Hello again!
So I apologize for missing last week, but honestly it’s not a big deal. Besides a couple major events, the past two weeks have been relatively calm.
I last left you on the week of Ethiopian Christmas. Wednesday through Friday were pretty uneventful. I went to the office every morning where I prepared for my installation meeting the following week. A couple of representatives from Peace Corps were coming to “install” me into my community, which is where they give an hour long presentation that explained why I was here and how I fit into the community. It was an important meeting, because, since the counterpart Peace Corps had trained left before I got to my site, no one in the office really understood what I was doing. After a couple of arguments over both minor and major details, we managed to secure a venue and invited most of the people we wanted to come and I deemed my work week successful. On Friday I had some stomach issues, but those cleared up by that afternoon (I blew chunks) and I went to bed excited for the next day.
Ethiopian Christmas did not disappoint. While there were no extravagant gifts given or crazy parties (at least in my compound), the food and socializing was just as elaborate as in the states. A chicken and sheep that were bought the day before had disappeared almost overnight (I only caught the end of the sheep slaughter), and so I ate durowot (chicken), dulet, (sheep intestines/stomach), and tibs (rest of the sheep meat) until I thought I would burst. These are dishes that are served almost exclusively on special occasions, and as you can expect they were quite delicious. While chicken was a regular part of my diet in the states, I rarely get it here since I’d have to buy and slaughter a whole chicken if I wanted some. As I mentioned, the meat is special here and so it isn’t regularly served in any restaurants or sold at the butcher. Besides eating, we relaxed in the compound and went out a few times for juice and a delicious peanut butter tea. Overall a very enjoyable holiday, without stress or struggle…. Except for the nosebleeds that is. I forgot to mention that I also contracted some sort of upper respiratory tract infection that caused me to have a super bloody nose that would occasionally bleed profusely for a few minutes at a time.
The next few days went just as relaxing. I finished preparations for the meeting and my infection cleared up by Monday, so by Wednesday I was in high spirits. I woke up Thursday morning ready for my big meeting, dressed up nicely, headed to the office and called my counterpart…. Only to discover that he was 18km away and wasn’t going to make the meeting. To make matters worse over half of the people I invited were also abroad and couldn’t come, and the room we had set aside for the meeting was never officially set up. 10 minutes before the meeting was going to start I had no room, only a handful of people, and only very light control over the extreme frustration bubbling inside of me. Just as I gave up and resigned myself to disaster, however, my supervisor came to the rescue and secured a completely different room and invited extra people to the meeting. The meeting went extremely successfully and the lunch Peace Corps paid for afterward was delicious. Later on that day, two of my Peace Corps friends who were on their way elsewhere stopped in my town for the night, and so Thursday turned out to be a good day indeed.
The rest of the weekend was very relaxing, and so I decided to try my hand at cooking. While I didn’t fail miserably, the meals definitely left something to be desired. I don’t have very many spices, so most of what I cooked turned out good, but boring. I tried though, and I am determined to be a good cook once I leave Ethiopia. After my pitiful attempts at cooking all weekend, I was extremely excited about my invitation from the VSO volunteer in my town to a campfire where they would be roasting two sheep. I was really looking forward to this event all weekend, and it definitely did not disappoint. We ate, talked, danced, and just had a really good time for hours. I got the chance to meet a lot of the VSO volunteer’s colleagues on the campus he works at, plus a few surprise ferenjis! These four were from the Philippines, and while most of them were leaving after a few days there was one that would be staying for about a year. I also learned of a German girl working at the Catholic school in town, and just like that I discovered more ferenjis than I ever new existed in my little town of Maychew. It’s always exciting to meet people from all over the world when you’re travelling, and I suspect we will all get along great. Overall, it was a VERY good wrap-up to a great weekend.
That’s all I have for now, but be looking out for another update next week! …Or if I’m being honest, maybe the week after. Love and miss you all, and leave a comment below. Also, if you have a skype account send me a message on faceboook and maybe we can chat sometime!
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