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!
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