The Rollercoaster Week of Teaching

Anyone who has attempted to teach another human being anything can attest to how difficult a task it can be. Even if you don’t hold the formal title of teacher, and even if you do not hold a paycheck from the profession, it can be a challenging and frustrating thing, especially when your student is not willing to learn what you are demonstrating for them. Even one thing can ruin a day when it comes to teaching someone else, but when you are responsible for more than one lesson or student, the emotions attached with teaching become even more amplified- both the good and the bad. There are many times that teaching makes you want to give up and throw in the towel, let the students fend for themselves. But those times are matched by the happiness of success on the part of your student, and by association, yourself.

Teachers weeks are counted by morning bells (or flag ceremonies), periods attended, lessons taught, students praised, students reprimanded, voices heard, hands raised, sentences written, exercise books checked, and smiles collected (among many others). Teachers measure success differently than other professions. In other jobs, numbers are what matter. That’s still true with teachers. How our students show on tests and on paper is what the school cares about. Our measurement goes deeper than that though, our measurement goes into how our students use the knowledge we gave them, it goes into their confidence and ability to treat others with respect, and it goes into their future and their outlook on the rest of their life.

The fact that we hold such a big part of these kids lives in our hands means that as a teacher we have more emotions invested in our day-to-day doings than other jobs may have. Amplify being in a foreign country and different environment for my emotions to run high every day. I regularly describe my Peace Corps service with a couple of different nouns, adventure if it’s been a good few days, journey if it’s had it’s ups and downs, rollercoaster if it’s had more downs than ups, and learning experience if it’s been mostly down. This week in class reminded me not only of how tough being both a teacher and a volunteer can be, but also how rewarding and amazing it can be.

Luckily, it started off rough and ended on a high note. I have always struggled with classroom management and consistency, even in the states. When I was student teaching, the biggest critique I got from my observer and my master teacher was that I needed to be more consistent with my praise and punishment. We had a system in place, but I was never very good at spreading that out evenly. I did improve throughout the year, but it’s still (and probably always will be) my biggest struggle in the classroom. Coming to Ethiopia, that’s also been the toughest challenge in teaching. I could get away with being lax when I had 20 students in a class and a clear discipline system in the classroom and school. With 70 students and no sense of order, it’s been more of a challenge.

I had a hard time last year with how to handle talking, cheating, phones, copying for other classes, and sleeping in class (yes, these are all major problems). I gave my classes rules, tried to enforce them, and follow through. But I didn’t do the best job, and I fully acknowledge that. I was looking forward this year to starting over with a new group of students, taking what I learned from last year, and improving my classroom management, but then I showed up the first day to find out I was teaching my same students- I was following them to 10^th grade.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my students and I’m excited to see how they will grow in the next year. But I was also terrified- don’t even get me started on the National Exam, I was thinking just daily routines and how much we all slacked off them at the end of last year. Sure enough, I showed up the first day with my students still acting as rough as they did at the end of last year, because I hadn’t gotten control when I should have.

One of my students was a troublemaker last year, and after he lied to my face multiple times about having a cell phone in class I gave up trying to deal with it in my own class, and I turned him into the office. Turns out I was not the first teacher to have a problem with him, and my Vice Director almost kicked him out of school. He told me to choose whether to give him one more chance or not. This is of course not a position I envy anyone with, but I decided to give him one more chance. He drove me and the other teacher’s crazy, but I would rather have him in school than sitting outside it. He walked into my class this year with the same air of not really caring. However, he started answering questions and participating. I was excited that maybe he realized how valuable education can be.

On Tuesday his class was awful. They were talking the entire class and didn’t even try to participate. I got really upset and I was on the verge of tears. I yelled at them, and they got silent. Most didn’t know what I was saying, but they could tell I was upset and decided to listen. He was in the back of the class with his hand over his ear. I knew he was listening to music, and I was already riled up. I went back and luckily he didn’t argue, he just gave me the phone and earbuds because he remembered what happened last year. He thought I would just give it back to him at the end of class, like I did last year. But this time I took it with me when I left class and went to see the Vice Director. Turns out it was another student’s phone, he was borrowing it. They both followed me out, begging for it to be given back to them with the promise of “Sorry, teacher” (the Ethiopian students have perfected this saying).

Wednesday I had my other not paying attention because they were all doing homework (a crossword puzzle) for Biology. I took textbooks and exercise books, but they somehow all continued to not pay attention to English. When I got upset with their class, they all said the same thing “Sorry, teacher” with puppy dog eyes that would have made me melt the first week, but by now just drive me crazy. I taught my lesson to the few students who were actually paying attention, which are the ones who generally already have a command of the language.

I was felling really down with these 2 days. Between kids not paying attention, not caring that I’m upset, and just not caring about school I was beginning to wonder why I came to school every day. I have even told them before that I am here to try to teach them, why should I come to teach them if they don’t want to be taught. The kids who understand me look so guilty, and I feel bad after I say things like that, but in the heat of the moment I am not always the calmest person. I was realizing how difficult this job can be and how un thanked it can be.

However (this is the up part of the rollercoaster), Thursday was an incredible day that reminded me why in fact those hard days are worth it. The troublemaker class still wasn’t the best, but a few kids participated. I was doing a lesson on verb conjugations. We were going over present, past, future, present perfect, and present perfect continuous. My kids have seen these all before and know how to conjugate them, but we were doing a review lesson with filling in a chart after talking about when each one is used. A boring grammar lesson that this year will be filled with.

I started a new participation system this week to try to get more than the like 5 kids up front to answer questions. I want everyone participating, even if they get the answer completely wrong. I gave every student a piece of paper where they wrote their name and their section. They keep it and bring it to class every day. When they answer a question, read a sentence, or participate in another way, I take their cards home and record them. I then bring them back the next day. This might sound silly, but it’s worked really well this week. The students like handing me their cards and knowing they are actually being recognized for their work in class. They are used to only having the “gobez” kids answer, so I’m forcing them to try.

My section T-13 on Thursday blew me away. Every single kid participated in class that day. It was review and grammar, not the hardest of things (they love grammar). It wasn’t truly testing their English skills, but the fact that even the kids who never talk in class were able answer how to conjugate the verbs I put up on the board made me smile the biggest goofy smile I have had since coming to country.

In my next class I didn’t have as many students participate, but I did have a few who don’t normally talk in class. A few of my less gobez students, who try but don’t normally get things right, were getting them more right than some of the gobez students who are normally the confident ones. There was a group of 3 girls in the back who are gobez but normally don’t participate, I just see their smarts on tests. They answered every single conjugation correctly. I could feel a shift in the room as the kids who are used to always being right and called on were over shadowed for possibly the first time by the rest of their class. I want every student to feel confident and participate, but it was a nice change to see other students realizing their potential.

I am not sure if this participation system will hold up the whole year. I don’t know how I will make a full semester of participation into 5% of their final grade. I don’t know how long they will be able to keep their slips of paper without losing or tearing them (a lot have already had to ask me for a 2^nd one and some are already tearing—no such thing as lamination here, sadly). But, the idea that more students are taking action to answer questions and pay attention in class through positive reinforcement is really exciting to me.

We have flag ceremony in the mornings, and I stand to the side while they walk into the school compound to their lines in front of the flag. I continue to stand there as they pass to go to their classes. I let them drag desks and talk before I come into start class (they end flag ceremony about 10 minutes before class starts). I will be with other teachers sometimes and they never get acknowledged or at least their names are not said. However, when my students walk by they all say “Hi Ms. Kelsey” or at least “Hi”. I even get talked to by students not in my classes, ones I have never seen before. That makes me feel great, that I am close enough to my students to have them talk to me as more than a teacher. I know it’s because I am the firenji, but that sense of connection that my fellow teachers don’t necessarily have with them makes me happy that I care enough about them that they care about me as well.

So that was my roller coaster of a teaching week. I started off on the ground with poorly behaved students, frustrating classes, and bad lessons. I ended on a high note with participation, excitement, and the realization that my students are learning something from me. It might be boring verb conjugations, but they remember from my last lesson on the subject, all wanted to answer questions, and I saw many of them grow in their self confidence, in one day.

I might have extreme difficulties and frustrations with everything over here. My anger may be amplified, and I may have a hard time dealing with classroom management. I have students who drive me crazy and are the reason I want to drink a beer after a hard teaching day. I may have those moments where I want to give up, change careers, move back home and just sit in my bed all day. But then I have those days where I realize it’s all worth it. Where I smile from ear to ear because a student who has never gotten an answer right suddenly answers 6 in a row right. I have those days where every single kid in a class of 50 (we are still getting all kids to school) gives an answer, where the girls who don’t like to answer before the boys are suddenly the ones whose hands shoot up to get to the answer first. That confidence and ability, that moment when my students realize who they are and who they can be, that moment when I’m greeted as more than the crazy firenji teacher, the moment when my classroom becomes an inspiration. That’s why I teach.

International Day of the Girl #dayofthegirl #IDG2015

Sunday Girls Program: Girl Declaration and I Am A Strong Woman

I held a girls program on International Day of the Girl at my preparatory school for 9^th and 10^th grade girls. I was worried girls wouldn’t come, because I only announced it in the opposite shift at flag ceremony and in my classes, and that it was only after the first week of school. I was pleasantly surprised to find that 20 girls ended up coming to the school compound after church to join in my lesson on female empowerment.

As I wrote up the Girl Declaration on the chalk board, the girls wrote lists of the issues they think girls face the most in Ethiopia. They then discussed in groups and one girl from each group got up to share. Although the groups generally were the same, it was interesting to see what social issues they thought their gender faces. The most common ones that were repeated by multiple groups were female genital mutilation, abduction, under age marriage, and the thinking that girls are unequal to boys. Other issues mentioned by groups were too many chores/ work at home, the idea that girls should not learn and are only the property of men, over all prejudice and country policies, and the lack of female participation in school and the government.

I then explained what the Girl Declaration is and how it was created. The Girl Declaration is a statement written by girls, for girls and women from all over the world. I had them write and color the Girl Declaration in their own style. It took a demonstration of using different colors and styles of writing for them to understand this was supposed to be fun and show their own personalities and thoughts, they didn’t have to just copy it like notes in a classroom.

My Counterpart (who is a male) then translated and explained the Girl Declaration in Tigrinia so that the girls would understand what they were writing. I handed out copies of the English and Amharic Girl Declarations as well so that each girl would be able to remember exactly how powerful of a girl she is at home.

I then handed out “I pledge…” cards and they each wrote and then shared (in Tigrinia) their pledge to help gender equality in Ethiopia. I wrote, “I pledge to not let men tell me what to do” as an example. All of the girls wrote about their future and how they plan to help women in the future. Some of the answers were:

-    To continue her schooling and become a doctor

-    To become a lawyer to help more girls get into law

-    To go to school to get a degree in business and open up her own store

-    To become a doctor and open up a hospital for women that are discriminated against

-    To help women by opening up a non-profit to help underprivileged women and to help against discrimination

-    To educate her family about female issues and girls empowerment

-    To become an artist and help women become stronger

-    To become an engineer

-    To become a teacher to help other girls learn

I was impressed with the amount of girls that talked about wanting to help the underprivileged and discriminated against, not just women but all people, by opening their own businesses and non-profits. Many times when you ask people in Ethiopia what they want to be they all say doctors or engineers because they assume that’s what makes the most money and is the most professional, but other jobs are needed and can help empower females in a more direct way. I was happy to hear that all wanted to continue their schooling and graduate from college. I sincerely hope they all get that opportunity.

We then stood outside and I asked them again to name some of the biggest challenges facing Ethiopian women. They named early marriage, abduction, that their job is to work in the home, societies belief that girls are born to serve boys, lack of participation of females in development, family planning and child mortality, that girls are considered slaves of men, discrimination in the classroom, and sexual harassment. I had a difficult time getting the girls to speak up, I think in part because even though I allowed them to speak in Tigrinia, my counterpart was a man. He is a progressive man who doesn’t necessarily share a view similar to others, but he is still a male figure.

I wrote the challenges they mentioned on a piñata that I had made this past week. I then explained that we were going to break the piñata to symbolize breaking apart those challenges and showing the challenges that as females, we are stronger than them. I had a few of the girls share why they are a strong woman. One of the girls I took this past summer to Camp GLOW shared the same answer she shared during camp about helping her community and being nice to people, but then if they are rude or mean to her she will become tough and crush them (her words). One girl said she would continue her schooling and participate in class. Another girl shared she will educate her family and friends and she wants to participate in development and government to help bring equality for all girls.

After they shared their thoughts and why they are strong women, we hit the piñata with each girl getting one swing. It worked out perfectly and every girl got to hit it once with it breaking with the last girl.

I had coordinated and talked with a female teacher who is in charge of the gender things at school, however there turned out to be a teacher meeting at the same time my program was supposed to be, so it ended up just being my counterpart and I (he works at a different school). Although it was a little difficult to run the session with a male there and I could tell the girls were a little uncomfortable at first, they became more comfortable once they realized they were allowed to speak and write Tigrinia and that they could really share what they felt.

It was fun for me to watch these 20 girls participate and understand how strong and powerful they really are. They took initiative to come to this program about girls and gender, and have a drive to educate their families and community about gender equality. It is heartbreaking to hear them describe the problems they face in their own country. I know these problems exist, and I hear about them in statistics and movies, but to hear that abduction, early marriage, and FGM are problems they or their friends face is something I will never get over.

I strongly believe that females are the key to fixing many of the problems in the world, and I am so grateful to have this opportunity to hopefully influence these girls and boys to understand just how important gender equality is. I limited the activity to females today only because I wanted the girls to be comfortable sharing and participating, and because I wanted them to truly bask in and understand the Girl Declaration. It’s a powerful statement about being a female.

Seeing a girl smile, know that she can be who she wants to be, and finding herself and her strength is something I will always find touching. Getting to help girls find their own power is what drives me to continue to teach both boys and girls, and what I find most rewarding. Girls here and around the world face extreme prejudice, hardships beyond compare, and discrimination- they are told they are less than boys, and the challenges they face are great. Nothing will change over night, but with girls who believe they can change the world and with boys willing to help them, then the society they live in and the world as a whole can in fact change for the better so females are in fact looked at and treated as equals to men, like they should be.

Monday English Class: Find Your GLOW

I teach 3 sections of 10^th grade, and decided to use the activity Find Your GLOW as a review of descriptions and adjectives to connect last year and this year (idea taken from Jessie Sexton, a fellow G11 volunteer). I planned my lesson around the idea that we would do a whole group lesson review on adjectives and then split up to individually draw and write.

I first reviewed what a noun, verb, adjective, and adverb were on the board and had my students give me examples. We then talked more about adjectives and I had them give me adjectives to describe a person. In my first class I was basically giving them adjectives, but in my other 2 classes they were the ones giving me suggestions. In my second class of the day before I even began listing them, she asked if she could describe me and started listing off adjectives. We talked about how adjectives can describe something physical or something in your personality or how you act.

We then talked about what opposites are, and I had them give me the opposites of the words already on the board. In my second class of the day one of my gobez girls told me the Tigrinia word for opposite and wrote it in fidel on my hand, so I was able to impress my last class with my “knowledge”, even though I showed them that another student had told me, they were very excited I tried Tigrinia and fidel.

I drew a picture of myself quickly on the board next to the sentence structures for “I am _____________, ________________, and _____________.” “I am not _____________, ______________, and _______________.” “I am good at ___________________, _______________, and ______________.” I then filled in the blanks with “I am tall, smart, and loud. I am not short, dumb, and quiet. I am good at reading, teaching, and cooking.” The students had a good time laughing at the fact I drew myself on the board, because they don’t get much artistic freedom in their other classes. I handed out pieces of colored paper I cut from Peace Corps materials, and I instructed them to draw a picture of themselves, as well as to write 3 sentences about themselves.

As they completed their task individually I wrote on the board: “Some of the things you like about yourself, some of the things you are good at doing, some of the times you feel good about yourself” as well as “Self-esteem: The voices in your head that tell you that you are important, that you matter despite what anyone says. You can choose the words you want to describe yourself and make sure they are positive. We call this finding our glow.”

The students tried to turn in their papers at the end, because they are used to me collecting papers from last year, when they did assignments like these so I would give them a grade. I explained in part English and part Tigrinia (broken in both) that they got to take these home for themselves to remind them of their strengths and what they are, and to always think of themselves in a positive way.

Although this wasn’t the exact “Find Your Glow” activity from the Girl Hub activity book, I tried to tie it into English grammar review so my students would remember what we did last year, as well as build their own self-confidence. It didn’t work super well in one of my classes because most all the students copied exactly what I wrote on the board, or didn’t understand the activity. One of my classes got a little better hang of it, and by my last class all the students were writing their own sentences and drawing very intricate drawings of themselves.

I did this activity to show my students that although they may not be able to change how they look or how they act, they can pick which adjectives they think of themselves as. One of the girls in my class is a larger girl and I know she is very self-consciece of it. Other kids tease her about her weight and although she will laugh along when they say something, I can see in her face she doesn’t actually find it funny. Every time that happened last year I would kick out the kid that teased her about it. I was interested to see how she would draw herself and describe herself. She didn’t put anything about her weight, instead she wrote about being nice, smart, and clever. I was very proud of her for not identifying her weight as something she defines herself as.

This also gave me a chance to see who was able to write their own sentences and who just copied mine. I left my example on the board, which might have been a bad idea because a lot of the kids just copied mine, but many of my students did put their own adjectives, some who I didn’t know if they would be able to or not (last year they always copied). It felt good to see my students finally understanding creative thinking, and describing themselves instead of copying everything I write.

Another bonus: in all of my classes the people who answered the most were girls. Although I have a few boys answer, most in my classes are girls. I’m not sure whether it is because I am girl teacher and they feel more comfortable with me, whether I give them more opportunities, or whether the girls in my classes are just “more gobez”. For whatever reason though, it gives me hope that if we just give girls the opportunity to speak up in class and give them an equal chance to show their abilities and potential that they will become equal to boys in education and in many problems probably dominate.

This activity was designed to bring up students self-confidence and teach them that they have the power to change how they think about themselves. I don’t know if I achieved that, because it was an English heavy lesson plan originally and many of my students still don’t have that English level, but I hope by bringing it into their comfort zone of grammar knowledge and also letting them be creative in drawing, that they were able to understand the basic concept of thinking better of themselves and not letting others affect how they think about themselves. This was an activity designed to lift up both boys and girls and show them that they all have strengths.

Tuesday English Class: “Smart Economics” and “Girls Rising”

Since it was my birthday, I decided I wanted to do one final activity to empower girls for International Day of the Girl, and I wanted it to be fun for my students and myself. It didn’t work as well as I was hoping, because even with my little speakers I brought from the US that I hooked up to my computer, with even just 50 high school students in a class, the volume turned all the way up still doesn’t over power their voices.

I began by explaining we would be watching 2 videos, 1 in Amharic about girls in Ethiopia, and 1 about girls from around the world. I let them watch the “Smart Economics” video about girls providing for the economy in Ethiopia. I did not lead a discussion about that one- I just let them think on the facts presented.

Then I told them we were going to watch stories of 2 girls from around the world from the movie “Girl Rising”. I picked Yasmeen from Egypt and Asmera from Ethiopia. I picked them because I thought they most resembled the issues facing these girls sitting in my classroom and the most I could influence the boys in. Before I began to play the movie I told my students to listen and watch for the challenges the girls faced and what happened to them.

We watched the Egypt part, although it was difficult because the sound only went up so much and much of that story is spoken in Arabic. I retold the story and what happened to her after her story was completely done. It was also difficult for my students to understand what part of the story was “real” and what was “her imagination” because it is told by actors and animation. The fight scene got the boys attention, but otherwise it was hard to keep all their attention because it was pretty dark and quiet and not all in English or a language spoken in Ethiopia.

I repeated the fact that 50% of all sexual assault victims are under the age of 15 that was spoken in the movie, and that the girl in the story was 13 and was to be married to a man who was older than 40. Then I read out the other facts as they came on the screen in between stories. Through all of my classes the boys sat in the back (they always do in class, with my girls filling the front rows) and goofed off, so I stood by the back wall for most of the movie. I wanted to make sure the boys knew this was to educate them as well, because change has to come from both genders.

I then continued to play the movie and had them watch Asmera, which is the story of the girl from Ethiopia. Even though she was from Ethiopia, they didn’t really catch her story or problems. The biggest issue I found was that the kids in the back started talking because they couldn’t hear or see and the students in the front lost their attention by the end of it. Even though I taught the first 3 sections of the day, they were still already restless. I have definitely learned that for media to work in the classroom in Ethiopia I need to find a way to put the video on a bigger screen and make it louder. I retold the story as it was happening, so my students would know what was happening with Asmera, as most couldn’t hear or see.

I then wrote up some other facts about sexual assault and child marriage given from the film after the Ethiopia story was done, “14 million girls under 18 will be married this year”, “#1 cause of death of girls 15-18 is childbirth.”

Finally I asked my classes what challenges the girls in the films faced. In my first class they didn’t know, so I helped them along by writing “sexual assault and child marriage” under Egypt and “child marriage and almost pulling out of school” under Ethiopia. In my second class one of my girls answered and talked about child marriage and how girls have so many chores at home they can not always go to school and how they are not given the same opportunity to go to school. This was the same girl who asked me while we were watching “Girl Rising” whether Asmera was in school and whether she would continue to go to school (this was right when it started).

In my third class I did not get a chance to ask my students what their answer was, because the bell rang for the next period to start. I did however realize I wasn’t going to finish, and so I wrote the answers from the previous classes up on the board.

In each of my classes I wrote a sentence for the boys to copy in their exercise books and say out loud, and a sentence for the girls to copy in their exercise books and say out loud. I wrote “Boys: I pledge to never hurt a woman.” and “Girls: I pledge to always stand up for myself.” I did not get the chance to really discuss the problems in the video because the parts and set up took longer than expected, but it was a chance to expose my students of all genders to some of the problems facing girls around the world.

I am not entirely sure how successful the lesson was. Between the sound being so low, the video being dark and on a small screen, my students’ low level of English compared to the film, and the short time to contemplate and discuss the issues at hand, I believe it could have gone much better, but I do think they gained at least something from being exposed to the film. I want to show the film again on a weekend, with a different machine and with time to watch the whole thing and talk about it after.

It was interesting to see my students’ reactions to the film and the facts that I posted on the board. My girls had this look on their faces like they knew all about this. I would be curious to know if any of the girls in my classes have in fact been sexually assaulted before, or if they have family or friends who have. Statistically it is likely, but I of course didn’t ask that. A few of the girls had looks like they have been exposed to this sort of thing, but my protective self is crossing my fingers that they haven’t.

The boys were the difficulty for me in this lesson, because I wanted to open a discussion up about violence against women and how they can grow up and not be like the man who assaulted the girl in Egypt. However, with such a short time, a language barrier, and their attention not really there, it was difficult to bring that up. I did have them write that they pledge not to hurt women in the exercise books. I’m hoping that this short 40 minute day at least put the seed in their head that they have the power to not hurt women, and to in fact challenge all men to do the same.

Luckily Asmera’s story ended on a bit of a happy note. For now, she is still attending school and has the support of her brother and mother. I think that was a good thing to end on, because it shows that even though there are problems, if you have the support of men and your family and you want to continue your education, you can overcome. I believe that my female students will continue their education, for they have already beaten many of the odds (they are coming to school in 10^th grade). I would be interested to see which of my girls and boys pass their National Exam this year and continue onto secondary school and finally university. I hope with my influence it will be many.

My students in many ways have already beaten the odds shown in “Girl Rising”. They are attending school, my girls tend to sit in the front of the class and answer questions in English, my boys know it’s not right to hit a girl, and all of my students respect me. I’m hoping my influence on them will stick throughout their life and that they will use what lessons they learned from me to turn around and change their families, communities, country, and the world. Girls around the world need help from girls and boys to become equal, and I hope my students are the ones willing to make that change.

Birthday Celebrations

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Kelsey

Happy Birthday to you

As I sit in my room in Ethiopia approaching my 24^th birthday I have time to reflect on my 24 years of life, how I have spent birthdays in the past, how I am spending it this year, and how I will spend them in the future. As I discovered last year, birthdays are celebrated and held to different standards in different countries and cultures. In America birthdays tend to be a very big deal, with parties varying by type as people grow older, however the parties don’t decrease. In Ethiopia though, birthdays are really only celebrated for children, with adults birthdays passing by as they grow another year older.

Last year I celebrated my 23^rd birthday away from my family and friends for the first time ever, and it surprisingly was not as difficult as I thought it would be. My site mate Lauren made sure I got pizza for dinner, and then we met up with some Peace Corps workers who were around Tigray for site installation meetings. I got to open birthday care packages from my parents, which was pretty much better than opening gifts at home, and my land family made me a buna ceremony with the best kind of bread.

This year I am not sure how I will celebrate on my actual day, but I am meeting friends in Axum for shakla tibs and beer over the weekend. I am planning on teaching a female empowerment lesson using Beyonce’s “Run the World (Girls)” song in my classes on my actual birthday, in a late celebration of International Girls Day. I also have packages that arrived just in time for my birthday so I can open those like presents as well. I think Ally is coming in (she has to fly to Addis the next day for medical things for Peace Corps) and so we will probably eat dinner out, and then drink wine and watch a chick-flick at my house.

Birthdays symbolize a new beginning. Although it’s not “the new year”, it can be a fresh start to your life. People tend to measure life in 2 forms, the calendar year and then the year you have been on earth. Both are the same length of time, just marked on different days. Each year holds special meaning, and each can be measured with good and bad times. Birthdays are those placeholders to remind you how you have gotten to where you are today.

I have had some pretty memorable birthdays celebrated with friends and family. I might not always remember what I did or what gifts I received, but I will always remember the love I felt from the people that surround me, whether I am close to them geographically or whether we are far away. Facebook and their birthday reminders for our friends list help make me feel appreciated and loved, even if it is someone just writing “Happy Birthday” on my wall because they see it’s my birthday in the corner. I’m awful with remembering birthdays and can only remember my immediate families, Lynda’s, and Carson’s. All the other birthdays of my friends and family I have to look up (sorry everyone!). But I guarantee everyone else is the same way with me, and I’m ok with that.

I may be spending my birthday alone for another year (on the actual day), but I know that my friends and family are thinking of me and sending me love and good wishes even though they are across the world. That’s the great thing about birthdays: at least for one day, you are the most important person. You are always the most important person in your own life, but for a day you become more the center. I’m not saying become spoiled and ask to be the center of the universe, but you have the chance to become a more important person in someone else’s life because you are in their thoughts a little bit more.

I am the person I am today because of my friends, family, and the memories and lessons they have given me. I have reflected on those a lot this past year (well, a little more than that) and I have come to appreciate even more just how special these people in my life are. They have given me memories and moments that I can look back on fondly while here, especially on my hardest days. Birthdays are some of those moments I look on with the most love and laughter.

Birthdays are also the times to reflect on your past year and how you have grown as a person. I have grown so much the past year- I could not even begin to write everything down. Everything that has happened to me, every moment that’s surreal to think I’m actually living the life I am, and every lesson I have learned (both good and bad), has shaped my 23^rd year. I might not remember exactly every moment in a few years, but I will be able to reflect on future birthdays on how much I experienced when I was 23 and how cool of a life I got to live for that year.

My 24^th year should be quite an adventure. I’m teaching 10^th grade for a year in Ethiopia, I will hopefully travel around Ethiopia, I will hopefully get into graduate school and start attending that, and I will finish my Peace Corps service. My 25^th birthday will be celebrated somewhere in America, hopefully surrounded by new friends and with love and well wishes from friends and family all over the world. Some people complain about getting older, but I think it’s a blessing many people don’t get to have, and I embrace every moment of it.

That’s the great thing about birthdays: You get to feel loved and appreciated, you get to reflect on your past year and how you can improve for the next year, and you get to experience a blessing denied to many. Birthdays should be celebrated, if even just for the sheer joy of realizing how blessed you truly are.