Laura, the Land-dwelling Whale!

First they uncovered Lucy, and then Ardi, and now I’m the first of its kind to exist in the land-locked country of Ityop’ya – a bipedal, land-dwelling whale with reptilian skin! Hearing you’re fat/HUGE multiple times a week does nothing good for one’s ego, but such is a very common way of living here as a female volunteer. It gets reallllllllly old, and somewhat painful on the inside, especially when weight is a sensitive subject where I come from. Let’s hope I don’t develop an eating disorder while I’m here! I have to keep a sense of humor about the situation (and with most aspects of life here), because there’s not much else to do. And tact is a difficult concept to instill in grown individuals…

A lot has happened since my last post (it’s been quite awhile!) – most likely a few Ethiopian holidays have been thrown into the mix, along with more awkward moments. Woo hoo…February 11^thth anniversary of the TPLF’s (Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front) struggle against the Derg regime. And then came the commemoration of the Battle of Adwa (where the Ethiopians defeated the Italians), and finally, the Muslim holiday that celebrated the birth of Mohammed. There really are a lot of holidays here. Next weekend is Fasika, or Easter, which is a widely celebrated holiday. It also marks the end of their 55-day fasting period (no meat, eggs, dairy), so people are getting really excited about the prospect of eating meat again. Animal slaughter party 2k10 – my heart goes out to all of those poor souls that will have an end put to their life in just a few days time. (Lekatit Aserta Hada) by the Ethiopian calendar marked a big holiday, at least in my region. It was the 35

My group of PCVs recently had IST (In-Service Training) at a “resort” south of Addis, called Sodere. It was nice to get away from site for roughly 10 days and see everyone again. We spent a couple days in Addis, then were taken to Sodere for a week. We hadn’t been together as a group since our swearing in ceremony, back in December. The place had an Olympic sized swimming pool, another pool (both with hot water), a river, wildlife, and nature trails! There were also some obnoxiously sneaky little blue-testicled monkeys running rampant on the grounds. They were not at all afraid to approach the humans and steal things as well! Luckily, I did not have anything stolen, but some people in my group did. Among my other wildlife sightings: baboons, a hippo, a crocodile, warthogs, beautiful birds, and healthy looking horses.

Life continues to be dry here in the desert in every sense of the word – I feel it in the weather, my skin, and my sense of humor. My skin has become somewhat reptilian, and lotion has become a dear friend of mine. I am really looking forward to the rainy season, which starts in June or so. It did rain (actually it poured) the other day at my site for the first time in a couple months and then there was a huge rainbow in the sky – a pretty spectacular site! And also a small leak in my ceiling – time for repair!

About half of my group signed up to do a race down south in Hawassa on May 2^nd – a 7k. Hopefully I’ll be able to run the whole thing, but we’ll see! I started “training” recently, and literally I have had about 20 people tell me they saw me doing “sport” in the morning. Nothing I do goes unnoticed in my little town. It’s kind of strange and overwhelming at times. Anywho, I’m looking forward to seeing my fellow PCVs again, and a new part of the country!

I also recently moved into a new compound. I had to move, as my landlords wanted to rent out their whole compound to make bank…so now the project manager of a large wind power project that recently started up outside of my town and some of the other workers live where I used to…good news is that Ityop’ya will have some serious wind power in three years time! My new compound mates are very nice, but it’s kind of like living with a host family again – we’re all situated very close together. And unfortunately, I no longer have a toilet – back to the old squatting position over a hole in the ground, aka quad-strengthening exercises. When in Ityop’ya…

I’ll try to update this blog more frequently – my apologies for it being so long! Hope all is well with everyone out there and we’ll be in touch! Check out my shutterfly site for pictures if you’re bored! The link is on the side of the page.

Week of the GURSHA!

This past week I received my first “gursha”, or force-feeding. Basically, in this culture, if someone really likes you, they will feed you with their hand (the right one) to show their love/respect. This happened to me not only in one setting this week, but two. The first was during a luncheon at my health center. One of the lady staff members got me twice! With injera and meat broth (she skipped the meat because they all know I don’t eat it)…so that threw me off guard. And then after picking small rocks out of a huge bag of wheat with my landlords’ house girl, she snuck me into the kitchen for a snack of shiro wat and injera, where she proceeded to practically feed me my entire snack, while thanking me relentlessly for helping her.

A few weeks ago Ethiopians celebrated “Timket”, better known as Epiphany to you English speakers out there. My neighbor invited me to join him at the huge celebration in Mekele, which consisted of literally thousands of people gathering in a huge field, while wearing their finest Habesha kidan (Ethiopian clothing). Some people (mainly the religious big wigs) carried fancy umbrellas. Alas it was a very colorful celebration! As usual, I had no clue as to what was going on around me, but at the end of the ceremony, holy water was dispersed into the crowd and everyone went wild…There are a lot of holidays in this country…Tomorrow marks the start of a 55 day meat/dairy-free fasting period for the locals.

My “community discovery” continues to go well. I feel as though I am integrating nicely into Quiha. I have learned how to bathe a cat, and I have also had my feet washed/lotioned by a nice lady in my town. (Dirt shows up more on white skin – go figure!) While attending the local Youth Association meeting recently, I was invited to cut the special bread (woo hoo!). On special occasions there is sometimes a huge circular loaf of bread (this one was about 2 feet in diameter) that is served during the coffee ceremony, and a VIP of sorts is the one who gets to cut the bread in front of everyone. After the bread cutting, we danced to traditional music (everyone small-stepping in a circle, shaking their shoulders and tapping their feet) – I was told I looked like a natural. However, these dance moves aren’t reserved for the elite.

We have IST (In-Service Training) coming up in about a month in a “resort town” called Sodere. It’s kind of close to where we lived during PST (Pre-Service Training!)…And I’ve heard there are lots of monkeys, which I’m very excited about. At IST we will present our CNAs to the other people in our group of volunteers, and have trainings on various topics. I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone again and catching up, etc. Plus, it will be nice to have a little greenery in my life. My area is rather desert-like, with a lot of dirt, rocks/stones, cacti, and camels (very little grass or trees). I’ve heard life gets a bit greener during the rainy season, so, in a nutshell (preferably almond or cashew), I’m looking forward to the rainy season! It should start in the coming months.

Happy Valentine’s Day – can’t say it’s a widely celebrated holiday here…well, maybe in Addis, but I live about 800km from there.

FAM (Farm Animal Massacre) Day

I enjoy making up acronyms of my own, so I will continue to do so…this day in particular is also known as Christmas (or Lidet, here in Ityop’ya, celebrated on 4.29.2002/January 7). Chickens, goats, sheep – hope you had a nice life, as so many of you have recently become something delicious for others to enjoy on their holiday! For the sake of those who love meat, I’m glad Lidet fell on a Thursday this year (as Wednesday and Fridays are country-wide fasting days – no meat!). On [Ethiopian] Christmas morning, I woke up to the sheep my landlords had purchased at the market the previous Saturday, dead, hanging upside down from a ladder in my compound. It was being slaughtered…first Christmas morning I’ve had of that sort…

So I have been at site for a little over 3 weeks now – the initial adjustment has been a bit tougher than I thought it would be, but I’m just taking things one day at a time. As they say here, kas bïkas (slowly)…I really like my town, and I feel as though Northern Ityop’ya is rather modern in comparison to the other parts I’ve visited. I am very fortunate to be near a big town – and have found many modern amenities there (even pizza!). There are some touristy/historical things to do/see in Mekele, so I need to get on that in the near future.

Luckily, we were able to travel for the other Christmas, so 12 of us volunteers met up in Mekele…we had an amazing feast, followed by holiday bingo! and a trip to the movies. There is a theater in Mekele that alternates between an English film and an Amharic film every 2 weeks. 2012, starring John Cusack was playing – I wouldn’t recommend it (I’m not usually a fan of action/unrealistic movies), but the experience of going to see a movie was totally worth it, big screen and all! New Year’s, however, was absolutely boring – I stayed up until midnight to wish myself a “Happy New Year”, then promptly went to bed…Here, the new year won’t be celebrated until what the rest of the world knows as September 11th. I still set new years resolutions/personal goals for my service…and will do so again in 9 months.

Slowly, my home is coming together – it’s hard (and internally stressful) moving into a completely unfurnished place, as IKEA/Bed Bath and Beyond/Target don’t exist here! You can’t just run to the store and buy a piece of furniture (maybe in Addis), bring it home, and enjoy it. You have to have furniture made by a carpenter, which takes a bit of time/money, but it’s custom made. My dresser will be ready soon, and I’m really looking forward to not living out of my suitcases any longer.

I’ve been doing “community discovery/integration” these past few weeks, and it’s going well. My town is small, but it has a lot to offer and the people are extremely nice. I haven’t had any kids throw rocks as me, which is good sign. I still get “CHINA/FARENJI/YOU!” all day every day, which is annoying, but some kids are picking up on my name, or they at least say AMERIKAWIT (American) instead of CHINA!, which is like music to my ears. There is much less animal traffic through my town than where I was during training, and I can’t complain about that. I have seen many a camel since arriving, which is always a highlight of my day, as they are such unique creatures…don’t know if you’ve ever walked beside one…they’re just interesting.

I have my work cut out for me with my CNA for the next couple months - basically, I just have to get out there and gather any/all information related to HIV/AIDS in the area. And see what the people need, not what I think would be appropriate for them…This past week there was a big vaccination campaign – Retinol (vit A), Iodine, and de-worming tablets were administered to children age 6 months – 5 years, so as to prevent blindness, goiter, and worms. UNICEF sponsored the campaign, and it was free for those who sought the service. We got a great response in my town, so that’s encouraging. Wish me luck with my data collection/research and I’ll keep you updated with my findings! Happy New Year and may it be a good one for all of you out there.

Acronym Transition Day (ATD 2k2 or 2k9)

Aka Swearing In…

10 weeks down, 2 years to go – 41 new PCVs in Ityop’ya!

It’s hard to believe that we’re done with training, and are now official PCVs…transition from the T (trainee) to the V (volunteer) – this is a serious matter  Leaving my host family was a tearful occasion, but I am ready to start the work I came here to do. We all successfully made it to our respective permanent sites and have the next 3 months to do our Community Needs Assessment (CNA) before me all meet again.

A lot has happened since my last post (yikirita – excuse me – for not posting often)…I, along with a few others from my training town, took a couple horse taxis to check out the Great Rift Valley. It really was a spectacular site…and we found some flat rocks on which to do yoga, while overlooking the valley – people would probably buy a video for the scenery! PC took us on a field trip to a town called Debra Zayt one Sunday for a little R&R…it was pretty necessary, and again, very scenic.

No funny stories as of late – just a few interesting food items. One to note: beso – it’s barley in powder form, mixed with a little butter and some spices, then hand rolled to look like feces. The flavor isn’t bad, they’re just not appetizing to look at. One morning with my breakfast of champions (not Wheaties, but pasta), I was having trouble twirling it on my fork, so my host mother gave me a tiny ½ teaspoon sized spoon (used to stir sugar in the enlarged thimble sized cups of coffee) to help me. Yeah, didn’t work so well…

For the most part, you could say I’m adapting well to life here - things that once seemed so foreign and strange to me now just seem like a part of everyday life. I was used to and had mastered the šint bet (hole in ground), but now I have a toilet to call my own (is it weird that I’m excited about buying a toilet brush while in Peace Corps?!). Being able to control my diet and cook for myself is something else I’m looking forward to – I think 10 weeks of injera will last me for the next 2 years! That’s not to say I won’t eat it while living in Tigray, but just not with every meal. So far, I have made some soup, oatmeal, and couscous…quite a change!

Towards the end of training, I was trying to teach one of my host sisters some English tongue twisters – She sells sea shells by the sea shore. The sea shells she sells are sea shells I’m sure…and Peter Piper blah blah blah… Rather entertaining. Let me know if you have any good tongue twisters for the future.

Overall, I am happy and healthy, two of my personal goals I hope to maintain throughout my service. Can’t believe Christmas is just a couple days away. Lucky for all of us farenjis in Ityop’ya – we get to celebrate 2 Christmases…our Christmas on December 25th, and then the Ethiopian Christmas on January 7th…my counterpart has a nishtay (small) tree at his house and told me today that I will be celebrating the Ethiopian holiday with his family…they are going to slaughter a goat and have a big celebration. Oh boy!

Well, Happy Holidays to everyone and stay safe 

Doro Wat

Doro what? Doro wat, of course, an Ethiopian favorite! Doro is chicken in Amharic, and I heard one dying as I was studying for my Tigrigna language test last Friday night. I went exploring on my compound and ended up in the family kitchen – the kitchen is a bit different than what you’re used to in America. It’s a room separate from the main house, complete with a dirt floor, an injera stove, a fire pit, several large cooking containers of sorts, and a pen for the family’s 7 sheep…(no countertops, no sink, no dishwasher, or other electric appliances). In addition to the 2 cats, there were 5 of my family members sitting on the floor, doing various culinary activities/watching the action. One of the ladies was plucking the feathers off of the freshly killed chicken…she held it up for my admiration, then proceeded to hack it into edible pieces after it was devoid of all feathers. Then, to get the meat super clean, it was washed with soap and water…so fresh AND so clean. Literally. I was later served the hen’s last laid eggs for my dinner…circle of life?

When I went to shower on Saturday morning, I noticed the pot of doro wat sitting in the shower room. Strange storage place, right? And I got walked in on (there’s not a lock on the door) for the retrieval of the pot (I turn the water off while lathering up because it’s so cold…so maybe they figured I had left the room…wrong!) So that wasn’t awkward or anything…And then I had doro wat for breakfast. I usually try to stay away from meat because I have no idea what kind it is, but this time I definitely knew where the chicken came from…my yard/my shower room!

Not much else is happening in my life…The wheat harvest just took place this past week in my town. Many students missed the week of school in order to help out on the family farm(s). There is a ton of wheat on my compound now. Our cow is still pregnant – hopefully she’ll give birth while I’m still living here. Tigrigna lessons seem to be about the same as Amharic – somewhat difficult, but doable. The language here is pretty crazy sounding and looking. Tigrigna will be more challenging now only because there’s no one in my town (outside of my language instructor and the other 2 girls in my class) who speaks it, so we won’t have the opportunity to practice whenever we want. I think I’ll get a tutor once I move to site.

One of the girls in my town was a yoga instructor back in the states, so she put on a yoga class for us this morning, which was a great release/necessary occurence. I don’t have any really crazy stories. My count for seeing people poop on the side of the road is now up to 2…I survived a few days of diarrhea and 1 day of vomming and a fever…I managed 5 whole weeks without any problems! 6 weeks of PST are down, and we move to site in almost exactly 1 month! I have posted my new address on the side, so start directing mail to that address (PC recommends to not send mail to the Addis address once we’re through with training).

While everyone else is enjoying amazing and copious amounts of food on Thanksgiving, I will be enjoying a Snickers bar that I bought in Addis and a can of wasabi & soy almonds that I’ve been saving from the start of my trip … yummmmmmm!

Land of the Burnt Faces

That’s what “Ethiopia” means…and this country was named by the Greeks. Thanks Lonely Planet book – you’re full of great information. I’m currently winding down my productive vacation/ site visit, which has overall been a very pleasant experience. Northern Ethiopia is vastly different from where I’ve been living this past month, and I think the only that could be different is if there were more trees and greenery. But it’s really pretty in a different kind of way up here – kind of arid and desert-ish.

Before coming to Tigray, we had a workshop in Addis Ababa, where we met our counterparts and did a few team building exercising. Being in Addis was a welcomed change, and my counterpart seems great. During my week at site, he took me all around town and introduced me to different organizations in my town, as well as local authority figures. He also help me set up a PO Box and a bank account!
Highlights: I saw a camel and 2 pigs in my town. I know pork isn’t widely accepted/consumed here, so I was really surprised (and excited) to see the oinkers. I took a picture, and of course, my counterpart thought I was pretty strange.

So my future “house” is a large room with a private bathroom attached. I feel very lucky by the fact that I have a flushing toilet (with 2 flushing options – little and big) and a shower at my permanent site… The shower is, of course, cold, but hey! It’s running water nonetheless  I look forward to making it my home in 5 weeks time. I purchased a mattress and indoor camped on my floor during my time there. I bought a kilo of bananas, oranges, some cookies, bottled water and called it a feast. Luckily, my landlady fed me a few meals, and my counterpart had me over for dinner every night. The “air conditioning” (aka weather) is nice up in Tigray – hot during the day, but very cool at night and comfortable in the morning.

I survived a grueling 2 day bus journey back to Addis, where I will spend the night/have one last delicious meal before heading back to my small town to wrap up training. I’m actually looking forward to the Tigrigna lessons, although it has been nice having this past week and a half off from language all day every day. I can’t believe it’s already November 14th – I’ll be moving to site before I know it. Hope all is well with everyone out there – stay tuned for future updates.

Headed North - 11.01.2002(2009)

Happy Halloween a day late to everyone! We had our site placement ceremony yesterday, so it was nice to be around the other trainees on such a large holiday (ha ha). The APCD (associate peace corps director…another acronym for your dictionary) brought us some American chips from the Embassy, as the candy was all sold out. Long story short, the chips were simply amazing (Doritos, ruffles, sun chips, yummmm)! :) Enough about snack foods and more about site placement – after training, I will be moving to the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia. I’ll be living in a fairly small town (population of about 17,000) just outside of the regional capital, Mekele, which is part of the historical circuit in Ethiopia. In total, there are 5 people from my training group moving way north, and I think there are 5 current PCVs up there now. I guess my region is kind of like the Marines of Peace Corps – the few, the proud. I get to fly up there for my site visit, but have to take a bus back, which will be a 2 day journey…

Starting tomorrow, I will begin learning Tigrigna, the language spoken in the Tigray region. It is similar to Amharic and still uses the Ge’ez script instead of Roman characters for the alphabet…holla! According to my host family, “Tigrigna is hard. Amharic is easy.” I beg to differ, in that Amharic is extremely difficult, so we’ll see about this new language! I get to visit my site starting next Saturday, and will spend a week there, getting acquainted with the town and my host organization, which is the town health center. I’ll get to see my future house, and according to my site description on paper it’s a large room in a shared compound with my landlord’s family. Sounds kind of like a dorm room…My town does have a post office, so that’s rather riveting. During my site visit I get to set up my P.O. Box – meaning I’ll soon have a new mailing address.

Not too much has been going on at all besides language class and technical training. Last weekend I discovered the deliciousness of peanut butter in the nearby big city, so I bought a jar…thrilling, eh?! I’ve decided that hand washing laundry is not very fun and is rather time consuming. ..it took me close to 2 hours to wash my sheets, a dress, a skirt, a couple shirts, my PJs and some undies. Before I left, an aunt and uncle of mine gave me some boxers from their recent trip to Alaska that have a bear on the rear eating a salmon that says “Bite me” – I wore them to bed a few times this past week, and have been getting bed bug &/or flea bites (not at all enjoyable). Bad karma? The boxers will be retired for awhile…

We had Sunday Funday in my town today, and a group of fellow PCTs from a nearby town came and we played American football, soccer and frisbee. I wore a pair of long athletic shorts and felt a bit scandalous, as I haven’t seen my knees in public in a month now! Unfortunately, the backs of my knees got sunburned :( It’s kind of entertaining to see the enormity of the crowd us farenji’s draw…people gawk and stare when you’re not doing anything, and even more so when you are doing something that’s watchable! After sport, we were all invited over to one of my classmate’s houses for lunch. We had typical Oromic (the region we’re currently in) cultural food (including injera!), and it was actually one of the best meals I’ve had in Ethiopia.

I milked a cow yesterday – for the second time in my life! It’s much harder than it looks – you really have to squeeze and pull hard for the wätät (milk) to come out! I’ll be leaving my host family Tuesday for an extended vacay – not really a vacation, but we have a workshop in Addis, followed by our weeklong site visit. Even though it’s at times awkward living with them, I have come to really enjoy their company. I learned today that they grow barley (gabs), wheat (sïnde), and beans (bak’ela) on the family farm. The barley is being harvested right now, so we have two gigantic piles (I actually have no idea how to describe them – more like large circular stacks that are taller than myself) off to the side in our compound. Not sure what they’re going to do with it…

I am really looking forward to getting away for awhile…I can only eat so much firfir for breakfast…I’ve been reading my travel book about Addis and there’s quite a variety of restaurants (many serve pizza!!) and just a change of scenery/no full days of language classes will make for a nice break. After site visit, training will be halfway over – time seems to be passing quickly! I’ve already been gone for one month – but who’s counting?!

I heard the Gators beat Georgia – and we’re still number one :) Happy November – I’ll let all you curious readers out there know how our counterpart workshop goes, as well as the big site visit!