House Tour and IST catch-up

Right, so as I mention in the first video, I made these before I left for IST. Which was the middle of November. But, I thought we were staying at a hotel with wi-fi for two weeks (we weren't) and during the time I did have wi-fi in Addis, the connection was terrible because so many people were on it at the same time. Skype conversations with the family kept cutting in and out, uploading a video, let along two, wasn't gonna work.

IST (in service training) was nice though, I love seeing friends and I did another long hike. Around a crater lake this time. The walk was supposed to take us through hot springs, but the spring weren't hot when ever I stuck my hand in the water. It was a pretty hike though, and at times very puzzle like jumping over mini streams and avoiding mud. All of us couldn't avoid the mud completely yet. Except for Dan O, the Education program manager. Habasha have this magical power to never get muddy, even in the height of rainy/muddy season.

Keep your fingers crossed, at IST they announced a co-coordinator position for the national ICWC (International Creative Writing Contest) and I'm going for it.

Hikes

(Heads up, I apologize for the lack of pictures. I'm in Addis at the moment, and the internet at Kings Hotel has never really been able to support uploads.)

 I've done quite a bit of walking recently, it's amazing the views right outside my door.

For example, in 10 minutes, I can go from my house to a waterfall.

I've done a couple of walks around Huruta with the PCTs in town - I'm hesitant to explore the rural areas on my own being female and white, but I love being able to go for walks. 

There supposed to be a holy spring nearby, but we haven't found it yet. But on one of our hikes we did venture into cactus eating. The flesh, not the fruit. I have to say, not bad. Twas like a salted cucumber, but more slimy.

But really is exciting is the hike I did on Saturday. Dera, a nearby town, has a national park. The PCV there set up a hike from Dera to Sodere, a 20 km treck. I'm surprised by how many animals we saw: camels, baboons, an antelope creature called chookou (if I remember that right). And hyenas.

Holy cow I saw hyenas. We were supposed to go down and up jib valley (jib is amharic for hyena) but then saw probably about 7 of them up and moving. It was cool and nervous at once. I've had it as a kind of goal for my two years here, to see them and not just hear them at night, so that was cool. But I also hiked for a bit with rocks in my hand (we took a different path to get to the overlook, but twas still near the valley).

After we left the park, there was a bit of walking through rural areas and then we hit the Awash river. It's a cool place, and important for irrigation in the area. We walked along the irrigation channels, crossed the river on a boat pulled across by a habasha, and then made our way to the resort where we found a bus going to Adama.

I really enjoyed it. It only took about 4 1/2 hours, and it was awesome how the ecosystems changed from the beginning of the park to the back half to the river valley. I don't know if I'll be able to do it again, the PCV who got it together and guided us is COSing (closing his service, aka done) at the end of the month, so I'm glad I got this opportunity.

Even if I do have a sunburn.

Things I Took for Granted in the States

This is what happens when you custom order furniture

• Sinks in bathrooms and kitchens and lights in bathrooms
• 24/7 electricity, Internet, and water
• IKEA
• Stoves and kitchen counters above ankle height
• Supermarkets and their variety of food (I pretty much have an option of potato, tomato, garlic, and onion. With some people offering carrots, cabbage, corn, or beets. After a month of using only the same ingredients, things start to get old.)
• Knowing people would understand my words
• That people know what snow or ice is
• Washer & dryer
• Salt that doesn't come in clumps the size of my thumbnail
• For cats and dogs to not have fleas
• To not have to check to see if the egg is expired before buying it
• Drinkable tap water (and drinkable milk. Boiling things takes a while, and I'm lazy >.<)
• That other people showered regularly (I shower about once a week, and I'm considered clean)
• My meat not having bones in it
• For school to start the day it's supposed to
• For appointments to be met
• Cookies, of any kind. And access to the ingredients to make them.
• Someone to have a real, unique conversation with once a day. (many of mine seem to be versions of how are you and how are you adjusting. I can spice up my lack of a varied diet with different herbs, but you can't really do that with conversations)
• Personal bubbles
• Hot chocolate
• Streets and shops having names
• Working cell network (I sometimes have to send a text five times before it goes through, and I have problems dialing and receiving calls)
• Bus schedules (I have sat on a bus for almost 2 hrs before it moved)
• Rubber spatulas
• Chocolate chips

Welcome to 2005

The Ethiopian calender is different from the Western one.  For starters, there are 13 months. Each month has 30 days, with the remainder of the days of the year residing in a month at the end of the year. It's called Paugme. 

This often means that while I think it's September 1st, it's actually August 28th.  September 11th, aka September 1st in Ethiopia, is the Ethiopian New Year.  It is now 2005 in Ethiopia. I heard the year difference is because of difference in thought over when Jesus died, but I'm not positive. All I know is that Ethiopia, and some other African country, are eight years off from the rest of the world.

Habasha New Years is not celebrated quite as loudly as the Western January 1st variety. There's no staying up late and waiting for midnight, there's nothing special about New Years Eve here.

Everything happens on the 1st.  And by everything I mainly mean eating.

Most Ethiopian dishes here are a variety of wot, a sauce different types of food are cooked in. For holidays, the wot to eat is doro wot. It's not like the States where some families might have ham and the others roast beef for Christmas, every family has doro wot here.

Doro is the Amharic word for chicken, and doro wot included freshly killed chicken and hard boiled eggs. It's customary that every guest gets at least one egg and one piece of meat. There are no forks and knifes here, you have to break up the egg with a piece of bread and eat the chicken by peeling pieces off the bone with your fingers. It's a rather messy affair, but tasty.

It's customary in the morning for children to visit their parents for a meal, and the parents will return the favor in the evening for dinner.

I spent the day with my host family, and had two meals. First at my host mom's mom's, and then later at her place. I then returned to Huruta (my host mom sent me out the door with a bag of oranges and bus money. Food and cash, I felt like I was leaving my yiayia and papou's place.) and had two more meals. One with a counterpart and one with my landlords.

I feasted four times in 7 hours, I was rather surprised I didn't explode. As it was, I slept rather well that night.