My Own Personal Coney Island Cyclone

Emotional roller coasters are an interesting thing. Even if you know you’re on one, the highs and lows still take you by complete surprise every time. On a real roller coaster you can see the drops coming. You feel yourself getting tenser and tenser on that first, long upward climb, dreading and welcoming that moment when you’re at the top and all you have left to do is to take the plunge. You’re ready for the fall. You live for it. But when it comes to emotional roller coasters, you can never be ready for the falls and they are not even close to anything you could call fun. You can be cruising along all content when all of a sudden you are falling without warning, not knowing the reason why or how long the fall will be.

Over the past few days, I found myself on such a fall. As much as I love Peace Corps, this job can be incredibly difficult in the sense that you rely almost entirely on other people to accomplish your work. As much Tigrena as I know, it isn’t near enough to accomplish things on my own. So when my counterpart is busy, as he often is, I spend lots of time wandering the city and trying to find something to do. My counterpart has been incredibly busy lately and so I accomplished very little at work. Most of my friends were also busy, and so I spent a good part of the time just hanging out by myself. Now don’t get me wrong. I always have a lot of free time and I usually enjoy time with myself. But the past few days were much slower than the norm, and I was running out of ways to entertain myself. By Sunday, I was out of things to do, and beginning to feel pretty… how do you say... “blah”. I was unmotivated, incredibly bored, and had little idea of how to pull myself out of my funk. I tried to shake it off, but in the end I just went to bed and figured I’d wake up feeling better the next day…

But Monday, I felt even worse. I had one of those days where I woke up and just knew my day was going to suck. Unfortunately, this time it actually did. I accomplished nothing at work, missed all my friends and family in the US a lot, couldn’t focus and did terrible during my Tigrena lesson, and was just tired and cranky all day long. By late afternoon when my counterpart called to cancel our trip into the field the next day, I was done. I had done little to no real work for several days now, and I was becoming incredibly frustrated with doing nothing. I went home and shut myself in my room so that I could wallow in self pity to make myself feel better. Fortunately for me, my family decided they wouldn’t let me and bugged me for several hours until I finally began to lift a little out of the funk I’d been in. By nightfall I was laughing and no longer a sourpuss, and, while I still had no idea how I was going to accomplish any work this week, I was determined to try. They always say that the early bird gets the worm, so I set my alarm for 530 and decided I was going to go for a sunrise hike the next day to see what animals I could record for my inventory.

The hike yesterday was the best decision I could have made. I don’t know how I can ever live without mountains again, because the majesty of mountain peaks, gorges, and valleys in the early morning light is unparalleled. I hiked for over 2 hours, watching the colors of my surroundings change from shadows full of mystery to vivid greens, blues, browns, and greys that I knew held the secrets of life. I sat and listened to the birds waken, singing their songs of thankfulness and happiness to the sun for returning to warm them. I felt the trees and rocks around me begin to stir, groaning and stretching from lying still for so long during the night. And I watched the river race noisily over the rocks, taking the knowledge whispered to it by the mountain it originated in to an unknown destination miles from where I was. And as I sat there watching, hearing, and listening to all these creative things that really only existed in my head, a phrase often quoted to us by our trainees echoed once again in my head. Just like the quiet, sleepy hike that I had somehow turned into my own rendition of Pocahontas’s “Colors of the Wind”, “this experience would only be as much as I made out of it.”

And so, with my new determination, I returned to the city to have what had to be my busiest day in Ethiopia so far. I had a productive meeting with my counterpart. I visited the high school again and finally met the environmental club teacher that I had been wanting to meet for a long time, where we made plans for me to help out with the club in the future. A teacher I met at the high school accompanied me to the Agriculture College I’d also been dying to visit, where I was given a tour and had the opportunity to establish a relationship with the vice dean with the promise that we would collaborate on projects in the future. I also visited a primary school I hadn’t yet been to and also met their environmental club leader and vice principal. By the time I went home that day, I was exhausted but happy, content with the many possibilities I had just opened up.

You see, while emotional roller coasters are difficult, they are even better than the wood and metal contraptions. While you are at the top of a real roller coaster, you aren’t looking around to enjoy the view. You are anticipating the upcoming fall, maybe even wishing you were safely on the ground again. The great thing about not seeing when the fall will come is that you have time to pause and enjoy every moment of the view at the top, a memory that will last forever no matter how many times you fall.

Community Integration? Check!

So today’s post isn’t as intense or dramatic as my last post, but I hope you still find it worth reading. Since we last spoke there hasn’t been much going on. The Olympics finished up on Saturday and my friends returned home, leaving me with an empty house for the first time in over two weeks. As sad as I was to see them go, it was nice to be able to really clean my house and have the house to myself for a little while and rest from the crazy weeks before. The mourning period for Ephraim is in its final stage: they took the tent down on Saturday, but people are still visiting often and the family will continue to sleep outside until this upcoming Saturday. The atmosphere in my compound is much less sad than before, however, and I have been able to spend a lot more time with my family the past few days.

The best part of my week has been realizing how successful my integration into the community has been. I have met so many people and children by now that I can no longer make even a short trip down to my favorite suk (or store) without hearing people cry Kibrom or some sort of attempt at Bernard. I guess I actually forgot to mention that I have a new name here in Ethiopia. It has been very difficult for Ethiopians to say my given name, so my best friend here decided to give me a new Ethiopian name: Kibrom. It means “respect for your father and mother”, or something along those lines, and I have had much more success introducing myself as that than when I use my own name. Ethiopians, who have to be the world masters at exchanging greetings as much as they do so, in my community have really started to get to know me, which is one of the best feelings in the world. I have gotten pretty good at recognizing faces too, though my name recollection is lacking by far. It’s difficult not only because I learn so many names every day, but also because it’s the same 10 names. Though Tigrena is a very expressive and wordy language, it seems to have fallen short in the name category.

What’s even better is that my interactions are no longer entirely in English either. I have slowly but surely been improving in Tigrena and can hold very brief, superficial conversations with people I meet on the street. Luckily for me, most people ask me the same general questions again and again, so I’ve gotten really good at the typical conversation of asking about work, family, and where I am going. Even more exciting, I finally started my Tigrena lessons with Getachew this week! We’ve been wanting to start lessons for forever and something always came up, but now we’ve finally managed to make time. The lessons should help my language skills a lot over the next months, and I can’t wait to see how much I’ll improve. I’ve always enjoyed different languages, so this is super exciting for me!

Work has also been more successful this week. I started visiting the language school every Wednesday night to help improve the English language skills of the students there. It’s a really fun class with cool people who love to learn and ask a lot of difficult questions. In addition, on Tuesday my counterpart and I walked to a nearby rural community and I was able to interview a few farmers for my CNA. We plan to do the same again next week in a different community, so I should be finished with data collection for my report by next week! From there I just have to finish up with some writing and I will be ready for our In-Service Training a month from now.

Overall, it has been a very productive yet relaxing week. Things are really picking up, and I’m definitely very excited about what the future holds for me here in Ethiopia. As always I miss everyone in the US terribly, but I think I can officially say that I am finally settled here in my new home and couldn’t be much happier!

A Week of Contrasts

So how’s life? I have had an absolutely fantastic week. The Maychew Olympics are still going and are only just now starting to wrap up. I’ve watched enough handball, volleyball, basketball, and badminton to last me through the end of the year. I have spent an amazing time hanging out with friends: Peace Corps volunteers, Ethiopians, and the German volunteer and her visiting friend. We’ve talked, eaten, joked, laughed, and watched the Olympics together, and it has been an absolutely great time. Yesterday, I spent three hours talking German with my friend, during which she graciously shared with me schwarzbrot and good german chocolate, and had my first HOT shower in almost two months. Throughout it all, I’ve even managed to get some work done, which has left me very content with life here in Ethiopia. Even more content than before, which I didn’t think was possible.

But in addition to the great things that happened this week, tragedy also struck my compound late Saturday afternoon when we received word that Ephraim, the eldest son of the parents in my compound, died in a car accident. As is Ethiopian tradition, a mourning tent was constructed outside of our compound in which the family, friends, and members of the community have come over the past 5 days (and will continue to come for several more) to publicly mourn the loss of a family member. Needless to say, the scene at my house has been very sad and difficult over the past few days. Though I’d met Ephraim once, he was old enough to live on his own and I never had the chance to really get to know him, unfortunately. I’ve felt awkward and intrusive during most of this mourning period, because I didn’t know him well enough to really feel the loss of his sudden departure nor did I know the culturally appropriate way to pay my respects to him. This time has still been sad though, because it breaks my heart to see the family that I have come to love so much hurting so deeply. In fact, more than anything I’ve felt completely helpless, because, after all, what can you really say to comfort someone who has just lost a son? Or a brother? Or a best friend? The words “I’m sorry” don’t seem to really grasp the emotion or comfort you want it to in Amharic or Tigrena either.

This past week has been the ultimate example of the stark contrast between life, which we often take for granted, and death, which always comes to soon. And the maddening part about it is that it’s hard to fully appreciate life or death when you are surrounded by both. Is it right to bask in the warmth of the sun shining brightly in the cloudless sky when your brother is silently crying beside you? And how can you smile at the promise of new life from a wedding, when it’s being held not fifty yards from where you sit with a wailing mother bemoaning the end of one? Even now as I type this blog I can just hear family and friends crying under the bright songs of the birds cheerfully chirping right outside my window.

In the end, life and death are extremely powerful ideas that none of us can ever fully comprehend though we all try to. The fact of the matter is, one day we will all die. And as depressing, cold, and terrifying as it may be, it’s comforting to know that when all is said and done, life goes on.

Hyena Hunting, the Superbowl, and a Blindfolded Race

Selam doe? Dehana Dikum?

I told you this past week was going to be exciting, but even I didn’t expect the awesomeness that was the past 7 or 8 days. I’ve been slowly but surely falling in love with Ethiopia over the past 4 and a half months, and this past week convinced me I am already head over heels!

Things started being awesome last Friday when some volunteers came to visit. They were coming because of the regional Olympics being held in my town that I mentioned last time, and because we would be heading up to the regional capitol later on that weekend to watch the Superbowl. Friday and Saturday were a lot of fun. We hung out, visited the outdoor bazaar that was in my town, went to market, had juice (a drink made from various fruits that’s kind of like a smoothie with no ice), cooked, played games, and had a lot of fun. They were all excited to know that I had seen hyenas in my town, and since all but one hadn’t seen a hyena yet we decided to do something about it: we decided to go hyena hunting. So, on Friday night we took some flashlights and went out in search for the elusive creatures.

Unfortunately or fortunately, we didn’t see any. They had been laying low the few days before, and Friday night was no exception. We gave up after a brief search, and returned home and went to bed with the idea we would try again the next day. Fortunately for us, we never even had to leave my compound the next night to see them! We had been playing a game called Initial Thinking (invented by a lady at my parents’ church) when we got into a huge argument about whether or not “Haile Selassie” counted as “Haile Gebre Selassie” the runner (which was never settled) and whether or not England was a country (we eventually concluded it was a non-sovereign country that was part of a sovereign nation). Because the argument got so loud and intense, we decided to change games to Uker (a card game) to calm down. While we were all quietly playing cards and making “subtle” comments in favor of the arguments we had presented earlier, a hyena began to howl right outside my compound! We all grabbed our flashlights and cameras, tiptoed to the gate, and peered over hoping to catch a glimpse of the animal. We only saw it’s outline before it disappeared in the dark, but we decided to settle in and wait to see what else we could spy. We were heavily rewarded. Over the next 45 minutes we saw not one, not two, but FOUR more hyenas pass by my house. We got great looks at all of them, but they were too far to capture good picture evidence. The flash would only pick up the reflections of their eyes. Check out my wall to see the best picture of the night!

We eventually headed to bed, because we had a big day ahead of us. The next day was Superbowl Sunday and we had managed to secure a venue in Mekele to watch it. We caught a bus the next morning and got to Mekele around 2pm, where we were reunited with the volunteers who lived in other parts of Tigray. We hung out all day, talking, catching up, and eating good ferenji food that we missed in our smaller towns. That evening we watched the Manchester United vs. Arsenal soccer game before heading to the theater to await the Superbowl. The Superbowl didn’t start until 2am our time, and I am sad to say that while I was awake until then, I lost the battle with my eyes right around halfway through the first quarter. I was in and out until right at the start of the fourth quarter when I woke up feeling very refreshed and ready to watch the final minutes. We weren’t actually able to watch whatever channel the Superbowl was shown on in the US, and instead watched it on some sort of international ESPN channel. This meant that we weren’t able to see any of the funny commercials, but it was a great experience nonetheless.

After going back to a friend’s house and trying to crash for a bit, we decided it was time to head back home. On the way out of Mekele, I bought a bike to take back with me to my town. That’s right, yo boy finally got his own wheels again. I was super proud of that. We got back sometime that afternoon and just spent the rest of our day recovering. The next day a couple volunteers came into town to support their friends competing in the Olympics in my town. We spent all day watching various events and supporting our respective towns’ teams. These Olympics are very extensive, and there was everything from, basketball to chess, soccer to Taekwondo, volleyball to badminton and much, much more. But the event of the day had to be the blindfolded race. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there was indeed a blindfolded race. Several Ethiopians put on blindfolds, grabbed a partners hand who wasn’t blindfolded, and then proceeded to race around the track. The 100m, 200m, and 400m races all went without a hitch, but disaster struck during the 1500m. For some reason, the partners all let go on the home stretch and let the blindfolded ones take it home themselves. Unfortunately, the guy in the lead let go a little too early while he was still on the last part of the curve, and, instead of continuing down the track, he began heading straight towards the crowd and the fence that separated us! Everyone screamed at him to get his attention, but, alas, it was to no avail. There were several hurdles lined up right by the fence, and the guy ran straight into these hurdles at top speed. Somehow, the racer managed to trip over the hurdles by flipping completely over them and landing on his feet and back, and so he was unharmed and back on his feet in a second. Like a true champion, he waited for his partner to come and get him, and he finished the race to the insane cheers and laughter coming from the crowd.

The Olympics here in Maychew will continue well on into next week. And I will probably have many different visitors over that time period coming to see the events. It’s truly an exciting time to be in my city, and I can’t wait for whatever other adventures are still in store. I hope you stay tuned in to find whatever else befalls me!

Dehan wialu!

A Question of Ancestry

Hello again!

Is it really time for another blog post? The weeks seem to be flying by faster and faster for me the longer I am here. Two years seems like forever, but I’m starting to realize that my time here will be up before I know it!

Now where were we? Last Tuesday I believe, in the middle of a pretty slow week. The rest of the week went just as slow for me to be honest, but it was an enjoyable slow. My counterpart was in the field for the rest of the week, unfortunately, so I didn’t get as much work done as I would have liked. Nevertheless it was not an entire waste. I was able to interview my best Ethiopian friend Getachew, who works as an English teacher at the local preparatory school. His English is great, so I was able to interview him without my counterpart acting as a translator. In addition, Getachew, in his infinite kindness, offered to translate my interview into Tigrena so that I could at least ask the questions in a way my interviewees could understand. I took him up on his offer, and he did a marvelous job. On the third interview I had today, the questions really helped my interviewee to open up! Of course, I couldn’t exactly understand what he was saying, but that’s why my counterpart was there to help.

Other than that the week was mostly relaxing. Friday was an interesting day. Ever have those days where you wake up and you just KNOW that it was going to be a terrible day. That was Friday for me. I woke up on the complete wrong side of the bed, both figuratively and literally (I almost fell out of my bed). For no apparent reason, I dreaded the coming day and really wanted to just throw the covers back over my head and go back to sleep. But, I dragged myself out of bed, dressed, plastered a smile on my face and got out there… and it actually turned out to be a GREAT day. I got some work done, went for a hike in the nursery where I got some beautiful pictures, had lunch with the Canadian VSO volunteer, finally met the German volunteer in my town, got paid, had some delicious cake, and had a coke so cold it had ice in it (one of the rare times I’ve seen ice). Just goes to show you that the emotional roller coaster of Peace Corps has yet to even out completely.

The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful. I hung out with the compound and with friends, cooked a little, and just relaxed overall. I am happy to report that both my tigrena and my cooking are starting to slowly improve. I’m not sure when it happened, but it seems that sometime in the past week or so my ears FINALLY got accustomed to the crazy accent of this area. I’m really starting to understand what’s going on at times, and it’s exciting that my conversations are starting to extend past the ridiculously long 30 second greetings that begin every exchange. In addition, my meals have graduated from bland to decent. Nothing too exciting yet (besides fries and chips which aren’t real meals), but after eating I’m actually a little wistful that I’m done. A definite improvement from before, where I usually struggled through the last few bites.

One thing that continues to surprise me about Ethiopians is their overall lack of experience with foreigners. I’ve mentioned before the harassment foreigners get from local children (and sometimes adults) who rarely see anyone not Ethiopian. The cries of “ferenji,” “you,” and “china,” are enough to drive even the most patient volunteer crazy, let alone a visiting tourist. Many of the Peace Corps volunteers, including myself, spend a lot of time talking to random Ethiopian children, introducing ourselves and explaining to them that these comments are disconcerting and a little rude to foreigners and should be substituted with comments such as “Hello” or “How are you”.

I guess I can’t complain too much since I receive much less harassment than my fellow volunteers. Being darker in color let’s me get by with mere double takes and stares from a lot of strangers. But being darker comes with its own set of problems as well, the most awkward of which is the fact most Ethiopians are convinced I have Ethiopian ancestry. I am constantly asked which of my parents are Ethiopian, and it is very difficult to explain to them that my mother is definitely not (since she’s from Germany) and that I have no idea about my dad or his ancestors due to the way slaves were brought to America (though it is unlikely considering that most of the slaves were brought from West Africa). This confuses most Ethiopians, who almost all know the history of several generations of family members back, and I usually just conclude the conversation with a “Sure, I’m probably Ethiopian” in order to satisfy the interrogator.

I finally got the chance to fully explain my ancestral situation to an advanced English class on Monday while visiting volunteers in a neighboring town. I explained to them about the slave trade, the troubled history African-Americans have had over the past several hundred years, and how we got to where we are today. I was surprised to find that they knew a lot more about slaves and civil rights in America than I had previously imagined. They understood fairly well that I had very little chance of ever finding out exactly where my ancestors came from in Africa, that even if I could it probably included several different nations mixed over the past few hundred years, and that instead I identified as an American because that was where I was from. Nevertheless, one of my first questions was from a skeptic who asked why I still looked so Ethiopian then. I told him that it was probably just by luck that my parent’s genes mixed in a way that made me look so awesome and they were finally satisfied.

This upcoming week is going to pretty exciting! I am going to busy with work, the regional Olympics is coming to my town, and there may be a way for me to watch the Superbowl from here. Excited is an understatement. So make sure you tune in next week to see how everything turns out!

See ya later!