"13 Months of Sunshine": Holidays and Celebrations

Sorry for not updating for two months. I’ve been super busy here with holidays, trainings, and a large report for Peace Corps called a Community Needs Assessment (CNA). And then, when I FINALLY had time, we had a week-long power outage! As a result I’ll put this update out in sections. First up: “Holidays and Celebrations”. I'll start by telling you of the holidays which I have recently been witness to.

NOTE: The Ethiopians do not follow the Gregorian calendar like Americans do. (More information when I talk about the Ethiopian New Year.)

Ashenda (Late Aug.)

Ashenda is a festival that originated in Tigray (the region of Ethiopia directly above Amhara), but is now celebrated in all of Ethiopia, as well as the neighbor country of Eritrea. The Ashenda festival in Amhara (where my town is located) is not nearly as elaborately celebrated as in Tigray.

The holiday takes place in late August and marks the end of a two-week fast known as Filseta. In Ethiopia, fasting of meat and dairy products is done regularly for two days of every week, as well as fasting before certain holidays such as Ashenda (for two weeks) and Easter (for 55 days).

The Ashenda festival is dedicated to celebrating the Virgin Mary and as such is mainly a female holiday. The word “Ashenda” references a tall grass from which the little girls make a partial skirt of and wear around their waist as they go door to door, singing and dancing for money. For most of the week, anytime I left the safety of my compound I was swarmed by little girls wanting to dance for me. But since I usually had no money on me, they often went away to find another person.

Despite the main holiday being for girls, there was a small part dedicated to boys… the whip battle!!! And it’s just what it sounds like. For about two weeks leading up to Ashenda, every afternoon I'd hear a “pop, pop, pop”. Reminded me of kids stomping on the packaging bubble wrap, except much louder! Upon going outside I saw boys practicing their "whip skills", making a crack! Finally the day before Ashenda I was dragged out of my home (because I need to learn the “culture”), and lo and behold, the street had been converted to a battle of whips in front of my home: the boys against the men, literally trying to whip each other. Supposedly the winning team received the award of bread.

The 13^th Month and New Year (Mid Sept.)

The Ethiopians follow what is known as the Julian calendar. In this calendar they are7 years behind our Gregorian calendar, making up till this recent september 2007. The Ethiopians also follow a strict 30 days in each calendar month. The excess days are accumulated in a "13^th Month",  called Pagume, consisting of 5 days (6 on leap year). Pagume is located mid-September, with the end of the month heralding in the Ethiopian New Year, sometimes called “Enkutatash”.

This holiday is marked as the end of the Rainy Season. In my mind the American New Year marks the turn of Winter and promise of a coming Spring, as denoted by the Winter Solstice. The Ethiopian New Year heralds the end of the Rains and the coming of Spring. I say “Spring”, despite it being mid-September, because this is the Ethiopian flower season. In fact, flowers are the main celebratory feature of the holiday. On TV and commercials, you’ll have these bright yellow flowers everywhere as well as being handed out to each household and scattered about the room.

On the morning of the New Year I was intending to go to the New Year’s sunrise service. My brother Binium knocked on the door (waking me up) and said, “Get up, we are going NOW!” Now it was like 5:30am and barely a crack of sunlight, but I dragged myself out of bed and flew into my cultural outfit. For those of you who have lived with me, you know I can fly when I need to. I wasn’t more than 5 minutes in getting ready, but they had left without me - and I have trouble finding the church without them.  As a result, I was left behind with the younger sister Chichu, who was preparing the coffee for when they got back. Since I had time I thought I’d wash up, and was washing my hair in the back yard, when three young boys came into my backyard and each handed me a small bouquet of wild yellow and red flowers, saying: “Malkam Ba’al” (happy/welcome holiday), “Malkam Addis Amet” (happy/welcome New Year). It was a bit awkward for the boys to come while I had shampoo in my hair, with my skirts hiked up over my knees, but I rolled with it and accepted the flowers as gracefully as possible in my condition. Afterwards, I had Chichu braid my hair and received more flowers from more boys. I was able to decorate my hair with the yellow blossoms, which everyone thought was cute.

For the big holiday we had family come by from different towns, had coffee, and slaughtered our sheep. I was asked if I wanted to help skin it, but I politely declined - maybe next time. Later I went to my Counterpart's house, sat and talked with people, had more meat, was offered lots of Tella (local beer) and bottled beer, which I tried to decline as much as was polite. I was asked to dance the Iskita a few times and drank a bunch of soda. After a few hours, I started heading home and was invited with my brother to a big gathering in someone’s front yard, where they insisted I drink Tella and would not take no for an answer. They finally conceded to give me soda instead, along with more food (which I had no room for either). When I finally got home, we had some MORE coffee and the extended family all crashed at our house, leaving the next morning.

Meskel (Early Oct.)

Meskel means “Finding of the True Cross” and occurs in early October. From what I've heard, back in the Crusades when people were trying to find holy relics, one person was given a dream of where to find Jesus’ cross. The next day they went out and dug where the dream revealed, and sure enough there was a cross. It was then divided into four pieces and given to different nations to safeguard. The right arm piece was supposedly given to Ethiopia, and the day is celebrated on Meskel.

On this day, I was woken up early and people were giving out bundles of twigs to burn. Every family’s house had little bonfires at dawn in celebration, followed by roasting corn on the fires. The streets were filled with smoke, and afterwards we had our Bunna ceremony outside (usually done inside), followed by killing a chicken for making Doro Wat, a favorite meal.

As usual, the Tigray region has a much bigger celebration (near Axum City). A huge celebration is held in Addis Abeba, the country's capital, in Meskel Square, so named for this very celebration. In these two locations, people get up before first light and have a bundle of branches TWO STORIES HIGH, shaped like a cross, and set aflame just as the sun begins to rise. I wish I could have seen it!

Birthdays

I have attended two birthdays in the last few months. The first was for my “cousin” who just turned two. The second was my own. As far as I can tell birthdays are celebrated mostly when you are young, especially 1^st and 2nd year. However due to western influence, it is becoming more common to celebrate later birthdays (such as mine).

The two year old's birthday consisted of popcorn (fandisha) or roasted nuts and grains (kollo), coffee (Bunna), a local beer (Tella), and habisha dabo (a large brown bread as big as a pizza, and 4 inches thick, cut like cake). No other food is provided, just snacks. Decorations include “Happy # Birthday” in the local language pasted to the walls. Family and friends are invited. Gifts are not a focal point of this day, though the birthday boy or girl often will get soda or plastic flowers… at least, that’s what happened in the two I attended.

For my personal birthday I tried to share a bit of American culture. We decorated with balloons and toilet paper hung like streamers from the roof, and I took it upon myself to make a chocolate cake (on a stove top, no less). There were a few trials and errors, and it ended up looking more like the cake Hagrid gave Harry on his 11^th birthday. Despite claims otherwise, most of the Ethiopians didn’t like the cake. I saw a few people give their slice to their neighbor, and no one wanted seconds! Afterwards, they asked me to dance for them, but they just wanted to watch me. So I had to drag my brother and English teacher up with me because I was too shy. As far as gifts go, I got like 5 bottles of soda and two gift from home. From my family I got a passport wallet and I got a necklace from Francis Erickson. Thank you for the gifts!

Christening

As many of you know, a christening ceremony is for a newborn child shortly after its birth, where the child is dedicated to the Christian church. Not much to report on the event. Mostly it was a gathering with music and food. They constructed a makeshift shade structure of eucalyptus poles and random pieces of plastic in order to have an outside party. I was convinced to dance/perform one song. I was asked to take photos with a number of people, which people got very excited about (local "celebrity", remember?). The food was all meatless, not a nice enough event for slaughter, but we did have yogurt to accompany our lentil and potato sauces. I left after a few hours, but I heard music playing most of the night.

Halloween

This was a holiday which I thought I would not celebrate here in Ethiopia. The thing is Halloween is a favorite holiday of mine (I love to dress up), and I was really sad about it... until the day before, when my mom mentioned how the year before I did her leopard makeup, completing the costume with a scarf. Luckily I also had such a scarf; so after I returned from market, I did my leopard make-up (I wasn’t confident to just walk around town like that). I did however meet quite a few people in my compound, who kept asking “Why?” Some even thought the dots on my face meant I was sick. When I explained that it was a holiday they were still confused, but did want photos.

To be honest, Halloween is the hardest American holiday to explain. When I explained that everyone dressed up, they thought I meant everyone looked like a leopard. So I had to find photos online of Halloween costumes to show that there were many different kinds. “WHY?”. Well… I didn’t have an answer at first, so I started researching Halloween. Turns out Halloween used to be a pagan Holiday harvest feast, and Halloween was its Christianized form. Which is funny with how many Christians think Halloween is evil. Halloween is actually celebrated in over 30 Countries with the most well-known (to those of us living on the border) is Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The day following Halloween is supposed to be known as All Saints Day (the saints known also as Hallows) and "Hallow's evening" known as Halloween. Different people celebrate differently, such on candles on graves, going to church services, and some fasting from meat and animal products. The costumes came about with the belief that the night before, the spirits of the dead could walk on earth and be with loved ones. The costumes were supposed to be a disguise of some sort, either to make sure the spirits didn’t take you back with them or something (not entirely clear on this point). Now days mostly it’s a fun holiday, dedicated to scaring each other, watching scary movies, elaborate costumes, pumpkins, and lots and lots of candy.

To wrap the day up, I found I had exactly one movie that had anything to do with Halloween: “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. Yep, leave it to me to turn Tim Burton's animated classic into an educational video. Even so, they were very confused. Technically the movie focuses more on the distortion of Christmas than about Halloween itself. Kind of wish I had “Halloween Town”, or one of the other classic Halloween movies.

Well, that’s it for this update. I’ll try to post about my trainings and work soon too.

End of summer…. Or is it winter?

So let me get this down before I start forgetting everything.

This last month or so has been hectic. I started off with about two packed weeks of Garden Training. Due to the fact that the summer season is the rainy season, people all over were trying to plant gardens. I dedicated time to teaching intercropping mostly with my own seeds to anywhere between 1-20 people, with 4 new gardens established and a lot of further discussions over tea, next to my example garden, or simply by the side of the road. As a benefit, my host brother Biennium was able to translate for me -- meaning the message was at least clear about WHY we were using this method. This was great!

On the down side some of these gardens didn’t pull through. The garden at my house is overrun with weeds and I’m not even sure if the seeds have sprouted. My garden at the Farmers Training Center has half sprouted, being eaten by bugs, and I have not kept on top of the weeds. (To be honest I’m not that great of a gardener. When I pulled up my potatoes, which I thought were doing great, the biggest of the plants had small potatoes not even fit for this market; I could buy three or four times as many for 10 birr ($0.50). So my supposed “improved garden techniques” are producing worse than the traditional and I don’t want anyone to find out…)

On the plus side, I traveled to a large town nearby with fellow PCV Elaine and visited their market. At this market I found a variety of plants I hadn’t found before, including carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, and fresh rosemary! I of course bought what I could and immediately planted the rosemary in my garden berms. They aren’t dead yet so I’m hopeful that they will start taking root soon.

The Farmers Trainer Center (FTC) in my town is successfully growing beets, and since no one believes that beet greens are edible, I was allowed to take as much leaves as I wanted. I have been on a constant promotional campaign to anyone who will listen to me about how beet greens are not poisonous, but in fact an extremely nutrient rich vegetable that is being thrown away! I convinced my host family to cook it up one night and we chowed down, but I think I’m a long way off of convincing people to eat these valuable veggies continually.

Unfortunately my computer screen went faulty, and though my host brother is an electronics tech, he mostly fixes phones. He told me I had to travel to Bahir Dar (the capital city of the Amhara Region) to get it fixed. Luckily, Elaine was also traveling to Bahir Dar that weekend so I had a traveling companion! In order to catch the same bus on Saturday morning I first traveled to her site on Friday night about an hour away. I was invited to multiple Buna ceremonies and of course offered copious amounts of food per standard Ethiopian hospitality. To top it off, we had a sort of sleep over/all-nighter, and I was finally introduced to the movie Pitch Perfect. I now understand why people talked about the movie so much back in college.

The next morning we caught a bus to Bahir Dar which is about another 4 hours west from Elaine’s post. Bahir Dar is built next to the largest lake in Ethiopia called Lake Tana. It boasts some of the best fish dishes in the country along with resorts, palm trees, tourists, humidity and mosquitoes. At times I felt like I was sitting by the San Diego Bay minus the lovely briny smell.

The first Bajaj (three wheeled taxi, left) we tried to take insisted on charging 10 birr to the tourists while the price is normally 1.5 birr. We ended up walking a half hour to the Peace Corps Office. Though weekends leave the office mostly empty of workers, other volunteers that are close will commonly make a trip for internet printer, library, and to simply to hang out with other PCV’s. Unfortunately I’m a bit far to make the trip often, but other PCV’s that are only 1 hr away will come in to the city every other week! So jealous!! They have access to all the resources, restaurants, stores, and community. For me on the other hand this was a rare treat, almost equivalent to a vacation.

I asked around but nobody around had any idea where to go to get a computer fixed. They warned that you need to be careful because some places will take your computer and sell the parts. So we made some calls to people, who made some calls, following a chain I don’t know where, trying to find out where to go. I was once suggested to go all the way to Addis simply because they knew specific repair shops there, whereas in Bahir Dar they existed, but no one knew where. Finally halfway through lunch we got a call about a man who does governmental computer repairs for the government, schools, and other agencies. We called him up but he was out of town till Sunday afternoon. This gave me time to just sit back and enjoy the city.

The lovely Elain's! Elain P on left is a environment PCV whereas Elain M on right is health and located near my sight

Elaine M and I stayed in a hotel with a hot shower, flushable toilets, and spring mattresses, with complementary bed nets. We even had Wi-Fi, though you had to sit in the lobby to get proper access. The next day we headed back to the PC office and hung with a few other PCV’s that I had never met before. Many of them are close to their end of service departure. I also met a few foreigners who weren’t part of Peace Corps but are in Ethiopia for different reasons. One was part of an NGO, while the other was a British grad student conducting research in Ethiopia.

Hanging out my firs night at the resort having a rare overpriced drink. the girl in the blue shirt on the left was not a PCV but rather a research student from England! and the girl in the green sweater was a PCV that found me a computer repair guy.

Hanging out with new friends and old lake side second night... to many new people to remember, most were going to close service this September. girl on far right helped me find a gas tank.

By the afternoon Elaine had to leave and get back to site, whereas I had to stay to find the computer guy. By midafternoon I was finally able to meet up with a very nice Nigerian man who fixed computers. Surprisingly his office was right next to the Peace Corps Office too! We chatted a bit about work while he took my computer apart. Luckily it was a quick fix. The only issue was that the internal cable connected to my screen had come lose, so he unplugged it then plugged it back it. Taped it down, good as new! Didn’t take more than 10 minutes. He said since it was so simple and since I’m spending my time here as a volunteer he wouldn’t charge me this time. Great guy!

Before leaving on the bus another Volunteer was kind enough to show me where the gas stoves were sold. They were very heavy and expensive, but I had gotten too tired of hassling with the electric stove, and fighting the coal stove. Cooking was taking way too much time. So... after paying an enormous charge, and then paying a boy to carry it to the bus, then being charged double for the transport of the bus, then traveling 5 hrs. back home, and THEN finally getting it set up…. I now have a gas stove top! It is efficient and doesn’t take two hours to make breakfast! I even managed to fry some bread on the stove, and then made empanadas (one batch stuffed with beets and potatoes, and the other with eggs), but now I’ve run out of flour. I’ll have to buy more, then I can continue to cook up a storm.

As I had said before, I had a kitten named Oliver that technically wasn’t "mine". She actually belonged to a house a few doors down, but had simply decided she liked me. As a result, on numerous occasions the family would come by and ask for her back. But soon enough Oliver would toddle back meowing for milk, then stick around to cuddle. She’s gotten quite a bit bigger in the two months since I found her and soon won’t be considered a kitten at all. I guess my family decided to amend the situation and one day knocked on my door and handed me a new calico kitten, instructing me to let Oliver go home. Oliver took an immediate dislike to the new kitten and insists on grumbling, hissing, and growling continually until she finally leaves after eating briefly. So I guess my family’s plan worked. Oliver still comes by almost daily, but doesn’t stick around long nor spend the night.

As for the new kitten, she is a lovely calico named Kali (I know I’m not all that original with names, but I like it). She is an energetic ball of fur and claws. She took an instant liking to me but she does not like having to stay in the house one bit. I have to pick her up and throw her on the bed so I can quickly shut the door behind me just to keep her from getting out. Recently I was standing outside of my room and saw her paw pushing through the cracks in the door frame…. At the top of the door! She climbs the backside with her claws trying to find a way out. While I’m in my room working she spends time bouncing of the walls and then pouncing on me claws out, trying to bite my hand or foot! Even writing this now I have to repel her playful attacks, my arms can’t take all the scratches, so I finally clipped her nails. She’s a hunter for sure, and I expect her to take care of the mice in the roof when she’s a bit bigger.

I have somewhat started an unofficial English Movie Club. I started showing some of my movies to my brother Biennium in his shop during the afternoons. We've seen Iron Man 1 and 2, the Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy (which are all the superhero movies I own). Then I found out he had never seen Star Wars, so I showed him all of those. Now we are half way through the Harry Potter movies. Since most of the time we watch them in the shop, we sometimes end up with an audience, either for part of the movie or sometimes the full movie. It’s not an official thing, but it gave me the idea of maybe doing an official English Disney Movies Club in the school and showing a film  once a week. Unfortunately my speakers aren’t very loud and there’s no projector, so maybe it’s not possible.

In more cultural news i was finally asked to perform a Bunna (coffee) Ceremony Normally the younger sister Chichu (left) dose this event but I was finally shown how. Bunna can be served morning afternoon or right before bed, sometimes three or more times a day. The ceremony includes roasting the beans, pounding them with an iron rod by hand (right) then boiling water and steeping them. The cups are small but you have to have three cups for the full ceremony and that means waiting about an hour, because new water must be boiled between each cup. Coffee can be served black, or with sugar and or salt, and or other spices like cumin and cinnamon. I've learned to really like this Coffee, even with the salt in it. my first attempted at coffee turned up a bit watery but the next time was at least decent. one thing for sure is that around these parts, coffee is an art.

This last weekend I was asked by one of the Health Center workers to help at typing up a research proposal for his college class (of course I did not realizing it was almost 17 pgs). Took me about 5 hours, along with rewriting a few poor paragraphs and informing him he needed to work on citations and redo the statistics. Never thought I’d be in the position of being dictated to and proof reading. In the past I was so slow I always had to ask my mom or a friend to type for me, but since I’m now a moderate speed typist I’m better than the locals. I’m also terrible at grammar and spelling, needing my mom to look over these posts before I publish. Even so I’m better than people who learned English as a second language, so suddenly I’m in demand. His research is going to be based on a survey to see what pregnant mothers are eating and how much they know about nutritional requirements during pregnancy. By doing so they will learn whether the knowledge is translating into action or not. I find this an excellent goal and look forward to seeing his findings.

In other news, I found out I have been accepted into a week-long QGIS (Geographic Information System) software training. This will take place mid-September in Bahir Dar. I have previously taken a class on ArcGIS software in college and though I kind of hated the class, I recognize its usefulness. QGIS is a free software online, whereas ArcGIS was a very expensive software. I don’t know if this GIS is any easier or harder to use yet, but I’m curious to find out. Since internet is so spotty I have not been able to download it yet, but I’ll let you know how it turns out next post!

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 

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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…