to do, but my counterpart got the ride for me and since I was with him I didn’t have room to complain. We met up with another PCV Alben who shared my hub town. He lives an hour and a half from it while I live a half hour. So my nearest neighbor is two hours away but I’ll hopefully be able to meet up at the hub town once a month or so. The are two other PCVs around me all from my group of training, one is to the West of me around 2 hr, and the other is south east also about the same distance, but both have a separate hub town. We spent the day trying to set up bank accounts, post office box, and meeting all the officials in the health office, main ag office, and governmental offices. Most governmental officials spoke good English, but I have no idea how the level of expectation they have for me could be met. We of course had a power out while trying to set up a bank account, so we were told come back in a few hours so they could process us, so we went shopping for kitchen supplies, and had bunna. Power was still out so we had lunch. Power was still out so we got some beers. My first lesson as PCV, anything that should only take the morning, set aside the whole day for, cause it’ll take that long. Right when we were gonna give up and go home the power came back and we finalized everything. The post office we then stopped by, but it was closed. Apparently since there was no manager the worker was lazy only opening it when she felt. We tracked someone down who had her number called her, and waited 30 minutes till she came buy and I finally got my mail set up. 

              Nicole Stinchcomb 

               box 41, felakit, 

              semen wollo 

             Amhara Ethiopia

On the ride home we found a minibus type contraption, that started out squished with 3 seated legally to two seats in america. We had 7 seats which would have been tight, but as we went we kept adding moor to the vehicle, at one point we had 14 people total, with two babies and luggage beside. i just kept giggling to myself thinking about how much like a clown care I felt. there were people standing and laying on each other to fit. in america we would have been find so much if not arrested for how many were beyond the carrying capacity. and there was nothing i could do about it cause i was in the very back corner with no way out, and my counterpart trying to explain to me that there wasn't enough transport and that's why it was happening. he was baffled at why i looked so amused.

My final day in site I was taken from home and walked out of town to see some ag farms. First time seeing some decent space, and I quite enjoyed it. As it turns out we were going to see a food security program at work. This program is government run and quite remarkable. First every Ethiopian is expected to show up to 30 days of community service. These are recorded and marked off. After the 30 days, any man or woman can work more in exchange for food. The types of community service may vary but much of it is geared to soil conservation, planting trees, digging water catchments, and berms on hill sides and building small dams in new forming gorges, meant to fill up with sediment, and relevel the land. That day they were building a small dam for that purpose and took a lot of pictures which I posted to Facebook. The men were set to digging out the gorge to fill with rocks, while the women carried the rock from a faraway unknown source on their backs. After digging it out, they set up wire boxed and filled them with the rocks. Took a few hours for a group of 30+ to set it up. Every time I tried to help though the locals would pantomime that I can’t help because I’d crush my fingers or something -_- . After if finished my counterpart gathered them around in what I assumed was a “thank you for participating” speech. Then turned to me expectantly… with 30 strange eyes watching me, I realized that in fact he had been talking about me and wanted me to introduce myself. So I said my introduction for the hundredth time; name, age, nationality and occupation. Then stopped, people still watching me not knowing anything else I could say. Despite knowing a bunch of words I still have the language capacity of a 3 year old. “my name is ___” “I like ____” “I don’t like ___” “this color is ____” “yesterday I ate ___, then went to ____, I bought ____, then came back to house” etc.

After that we walked back for lunch and had the rest of the day off. My compound grandmother was spinning cotton tread by hand and I was able to watch! As well as making Injera. The next day I was up before dawn and riding on my own in public transport to Felaket where I was supposed to get a ride from the ag-office car. From there I was meant to pick up the two other PCVs near me and drive together to Lalibella.  But the person I was supposed to get it from was still asleep. So I wait for him about an hour, drawing a crowd who stared at me sitting around, wondering what the Forigner wants. When the ag head arrives he explains the car needs to be prepped first and that I had to wait a few more hours, so I go out for breakfast and inform the other PCVs I’ll be late picking them up. Of course after breakfast we go for bunna because the car has an issue. Then the car needs to go to the mechanic and I no longer have a ride. I’m told if I wait till after lunch I may get a ride. Finally I find a ride leaving before lunch but once we get to the next big town I’m left in a megeb bet (small restaurant) for 45 min, as he goes to do an errand in another town. When he comes back he orders a meal. By this time the PCVs I was supposed to pick up decide to just catch a bus. Which means instead of splitting the price of my ride three ways I have to pay for the driver taking me three hours through the desert alone.  Luckily though he did know a bit of English, and made for pleasant company. All this I took in stride of course, at this point something taking twice as long as it needs to be, is common to me. By the time I get to Lalibella it’s too late to take the hike to see the churches, but I do get a hot shower in the hotel. I met with the other two PCVs and was able to relax a bit.

Despite the fact our plane was set for around noon we left the hotel around 9 in order to drive all over town picking up one passenger at a time to go to the airport. Interestingly, by plain it takes one full day to get to my sight but two days if I want to get back to Addis, something to remember. By the time I got to Addis though I was beginning to feel nauseous, I thought it was just all the traveling, the landing on the plane was rough and someone else had vomited. But the next morning I felt run over by a truck and just wanted to curl up in the fetal position. I had no appetite started vomiting, and I felt worse as the day progressed. I still had to suffer through a 2-3 hour bus ride back to Butijira before I finally got to the health clinic. It was night fall by the time I got into a bed. The doctor only gave my some antacids for the stomach issue, which did help. It wasn’t till the following weekend when I came back because the pain came back that they took a stool and found I had an Amoeba Tellytuby pal. But I did get meds for it then.

The last two weeks weren’t nearly as eventful as site visit, but they were busy. I’ve been spending 4-6 hours a day in language class now in prep form my LPI next weekend. We also taught a class at the local middle school for 1.5 hr that we had to design ourselves. We were graded on our lesson plan and facilitation skills. And this last week we did our second 3 hour technical training with farmers that we designed ourselves again. This time we taught of crop rotation, intercropping, and nitrogen fixing trees used in agriculture. Most of us didn’t realize St.Patrick’s day was there till we were reminded, and most were shocked that it was that time of year already. The PCVs actually found some green dye and had a small celebration. Sharing the American/Irish culture ;)

Among other excitement, the rainy season has started. Not the big one when day and night is nothing but down pore, but the smaller one where it storms all night and is calm during the day. I’m excited for this, the tin roof dose make it hard to sleep with all the noise. Still I want to see this place green up a bit. I have one week left in Butijira then a final week in Addis Abeba before swearing in. After that I’ll be in site for three months alone before reconnect. Excitement and terror all mixed together. The expectations seam so high... I have no idea what I can even offer my site that they aren’t already doing… nothing easy at least. Technical training is hard when you only know what you read on google.

Well that’s all for now. Don’t forget about me, I haven’t received anything as far as mail or packages from anyone yet. Most of the other PCVs do. I do get e-mails faster than mail so I wouldn’t mind you sending me a few! Nicole.l.stinchcomb@gmail.com  just don’t send any attachments, I won’t get them. I would love to hear how everyone at home is doing, I can’t afford to call even my mom let alone everyone else.

Much love from the other side of the world,

Nikki

Mid way through PST

            So I’m just now about to hit the mid-way point of PST (Pre Service Training). It has been an interesting time thus far. Two weeks ago we went through Permagarden training which was a blast.

The garden we made was at a local school called Manchiko Millennium Secondary School and it had a campus that reminded me of a small summer camp. Beautiful tree canopy smelling of pine. Though upon entering you would notice thousands of bits of mostly burned paper littering the campus. They don’t have a local trash service nor dump or even recycling so burning is the most common way of dealing with it. Unfortunately all the homework likes to float on the hot air when burned and is scattered everywhere.

            We were all given a pole of wood and a hoe head and told to take them home, whittle and sand it down till the head was snug. I named mine Dilu (victory in Amharic) which happens to be the meaning of Nicole/Nikki, in either Roman or Greek. Can’t really remember which.

            The garden was only 3m² but it took 10 people about 5 hours 6 hr ( 1.5 hr a day) to make. We did a “double dug” style which implies digging a bed up, then digging down a second layer. First clearing the grass them digging four 1ft³ holes in each corner and made a small berm out lining the garden and connecting the holes in order to slow down water and get it to infiltrate the soil. As my teacher explain Ethiopians think they don’t get enough water when in reality they get more than twice as much water than England dose. The problem is it’s all at once and they can’t control it. The garden is designed to catch and store the natural rain instead of letting it hit the hard ground and run off. After that we made a garden bed double dug with space to walk around in order not to compact the soil. The soil was really hard! Even after wetting it down. We dug it down 20 cm which my teacher said saves 6m³ of water. Each time it rains. A garden like this only needs water once or twice a week. Finally we planted seeds, using perennial herbs for the berm and maize and carrots for the beds. Intercropped. The soil was all amended with egg shells coffee grounds, pot ash and coal dust locally found.

            During the week our work brought quite a few local on lookers and I felt that even though the training was for us maybe they could pick it up too!

            At the end of that week we all had a special trip to Lake Langano. A beautiful resort spot on the edge of a crystal brown lake! The lake is the only lake that doesn’t carry Schitsoma (not sure how to spell that) in it due to not being habitable to the snail vector. You might say “it’s so dirty it’s clean”.

            We spent the day relaxing by the lake, getting tan, drinking drinks three times the normal price, wishing we had hamburgers and playing tug of war, water Frisbee and water monkey (tota) in the middle even! An altogether good day, and likely the last time I’ll swim in the next two years.

            This last week we spent learning about tree nursery’s pruning, grafting and propagation. The pruning was especially fun, there’s nothing quite so stress relieving as going out and hacking off limbs! The grafting was a bit nerve wracking though. I was surprised they let up cut up 60 tree seedlings in hopes we did it right. Even a good grafting has a good chance of failing, and we were all new to it. But it’s a good thing to try your hand on, watching is not the same. Later we went to the gorge in kebele 1 to plant tree seeds in a nursery bed we made out of wood poles hay and poly pots (plastic tubes). Again we attracted a crowd this time mostly children. When it came time to planting seedlings they helped us dig the holes which we were very grateful for.

            The gorge itself is a beautiful place that many volunteers go hiking in, the river on the bottom attracts a lot of wild life as a result I saw a bunch of small monkeys (totaoch). This made my day as I had kept hearing about them but hadn’t seen them. I’ve now seen them a few times including my back yard, but they tend to be in the gorge which is a 40 min walk from my house. I intend to go hiking in the gorge eventually, but I’m a bit lazy I guess, I use my weekend for napping and reading.

            Friday was a supper interesting day as we were all sent out to farmer training centers and conducted a 4 hour training. The idea was to get them to do PACA tools, which are tools for assessing community needs. We were supposed to teach what they were than have the farmers do them, and by the end we would decide on a training we would conduct the next time we came in a month from now. I facilitated the yearly calendar (with aid of translator of course) and helped with daily schedule and priority ranking. After we returned to Butijira and was supposed to work of developing a 80 minute class of trees for children which we will also facilitate in a few weeks.

            This Saturday was a bit stressful as we had a mock LPI, which is a language assessment test. I get very nervous on assessments and forget many words that I would normally use easily. However I was surprised I had a 15 minute conversation! Admittedly it consisted of “I like pizza. I like Mexican food” And “I went to the hotel. After I went home. After I ate dinner”. But I was also able to introduce myself occupation age and marital status, followed by those of my family members. All in all I think it’s a good start. I’ll find out how I did later this week. By the end of PST I have to be at intermediate mid. I think I’m only novice high but I might be novice low, not sure.

            The next 2 weeks are highly anticipated. For one we will find out how we did in the LPI test, and will be reassigned language teachers in order to learn different accents and to adjust based on learning speeds. But more exciting is that we get to learn our final site placement on Wednesday! So far I have no idea if I’ll be in Amhara region or SNNPR (which is the Region Butijira is located. The regions are VER different from each other. SNNPR is like a rain forest in most places, has over 40 different dialects and has tribes that still attract national geographic due to their isolation. Amhara is very deforested and mountainous, is influenced more heavily from the western world though still largely rural and agricultural. So this place meant will decide a lot for me. And if learning the site isn’t exciting enough, the following week we will be visiting the sites! I will be there alone, with minimal skills for a week! Not sure I’m ready for this but I’ll have to go there eventually. I’m both excited and nervous.

           

Things I want:

            Mail, I want to hear from people back home.

            Pictures of family.

            Movies and music.

            Macaroni and cheese, hot chocolate packets, cookie mix, pancake mix, cake mix, stuff I just need to add water or milk too. A taste of home.

            A doll or game for my sister (8)

Well that’s all I can think of at the moment… don’t be a stranger!

            

First weeksw in Ethiopia

Ok…. I know it’s been a while since I updated. I’ve been in Ethiopia for three weeks now. I’ve been intending to update everyone, but I have been very busy. As I write this I’m not even sure when I’ll get enough internet to even post this. I’m hopping I’ll have time and access this weekend at the hotel in town.

First let me back track and catch you up. Leaving was very hard. I love my friends and family in San Diego, and saying goodbye brought forth many tears, even now if I sit and think about it, I’ll get a bit misty eyed. Then I’ll shake myself and try to focus on something more immediate and here.

After leaving San Diego I spent all day in the air and ended up in our country capital. Yep Washington DC! It was about 8 pm there, but I was still on west coast time. So I got out and started walking around. In one block I hit a statue of Washington on a horse. Then looking down the street I was stunned at what I saw… it was the White House! SO CLOSE! It was a strange moment, when you see something that you always have seen in pictures and on TV, and then it suddenly becomes real. And I wasn’t even expecting it!

Soon a fellow Peace Corps Trainee (PCT) joined me and we walked over to see the White House in person, and of course once you get there, there is a string of other monuments. I think my favorite was the statue of Lincoln (very reminiscent of a Greek temple to Zeus)! Unfortunately it was too dark to get any pictures. I thought I would go out the next day in day light to get pictures, but I ended up booked till dark.

The next day was orientation starting at noon. But due to time shift I slept late and only just got ready in time. I met all the PCTs, 60 total, and commenced 4 hours of orientation. A few of us went out for dinner and drinks, to celebrate the last night in America. Unfortunately they wanted to stay up late, I only got 2 hours of sleep before getting up at four for the bus to the airport. We were 4 hours early! Then the flight was around 12 hours. I didn’t get much sleep on the plane and when we arrived it was 7 am… and they put us right into classes! We had a full day planned and were told not to sleep till 8 pm. No naps!... so you can guess how tired we were by the end.

We spent 10 days at the hotel in the capital of Addis Ababa (new flower). Every day we had 8 hours of training, though mostly it was orientation to what expectations and attitudes a PCT and PCV should have. We were expected to buy our own dinners and a few lunches. We were given about $2.50 (50 birr) for lunch and $4.00 (80 birr) for dinner… Which is possible, but you have to be conservative. And if you have a hankering for American food, then it is very challenging. I split a small pizza most nights, and splurged on a hamburger my last night in the capital. Most of the time if you order “frenji megeb” (foreigner food) it’s nothing like home. In the capital the food was expensive but decent, in Butijira, where I am now, I don’t even think there was actual meat in the “burger”.

We had a tourist day on the first Saturday and visited the Addis Ababa national Museum. By American standards it was small. But it had one crowning piece that made the visit notable. That is of course “Lucy” the oldest fossil of a bi-pedal hominid, a very well-known archaeological find, which names Ethiopia as the cradle of human kind. They are very proud of this. After we drove up the mountain and finally broke through the smog layer to get a view of the whole city.

The next day was a holiday known as Timket. This religious holiday was met with parades of people dressed in traditional clothes, elaborate braids, chanting church songs and dancing. The white clothes and scarfs are beautiful and I intend to buy a set at my first opportunity, if I can get my hair braided too I’ll be ecstatic. The whole holiday is meant to be a rededication/rebaptism of the arc of the covenant. Ethiopia claims to have the real thing and all the churches should have replicas. Unfortunately I was sick that morning and couldn’t attend the 3 hour church service.

By the end of the second week in Addis we were all assigned our regional language. I was pleased to find out I was assigned Amharic, as was the majority of volunteers. Thou a good portion were assigned Affan Oromo, and a few assigned Tigrinya. What this means is that I’ll have an easier time learning my language as most people in Butijera speak fluent Amharic. Also it means I’ll be placed in either the Amhara Region or the Southern Nations Nationalities and People region (SNNPR). If I’m placed in the later region it is possible that they will mainly speak a regional language, and Amharic as a second language only.

We were all supper excited to get to Butijira because we all got to meet our host families. My family consists of 4 people and one kitty cat. My Father (Abate) is Werku, my Mother (Enate) Almetsey (Alma) my brother (wandime) Kaleb 18, and my sister (ehite) Mekedelawit 8. Both my brother and sister speak English well, though my brother is best. My mother speaks a little English, mostly nouns to get her point across. Though this is good that I can talk to him, unfortunately I’m not relying on Amharic as much as I need to be.

My little sister is basically in charge of babysitting me. It’s her job to keep me company when I’m out of classes. At the moment I still have guest status so I am not allowed to help with any chores, and am always served first and am given the biggest proportion in meals. If I attempt to help with cooking or washing I get brought back to the living room sat down, the TV gets turned on and my sister is brought in. I’ve been watching a lot of cartoons, music videos and sometimes the news. Mekedelewit also is my town tour guide, because kids here roam freely under the belief that an angel protects the young. She’s been helping me learn words and read the special Ethiopian Alphabet (fidel).

It’s very humbling to know that no matter how old you are and that you have a college degree, know how to cook and clean and basically take care of yourself, when you go to a foreign country, you will be treated as a child, as if you know nothing… which in a way I don’t. Everything is different. You will be taught to dance, eat, cook, wash hands, cross streets, drink coffee, take a bath, speak and use the Shint Bet (toilet) the Ethiopian way. Any other form is incorrect. And they will laugh at you while they teach you.

I have just finished my first week in Butijira and got a taste of what training will be like. I wake up at 6am to chanting from the Muslim temple and dogs barking, breakfast is at 7-7:30 am, usually bread and eggs, sometimes avocado, honey or peanut butter. I spend 4 hours a day 6 days a week (mon-sat) in strict language training. This takes up the morning with a break half way through the morning we have a bunna break (coffee). The classes are full immersion and so far we have covered introductions, meals and common questions such as age, marital status, occupation, and place of Origen. On Saturdays we have an oral and written assessment test of our progress. We go home for lunch (usually enjera with spicy sauce) after language and then walk to a hotel (30min walk) in town for further lessons. The lessons are either about cross cultural training, technical training or CORE training or safety and security. We have two, two hour sessions in the afternoon broken up by Shey Bunna (tea and coffee) break, this usually includes snacks. The hotel has minimal internet, but since there are 60 volunteers plus teachers and others at the hotel, the internet gets so bogged down your lucky to get one Facebook post in.

Finally the day is over and I get to walk a half hour home. The kids find you highly amusing and will case after you, call out “hi, how are you”, and insist on shaking your hand and giving you fist bumps as other Americans have taught them to do. Anyone who knows English will try to use it. And those who don’t will stare at you and talk to each other point to you than laugh. When I get home, I watch TV for a bit, eat dinner (which tends to be spicy pasta so far… I think my mom’s trying to make American food, sort of) then I try to get in a bit of HW done. I am so exhausted I go to bed around 8-10 pm, normally at home it was around 12-1:30 am.

Weekends are about chores and cleaning. I was supposed to learn how to wash my cloths in a bucket today but got lazy, maybe next week, I have enough clothes it’s not necessary right away.

I do have a cell Phone and a local number, 251-94-084-594. However calling the states is too expensive, though I can receive calls free. Unfortunately I have not been able to get it to work. Feel free to try it though. The time shift is the biggest problem, 11hr. So when you wake up is when I’m free to talk 7-9 am your time is 6-8 pm. The lack of talking to friends and family back home is hard, even when I have time barley anyone is awake. Writing update for this blog have been hard also because of all that’s been going on. But here it is! My first blog post from in country. Pictures have been posted on Facebook if you’re interested, not sure how to put it in my blog yet. I’m not expecting to get a post in more than once or twice a month. But if you have any questions I would love to answer them, leave me a comment!

Miss you all! Don’t forget me.

P.S Care packages from home are welcome, they will take about 3 weeks to get to me though, so don’t put in perishables. ;)

Suggestions:

Snacks such as: Pringles (Sour cream and onion, pizza, classic), Classic Doritos, Oreos…

Good hair ties (mine are cheap and keep breaking after one or two uses)

Size 10 women’s shoes (running shoes, or comfortable flats that are sturdy)

Toiletry’s such as: razors, deodorant, sun screen, lotion, nail polish remover…
        - these are available just either hard to find, expensive or cheep quality

DVD’s, CDs and books

Games, cards, toys for my sister (small doll) –she likes me painting her nails

**Pictures of America and family accompanied by a letter telling me about how things are at home J

The address should be on the previous po