Outing

6/25/12 

Today after the end of our last language class for the day, our little group of 10 trainees went exploring, to find the nearby meeting of two rivers outside town. It turned out to be exactly what I needed. Once we left town, we were immediately surrounded by beautiful trees, striking yellow flowers, rocky cliffs, and a steep dropoff to the river below. We got there about an hour before sunset, so the light was soft and warm. Best of all, it was quiet. There was no TV, no blaring music, no one yelling at each other, no roosters, and no one shouting to get our attention. After a long day of trying to learn Amharic at a pace I’ve never before attempted, it was incredibly calming.

Pre-Service Training

6/24/12

My Pre-Service Training (PST) has officially begun, and the current volunteers weren’t kidding when they warned us it would be vigorous. Similar to being in high school, we have language or technical training sessions from 8-5 every weekday. Dissimilar to high school, literally everything we do is part of our education, and it doesn’t stop when we come home. So far I have learned how to use a squat latrine, take a bucket bath (a cold shower is available to me, but the water is much warmer at room temperature, so I opted for the bucket bath), brush my teeth in a bucket, filter my water, and do laundry by hand. I’ve learned that the 5 am call to prayer and the 5:30am rooster call will definitely wake me up, so I should go to sleep by 9 or 10pm, and that mosquito nets are fantastic (I’m working on loving all creatures…).

I’ve also (re)learned that love doesn’t need many (or any) words to communicate. My homestay family immediately embraced me when I arrived, and they’ve been so caring this whole week. I have a host mother and father, a 14 year old brother, an 11 year old sister, and an adorable 5 year old sister, plus an aunt and a grandmother. They’ve promised over the next few weeks to teach me how to make traditional Ethiopian food, and to teach me how to make one type of traditional basket (fingers crossed that both happen!). They feed me delicious injera and shiro wat for dinner, and they give me spaghetti for lunch, and bread with organic honey, straight from the bees, for breakfast, so I’m eating well. I also discovered the juice bet (house), which serves fresh-squeezed juices for 10 birr (about 60 cents). My favorite is half avocado, half mango.

Me and two of my fellow PCTs, at our coffee break

My favorite moment so far with the family was two days after I arrived. They typically hang out together in the living room before and after dinner, talking and watching TV. I brought out my cross-stitch project and showed them how it worked, and then in a few minutes, my host brother had brought out his sketch book, and shown me his work, and then my host sister brought out her sketchbook, and there we were, being creative together, instead of watching TV. Then on Saturday night, my host mother taught me the basics of crocheting! It’s wonderful to find a way to be creative while I’m here.

 I also love Huruta, my town. It’s smaller and more rural than most towns that volunteers will be placed in, but that is most of its charm. It is 14 kilometers off the main road, so there is barely any motorized traffic. Most of the traffic is horse carts and donkeys. The main road isn’t paved, but it has a median that is full of trees, which is beautiful. It’s in a valley, so in the distance there are hills, and my morning walk is absolutely gorgeous, with the mist in front of the hills and soft morning light on the red dirt road. 

There’s no internet in Huruta though, so I’m posting this in our hub town, Assella, which is about 45-60 minutes away. We come here two days a week for large group technical, safety, and health trainings, and we’re able to come to internet cafes during lunch. The next big event is Saturday, June 30, which is the day we find out where our permanent sites will be. I’m pretty excited.

Letters and emails will continue to be incredibly appreciated!

Much love to everyone back home.

"Demystifying"

For our first weekend in Ethiopia, the Peace Corps planned a field trip! Small groups of us trainees were paired with a current volunteer, who took us to his or her site to show us the ropes and to “demystify” the Peace Corps experience. My group went to Wukro, a town of 30,000 people about an hour north of Mek’ele, the capitol of Tigray. Tigray is an ethnic region of Ethiopia, with its own language, history, and pride. They speak Tigrinya instead of Amharic (though they learn Amharic as a subject in school), and have their own flag, music, and food, among other things.

On Sunday, our guide and the other two current volunteers in Wukro showed us around town. They took us to the market, pointed out the bank and post office, walked us through the main part of town, and patiently answered our millions of questions about what it’s actually like to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. On the second day, we observed about 5 classes at two different schools, to get a feel for what education is like in Wukro and what ways English classes can be improved.

We got to stay with Bailey, our host and guide, at her place. She, like most Ethiopian PCVs, lives in a family compound, with a room to herself. She had made hers very homey, and I took notes on some of her strategies so that I can do the same! Her place was pretty posh by PCV standards, though. She had a separate room for her kitchen stuff, and she had purchased a 3-burner propane stove, so she made us pancakes for breakfast the first morning! I’m so excited to do the same in a few months;  I love pancakes!!!

One of the major differences between Addis and Wukro is the people’s reaction to seeing foreigners. Here in Addis, they’re used to seeing foreigners, and they just want to get us to buy something from them. Out in Wukro, though, we’re a novelty, especially for the kids. They run after us, shouting, “Ferenje!”, which means foreinger in both Amharic and Tigrinya. They want to shake our hands, or do the fist bump with us, which I’m sure is a new cultural adaptation. My favorite was one little girl. She quietly came up beside me and took my hand, and we walked hand in hand for a good ways, smiling at each other. Then she gave me a paper creation that she’d obviously spent a lot of time on (probably in class…), and shyly said, “bye!” before running off down a side street.

It was a very helpful trip, overall. I loved the chance to get a better idea of what volunteers’ lives are like, and to ask them the questions that had been swirling around in my head for so long. This coming week will be full of training sessions here at the hotel in Addis, along with interviews to help them decide where to place each of us for the next two years. It’s a lot to take in and adjust to at once, but this weekend reminded me why it’s worth it. 

Wukro's main road, complete with bajaj!

Side street in Wukro, on our way to Bailey's home. 

Traveling and Arriving

Today's flight from DC to Addis was loooong, despite being 12.5 hours, instead of the expected 13.5. Luckily, I had the window seat (see left)! We flew on Ethiopian Airlines, which was a very nice airline. Our personal TV screens were touchscreen, and they had not only American movies, but also Nigerian (one fellow traveler called it "Nollywood"), as well as Ethiopian music for us to explore. 

We arrived under the cover of a thick haze (see above), and we groggily staggered our way through the customs line, the baggage claim, and out to the main entryway. It actually does take significantly longer to get 70 people from one stage of the process to another, so we PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) got a chance to practice our patience skills.


I think airports are a perfect place to illustrate the different ways scholars conceptualize globalization (gz). Some say that gz is causing the world to become more homogeneous (see photo of Addis airport below), but others argue that gz is causing what appears to be homogeneity on the surface, but in reality new hybrids of culture and society are being formed as the local has its influence on the global. 

For instance, inside the Addis airport, the first thing I noticed was the smell; it smelled like the spices used to flavor the food, and it reminded me strongly of India. As another example, on the plane before our breakfast, we were brought hot towelettes to wash our hands before we ate. It's quite wonderful to know that even when Western culture and ways of doing things are adopted, they are always tweaked to fit the local culture. 


My first impression of Addis is like my first impression of Delhi - it's huge and overwhelming. There's some really cool architecture though, and everyone we've met so far has been incredibly gracious and friendly. 


This afternoon we had our first training session, once we'd arrived at the hotel and settled in. The PC staff knew we were fighting a mighty battle against jet lag, so they kept it to the basic necessities (meeting the staff, a sim card and money for a cell phone, paperwork for another form of ID, and binders of training info) and a name game to help us work on getting to know everyone. It turns out that our group, G7, is the largest Ethiopia has ever had. The last one was closer to 20 or 30 new volunteers, so the name game was a bit more complicated this time. 


I can't wait for sleep-time!

Departing

The packing is finally completed, the hugs and goodbyes have been exchanged, and I'm ready for departure!

(Me with my luggage. I definitely couldn't take as much as I was allowed, because I have to able to carry it. I think I did fairly well for myself, though. Side note: behind me is where my bed used to be, but now the room is going to be a sewing room!!)


Today, Monday, June 4, I traveled from home to another city in the U.S. for my staging, which is a one day intensive orientation with lots of paperwork and intake of general Peace Corps information, interspersed with some time to finally meet the 70 other brand-new English Education Peace Corps Volunteers-in-training, who I will be flying over with. I got to go out with a few of them for a delicious and fancy pizza dinner, as a farewell to American dining, and it was great to connect with fellow trainees and realize that we're all worried about the same things, and we're all in it for similar reasons. We even all got weird/funny reactions when we told people what we were going to be doing for the next two years. It's been a good last day (for a while) in the states. 


Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 5, I will depart with those 70 trainees on a 13 and a half hour direct flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (the capitol):

                            ( Photo of our flight path. My apologies for the poor quality.)


 The next 10 days I'll be based in Addis for some basic orientation and training, before we're transported to our training site for the next 10 weeks. 


It's going to be an adventure like I've never experienced before, and sitting here in my hotel room, I'm mostly just grateful for all the wonderful support I've received from my friends and family. I feel quite loved, and it's a great feeling as I set out!


See you on the flip side!