Wish List update :)

As you all may know, my birthday is in October and I’m turning the big 2-4. Actually, that’s really not a big birthday at all. Anyways, my mom asked me last week what I wanted in my birthday package besides food, because she has to get my package together and sent soon. The thing is, I really don’t want much besides food. I have all the material goods I need over here and I’m already thinking about what I’m going to do with my stuff in a year, whether I’m leaving it here or lugging it home. So basically, all I really want is food because it’s consumable, will always be there for me, and it’s just darn yummy. So here is my new wish list with food items I want/need and a few extra little material things. I doubt anything will change, I keep craving the same food on this list, so this should hold for the holidays as well. You all know me well though, so if you want to send me something you think I would enjoy, go for it! This list is just suggestions from my brain.

The biggest thing I want is something I keep repeating over and over again, I really want cards, notes, letters, and memories from home. They help me on the hard days over here and they help remind me why I’m here and why I am who I am. I know everyone is busy, but I promise if you send me something, I will write you something back. I like hearing every thing, even if you might not think it’s important. I decorate my wall with pictures, letters, and notes that inspire me and I keep the rest safe. Thanks for the thoughts and pieces of home, they are better than anything else (besides maybe cheese and chocolate ;) )

My address is:

Kelsey Hill

PO Box 39

Adwa

Tigray region

Ethiopia

New Wish List:

-       Triscuits

-       Pretzels

-       Gold fish

-       Cheeze It’s

-       Reese’s

-       Almond Joys

-       Brown sugar cinnamon Poptarts

-       Rice krispy treats

-       Granola bars

-       Instant breakfast mix

-       Baby Bell cheese

-       String cheese

-       Pringles

-       Peanut butter crackers

-       Jif peanut butter

-       Nutella

-       Soup mix

-       Tuna/salmon/chicken cans or packets (single serving)

-       Tortilla or sopapilla mix

-       Pancake mix

-       Jelly beans

-       Snickers

-       Chocolate chips

-       Green chili packets

-       Popcorn seasoning

-       Flavored tea bags

-       Starbucks (or knock off) instant coffee packets

-       Dried fruit

-       Trail mix

-       Yogurt covered pretzels

-       Chocolate covered berries

-       Beef jerky

-       Autumn flavored food (pumpkin)

-       Little prizes for students (little erasers or pencils)

-       Star stickers

-       Magazines (People or Times or anything with news in it)

-       Cards/notes/letters/pictures from friends and family

-       Cardigan (light sweater)

-       Scarf
-    Printed tshirts

Camp GLOW: Empowering, Healthy Living, and Leadership

One of the many great things about Peace Corps versus other organizations that you might volunteer or work with, is that because Peace Corps is an American government organization, there are many programs that are established and used throughout all of Peace Corps, no matter the country it is being used in. That might not sound great, but when you are trying to design and build a summer camp in a country that does not really have a concept of camps, having that framework already built makes your project run smoother. Across the world around different times of the year, Peace Corps Volunteers collaborate to put on their own version of a Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World). There is also a version for agriculture called Camp GROW. My Chi Omega sister Elisabet is finishing up her 2 year Education PC service in Columbia and she just participated in a Camp GLOW at her site.

Although it is different in every country with how volunteers are spread out and placed, depending on location and sector, most countries have volunteers come together in a central location after collaborating on sessions to teach and other details like t-shirts and dates, they bring children from their own sites, and they run “summer camp” for a week, with sessions ranging from condom balloon tosses (HIV/AIDS), to soap making/hand washing, to bashing a piñata after saying why they are a strong man or woman. Every Camp has different sessions, because as Peace Corps Volunteers we get to pick which sessions we run, as long as they fit in the camp framework of health, HIV/AIDS prevention, leadership, or team building.

Peace Corps Volunteers have a lot of freedom in how they run their camps, once their grant is submitted. Some camps break students into groups and do competitions while others have all the students together all the time. Some groups have “team leaders” and junior camp counselors while others have the PCVs and their Ethiopian counterparts and that’s it. Some focus more on life skills and gender equality while others focus more on health and agriculture. It is really up to the group of volunteers who are running each camp what they want to do with it, within the basic Peace Corps framework and ideas.

I invited 4 students from my school and classes, although 1 boy did not come. I ended up bringing 2 girls and a boy from my 3 classes. I picked them based off of their participation in class, their willingness to learn, and their respect for me and my teaching. The girls always sat in front in my class, were very smart, and would help their fellow students without being over bearing. The boy did not sit in the front of my class, but was always polite and respectful and would help his friends before himself. Although I had many students I could have brought, I thought these 3 deserved it more than most—and I think they ended up getting a lot out of it.

The week was difficult at times, because the volunteers had a lot of stress on us, and we did not always handle it the best. The back of the classroom reminded me of high school or middle school for most of it with whispers about fellow volunteers, how a session was being run, or things out of our control. We did it at a university, and the experiences we had were not always the best with the staff or the accommodations. However, that is not the point. There were some things that could have been improved on, but isn’t that always how it is? Hindsight and looking back, it’s easy enough to criticize and say what could have been done differently, but before and in the moment it’s much more difficult to think out exactly how everything might or might not work out. Instead of dwelling on what could have been done differently though, I’m going to talk about some of the sessions that I thought seemed the most fulfilling for the students. All the sessions were “run” by Volunteers, however they were picked by Volunteers and then they were taught and translated into Tigrinia by Ethiopian Counterparts (people in our communities who help us with our jobs and integration).

“Walk A Kilometer In Her Shoes”

Many of the sessions that were run at camp were from the GAD manual (Gender and Development—one of the committees we have in PC that deals with gender issues in Ethiopia, and gives us tools to help our community and especially the females in our community with the many issues they may face). This is one of the PCVs favorite sessions to both watch and run. It has different stations, where boys have to fit into plastic jelly shoes (the girl kind), hold a water balloon like a baby without dropping it, and complete tasks such as chopping onions and potatoes, carrying jerry cans of water, and pouring water from a jerry can into a cup and carrying it without spilling the water while carrying a bag of rocks. This might sound silly to people back home, but women do this every day while holding their children and this is a good a fun activity to show the men just how much work the women do, and how difficult it can be. The boys were laughing at the beginning, but I think had an appreciation for the females by the end. The girls were having a great time watching the boys try to complete these tasks, not always successfully. The great moment for me was watching a boy camper struggle with cutting the onions and watching one of the female campers coaching him and helping him cut them in a way that would help him become faster.

“Building Self-Esteem and Pat-On-The-Back”

One thing that many students struggle with is self-esteem and knowing there are good enough. In the US I think we tend to pat people on the back and reward them in more ways than here. Here I never really see adults tell teenagers good job. I don’t mean to say that they should all be receiving congratulations all the time, but I think appreciation is just showing differently here. In this activity they talked about self-esteem, what it is and how you can grow your own self-esteem while helping others. They then drew a picture of themselves on a piece of paper and taped it to their backs. All the students (and some of us PCVs) got up and wrote a nice word or two on the papers taped on the backs of their fellow campers. This was a great activity to help them remember what others think of them, and that they all have many great qualities that they might not always recognize, but that others certainly do.

“Life Tree”

I might be a little partial to this one, because this was one of the sessions I ran, but I found this one really interesting to talk to the individual campers as they were working. Each camper drew a tree with roots, 3 levels of leaves, clouds on one side, and a lightning bolt on the other side. The roots represent where the students are starting from now, what skills they posses, and what they hold that will help them eventually achieve their goals. The levels of leaves represent where they want to see themselves in 2, 5, and 10 years. The clouds represent what they will need to achieve their goals, and the lightning bolt represents the obstacles and challenges they will run into while they are living their life and trying to achieve their goals. I did a sample before my session to show them an example (scaffolding and examples—YAY!) and it was even difficult for me to think of my skills, what I possess, and then where I want to be in the future. What surprised me most was how well the campers did with this. The system here is not really built on hypotheticals and imagination. Even though I know everyone has the ability to dream and have goals, I wasn’t sure whether they would be able to think that abstractly- mostly because I wasn’t able to. They surprised me like always, and did an amazing job with this activity. I learned a lot about the students, like one of my girls wants to be an artist, my boy wants to be a policeman or a soldier, one of the other boys wants to study political science and psychology and likes to read poetry, another boy wants to be dating the same girl in the next 2 and 5 years and be married to her in 10 years, and one of my girls wants to work but also have a kid. Here when you ask people want they want to be “when they grow up”, almost everyone answers out loud doctor or engineer because that’s the acceptable answer, but when they were drawing and answering for themselves, they put their true desires and goals. And that was the coolest thing to see.

“I Am A Strong Woman”

This is another one that was part of the GAD Manual, and so it was designed for women, however we changed it to men and women because we had a co-ed camp. They talked about challenges of growing up in Ethiopia as a girl and a boy. They listed things such as rape, harassment, needing to be strong, family responsibility, early marriage, health problems with pregnancy and birth, and other things that I can see are problems, but was interesting to see what they listed as their challenges. Jessie then wrote their challenges on a piñata she made that was decorated like a soccer ball. After that, they talked about being a strong person- being a strong woman or man and what that means to them. We had them stand up if they thought they were a strong man or woman. They then had to say the sentence “I am a strong man/woman because…” and give a reason why they believe they are strong. They all generally listed things about helping their community, helping their family, not listening to what others say about/to them, volunteering, being a leader, or doing what they want to do. One of my girls even said she would crush anyone who was not nice to her (complete with a karate chop hand signal). After all the students went we went outside the classroom and bashed the piñata with the challenges written on it to represent destroying the obstacles in their way, and that they have the power to change their own lives.

Most everyone brought students who are considered “gobez” or very good students. Most were probably the top 1 or 2 in their classes, if not in their entire grades and schools. Most can speak English very well, and a lot already have that self confidence that we were trying to bring out more. Some were from villages, other live in the city. A lot of the campers will end up at university (hopefully!) and will do well for themselves. Not everyone will, but I have a feeling we picked the kids that will do “well” in life. What’s hard is that this camp should be held for every student I have. The self-esteem building, goals, health, and gender roles are ideas and sessions that every one of my students should be exposed to, and I wish I was able to give them that opportunity. I am very much into female empowerment and gender equality, so this camp was an interesting opportunity to delve into some female empowerment and gender equality with both males and females. A lot of people focus on females when wanting to deal with gender issues, and that’s a big part of it—getting girls to realize they have power to change society. However, males are also a big part because their attitudes and actions have to change as well. You can’t have gender equality without both men and women. So although Camp GLOW is called Girls Leading Our World, this week was more about bringing up both men and women to believe they are equal and just as able to be strong, successful, healthy, and confident and to help everyone around them become that way as well, no matter their life circumstances or gender.

I sometimes feel that I’m not really helping over here (reference some of my other blogs), but during Camp GLOW I really felt like I was helping these students, both those in my own town and those from others find their potential, confidence, and strength. Hopefully they will come back to site and show others what they learned through their actions and words. Whether it’s having the boys make buna, the girls telling a man she doesn’t feel comfortable with his words, washing their hands after eating, or knowing they do have the smarts to study and pass their classes. Not everything will change, society as a whole won’t change, and their lives will probably continue the way it was before this camp. But if one girls path can become brighter, if one boy will treat his friends better, or if one student passes their classes, then I feel like I have accomplished something, and all the hardships we all go through become just a little bit less. 

The Perks And Trials Of Visiting America

I’m currently sitting in my room in Adwa on my first full day back at site after visiting home for 20 days. Before I left to visit and while I was home people asked me whether it was going to be hard coming back. I gave different answers depending on my mood, but over all I felt like it wouldn’t be difficult, and I was surprisingly right.

I left Ethiopia feeling down, tired, and ready for a break. I had finished out my first year of teaching, but was frustrated with the education system. I was finishing up my first year in country, and although there are many things I love about this country, culture, and people I was ready to go back to the easiness and convenience of America for a bit. In PC we have a chart that is supposed to show the emotional highs and lows of service. The first year there are some highs and a lot of lows, by the end of year one it’s a low, and then the second year there are more highs. It’s not the same for everyone, but generally most services follow that path. I was warned against going home when I was on a low because I might not want to come back, luckily it had the opposite effect on me. I left on a bit of a high note, with my dad and brother having just visited (read my blog post An Experience Of A Lifetime), but I was still ready for a change. Having talked to people who had visited home, especially at the year mark, most said it was a lot of fun to visit but to be careful because it was difficult for them to come back. I luckily, did not have that experience and I was ready to come back.

I traveled back to America with my dad and brother and then peeled off from them in Washington D.C. as they stayed for a few days to site see while I continued home. We had a layover in the Dubai airport, which was probably the most culture-shocking thing that could have happened to me. The Dubai airport is a true testament of globalization, the crossing of East and West, and the difference of cultures yet similarities of humanity. There were European families, American teenagers, African couples, Asian groups, Middle Eastern parents and children, and everyone in between. There were females in full headscarves, being pulled my little children with Sketchers on, there were Texan men who were spilling out over their seats sitting next to size 1 Chinese women, and there were people with the nicest cell phones and Gucci bags next to people with generation 1 Rzars. It was an interesting and truly fascinating cross culture moment for me and one that I had never really seen before, especially having been in a country with such a sense of autonomy for the past year.

I am not going to detail every thing that I did while home. I can’t remember everything I did, and I am fairly certain that if I did type out everything I did that it would mean I would write a 20 page long blog post, which you certainly don’t want to read and I don’t really want to write. I told people before I visited home that I really just wanted to see people, eat and drink, and I think they thought I was kidding—but they soon saw that I wasn’t.

I had a great time visiting people and experiencing things that I can’t while over in Ethiopia, such as cubed ice whenever I want, getting what you ordered off a menu, or doing laundry while sleeping in a washing machine. I was lucky that 2 of my fellow G11ers who I talk to were in the US the same time I was, because I was able to text them all my random moments I had that no one else understood but were surreal to me, like getting to drive in a car and roll the windows down, or getting to walk down the street without being stared at. For me, visiting America was less about culture shock as a whole and more about the random moments I didn’t think I would even notice.

Visiting home made me realize how much Americans take for granted, while also realizing what I truly love about Ethiopia. Coming back to Addis was difficult because I was exhausted, it’s a big city, and it doesn’t feel like home. When I got back to site though I was able to breath again. I miss my friends, family, and home dearly, but it was a nice feeling that I felt like I was back at my 2^nd home, and that I was back to the reality I feel more comfortable with. My time in America was great, full of memories, and too short- but it was also a bit surreal. I felt like I wasn’t truly back home. I had moments where I did feel back at home, but I felt a little like an outsider at points because someone at a restaurant would make a comment about the food or the temperature and I would think to myself “You have no idea. Come visit me and see how most of the world lives…” I realized I am becoming “that person” who almost scolds others for their world outlook.

The thing is, I didn’t intend to become that person. I think having only been home for 20 days, I didn’t get to immerse myself back in the American culture- I was there just long enough to adjust to some things while still thinking like I do in Ethiopia. I am already back to thinking how I have the past year, and I have only been back in Ethiopia for a bit. I am sure that when I move back to America I will adjust almost all the way back, but my time at home was too short to really do that. I am so incredibly glad I got to visit New Mexico, see my friends and family, and experience “American life” again. It gave me a great time to reboot and relax, but it also gave me a time to realize what I want to accomplish in my next year as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and I can’t wait to get started.

The one regret I have from visiting home is that I didn’t journal. I took my journal back with me and fully intended to write in it every day, or at least every other day. I have never missed a day while in Ethiopia, and I wanted to remember my time at home as well. But I got behind when I didn’t write during my journey back to Albuquerque, and then I just got overwhelmed with how many days I had missed. I ended up looking at my calendar I kept for my “social outings” and writing in my journal bullet points of what I did everyday, who I saw, and what I ate, when I got back Ethiopia. It’s not ideal, but hopefully I will at least be able to keep the memories from my trip home.

I think one of the biggest things for me about seeing especially friends while home is how much people have changed. I know that people’s lives have changed while I have been gone, I wasn’t expecting time to freeze. I also know that I changed more than most people have, but it was a crazy experience to come home and be having coffee or drinks with a friend and realize that we are all growing up, just in different ways. I always knew after high school that people would take different paths, but it didn’t dawn on me just how different those paths would be until I left and came back. I have friends getting “real people” jobs and buying houses, friends getting engaged and married, friends having babies, or friends going to grad school. Each works for them, and each is their own life, I just never thought I would actually reach this point in my life—I also assumed my friends and I would stay like 10 years old. I also realized how my life in Ethiopia has been an “in between”. I am grown up in some ways, but I’m also stalling in others. True, I live by myself on the other side of the world, I am growing and changing, and I do have a job. But, my life in America is in a bit of a stand still. I’m not settling down and starting a life like most of my friends are. That’s alright with me, this is who I am and what I’m supposed to be doing, but it was definitely weird to go home and catch up with friends who I don’t have that much in common with anymore.

The best thing about being home was getting to do everything that I missed for a year. Hanging out with my siblings late at night, unlimited texting, snacking from the pantry, blasting music with the windows down in the car, walking through Target clothes aisles, or watching the sun set on my street. You know the saying, “You never know what you have until it’s gone?” Well I never believed that until I left to Ethiopia, and then went back to visit. I didn’t realize how much I took for granted, and I’m not even talking about material things, I’m talking about experiences and moments that I never even realized I was having. While being home I got to have those moments and experiences again, I got to laugh with my parents, smile with my cousins, and talk with my friends. I miss those things dearly, but over the past year I began to feel immune to them. I think I blocked them out while here because that was easier than remembering how happy I was, when I’m down in Ethiopia. Having those times again, reminded me how blessed I am to get to have those moments, and I need to remember those funny times and those amazing times to remember that I do in fact have great family, friends, and life.

So I covered the perks of visiting America, what are the trials? They are small compared to the perks, but they are there. As I said earlier, I think I am becoming a bit of “that person” who might criticize others for their way of thinking. I am trying not to become that person, but it was hard going back to America and not being cynical of how people act and behave, when I have seen how people have some real struggles. Not to say Americans don’t struggle and that all Ethiopians do struggle, because I am not that ignorant person. But I do think that I have seen and experienced more than most people have, and that’s given me a different perspective on lives in different parts of the world.

I became more aware of how the world works, how people interact, and how people survive over the past year, and that gave me a new perspective while visiting America of how we insulate ourselves. I answered so many questions about Ethiopia, which was great, but I also got lots of questions about “Africa”. Forget that Africa is a continent, and is probably the most diverse continent in the world. It would be like me asking how is Asia, Europe, or North America. People don’t quite get that. I am determined when I am a teacher to teach more history and social studies than is currently taught, and I plan to teach about the places that are not given time in current classrooms. I am fairly certain that most people in America don’t know anything about Ethiopia, they might now that Obama came to visit, but that’s all they know. I am not going to pretend that I am a huge history buff. My fellow PCV’s will be talking about an Asian or African country and I might sound stupid and ignorant and ask them a question about it, but at least I know that it’s a country and I’m wanting to learn.

I got a massage while in Colorado for a few days and when the lady made a comment on how many knots I had in my back and I said that I have been in Ethiopia for a year and that I’m going back for another the first question she asked me was, “Are there a lot of starving people there?” I didn’t even know how to answer that, I was in shock. To me, I would never ask that question even if I didn’t live and experience this place. I thought media was kidding when they portrayed characters like that, but one of the hardest parts of America was realizing how many people still live in a mind set that all of Africa is a country and all of the people there are poor and starving. Yes, they do have food problems, but so does America.

Sorry for that rant, that was probably the biggest trial for me of visiting America. Looking around and realizing that while my mind was being opened up and I was experiencing new things, not everyone was having the same transformation and most people were going about their daily lives not thinking or caring about the world like I was. This isn’t a criticism of America, if you don’t have the opportunity to do what I am doing, I understand how their minds work, but it was difficult to go back and see that not everyone has the same willingness to experience the world and then use that experience to help others.

As I said at the beginning, visiting America came at a great time for me. I got to rejuvenate, visit friends and family, eat good food, and reboot myself for another year. I researched grad schools and took the GRE in preparation for next year, I got to see country concerts and experience “America”, and I got to make memories with people who I miss dearly. I came back a little sad, but with the knowledge I would be back in a year. According to all PCV’s I have talked to the 2^nd year flies by. The first year flew by when I look back. I can’t wait to experience this next year and see what happens with my life after Peace Corps.

Just a special shout out to all my friends and family who made my trip home so incredible! I truly enjoyed every moment with you all. I know not everyone was home, people are busy, I was booked, and I was only home for a short time. But even if I didn’t see you, I’m so happy I got to text people and those who I did see, I had an incredible time. I got to catch up with Chi Omega sisters and old friends, I got to see my family (special shout out to my INCREDIBLE cousin Tad, who I’m so happy I got to hug and hang out with after his accident!!!!!), and I got to meet new sisters and friends who up until now I had only had a Facebook “relationship” with. I am blessed with the best people in my life, and I want you all to know how much I appreciate, love, and miss each and every one of you. One more year, and I’m back in the US. It will fly by, I know it! J

An Experience Of A Lifetime

I had a big start to my summer. My dad and brother came to visit me, and it was a great week of exploring Axum, Adwa, and Addis Ababa. I got to play tour guide through Axum and Adwa, although in Addis I was about as lost as them, never really visiting there and not speaking Amharic. It was a bit exhausting to always have to be on, but it was fun to show them “my home” and have them see and experience what my new reality has been for the past year. The best part was getting to hug them for the first time in a year, and it was a moment I will always remember. My brother was the last person I hugged before getting on the plane last summer and he was the first person from home I hugged in a year. It was a surreal experience.

My dad and brother got to meet some of my best friends in the Peace Corps [Jessie, Ally, and Kacey K] as they joined us at different points in their week vacation here. Jessie, Ally, Kacey K, and Natanya (sadly she didn’t get to join us) have been my rocks and best friends while over here. I never thought I would meet people who I would become so close to. As in many of my other blogs that I have written about friendships over here, you develop them partly out of necessity. I talk to a lot of people I never would have back home, but because they are the only people who understand my experience here, I have found friends in them. There are friendships that develop deeper than that, and these 4 girls are those friendships for me. Not getting to talk to 3 of them (Kacey K was in America the same time as me, so we got to text) for 20 days was really hard for me. I got back to Ethiopia and talked on the phone to Jessie and Natanya and they automatically made me feel better. I am so grateful for these girls and the friendships they have given me. And it was so awesome for my dad and Parker to meet them and see why I adore them so much.

One of my most favorite moments of my year here so far was in Axum with my dad, Parker, and Jessie. We were at the obelisks in the museum and there is a glass wall by the entrance. Jessie and I were walking through and heard kids yell “firenji!” very loudly. I was wondering how kids were able to get in and I was really annoyed that we were getting yelled at in a museum. I turned around and saw 2 little kids (a boy and girl) run towards me with open arms in front of a massive group of little ones. They were all wearing black robes and hats with bright green sashes. It looked like they were graduating—sure enough they were visiting Axum as part of their kindergarten graduation ceremony. I thought I recognized the 2 little ones with their arms spread open but I didn’t know how I would know them. They then said my name and asked me to twirl them. Jessie and I asked their teacher where these kids lived and he answered that they live in Adwa and are graduating from the kindergarten behind Nigste Saba (my school where I teach). What a small world! Turns out most of the kids from the kindergarten live in my neighborhood. It was great to run into kids who knew me in a town 30 minutes away from mine. My dad and brother found it highly entertaining and Jessie and I had a fun time playing with them for even a few minutes. I told them I would twirl them back in Adwa because I was not about to twirl like 40 kids in Axum. Sure enough, the next day when I was walking to meet my dad and brother for breakfast from my house one of the little boys who recognized me in Axum came up to me with his dad to be twirled.

When I told my dad and brother that I didn’t really know what I wanted to show them before they came, their reply was “We don’t need to be entertained, we just want to see your home and do what you do.” That’s a fairly easy thing to accomplish, because that really translates to sitting around and not doing much of anything. And that is what we did a lot of the time. We tended to do activities in the mornings when it was cooler, but because rainy season hadn’t started yet it still got hot in the afternoons, and we would generally take naps and relax then. It was a nice break for me, because I got to relax on Internet but I got to hang out with my brother, dad, and friends as well.

One of my favorite things that we did while in Adwa was a horseback riding tour around Mount Soloda to the lake by Adwa. Lauren (my old G8 sitemate) had made friends with a guy named Ace while she was here who owns a tourism agency in town. We fell a little out of touch after she left, but I was determined to find something fun for my dad and brother to do in Adwa. We ended up going on a horseback riding tour with Ace, and it was a blast. It was fun for them, because we rode out into the villages so they got to see how a lot of people in Ethiopia live and work (we passed a lot of fields that were being worked on). It was also fun for me, because although I have lived here for a year I don’t really venture out past my little bubble in town, so it was a treat to see my home from a new perspective. The horses were tame, listened well, and were easy to ride (the path was easy as well). So once I got past the initial fear of being on a horse for the first time in many years, I really enjoyed the journey. I had gotten to a part in my service where I was a little fed up with everything in my town, so it was a good break to get to see the landscape around my town in a new day and remember how beautiful of a place I live in. It was also nice, because I tell people back home that Adwa, Tigray reminds me a lot of Albuquerque, New Mexico and my dad and brother really got to see what I meant by that. We went to Ace’s horse stables after where there is a beautiful view of Adwa and the surrounding countryside and it gave me goosebumps to realize this is where I get to call home. It was a good way to end my time in Adwa before I left for 3 weeks.

Another cool thing we did in Adwa was visit market. There are always 2 flights a day from Axum to Addis, a morning and an evening flight. I specifically picked the evening flight on a Saturday, because I wanted my dad and brother to see market and where I buy my food every week. People ask me about the food constantly and I have mixed feelings about it. Although I do love the convenience and variety of American grocery stores, there is something cool about going to market, buying your food, and knowing exactly where it came from. I have the opportunity to see my students there and support their families, or my neighbors. I can buy tomatoes, honey, or scarves from 45 different people, each with a smile that welcomes me in. We stayed away from the food area, because we weren’t buying food. My dad wanted to buy souvenirs for people, which in Ethiopia consists generally of clothes. So we stayed in the clothes market block for the most part and walked around. Gebre, my counterpart helped us negotiate prices because I am too shy to bargain and not good enough with Tirgrinya to do that. I was excited because I got to buy jellies (plastic shoes that everyone wears here). I like the guys version better (the girls are more like flats), but I never have the chance to buy them. We bought pairs for my brother and stepbrother, so I went ahead and bought some too. We walked out of the market by way of the “donkey mart”. We asked Gebre which donkey he would buy if he could buy a donkey. He quickly pointed to one. When we asked him why, his answer wasn’t “because it is pretty” or “because it is strong” like we thought he would say. Instead he answered with “because he is a thinking donkey”—I guess he looked like he was contemplating life, so Gebre enjoyed that about the donkey and decided that was his favorite.

My dad and brother had a good time translating in their head how much they spent in birr into dollars. I stopped doing that, because PC pays us according to the living standard here, not America. So I don’t have the convenience of thinking everything is super cheap, however my dad and Parker enjoyed how much cheaper everything was and would occasionally ask me how much they spent on something. I of course thought for example that 150 birr dinner in Addis was ridiculous, but they would roll their eyes and pay it because in their minds, it was only $7.50 and that was a great price for a meal.

For anyone who has ever visited a big city, they know that the big city experience is almost never like the rest of the state or country. That is so true of Addis Ababa. We stayed in Bole, which is the more firenji part of the city and right by the airport, so in truth my dad and brother didn’t even really see much of Addis. However, at that point I think they were ready to be back in America, and experiencing some “Western Ethiopia” was a good thing. I thoroughly enjoyed being there, because this was the nicest thing I had experienced in a year. Our hotel was within walking distance of the restaurants PCV’s love to eat at while in Addis, so we had plenty of firenji food while there.

My favorite thing we did in Addis was actually go to a museum. I had been to the National Museum with the bones of Lucy in it before when I first got to country. They redid part of it since last year, so that was kind of cool to see. But, I was not as impressed with it as I had been the first time. The museum I was most interested in was the Red Terror Museum. I pass it all the time in Addis when I am there for PSN or PC things, but I have never had a chance to go in it, because it’s closed by the time we get out of sessions. It was a small museum, free admission, and fully funded by donations of people who come in to see it. I went with Kacey K, my dad, and brother and it took my breath away. I have visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. and it gave me the same type of reaction. I think the reason this one was almost more intense for me was because our “tour guide” had been a prisoner and experienced first hand what he was sharing with us. It also seemed more real because it was so recent, and I know many people who have first hand accounts of what happened during that time. I am not going to get into the politics or history of this time period in Ethiopian history, however if you want to look it up online—feel free to. In fact, I encourage you to. It’s something that we don’t hear about in history class, but is very important to the world and especially to where I live.

When you ask my dad and brother what their favorite thing they did, experienced, or saw in Ethiopia was they will probably tell you without missing a beat “the coffee ceremony” that my land family prepared for them. It was an ordinary coffee ceremony that would be prepared on holidays, nothing extravagant. But, for my dad who loves coffee and my brother who doesn’t, it was an experience that I continued to tell them about over FaceTime, so it was fun for them to actually experience what I think is also my favorite part of the culture. My land family decorated their living room with leaves, like on Fasika or Lidet, they showed the roasting of the beans, passed them around to be smelled, pounded them, and made buna in a jebena. They did the traditional 3 cups ceremony, and gave us fendesha (popcorn), as well as injira and shuro. I made a comment about how on holidays they also give me sewa and my land lady got very excited because she had sewa in her fridge, so they pulled out the bottle of sewa to have my dad and brother try. My brother took one sip and almost spit it up, so I finished his and mine. My dad finished his, although I think it was more out of politeness than actual enjoyment (it took me a couple of weddings and holidays to develop a taste for it). To my dad and brother, this buna ceremony was the bringing together of cultures, the ultimate sharing opportunity, and a great example of hospitality. They continue to talk about that being their favorite part of their trip, and my dad was so impressed with not only the ceremony itself, but my land family and how they care for me.

I knew I got lucky with my land family, but it wasn’t until I brought my dad and brother to visit and then left for 3 weeks and came back that I realized just how incredibly lucky I really am to have them. They prepared the buna ceremony for my family, they gave them fresh mangoes from the tree in our compound, and they hugged and kissed them when we left. When I got back from America I got the biggest hug ever from my land lady, and I almost started crying because I realized how much I missed her smile and laugh. She made me injira, shuro, and buna my first time back, and I found it appropriate that she made my last of those before I left Ethiopia and she made my first when I came back.

When people ask my dad and brother how they liked their trip they say, “We liked seeing the country, how Kelsey lives, and experiencing a new culture. But a week was just enough time.” I kind of laugh, because to me, a week is just a small portion of my experience here. We didn’t get to travel around the country as much as I would have wanted, but they got to see my home and that’s enough for me. By the end of the week, my dad was done with injira, my brother was ready to drink stuff besides coffee, and I was ready to spend some time by myself. But, I am very glad that they came to visit me.

As Peace Corps Volunteers we try to explain our lives to people back home. We take pictures to show them our homes and schools and food and people. We try to explain funny or sad stories that happen to us. We try to introduce our family and friends to our lives over here. But truthfully, it’s almost impossible to do so. Even with my friends in the Peace Corps in other countries, they understand more than others because they have had to do the same thing, but their lives are so different that the only people I can really have conversations about Ethiopia with are my PCV friends here. Having family members or friends come is a way to really help them see how your life is going. They get to see your home, how you interact with people, or how the politics of your country are.

They are still seeing a different world than you live in on your own. My dad and brother being with me had me being called firenji and money on the street more than if I was by myself. One of the kids in my neighborhood who loves me and always runs up to me ran away when my dad and brother were with me because they are tall, white males, and I got treated like a tourist by restaurants who normally know my order. On the other hand, I saw a bunch of my students, teachers, and neighbors on the streets and I had conversations with all of them, I spoke a full Tigrinya conversation with my land family, and I shopped at the clothes market, which I don’t normally do by myself. It was a great experience for them, as well as for me to show them how I live, while experiencing a bit of the way “an outsider” would experience it as well.