The goats normally come by here

I am beginning to hear and say things that sound completely normally in Ethiopia, but in any other context people would think I’m crazy. This applies to things like “They told us to give the bananas to the goats. Should we just leave them out here, they normally walk by here?” Yup… Completely normal in Butajira, Ethiopia.

We started practicum teaching this week. We still have language in the mornings for 2 hours, then we go to lesson planning, come home for lunch, and then go back to the school to teach. This first week we co-taught with a fellow trainee, 2 lessons a day. However, starting this week we will teach by ourselves, but only 1 lesson a day. We switched classes, to give us a different experience for each one. I found out that I will be teaching the class I have been for the rest of practicum, which is a relief to me because the kids are great.

I don’t have any girls in the class I will be teaching, but the boys in there are very smart and eager to learn. This is a voluntary summer program, and so the boys (and girls) that come either don’t have anything better to do, or want to get ahead for next year’s English class. I am teaching 9^th graders (well, they will be in 9^th grade), although their ages vary by a couple of years. I am doing my practicum at the Primary School, which is about a 7ish minute walk from my house and language class.

I got packages this week! All 3 of the packages my mom sent me got delivered to me on the same day. It was a welcome gift, with lovely things from home including a family picture, socks and flip-flops, deodorant, cooking things and OREOS! :D I know a lot of people have been asking what they can send me. If you are reading this on my blog, know that I would love care packages, but to not send them to me until I get to site and get a PO Box there. I still have to get all of my stuff up to site, and no real room to put anything else in my bags.

Tigrinia is getting more difficult as there is more and more things to learn, but at least we are practicing those more and more as well. Intensive language training and immersion is definitely the way to go- although having to switch between learning Tigrinia and then speaking Amharic in the city is difficult.

My host house pretty much has BBC News and CNN on 24/7, with the exception of some really bad American movies that I didn’t even know were made. I have been catching up on the world news even more than I did in America.

The kids on the streets are still coming up at fist bumping us, and most of us have followed two of my fellow trainees and have started “exploding” our fists after we fist bump them. It definitely makes their days and seeing their smiles and hearing their laughs makes me laugh and smile as well.

My final thought for the week, I feel like I have been here much longer than a few weeks. Friday is my month anniversary of arriving in Ethiopia. We are all very excited for the continuation of our training—but we are already looking forward to being sworn in and starting our 2 years of service.

Over and out.

Greetings from Butajira!

My internet has been non-existent since being here, and so I am sitting in a hotel bar right now. 

Over all it’s definitely been amazing so far, but there are things I still have to get used to. The biggest thing that’s been an adjustment is realizing that I am in a developing country. That sounds weird since I was in Addis for a few weeks, but in that city, I stayed mainly at the hotel, and it is a big city (the capital), so there are lots of things happening there that make it seem like a wealthier place.

Here in Butajira there is a mixture of “big city” with a village type setting—think of it like downtown versus suburbs. I like in Kebele (neighborhood) 1, which is part of the “suburbs”—although it’s nothing like the suburbs in the US. There are about 20 other PC volunteers in my neighborhood, so pretty much every house has one around me, which has been great.

The streets are dirt and mud (during the rainy season), and there are a massive amount of goats, donkeys, chickens, and horses just chilling around. There are lots of baby goats, who are adorable. There are also lots of children who love to fist pound us and will literally run across a neighborhood to reach a group of us and say “hello!” Some ask for money or call us firenjis, but so far I haven’t had any issues with them.

The coolest part of this is that my neighborhood is right next to a giant gorge, which is beyond beautiful. I walked a little bit in the first day I was here with my host dad, and it is breathtaking. There are lots of monkeys here that then climb on the roofs at night, to get the fruit trees in the yards. We went out a couple of nights ago to look at the hyenas (across the gorge) at dusk. We didn’t see too many, and they were far away. But really, who gets to say they have seen hyenas and monkeys in their backyard?

To my host family: They are so sweet and kind. We got a paper saying information about our family and I was disappointed to see their children were 16 and 18 because I wanted little kids, but they have been great. My host father used to be an English teacher and now works for the Department of Education, so he speaks English pretty well. My host mom speaks almost no English, but she speaks Tigrina, which is what I am learning, so that’s been helpful. My host sister who is the 18 year old, speaks English fairly well, but I haven’t talked to my host brother much.

They have all been so welcoming and helpful in this whole process. I have actually eaten more here than I ever did at home. I am learning to say “done” more, because I felt bad the first few days saying “I’m full”.

The biggest adjustment for me has been language. Today was our first day of double language class, which is 4 hours of language. The Fidel (their alphabet) is really difficult to learn. But our LCF’s are so patient, and my language group has been great so far.

I fall asleep every night to prayers from the Mosque, monkeys on the roof, a dog that whines next door, and occasionally rain. I am definitely getting used to blocking out sounds, or maybe I am just too exhausted to really listen to them. Whatever it is, it’s quickly becoming my lullaby to sleep.

Until next time,

Over and Out.

P.S. I got my first letter this week—From Pat Farnsworth! She sent it before I left. Some people have gotten mail from people that sent it a week ago, and others still haven’t gotten things that were sent before they left. I will let you know when I receive other letters and packages, but so far that’s the only one. If you send letters, try to number them, so I know when I receive which ones.

Time to learn a language and explore a new place!

     Today we learned what language we will be learning during training to use in our service. There are 3 languages that we could have been assigned to, which are Amharic (which is the language we came here thinking we would speak), Afan Oromo, and Tigrigna. Each is spoken in a different part of the country, so even though we won’t know our actual site placements until the end of Week 6 (currently we are in Week 1). I got my language. Ready for it?.... I will be learning Tigrigna! That means I will be in the Tigray portion of the country, in the North. I need to research more about this part, because I will be centered in that part of the country.

     Oh, and if you look at a map, don’t be too concerned about how far North it is and how close to Eritrea it is. The history there is sketchy, but PC is very careful about where they place volunteers, and they wouldn’t put us in any spots where there is possible danger. And if there is to become danger, they pull us out.

     Although this can be a difficult language assignment, because we will be placed with a family in Butajira that speaks Amharic, we also can be at a lower proficiency level to be sworn in because of that speed bump. There are around 15 of us learning Tigrigna, so it’s about ¼ of the overall group. About ½ are learning Amharic, and the other ¼ are learning Afan Oromo. In my interview I said I did not have a language preference, so I am very excited about this opportunity to learn a language that I will definitely get to brag about when I get home (even if I won’t use it again).

     Tomorrow we move to Butajira and get to meet our host families. Most families have children, which I am very excited about because according to all the PC staff, they will be the most help in assimilating to the town. We also begin more intense language/cultural/and teaching training. Up to now, our training has been mostly sitting in sessions and listening to information.

     I am very interested to meet my host family. Everyone that I have talked to in all Peace Corps assignments said that they became so close to their host families. It is getting beat into us that the kids will be the most helpful, especially with customs and language. Our Program Director kept talking about her experience in Peru today and how her host sister was her best friend. They have had extensive orientations with our host families, so I’m not too worried about expectations, and most have hosted someone before.

     Yesterday we had a session about sexual assault. This is a very real issue for many parts of the world, but we are not used to the frequency of which it occurs here, especially to “firenji” women. This was not meant to scare us, but more to make us aware of the situation that we are in, and to help us avoid situations where we could find ourselves more uncomfortable than we already are.

     We got all of our information for the Trainee Assessment Portfolio today, which basically is what we have to meet and do before we get an invitation to officially swear into the Peace Corps in September. The list seems like a lot, but compared to college and all of the assignments for student teaching, this doesn’t seem too overwhelming.

     We are all beginning to bond even more, and I continue to learn interesting things about my fellow PC Trainees. We are all from vastly different walks of life, states, education, and our reasoning behind why we are here is just as varied. But one thing is keeping us together, we are all on this journey in Ethiopia, that in 27 months we get to go home and say, “Yup, we did that. What did you do?”

     I probably won’t have steady internet again, but there are internet café’s and the hotels where we have our language sessions will have internet, so I will be able to keep posting and keeping you update, it just won’t be with as much frequency.

Over and out.

Bonding in a Foreign Land

My blog has been Peace Corps approved, so time for my second blog post in country. Yay! J I sent a very long email to some of my closest friends and family yesterday detailing some of my thoughts on this adventure so far, and many things that we have been doing.

Most notably, yesterday we took a “field trip” with our LCF’s (Language and Cross-Cultural Facilitators). They are the lovely people that are assigned to help us learn Amharic or another territory specific language. They are the best people ever, who have the patience of angels. My LCF (he won’t be mine the whole time, we will be split into much smaller groups) is fantastic. He definitely knows how to boost confidence, even if we are butchering his language.

Back to the field trip yesterday: we went to the National Museum and got to see a bunch of awesome artifacts of clothing, pottery and such, and paintings. The coolest was seeing the bones of Lucy, back in the birthplace of human kind. I forget how much history Ethiopia holds for every one of us. We also went to the market, but we just walked around quickly and then got back into the bus. That was more of an experience with interacting with different people than actually buying anything.

We have been sitting in a lot of information sessions, although less so than last week. Our sessions the past few days have been getting more specific to our actual experience and what we will be doing. We have had a few sessions on teaching, the school system, and grammar. We have also talked about sites and assignments. I have my “interview” tomorrow so they can place us in a place and assignment that best fits us, although they will place us more where they need us rather than our own preferences. Everyone I have talked to has ended up loving their sites, even if they aren’t thrilled at the beginning.

I am very excited to learn more about teaching in the classroom, although I am terrified. I have gotten up in front of a class before, but not high schoolers, and never something as scripted as English to non-native speakers. I am most excited for my secondary project. Most volunteers say that the project they adopt ends up becoming their favorite part. I want to do something with literacy, but we will see how it goes. I know it will be difficult, because I first have to integrate into my community and school, which might be hard, since I have always had an easy time with teaching.

There are a lot of restaurants near our hotel, so I have been eating well. One of the best lasagna’s I have ever eaten was at the restaurant of a mall right by my hotel. We have seen quite a few tourists the past few days, which is the first time we have seen anyone that are definitely tourists since being here. We drove through Addis yesterday for the first time really since getting here, and you can definitely see the growth and development in the country and the attempt of the government to continue to become more economically powerful in the world.

I have really begun to bond with my fellow PC Trainees, and I will be sad to not be with them more when we move to Butajira on Saturday. However, I am thrilled to finally be meeting more Ethiopians and to stay with a host family. I think the scariest part will be not having my fellow PC Trainees with my 24/7, but I will still be spending all day with them in language, cultural, and teacher training, mostly.

I have been able to get on Facebook more the past few days, because the internet access has been better. I even (attempted to) Skype my mom yesterday and chatted with my mom and dad. As much as that has been great, it has definitely made me homesick. Especially seeing Sam’s wedding pictures and knowing I can’t be there to hug Cailee. But, knowing how much I am growing and how I’m hopefully going to make a difference in at least one child’s life is keeping me going.

Today, we heard some people from the Consulate speak and they are all in the Foreign Service. Hearing their stories definitely made me marvel at the fact that some people live their whole lives without ever reaching out of their boundaries and traveling and exploring/experiencing the world. I know it’s not in everyone’s ability, but those who have the ability and means to travel and experience the world need to do so. Thankfully I have been given an amazing opportunity, and I don’t plan on wasting this.

Jetlag is a real thing

Hello all!
My first post from Ethiopia :)

Staging in Washington D.C. was a whole lot of ice breaker, getting to know you, and getting ourselves set up to leave and be prepared once in Ethiopia. I was nervous that I was the only one freaked out enough to start crying, but for our last exercise, they had us close our eyes, turn around, keep our eyes closed, and think about who we had to call tonight, what we had to do, and what we would miss. I definitely heard more than just my own sniffles in the audience.

On our last night in the USA (for a while), the PC let us do our thing for dinner. I went with 3 other friends, and we went to sushi. We seriously stuffed ourselves full, and I don't think I could have been happier with the food-- but I was also terrified and I definitely had a few tears that last night. Calling my parents was really difficult. Even now, people have phones to text and I am not going to think about that right now because I know if I tempt myself with the idea of talking to them like I do at home, then I will convince myself I don't need to do this.

The plane ride was uneventful, although very long (about 13.5 hours). The airplane was super nice, we had individual movies, they gave us food, and we could sleep and walk around. That doesn't erase how long the flight was, thought it made it much more bearable.

You could feel the excitement and nervousness from our section of the airplane (we didn't officially have our own section, but we pretty much took it over) as we landed. It took us awhile to gather our bags. With 70 people, plus at least 4 bags of luggage each (most weighing more than 50 pounds), it was an interest sight to see. When we finally got our bags and headed to the buses, I knew this was going to be an interesting ride.

For one, the driving in Addis is the scariest I have ever seen. There are no rules and unlike other places where they say that, but there is some sort of stability, this place is just go, go, go. It seems very much like the other capital cities I have heard of, where the capital has so many people that it just seems more clogged than the rest of the state or country.

After getting to our hotel and dropping our bags, they gave us a few minutes to "relax" before we went straight into information sessions. Today was mostly information about PST (pre service training) and a brief overview of the information we would be learning in depth about soon. They gave us a few breaks, and during one of them I went to my room and napped for 15 minutes. I was doing everything to try and stay awake during the information sessions, because their voices are soothing and because I was so tired from being up for so long/the time change. Most everyone else was feeling the same and you could tell by the end that our brains were fried.

My most interesting moment of the day came when one of our leaders (a 3rd year PC volunteer/leader) was in my bus on the way to the hotel and he told everyone, "We can hook up the tv's to watch the World Cup," which reminded everyone that we missed the game. He sadly told us that the American's lost, but he continued to give us every detail about the game, to please everyone on the bus.

I seem to have internet at the hotel, which is nice. I'm getting used to using it while I still have the option. Over and out-- I'm off to sleep (at 6pm).

Kelsey