Buna Blossoms

I spotted these coffee blossoms in my compound a couple weeks ago. Aren't they lovely?

On IST and Heading Home

Last week we traveled to Addis for a week long training, called IST (In Service Training) or Reconnect. It was a chance for our training group to get back together and talk about how everything is going at site. We shared experiences, specifically about what is working and not working at school, and we all left with some good ideas of things we can implement at our own sites. We also got to learn some more things from Peace Corps staff and learn about how we will report our work to them throughout our service.

At night, we explored Addis and it was so much fun! I can not even express how much we enjoyed it. We ate as much food as we possibly could and drank fancy cocktails and cold beers to our hearts' content. It was magical and such a great time to hang out with our fellow G11s, who are some of the coolest, best people I know. We are all going through this service together and that instantly bonds us. We received the same training, are all teaching English to high school students at our sites, and we are all trying to improve our students' abilities so that they can receive a higher education and make their country and this world a better place. I felt like I was with family and there is nothing one misses most this time of year than family.

And then the week ended, leaving all of us hungover, dehydrated, and extremely sad to be leaving it all behind. We won't have another whole group get together like this until October—10 months away. Leaving was very difficult. I didn't want to go back to my site away from all the friends and food I had enjoyed over the past week. As I hugged everyone goodbye, I never wanted to let go.

On the morning we were headed back to Durame, Spencer and I were eating breakfast and talking about what kinds of things we want to do at our school, beyond our primary project of direct teaching. We were making plans and bouncing ideas off each other. It was exciting to think about what kinds of activities we could do, but I was still sad. I told Spencer this and he agreed. Then he started talking about how lucky we were just have the training at all and how lucky we are to have such amazing people sharing this experience with us all over Ethiopia. Leave it to Spencer to think of the bright side.  He was right and it helped me some, but I was still a bit down.

We left breakfast and headed to the bus station. When we found our bus to Durame and boarded a guy at the front asked me, “Kambatgnyayichallal?” Which is Amharic for “Can you speak Kambatissa?” (the local language in our town). I replied by greeting him in Kambatissa, and the whole bus erupted in whoops and cheers. In that moment, I felt love. I felt all the welcoming handshakes and invites to coffee we get in town. I felt the pride that the Kambatissa people have concerning their language and culture. I felt all the kindness coworkers, students, and neighbors have shown to me and Spencer over the past three months. All the negativity vanished. We were going home.

Sunrise on the Road

Ambericho Mountain During Harvest

Ambericho Mountain during harvest time, all the golden squares are fields. This is the view from our house. How lucky are we??! :)

Christmas in Durame

I love Christmas but it's the hardest time of year to be away from all my family and friends back home. I try to stay as jolly as I can and decorating for Christmas really helps. I love crafting, and making decorations while watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music really gets me in the spirit. This year, I made a Christmas and tree and ornaments out of paper and hung it on the wall. Even though it doesn't live up to the beauty of a real Christmas tree, I love it all the same. Merry Christmas everyone!!!  

The Place Where I Live

The place where I live has no pipes running through the walls. It has no glass in either of the two windows and a single light bulb near the ceiling of each of the two rooms. It has uneven mud walls, painted over with thin plaster and cheery yellow paint. The floor is cement covered with sheets of patterned, brown plastic flooring. There are no built in closets or cupboards. There is no toilet. Without a doubt, it's basic. But it's ours and I love it.

Of the two rooms, one is filled with a custom-made king size bed fashioned from two twin mattresses. The mattresses are foam and are just under five inches thick. Sheets were found to cover this enormous monster at a single store in the capital. Never could we find sheets that size in our town or even our hub town, the capital of our region. Our bed is draped in a mosquito net which fills the room to near capacity but when you are inside it sitting up or sleeping, it is very comfortable and roomy. On each side of the bed is a square wooden nightstand. Also in the bedroom is a shelf for our clothes and a much smaller basket-style shelf for bathroom and other small supplies. Above this is a small plastic mirror, hung on a nail. It is our only mirror. Next to it is a black bag containing a yoga mat bought in Addis for a very large amount of money, all things considered.

The other room is our kitchen, living room, and dining room. In one corner is our kitchen cabinet, which doubles as storage and a worktop. Atop this is a water filter, an electric kettle, a propane stove (for when the power goes out), an electric stove (for when there's power), some fresh fruit from the market (if we have any) and usually our pots and tea kettle when they are not in use or dirty. Inside the cabinet is storage of food, spices, tea, coffee (both raw and already roasted and ground) utensils, plates, bowls, plastic cutting boards, tupperware, and foil. Under this cabinet is a big aluminum pot with a lid (used as an oven on the stove top) and a green plastic basin for dirty dishes. Next to it are two yellow jerrycans filled with drinking water to be boiled and put through the filter.

In another corner is an identical shelf to the one in the bedroom holding clothes, expect this one contains books and other various office supplies, more foodstuffs that don't fit in the cabinet, candles, toilet paper, games, and various other small things. Next to this shelf is a wooden table and two chairs, where we spend most of our time when we're at home. Next to the table is the corner where we keep the trash can (used only for paper/plastic trash and not food waste), buckets of water for washing, and a bucket for used water/food waste that we dump out in a big hole in the compound every day. The last corner is reserved for the door and behind that, hanging on the wall are the broom, dustpan, an umbrella, and the frisbee. Our shoes are near the door and we have indoor shoes, which we wear inside at all times.

Outside our house are some common areas we share with the family whose compound we live in. One is the shint bet, which is the latrine/squatty potty/hole-in-the-ground-where-we-relieve-ourselves/bathroom/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. It's a small room with a porcelain squat toilet set into cement over a massive, very deep hole. There is also a basket for used toilet paper (to be burned later), a broom, a bottle of bleach powder, and many little winged bugs that are never absent. The family keeps the shint bet very clean. It is very rarely smelly.

Also, is a similarly sized room with bubble gum pink walls and an orange ceiling, called the shower bet. As you can tell from the name, this is where we shower. There is a square piece of shower floor with a hole that drains into the same hole as the shint bet. There is a shower head that gets water from a big plastic barrel filled with water on a tall, thin tower made from branches, located just outside the shower bet. Gravity brings the water down to the shower head and also to the sink, which I didn't mention before but is in there too. Lastly there is a big barrel in the corner which holds extra water. When our buckets (for washing) run out, this is where we fill them up again if the tap out in the yard is not running (It usually comes on about 1-2 times a week).

When we shower, we usually heat up water and carry it in there with a bucket and then pour it over ourselves. It's worth the extra work to not have to take a cold shower. All through pre-service training I took cold showers and I've had enough of them, at least for a while. I've been told that it gets really hot in January and February so maybe then it will feel good. We'll see.

That's about it! This is our living situation in Durame. Oh, I almost forgot the best part—the view! We have an absolutely gorgeous view of Ambericho Mountain from our window. There's a big incet (false banana, looks like a banana tree but doesn't grow bananas) tree and some laundry and power lines and then the beautiful, green mountain. I adore it, especially during the golden hour before sunset. The picture does not do it justice, at all. 

Settling In...Still

Hello out there! Sorry I haven't posted for a while, but we've been busy settling in here in Durame. We are both teaching English 4-5 days a week and figuring out everything you have to figure out when moving to a new town. Even though we've been here for six weeks already, I still feel like we're just getting the hang of things! I prepared a longer blog post with a few updates but now it's not loading on the internet cafe's computer. Oh well, such is life! :)

While we're getting settled here, I'm curious: what kinds of things you would like to see on the blog about Durame, Ethiopia, or our life here?? Please let me know in the comments and I'll try to get some posts up about whatever you are interested in. Don't worry if your answer is specific or not, I would still love to hear from you!

Today is market day, so we're off to haggle over some fruit and veggies! :)

P.S. The photo above is of the little kitty, named Peek, who lives in our compound.

First Days in Durame

We are now official Peace Corps volunteers and are living at our wonderful site, Durame! :) I can not even begin to express how happy I am to finally be here and get started on teaching and making friends. After nearly three months of training, I am so ready to be here.

making tea on our very first morning

Our first week is being spent setting up our house and getting accustomed to living on our own. The first day here, we bought mattresses (seen in the back of the photo). We wanted a big bed so we bought two twin sized mattresses and are putting them together to make one huge bed. We've also bought buckets to store water in/do laundry in/wash dishes in, ordered a bed/shelves/nightstands, and bought some basic kitchen supplies, like plates, bowls, silverware, wooden spoons, a couple pots, and a strainer.

Next week, we will start working at our respective schools. The first week of work could either be co-teaching with an Ethiopian English teacher or just teaching our classes ourselves. I'm not sure how that will work out yet.

For now, I'm just enjoying some free time to relax, catch up on laundry, and figure out where we can buy everything we need in town. It's really nice to feel independent again.