A Memorable Year

Sitting with no power, under the cool evening air in my compound, listening to a very fast Tigrinya conversation between elderly Ethiopian women while smelling cooking onions and roasted coffee beans seems to be a perfect example of my past year. In 2014 I graduated college and joined/swore into Peace Corps. A year ago I wrote a blog about how 2014 was my biggest year of my life to date, with those 2 very big events. However, having 2015 under my belt, I am rethinking that statement. For Christmas/the holidays this year I sent out a Christmas card/picture. I never did that in the states (well, my family did for a few years, but it was a short lived tradition), but I decided this was a fun year to update friends and family on. Below is what I sent out through snail mail:

My entire 2015 was spent in Ethiopia, with the exception of the 20 days I spent visiting America. Here is a recap of my year from January 1, 2015- December 31, 2015:

-        35 weeks of teaching (well, about…)

-        2 midterms graded

-        2 finals graded

-        8 trips to Mekele

-        5 trips to Addis Ababa

-        3 sets of trainings attended

-        12 holidays celebrated (not counting the random saints holidays)

-        9 weddings attended

-        2 christenings attended

-        1 teacher party attended

-        2 “International Day” programs run: Malaria Awareness and Girls Day

-        1 Peace Corps camp facilitated (Camp GLOW)

-        3 American holiday programs led

-        1 visit from family

-        1 round trip plane trip back home

-        2 country concerts attended

-        Countless days full of Peace Corps friends and laughter

-        Countless struggles and hard times

-        Too many to count buna ceremonies, food invitations, and happy moments with Ethiopians

-        Too many to count letters, cards, and care packages from home

-        Uncountable memories, random moments, and learning experiences

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays from Ethiopia! Love, Kelsey

I started off the year by teaching my 3 classes of 9^th graders for their second semester. I then spent my summer with my dad and brother visiting Ethiopia, going home for a much-needed vacation to America, taking kids to a Peace Corps run Camp GLOW. My last part of the year has been teaching 4 classes of 10^th graders for their first semester (3 are my original classes from last year, with 1 class added from another teacher).

As most people know by now, Ethiopia runs on a different calendar of 11 months of 30 days and 1 month of 6 days with their New Year falling on our September 11. That makes translating dates really fun over here... (Sarcasm). I still follow the “firenji calendar” when planning things, but I have my planner and computer calendars marked with their dates for when I have to talk to Ethiopians.

I measure my time here through 4 different calendars—“The firenji calendar”, The Ethiopian calendar, how far into service I am, and the school calendar, each giving me a different view of my service. It’s January 30, 2015 in firenji calendar, Tahisas 20, 2008 in Ethiopian calendar, I’m almost 18 months into living in Ethiopia and a little more than 15 months at site, and I’m about a month away from having taught for a year and a half at school. That’s a lot to keep track of and a lot of things I can use to measure the days I have been here.

Although marking days on a calendar is effective in seeing how much time has passed/how much time I have left, I have come to realize that the days themselves and the numbers attached are not enough to show a year. This past year I have come to know and learn more about my students, attach myself to my land family more, reflected on my own life and belief and views, read a lot of books and watched a lot of TV shows and movies, met new people, become more frustrated than I ever thought was possible, thought about quitting and packing up many times, but brewed some tea and come to realize how much I am still learning about myself and the world.

2015 was a year that I can’t even begin to put into words. I have learned and experienced more than can ever be expressed, especially in a blog post. My life continues to develop, change, and grow and that includes myself and my personality. I am not the same person I was on this day last year, certainly not the person I was when I swore in as a PCV in 2014.

My 2016 promises to be an even greater and life-changing year. I have the opportunity to visit Spain (my first trip to Europe and only my 3^rd country to visit) in the beginning of the year. I have 1 more semester of teaching my students and conducting clubs (although the way this school system runs, I won’t be in the classroom that much). I find out about graduate schools (I applied to 2) and that will determine my next move after Peace Corps. The biggest part of 2016 though, will be heading back to the States sometime between July and September.

As I reflect on my 2015, I am thinking of all the moments that were strung together to make my year. I have spent time with Peace Corps friends, drank a lot of beer, spent a lot of time with the power out, twirled a bunch of kids, been called firenji more times than I can count, cried my eyes out until I didn’t know I had tears left, laughed with teachers and fellow Ethiopians, taken bus rides around Tigray, been to the post office to receive some great packages from America, taken some long plane rides, been told how inspirational I am, watched my students gain great confidence in the classroom and out of it, drank more buna than I ever thought I would, and realized just how much I have learned in such a short time. My time is spent in my Ethiopian world and my Peace Corps world, with experiences, moments, and memories made differently, but equally important to me and my life here.

Every time I log onto Facebook I am reminded how much my friends back home are growing up. It seems that every day I log on to more engagements, pregnancies, weddings, and births. People are graduating from college and graduate school, working “real jobs”, moving for Fulbright, buying dogs, houses, and cars and everything else that we as a culture consider growing up. When visiting home I saw this first hand. It is a strange experience to still be single, living on my own, and teaching ½ a day in Ethiopia while everyone else seems to be doing the “socially accepted” life track. I do want to have a family, settle down, and do all of that—but I’m not there yet. That may work for most of my friends and family, and I admire that. But that’s not for me. I’m loving that my life consists of power outages and rats (actually, those I could do without), walking home in a sea full of blue uniforms, buying vegetables at market on a Saturday morning, having to swerve in a bus to avoid donkeys, seeing kids run towards me with no pants on and a wheel made of metal, or stuffing myself after 4 houses on a holiday.

Although 2014 was a life-changer, 2015 was as well, and I’m sure 2016 will be as well. I mean, every year, every experience, every moment changes who you are, some just more than others. Although 2015 had it’s difficulties, it was truly a great one. I spent it with some great and amazing people, both at home, Peace Corps Volunteers, and Ethiopians. They have all helped shape my experience here and I appreciate every single second, even the most difficult ones, because they taught me lessons and helped me change for the better (I hope!) I can’t wait to see what this next year holds and how it will help shapes me as a person and my life ahead!