Saturday-Monday

The fresh honey that Samson brought me.

Haha, as I was logging off of yahoo last night, one of the news bulletins was about some dude who had a pet reindeer. That did not even faze me. I know someone who has a pet DUIKER. Beat that, peoples.
Saturday morning I realized that I lost the cell phone. Yep. Amanuel had called between classs and rehearsal, and from then, I have no idea where it went! I feel terrible about it. That is why ANISHA always carried the phone. Key I can deal with. Phone, not so much. On Saturday, Bekelech came ask if I could come play piano for Sabbath school. Then they go and sing only songs that are not in the hymnal! Then they sang one that WAS in the hymnal, but they do not know how to sing with the piano, so they were a step and half off from the piano. Terrible. Then I sat through Sabbath school, not understanding annnnything. Cameron and his family finally got here and I had to leave to unlock the house. Church was good—and in English! Yay. About half of the congregation did not understand Amharic. Between the people from the Congo and me, and Cameron, and Cameron’s family… yep. Rehearsal went pretty well. We had to practice in the preK room because the computer room was locked and Cameron needed the outlet to practice singing. Everyone had their lines memorized (and subsequently got a really cool sticker!) except Amanuel and Girma (because they switched parts last week) and Kibret. Silly grownups. We played soccer for awhile in the rain. Cameron and Peter (Cameron’s brother) played hardcore, and I was a sissy.
On Sunday, I sewed two costumes, watched two movies, and ate two much candy (spelling was on purpose). I made this AWESOME goal in soccer. I was right in front of Gezehang (who was playing keeper) and he (of course) blocked it, but it rickashayed (sp?) off of my thigh and went super high like a high pop and JUST made it in the goal! Cameron’s family came while I was playing soccer, and they brought the rest of the stuff my mom sent me. Yarnnnnnnnnnnnnnyay and doggy treats and the hit away and the basketball. Can you say Ethiopian flag potholders?
I was very productive during work on Monday. I hemmed Girma’s Magi costume (Amanuel is taller than he is), and unhemmed and rehemmed the pair of pants I was wearing. That’s one not-high-water pair of scrub pants, three to go! Then I went outside and watched Antenna get Hulu some vegetables. THEIR ZUCCINI IS HUGE! So are the radishes. On Saturday evening, someone had left me two on my windowsill. They were as big as potatoes, no joke. The zucchini is as big as… a football. True bis. The guy who was the labtech today was appalled that I STILL lived with my parents and told me I was way too old not to be married. By the time someone is 15 or 16, he said, kids do not live with their parents, and it is very common for girls to be married. Made me feel old. I have never felt old before. It was a momentary feeling, anyway.

I decided to do one more review class on family, considering the 3rd graders’ average score was 26.7 percent. We’ll call it a 27. I hope today helped. If that one girl says wife for one more answer, though… I swear…. HA! It was SO funny. There was a little boy in the center of the room who was turned around not paying attention, so I sneaked up right behind him and went “Boo!” He just about peed his pants. They were well-behaved, albeit noisy, even though their teacher was not present. I brought out the kickball today! Meskeram, me, and Nehemiah vs Samson, Ruth, and Ruben. Ruben kept running from home to first when he made a run. They would have been laughed out of any little league stadium for doing that in America. I hope they eventually get it. I wish there had been more players, though. I gave Pup and Rocky each half of a dog treat. Pup loved it, but Rocky was a little more hesitant. He took his half a bit away and contemplated it before eating it. Haha. Samson helped me and China make up today! I gave him back his toy, and he waved goodbye. Hopefully, this is the rebeginning of a wonderful friendship. I put radish in the spaghetti sauce… it was not half bad. I used up four of the tomatoes and the radish, which is good. My fingers are cold. I think Meredith and Curtis (speaking of, MARCO EMAIL ME), arrived today, but since I lost my phoneeeeeeeeeee, I do not know how to contact them except via internet. Actually, Abebe brought me what I think is the Summit International phone this evening. Hopefully Cameron will call me and tell me my number/will email me his number so I can call it and THEN he can tell me my number.
Crocheting potholders time!
GAH and I have a cricket invasion in my house. There is at least one cricket every night that loses its life to my flip flop.
So I have not done ANY crocheting, but I have been answering emails, which is still productive. AND Cameron just called so now I know my phone number (and his, haha).

Thursday-Friday, during which I get bed bugs and celebrate Christmas

Merry Christmas—you have bed bugs! I woke up around 330 am and my feet were sooo itchy! Dumb bed bugs are back. I worked in the clinic again until Cameron and his family arrived. Woah did they get a grand welcome! The preK kids and a few of my second graders met them at the front gate with singing and flowers and a banner! They escorted them (well, us, I was taking pictures), to the schoolyard, where the entire school was waiting. They all sang a song, and the groupwork kids sang a special song. Some of the kids had memorized something, so they said that too. We showed them our house, and Dr. Gemechu gave them a tour of the campus, and then of the clinic. I was just reading a book in the clinic library, and I hear all this clapping. “Shoot, what did I just miss?!” Dr. Gemechu had unveiled a huge portrait of Cameron’s grandfather (who sponsored him to go to America/become a doctor, something). Trei cool. Then we all went to Hareg’s house for Christmas lunch. I finally got to go in her house! There was SO much food! There was American food, European food, and Ethiopian food, but Hareg said that we had to eat the Ethiopian food last. I cheated haha. Bezunesh was there and she brought out all the food. I wonder if she stayed home from school to cook and stuff…. We were so stuffed after we ate, but then we went out on the front porch and Bezunesh did a coffee ceremony for us. I politely declined :-D/:-/. I had double checked before I left to see if I would be able to get back in time for class, but, alas. No such luck. It started pouring haha. Well, that has nothing to do with class. I ended up going with Abebe to pick up Amanuel at the PFSA (Pharmaceuticals something and something Agency). Half of the roads were closed, and it was rush hour, so it took forever and a half. Less than a half hour after I got back, Cameron’s family showed up! His mom made sweet potato casserole, and Peter slept and we ate snacks and stuff. It was so fun! Cameron’s girlfriend, (hi Shelby!) had made a powerpoint of Christmas lights on houses with certain titles (most creepy reindeer etc) and we watched that, then we ate dinner (sweet potato casserole and cheese and crackers) and ate dessert in the living room while we opened some presents. They brought me a present! I got a shirt that says Orlando: I can finally join the Orlando club haha. Cameron liked the chocolate Mom sent with his family—he said he had just run out! I also got about half of the stuff that Mom sent to/with them. Face sunscreen, and Cameron and Anisha’s Christmas presents, and a huge bag of candy, and wart stuff, and flea collars for Rocky and Pup! Then they left and I was alooone. I slept in Anisha's bed so I did not get more bed bugs bites. Tesfye and Kiberet will wash my comforter and mattress on Sunday ?? Hareg called and they said they would. So funny.
Morningness, and Merry Christmas. It was so weird without snow, or at least cold. I feel like the weather has been trying SO hard to snow for me, but it cannot get it cold enough. It has been raining, which is super weird, since it is the dry season, and chillier than usual. SantaJill came during the night (actually, he came as soon as Cameron’s family left haha). I did not open anything, though, because I promised Cameron I would wait for him. Even my dad never made us wait this long ;-). I “worked” at the clinic until about 1130. No patients came. Dr. Gemechu is discouraging people until the doctor comes (hopefully next Wednesday), and the lab is ready (it will be ready soon). Hulu and Adoonya gave me an Ethiopian name! ጫልቱ. It is pronounced Ch’ahl-too. If you can do the clicky thing, that’s what the ch is. Metric can, I know :-). I never thought I would ever have to learn a language that clicks. It means…something about excelling (I cannot find it in the dictionary). Then I followed Daniel to the Wood and Metal Shop, and then back to the clinic, where we waited forever for Antenna to come with a drill to change the lock on the lab door. We finally went to his office so I could print Silent Night and Joy to the World in Amharic for the Pathfinder kids. After a quick lunch, I went to go talk with Kinfe. On my way out, I noticed that both Pup and Rocky were on my porch. Prime opportunity to befit them with their Christmas gift—flea collars! Pup’s is red and he looks SO cute, and Rocky’s is white. My handsome lovers, as we would say in the barn. I proctored Cameron’s 7th and 8th grade music test, which went okay. They still did not understand a lot of the problems, so I had to do some explaining. Right after that we were supposed to have Christmas Program rehearsal, but, as usual, it took forever to round everyone up. FINALLY, I was on my way back to the library with my last load of kids, and China did not want to come, so I picked him up and brought him inside. BOY OH BOY did he throw the biggest hissy fit EVER! He was screaming and kicking me and banging on the door. There is no way he will ever like me again now. Everyone was all like “wha?” and I just kept saying to ignore him. It was hard to talk over him, though, I will say that. I made him stay inside until he calmed down. Then I opened the door and he ran out of there like he was on fire. He will not be in the Christmas Program. No sheep for him. He needs some serious discipline. Rehearsal went okay, but Amanuel (Joseph) never came, and Gutu (the arch Angel) came late. Other than that, it was okay. I am making them all have all of their lines memorized by next week. We really need to start rehearsing in the auditorium, if that is where we will be having the actual program. Vespers was… in Amharic, but good nonetheless, I am sure. I was going to play the piano, but the computer lab is locked so we have no outlet. Back to the house to try to finish the spaghetti sauce. There was a knock on my door just as I was peeling my carrot, and it was Samson. He handed me a little Tupperware thingy of honeycomb! “It is fresh,” he said with a smile. Oh I love him. He should just move here to the compound. With his little brother, so is super adorable. He doubtless had his dinner here tonight anyway, and is here until dark every other night. So I got to eat honeycomb right out of the comb, and it was really good and I tried to make a candle out of the chewed up wax, but I think the string I used for the wick was still wet with spit, so I shall try again tomorrow!
Merry Christmas and happy Sabbath!

Monday-Wednesday

Monday we got to work in the clinic. I did a few minutes work in the pharmacy, but then snuck out to go hang with Adoonya and Hulu in the clinic. That was fun. During class on Monday, I finished family with 2A, so they will have a test next week.
Tuesday was shopping day! Cameron cleaned a bunch before we left. I had two packages to pick up, so we loaded 13 Ethiopians in the back of the ambulance (well, 11 in the back and 2 in the front, and yes, here in Ethiopia, I use an ambulance as my main means of transportation) and headed to somewhere. Everyone but Cameron and I got off and went in to some place. Cameron napped and I finished sewing stockings. Then Abebe brought us to the post office. Like I said, I had two package slips, so we go to get them, and the way they do the post office here is “Okay we’ll help the foreigners. Oh, an Ethiopian came in? Well, let’s stop what we are doing and help them before finishing with you.” Then they go back to helping us until other people come in. Then, they take priority. When they were FINALLY done filling out all my papers and I was done signing all of them, we left with not two, not three, NOT FOUR, but FIVE PACKAGES! FIVE! One was from my mom, one was from Ann and Laura!!! (the awesome ladies who run CRH Summer Programs), one was from WNKG, and two were from Southern. We went grocery shopping, then back to LV. After a quick lunch, we had a present-opening party! I cannot list all the stuff that was in all the packages, but there were oodles of candies and snacks, and even CANDY board games and Southern sent Papa John’s garlic sauce! and BALLS! A football, soccer ball, and kick ball. We decided that we must make pizza that night to go with the sauce. I made gingerbread cookie dough. I FINISHED FAMILY WITH 2B! YES! I burnt the first batch of gingerbread cookies pretty badly, and the pizza dough was not exactly cooked all the way, but we ate the pizza (the cookies were not salvageable) and enjoyed it. The perfect Ethiopian meal—tomato firfir and pizza. Haha. The Ethiopians would hurt if they know we did that. We had fun making the cookies. I had one that I made to be an Easter egg, but Cameron thought it was a Christmas ornament, so I added a “string.” When it came out of the oven, it looked like a pineapple. So we’ll say I made a Christmas pineapple egg. Haha, the principal calls Christmas “x-mas holy day.”
On Wednesday, we worked in the clinic/pharmacy again. There was only one patient the whole morning—a kid slit his toe on a rock. I copied Silent Night and Joy to the World in Amharic on my computer—tomorrow I have to print them on Daniel’s computer for the kids on Friday. Cameron will be missing Friday’s rehearsal. Poopy. I get to proctor his test though. Those kids will not know what hit them. I am a much better disciplinarian than Cameron. No cheating at all, thanks. Actually, today during 3rd grade’s test, I took one girl’s test away from her. Salam said that her mother said she could not stay after school anymore, and if she did that she would beat her, so I let her leave. I might go make her take the new test during lunch or recess. Darn, the power is out again. Yeah, so right before class, the power went off. It thunderstormed, which was okay because I was giving a test, but the rain was still noisy on the tin roof when I was explaining the answers to the last test afterward. We played American football in the rain for a little bit. Meskeram is the best at it, but Dureti is the most enthusiastic. China is still mad at me, I think. Poopy. The kids are getting on my nerves a little bit. “Give me sticker.” “Give me water.” “My father is poor. I have no shoes. I am hungry.” Your dad works here, Mek’des! I know you have shoes!!!! China opened the door to our entryway today after I went inside (it was a group decision, though, I assure you). And when I say that I will come outside in a little while, they stay outside our house and yell for me the whole time. I think I will just play football for the next week or so. With my new football. Humph. I was thankful when Sinke shooed them all away. Oh, the third grade teacher hit Dureti really hard in the face a few times during class today. I think I should tell Dr. Gemechu or the principal. While allowed in other schools, they do not allow teachers to hit students here. Whoops, power is out again. Hmm, in the dark, the screen does not seem so dark. Anyway, I ate dinner and showered in the dark (good thing I have a month+’s worth of experience of showering in the dark, eh, Pops?). Man, I wish I had some candles. Maybe I’ll get some for Christmas ;-). Not that I know what Cameron got me or anything….. When I was done, the power came back on! Andddd then went off when I typed that it did. But now it is back on! Gotta love it. Oh yeah, Cameron left with Abebe while we were playing football. He is going to pick up his family, which arrives around eight tonight! Exciting. Well, for him. For me it means being here all alone at nights.
We finished our Christmas corner. Here is a few pictures! Wow. Here ARE a few pictures!

Our Christmas corner

We made stockings! Cameron did his whole stocking by himself, except for the candy cane.

Anisha's. It has an A on it.

My stocking. With a J.

And the pride of Cameron's evenings: his stocking.

Our Christmas tree. At least we found a use for the toilet paper rolls I insisteed on saving!

Saturday-Sunday, during which we eat too much

Sabbath, busy as usual. As we were finishing up our Sabbath school, Amanuel came and asked if we aka Cameron would lead out in a Sabbath school for some people who understood English but not Amharic. It is a really cool story, actually.
One day, these two ladies knocked on Amanuel’s door looking for his brother-in-law. He was due home soon, so Amanuel invited them in to wait. They had the Hope Channel on (an Adventist channel), and the two women asked, “Are you Christian?”
“Yes, I am Christian?” replied Amanuel.
“Are you Protestant?”
“Yes, I am Protestant.”
“What denomination?”
“I am Seventh-day Adventist.”
“You are Seventh-day Adventist?”
“Yes, I am Seventh-day Adventist”
“We are Seventh-day Adventist too!!”
Much excitement. So those ladies and some other people were from the Congo, and are now here in Addis. Another miracle, some guys they know ended up meeting Amanuel and his family on their way to church this week, and they were looking for our church! So amazing.
After potluck, the pastor had another meeting, so we did that, then had rehearsal for our Christmas program.
I talked to Girma with Amanul (Amanuel to translate), and we eventually switched them. Girma is now Magi 1 and Amanuel is Joseph. So now the play is slightly weird, because Amanuel’s daughter is playing Mary. Oops. Oh well. He is tall enough, and Girma seems like he will be able to memorize all of the lines for Magi 1 in time. So God really provided for this situation!

On Sunday, we went into town to try to print some pictures for the kids for Christmas and to get some produce. It only took us 20 minutes to get to the road. The PhotoBethel turned out to be a bust (they cannot print from a CD). We will ask Dr. Gemechu about it. After that, we went to the same restaurant as before, and Cameron got coffee and ordered butter firfir. After he ordered, we realized that there was a fasting menu, so I kept teasing him, saying that he was going to end up with kitfo (basically, raw meat with lots of butter). However, whatever we got did not have any meat in it (we do not think it did anyway). Off to get produce from our dude. He invited us inside the little stand, and made us fresh avocado smoothies with his blender. I do not like avocados. But I was hospitable, and ate mine until Cameron finished his. Then we switched. I was a little worried, though, because he rinsed out the glasses before he poured the smoothie. With not good water for us. I am really happy, though, that we are developing a relationship with them. The lady who works there is really nice too. After we finished the smoothies, we went across the street to get mangos. We were paying, when we hear a whistle. Samson! He was right next door drinking coffee with some of his friends, and invited us to join him. But we were both stuffed to bursting, so we said no. He offered to carry my backpack, and walked with us all the way back to the Learning Village. On our way out of town, I stopped at a store, and bought a pair of shoes that I thought would fit Dureti. Once we were home and unloading out purchases, I realized that one of the shoes was missing! Cameron went back to look for it. I figured that it could not have possibly fell out sooner than when his bag broke and we put his in mine. He walked to where we had done that, and then felt impressed to keep going to the bottom of the hill. On his way back, a lady in the house near where we had dropped it waved to him and indicated that she had our shoe!! Another miracle! God is so awesome. On his way back into the compound, Dureti was there, and went up to him and smiled, and asked if the shoe was for her. Cameron said no, and she accompanied him to our house. We got both shoes, and I gave them to her. She seemed really happy. *warm fuzzies.* Best $1.50 ever spent.
Then I did not feel good, so we vegged out in front of the TV and watched a movie. My tummy still hurts. Hopefully it will feel better when I wake up tomorrow.

Wednesday-Friday, during which I determine conclusively that I have a troupe, and decide never to trust my toilet again.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty average days. I did get to ride a nice horse on Wednesday! One of the students rode him to school because he hurt his leg, and he was grazing with our horse near our house. Girma let me get on him, and I rode him around a little bit. Daniel came by, and I said that our horse was mean and aggressive. He said that they planned to sell him and get a nice horse instead. I am excited. No work in the pharmacy, so we worked on Christmas stuff. I worked on Christmas stockings and Christmas pageant costumes. One of the days, I made Anisha’s Christmas present—NO ONE TELL!—a bookshelf! I made it out of the boxes we had sent from home. Cameron made a Christmas tree out of toilet paper rolls, and I have been supplying it with mini decorations. Man, do those girls love Making Melodies! Somehow, Hermela and Dureti know the song, and have never come to Pathfinders. Mek’des came once, and between her and Meskeram, many more people know the song. I think I shall teach them a new one :-). Wednesday I gave my first test. Wow. I gave them a huge lecture about no cheating, and I thought the test went okay. Mek’des, Dureti, Eyerus, Helen, Hermela, and Meskeram have taken to coming home with me after class. Mek’des takes the computer and one hand, and Dureti the other, and the whole troupe walks me home. After class on Wednesday, I got out my camera, and ALL of them wanted to take turns taking pictures. A few came out good, but most did not haha.

This is one I took. Silly kids.

Top row: Meskeram, Salam, Eyerus, Hermela

Middle: Helen

Sitting: Tamu, Mek'des, Dureti

Meskeram gave me a present! She gave me a little bag, and a pen, and a picture of her, and a note that said, “I love you so much!” on it. Sweethearts. I graded the tests, and…. ut oh. Soooooo you can cross teaching off of my list of possible career choices. The highest score was a 75%, and only five kids scored above a 40%. The average score was 13%. *headeskheadeskheadesk!* I went to the principal on Thursday to talk about it, and he said that their language skill is so low that a multiple choice test would be better. So I made one, and third grade will retake the test next Wednesday. Thursday we started “The Boxcar Children.” I asked them afterward, and they said that they really enjoy the book. As we were walking home, Dureti’s sandal broke, and she started crying. Mek’des explained that it was because she did not have any other shoes, or something like that. Aha, no need to cry, my love. I have ducktape. I can fix. I fixed her shoe with ducktape, and then I joined them in their Chinese jump-rope game. Another present for me? Mek’des gave me a picture of her when she was little. She looked just like her little brother. I played the Chinese jump-rope game without my socks and shoes (I am going to get all sorts of diseases) and I am not half bad at the game. I just need to figure out how to pull the rope down like they do. I did, however, jump very hard onto a rock, and my food still hurts. Cameron joined in too. We taught them the limbo. Mek’des is really good, but Dureti does not really get it. She looks like a funny duck going under.
On Friday, we added more drugs to the inventory (Amanuel went shopping), which thankfully did not screw up all of the previous entries. Whoever would have thunked it that I actually learned stuff from that “useless” excel class? We worked on it a little more after lunch, and I installed Daniel’s printer on my computer, so I could print the new test. The last one I wrote out, but that was too hard to do again. We managed to round up most of the people for Christmas pageant rehearsal after classes. Well, I should say, most of the kids. Mek’des, Dureti, and Hermela came too (though they just sat and watched). Cameron said it is because they go everywhere I go, which is the truth. Practice went pretty well, except for the whole Girma issue. He is Joseph (who has the most lines in the play) and he has not memorized any of them! I need to find a new Joseph—any takers? Kibret showed up at the very end, and I asked if he could be Joseph. However, he has already memorized his lines for Gabriel, and so wants to stay Gabriel. *headeskheadesk!* After rehearsal, we had a vespers thing. Mek’des came, which was cool! It got out late so we were very hungry. Twenty minutes later (a record for us!) we had pasta and sauce (from scratch) finished. Cameron said that it was the best sauce we have made since we got here. Pancakes tomorrowwwww!

Ha. I find I blog less if I do it a few days later. Lucky you all.

Oh. Last night I finally decided to trust our overflow-happy toilet by putting the top back on the tank. We came back for lunch and, yep, all trust has been lost and Mr. Toilet shall never be getting his tank lid back. Flood again! Whateverman. My socks got wet :-(. Ick. Wet socks.
Fin.

Sunday-Tuesday, during which we walk to town, and become two.

Sunday was awesome. Our only commitment was Christmas pageant practice at 3 in the afternoon, so Cameron and I decided to walk to town after breakfast! It took about a half hour to get to the main road, and then maybe 10 more to get to the produce stand. We looked and looked and looked for a soccer ball, but alas, we could not find one. We stopped and Cameron had some buna at a bira bet, and as we were leaving, a man with impeccable English stopped us and asked us where we were from, and when we had gotten here and when we were leaving etc. He said he lives across the street, and that if we needed anything just to ask him. At least we know where to find him when he needs a pint. Then we bought our produce and headed back. I FINALLY paid the guy back (we had accidentally paid him 10 birr less than we owed him) and he was very thankful. Cameron bought some super spicy peppers from some super sketchy stand (an older lady on the side of the back road). We were about halfway home when we saw a familiar striped shirt and green pants and a familiar pair of green corduroy overalls walking ahead. Temmy and Tomu! Temesgen^2. We caught up with them, and they said that they had gone into town to get haircuts. We got back and made lunch and sewed for the rest of the afternoon. I started making Christmas stockings!!! They are pretty cool. No one tell Anisha—it is a surprise! We used the red fabric left over from Girma’s Joseph costume. I am going to decorate them with green thread designs. Cameron wanted to sew his, so I did mine and Anisha’s. We waited around a while for people to get here for our 300 practice. Meskeram was the only one “on time,” and I had to go back and get her. We finally got through to Amanuel, and he said that he was coming. We collected some kids (we caught Alemayo as he was coming back from his haircut (ah, Sundays)), and Gezahang came, and Samson rounded up China, of all people. Fantu and Meseret showed up, and I tied to give them a stern talking-to about coming on Saturdays. We went through Joy to the World and Silent night (both of which will be sung in Amharic), and I blocked the final scene and we ran through it twice. Soccer after rehearsal went well until the end. It was too dark for me to see, so I went to hang out with Meskeram and China until everyone went inside. China kept throwing things at me, so I took it from him. He started throwing the biggest hissy fit ever. He was kicking at me and stuff. Everyone playing soccer was like, “What’s wrong with him this time?” I explained that he had thrown something at me so I took it from him, and would give it back if/when he was sorry. He was a little monster. Yobe said he never said sorry. I said, well, tough, he will not get his thing back. It turned out to be a little rubber…. thing. Like a cross something you would put on the bottom of a chair leg and the tennis balls you put on the bottom of walkers. Anyway, I felt absolutely horrible about the whole thing, but he is not getting it back until he apologizes. The dogs have been fighting a lot at night. Last Thursday night Rocky got into a big fight and hurt his muzzle. Sunday night, he hurt his paw. I feel so bad for him! Poor Rocky!

Monday. We helped Amanuel in the pharmacy. I showed him how to work the program I created for him. While we were working, Cameron got a phone call. It was Anisha. Long story short, she went back to America. She was still on and off sick, and so her neighbors decided that they were taking her home. She sent back some more stuff they had brought for us, though, including a chopper and lots of clothes and stuff. She will only be in America until she is better, though, and then she is coming back. Daniel stopped by and told us to go get measured for our white jackets! All of the teachers (and nurses and pharmacist…) wear white coats. We went and saw Edgegayo for that. We also met with Kinfe and told him that Anisha would not be here for awhile. Class went super well. After class, Helen and Mek’des accompanied me back to the house. I showed Helen what I was doing with the information I got from her interview (Kalaala Chronicles). Soccer again! I tried to make up with China, but he was mean again. Tough luck for him.

Tuesday: We needed to get some groceries, and Jay and Jeremy (two of the people from Gimbi) were in town, so we asked Abebe to drop us off at their hotel so we could hang out with them/get lunch/groceries. Jay leaves tonight, and Jeremy was here for… emotional support? Anyway. As we were leaving, Hareg suggested that we just have Abebe drop us off somewhere. Great minds think alike. We exchanged money for Jeremy, found an ATM (Cameron and I were out of money), walked to a restaurant for lunch, decided we did not want to eat there, did our grocery shopping, and then walked to Yeshi. Yeshi is a very cool Ethiopian restaurant. The waiters have authentic Ethiopian outfits for their uniform, and the walls have really neat decorations (sorry, no smoking or cameras allowed). They also have very good food. Jay and Jeremy decided that they wanted to go back to the first restaurant, so we ate, then met back up with them. We got leftovers too! We walked to Bambis, a really upscale supermarket, that has “everything.” “Everything,” that is except sauerkraut. Poopy. Maybe Meredith and Curtis can bring me some. I want to make pierogis. I got some Christmas presents for Cameron and Anisha. Then we walked toward their hotel, but stopped at Bilo’s Bakery. The guys got ice cream, and I got bottled water. I decided that I would make sure Cameron did not get sick before eating the ice cream. But boy, did it look good. The four of us hung out there until Jay and Jeremy decided they had better go if they wanted to do other things (Jay had some things that he wanted to buy before he left). So Cameron and I hung out for the rest of the time at Bilo’s, until Dr. Gemechu and Abebe and Hulu came. We missed class :-( :-(. I really want to just finish family with 2B. Dr. Gemechu and crew had been shopping as well. They got a computer, monitor, printer, a machine for the lab, and some other stuff. We dropped it and Dr. Gemechu off at Hareg’s house. Yared came out and gave Cameron and I each a letter (and one for Anisha), and I apparently have TWO packages to get picked up, and Anisha has one. Whoever sent it, Don’t worry, the post office will hold it a month. I took a nap when we got back because I had a migraine (darn pollution). After dinner, we walked down to the clinic to get Amanuel’s labtop. I have more computer programming to do tonight!

Friday-Saturday, during which we have an exhausting day AND MAKE INJERA!

So Friday was “sports day” or something. Three other schools came to our campus, to participate in running and soccer. There were some boys (no girls…?) on horseback, and they would ride back and forth as the school entered. It was really cool. We took pictures and stuff. THEN Samson arranged it so I could ride!!! Without a helmet. In sandals. And shorts. It was awesome. The dude led me around at first, but then I motioned for the lead rope, and went off. Abby and Mer will understand, but I only went at a walk, because I have no idea how they ride (Do respond best to voice, leg, seat or arm cues?) and because I did not know the horse. The stirrups were crazy—I will post a picture—so I rode without stirrups. Understand why I rode an unfamiliar horse without them? They treat their animals not very nice. It was fun—I wish I had gotten to ask them, and could have GONE! Fun fun. Anyway. Mek’des and Dureti (two of my third graders, stuck to me like glue. They are so cute. They had running first, and I got some good pictures of the running.

The boy in the red stripes in Alemu, one of the boys who lives here.Then they had football, and the Queen Soleano played Danicookies school. (HAHAH DaniCOOKIES!) Samson’s little brother goes to Queen Soleano, and one of the really good English speakers, Abram, used to go there (but the tuition was too much), so he made us cheer for them. They won the football game 7-1. So many pictures. THEN it was time for Shibu Ijersa Primary School to face the mean purple team from Bole. We gathered at one end (the one with our goalie), and one of the seventh or eighth grade girls who lives around here and has played volleyball with us on several occasions, spent the WHOLE game leading the spectators. Her voice was super hoarse by halftime—I brought her a bottle of water.

The Kalaala spectators :-)
We ran some laps, and Cameron and I learned part of one cheer: aleginah. It was SO much fun! The second half, my entourage and I stayed on the sidelines instead of with the whole crowd so I could get some pictures. While we were running a lap one time, the purple spectators were being mean, and then they threw a rock at me. I was not happy. Mean purple school. Anywho, we won, 5-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KALAALA!!!!!!!

It was wicked fun! I got really sun burnt, though. We also won the whole shebang (I guess we got points for each event), which was super exciting. It had been raining in the morning (rain, now? what?), but God turned off the water for the middle of the day (wish He would turn it back on in our bathroom sink….). It started back up again during the award ceremony. Cameron and I finally escaped the madhouse and went inside. Cameron napped and I …. do not remember, but then we started making costumes, and I taught Cameron how to sew. We sewed for a little while, and then started making dinner when the power went out. Dinner was made and eaten by headlamp. We had fajitas! Oh, now I remember what I did whilst Cameron napped—I made tortillas. Sinke came in before we ate, and did some stuff to our injera. Then she said we would finish later. We cut up a pepper for peppers and onions, and there was this weird brown stuff inside. “What is that?” “I don’t know.” “WOAH, there’s a caterpillar inside!” “It’s caterpillar poop!” The caterpillar was still alive, too. We did not use that pepper. While very messy, the tortillas were very nummy and sufficiently satisfied our desire for Mexican food, though I do still want refried beans. THEN Sinke came back. IT WAS TIME!!!!! We went down to the kitchen, and Sinke heated up the injera-maker. Sinke made one, and it was perfect (duh). Then Cameron tried and it was hilarious.

Cameron's "conjo" injera.

Mine was very thick and misshapen, though without holes.


My "conjo" injera.

Our second tries were a tiny bit better. Meskeram came in right as Cameron finished his first, and her eyes bugged out so far when she saw the… mess. They invited us to have coffee with them. They roasted the beans, then we crushed them all up with a mortar and pestle, then they boiled them in the special coffee pot, then we had coffee. Wondessan came in and was hanging out, and said, referring to the two other women in the room, “This is my wife. This is also my wife.” It was the quote of the week. He went on to say that they were both beautiful, and asked Cameron which was more beautiful. “Which one should I pick?” he asked Cameron. We had SUCH a good time. I drank the WHOLE cup of coffee. The WHOLE cup! I did have some powdered milk in it, though, and it was much more palatable than without milk. I tried to be polite, and said I did not want the second cup. We went back home after Cameron’s second cup (the power came back on). We were so tired by then, that it was all we could do to shower and bed. Actually, Cameron did not even shower. Saturday morning—pancakes, as usual. Yummy. Cameron finished Amanuel’s wiseman costume, then we had Sabbath school. Church was good. It was about God our Shepherd and God our Protector. I understood tinish. (a little) Potluck was injera, exciting. There was a new lentil dish that was very good. I shall have to have more next time we have it. There were some visitors from another church, and we were having a program for them, so Amanuel said that we would have Pathfinders later. We went back to the house and napped. Well, Cameron napped. I tried to nap. I worked some on emails, then we did more sewing, before Meskeram and Lamlam came to saw it was time for Pathfinders. Rehearsal went pretty good for me, but Cameron had a bit of a hard time getting Bekelech, Bezunesh, and Lamlam to sing Oh Come, Emmanuel. They will get it eventually. I still need a Shepherd 3, and since Alemu never shows up, I asked Samson to ask him if he would do it, and to do it himself (along with being the innkeeper) if Alemu does not want to do it. We have two extra rehearsals scheduled—one for tomorrow at 3, and one for Friday at 4. Yes! Hopefully we can continue to have Friday or Sunday rehearsals. I gave everyone a certain scene to have memorized for next Friday. But, guess what, some people already have everything memorized! After rehearsal, we cut down on the number of pictures we took yesterday (and still have almost 300), and I cut fabric. Dinner was INJERA that we had made. Cameron made tomato fitfit, and I made shiro and roasted bak’ela. It was a good dinner. I am so tired. I will surely sleep soundly tonight.

Wednesday-Thursday, during which I spend the night all alone and go to Mercato!

Wednesday we did… well, I wrote out the test I am going to giving my classes and made copies of them. Anisha cleaned because Janyne and Abby, her neighbors, were arriving that night. Class was well attended because the teacher was there for the first half of class, but they started getting SUPER noisy and rowdy. I was trying to explain the relationship between “aunt and uncle” and “cousin” to Eyerus, one of my very smart 3rd graders, and they went bizurke. Some ran out of the classroom, so I posted Salam, one of my trusted students, at the door to guard it. I then realized that it was past time to leave, but made everyone sit down in their own seats before I dismissed them (and I dismissed them individually). I realize they have to get home, but they know how to raise their hands and say, “Teacher, it is time to go.” So next time we have class, I am going to apologize for letting them out early, but explain that they need to respect me. I will explain to them how to properly alert me to the time next time I run over. Anisha left at 5, and Cameron and I had a splendid dinner without her, then we watched two episodes of Bones together and ate peanut butter popcorn. I woke up and did situps and pushups (you owe me 50, Chris), and realized the toilet had flooded (again). Gaaaaahhh. So I was trying to have it all nice for Anisha’s neighbors, but our bathroom is out of order. I spent all morning trying to dry the floor/wash the towel with which I dried it the first time without having it flood again. Edjihgayo, the lady who works at the sewing room, went with us to Mercato, and Daniel was going to come, but he had things to do for tomorrow. Hulu, one of the nurses, came too. We picked up Anisha and Janyne and Abby at the hotel, and went to Mercato! Thankfully, we just had enough money for all the costumes (God was watching out for us). Hopefully it will be enough. We did not get robbed! We have survived the largest open-air market in Africa! Hopefully we will get to go back to go souvenir shopping sometime. The lady who ran the fabric store was really nice. She gave us soda and bought us these bean things. People kept stealing some as we walked by. Humph. If they had asked, I would have been happy to share. After Mercato, we dropped off Janyne and Abby (they were tired), and got two huuuge Tupperware boxes of goodies from them and Jill! After running a few errands, (including getting more bananas and sugar!), we got back and gobbled down a late lunch (needless to say, I was hungry). We got to see what Jill and Janyne had sent us (lots of goodies, including 8 lbs of chocolate chips (which Anisha has basically banned me from…) and lots of other things (both for us and the people here). We headed over to class…. and… no one was there! All the kids were outside, and only Dureti and Mek’des were around. They were eager to go to class, at least. I spend about a half-hour showing random kids pictures on my computer. Then we walked back, I dropped off my computer, and got them some water. Then we helped Sinke unload whatever stuff she got today, and then the girls dragged me off and started doing my hair. It was more intense than Flag Camp! They got about half of my head done, then decided… that they wanted to wet my hair? And anyway most of it had fallen out by the time I put my foot down and said no more doing my hair, thanks. My hair looked… interesting. My hair dried though. Dureti, Mek’des, Meskeram, and Tamu played Go Fish, then they wanted to sing Making Melodies (they must love it, because we sang it while they were doing my hair). Tamu left, but China and Estifanos joined us. I hope they will come to Pathfinders. They can be sheeps. Anisha left again to stay with her neighbors, and I made chocolate chip cookies. They taste like they have some sort of cherry flavor in them, but are not terrible. Actually, I change my mind. They are wonderful for the circumstances. I spent some time programming the pharmacy computer program.

Sunday-Tuesday, during which we learn to make injera!!!!

OW my arms hurt. If they bruised, they would be black and blue and purple and green and all those good bruise colors. Sunday was pretty boring. We did go grocery shopping, and to Bole Mini to get baked goods. YAY. I read through and took notes on the Boxcar Children to read to class once we finish family. I made pumpkin cookies that night, but I had a tummy ache so went to bed in the middle of that endeavor. We did, however, finish the first season of Big Bang Theory.
On Monday, we went to staff worship, and then played hangman while Dr. Gemechu had meetings with the rest of the peoples. They hired a lab tech today—a lady named Genet. The dogs (Rocky and Pup) come when I call to them, and Pup goes all wiggly. So adorable. Class was fun today. I had to take a picture of Anisha with her class for her family’s Christmas letter dealio, and I tried to be back far enough to get everyone in the picture, but they kept getting all near the camera, so I had to make them all go back (and even then, they came forward, gah). The picture turned out horrible. All the kids were waving their hands at the camera. Fourth grade is scary, man. I happily returned to my quiet second grade class. The best part of the class was when they had to answer “husband.” “Eleanor is Harold’s wife. Harold is Eleanor’s __________.” I knew “husband” in Amharic, so I eventually went to that hint, and the teacher was talking the whole time, and they still did not understand. I wrote “h” on the board. No luck. So I put “hu.” Helen (my smartest 2A girl), said “Hunny!” I cracked up and was laughing so hard. I told them that they didn’t know it, but that that was very funny. Then, someone else pipes up with, “Hunk!” So Grandpa, if you read this (which… you probably will not…), you are Grandma’s hunny and hunk. I eventually did give them the correct answer, though. After class, I asked Helen if I could interview her for the Student Profile part of the newsletter, and she obliged. She is so cute. And it turns out that she is smarter than American second graders—she is only 6. To read more on Helen, stay tuned for the third volume of the Kalaala Chronicles. Haha. We played volleyball in the evening again, until the guard took the ball away. We really need to buy a new soccer ball. (Cameron left his with Samson while we went to Gimbie, and it popped one night…). Well, this is SUPER frustrating. Word just went bonkers, and I have to rewrite all the new stuff I just spent the last 20 minutes writing. Anyway. Ahem. Whatever, nothing else is important. Oh, we started SoM (Sound of Music that CRH did in 06), and I even promised not to talk about backstage stuff while it was playing. I miss it.

Tuesday: Anisha was going to film flag raising today, so we left the house around 750. It was pretty cool. All the kids lined up in their blue and yellow and green. After that, there was a special program. Today, all over Ethiopia, it is Tribe Day… or something. There were songs and some kids danced and wore their traditional outfits. There was also a drama. Hareg came today, and there was no work at the clinic, so Sinke came over and taught us how to make injera!!! It is very simple so far, but we have to let the dough ferment for 3 days. Friday we will cook it. I worked it out with Daniel so that the lady who works in the sewing room can come with us on Thursday to buy fabric for the Christmas pageant. We get to go to Mercato! It is the biggest open air market, with a reputation for having a lot of very talented pick-pockets. Class went… well, I had 2B today, enough said. According to the teacher, they do not understand the advantages to learning a foreign language (well, English). So I have to tell them why next week. How can they be so far behind 2A and 3rd grade when they get a word bank? I think all but one kid from 2B will fail the test they are going to have on family. What else can I do—they do not even understand in Amharic. We had mentioned to Dr. Gemechu that we needed to buy more internet minutes, and he said just to give the money to Abebe and he would do it. Well, Abebe showed up this evening with 400 birr worth of phone minutes! They will only work for our phone (not Cameron’s) but I suppose this means we will not run out soon. We need to go to a bank tomorrow, in order to pay him back and to buy fabric. When we went to the Hilton on Sunday, the one ATM was out of money, and the other one was not on at all. Around 5, I saw Temmy outside our window, so I waved, and I found out that they were going to play football! So I rushed outside, but there was no one on the field. Someone down by the clinic waved, and I waved back, then went to see who it was. It was Meseret (she is in 3rd grade, and comes to Pathfinders). She said to go with her, and I said that I was going to play soccer. But she insisted that I go with her. We went to a house on our property, and she borrowed a big bucket thing and two big platters. She took my hair out of its pony tail and tried to redo it, but could not. It was funny. She told me to go with her to her house, and I said that, no, I was playing soccer. But then I went anyway. We picked up Anisha on the way, and went to her house. She has 6 siblings. And a television. Her mother was very nice. Then we played soccer. Gah I am terrible. We had dinner theater tonight, meaning we ate dinner while finishing SoM. I tried to take a shower, but we have no water. I am going to go try again now. Well, the water pressure was worse than that in Rachel’s house in Manchester, and I kept having to switch between scalding hot and cold, but hey, not the worst shower I’ve had since getting here.

Pictures from Gimbie

Sugarcane on the bus to Gimbie:

Cassie and I!

Everyone at Thanksgiving:

Toko, the duiker, and I:

Friday-Saturday, during which we have our first Christmas pageant rehersal!

Friday was pretty basic. I figured out how to do the “making Excel turn a cell red if the value goes below a certain number,” and so I had Amanuel put the minimum he wanted of each drug in, and then configured the document for each drug. Yesterday, Nabon (Amanuel’s youngest son…he is 6), was sick, so Anisha read to him and then we played Uno. Today, he was sick too, so we drew pictures with him, and taught him some body parts and he wrote them all out. He is brilliant. He knows the ASL alphabet forward and backward (well, not literally, but he knows all of the letters super well), and fingerspelt all of the body parts. AND he knew them after the going through it ONCE! I cut up the pumpkin and boiled it, so now we have more mashed pumpkin from which we can make pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies. Well, it might not be a pumpkin, but we are going to use it as such.
On Saturday, we had our own Sabbath school, then joined everyone else for church. Potluck was good (as usual!). Theeen, we prepared (aka prayed) for Pathfinders. It actually went really well! There were a few cast changes because of absent people, but it should all be okay. Doh my third graders were one for three! Fantu and Meseret did not show up. Neither did the guy I cast as Joseph. BUT Cameron practiced We Three Kings with the… three kings… and I went over the first three scenes. Afterward, they went to play volleyball, and Cameron and I went out to play. It was really fun. Samson and I made quite a team. Someone fed China chat for lunch… he was insane! It also must be a full moon, because near the end, everyone started going crazy! It was so funny. We had a great time. At one time, it was Samson and I against… everyone else. I was very confused. They fixed it, though. At one point, Alemayo kicked the ball, and it hit China’s head… as he was climbing one of the volleyball posts. So his nose crashed into the post and he started to cry. As bad as I felt for him, it was super funny. Wobenesh learned “I love you” which is cool because she is awesome. I love these people.
We also talked to Hareg, and she is going to try to see if the lady who runs the sewing room here at the Learning Village to go with us when we buy fabric for the Christmas pageant. Anisha’s neighbors get here Wednesday, then they leave the day Cameron’s family arrives (the 23rd), and then Meredith and Curtis! Yay!
Bedddd time.

Monday-Thursday, during which we catch up on stuff. Lots and lots of stuff.

Monday: No work for us, so I started on my huge list of things to do. I had a bunch of things to do for the Christmas pageant, and I had to do lesson plans, and *gah* so much. I have eventually caught up on emails, and blog, and making copies of that which I actually have to make copies (Dr. Gemechu said he would print something for me). I just have to have Cameron finish translating the Amharic script into English letters for me, and figure out who gets what pages of the script. I emailed Darwin for help with an ASL song, and… things on my list I cannot read any more.
On Tuesday, we had a mini meeting with everyone. We found out that WE HAVE A DOCTOR! Whoever it is currently in the Darfur region of the Sudan, but is coming here in three weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like I said…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God is so good. We made copies of some stuff for the Christmas pageant. Dr. Gemechu had told me that I also had a box, and they brought it for me that morning! There were a lot of books for the kids, as well as some for me (which was good, since I left two with Cassie in Gimbie), and some food things! YAY! Jill sent Anisha three boxes, and Anisha spent all day in town to get them. They had so much stuff in them! They were originally for Thanksgiving, but since we got them after Thanksgiving, we are going to save some for Christmas. I got a round of applause from 2B, but a lot of them left before class started. I seem to be also having attendance problems, like Anisha. Punk kids. I will make sure that they do not leave today. I mean, I have no problem with the kids who live over an hour away leaving early, but 1/3 of them do not live that far away.
On Wednesday we helped Amanuel with organizing the pharmacy. They organize things by body system, which is nifty. Anisha missed class again, because she was sick. Poor sick Anisha.
At 2:45, Cameron went to the bathroom—he told me to write that. After class, Cameron and I tried to go play foot tetherball, but it was not there. Pup and Rocky come to me when I call them, and they love to be pet and scratched (they have fleas…) and Pup will follow me, too. We need to give him a proper name. So we gave up on soccer, but then someone brought a BASKETBALL!!! And since the ground is hard a dry enough, it bounced well enough. Cameron stole a trash can off a tree and we taped it to the top of the soccer goal and played for awhile. Then we played soccer with a basketball.
Today is Thursday, and we played UNO and helped Amanuel put in prices for the pharmacy. I am having trouble making Excel turn a cell red if the value goes below a certain number (it works on my computer, but not Amanuel’s…). WHOOPEE, I may have figured it out. Schweet. Third grade was so noisy today. I made them put their heads on their desks at the end of class until they were quiet. Then we finished the question we were doing. They kept asking for the time, and I said that it did not matter :-D. Our toilet broke. I broke a knob on a drawer this morning. Oops. Solomon is here to fix the toilet, though. I am finally “done” with the Christmas pageant. I printed a partial script for everyone (only the pages with their lines), and Cameron translated the Amharic script into English characters and I highlighted everyone’s lines and I am almost through with adding up the costume yardage… er… meterage. I emailed Darwin so maybe he will help me with the song in ASL, and now I just need practical ideas for blocking and stuff. Otherwise, I will make it up… or pretend I know what I am doing. Heehee.

Monday-Thursday, during which we catch up on stuff. Lots and lots of stuff.

Monday: No work for us, so I started on my huge list of things to do. I had a bunch of things to do for the Christmas pageant, and I had to do lesson plans, and *gah* so much. I have eventually caught up on emails, and blog, and making copies of that which I actually have to make copies (Dr. Gemechu said he would print something for me). I just have to have Cameron finish translating the Amharic script into English letters for me, and figure out who gets what pages of the script. I emailed Darwin for help with an ASL song, and… things on my list I cannot read any more.
On Tuesday, we had a mini meeting with everyone. We found out that WE HAVE A DOCTOR! Whoever it is currently in the Darfur region of the Sudan, but is coming here in three weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like I said…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God is so good. We made copies of some stuff for the Christmas pageant. Dr. Gemechu had told me that I also had a box, and they brought it for me that morning! There were a lot of books for the kids, as well as some for me (which was good, since I left two with Cassie in Gimbie), and some food things! YAY! Jill sent Anisha three boxes, and Anisha spent all day in town to get them. They had so much stuff in them! They were originally for Thanksgiving, but since we got them after Thanksgiving, we are going to save some for Christmas. I got a round of applause from 2B, but a lot of them left before class started. I seem to be also having attendance problems, like Anisha. Punk kids. I will make sure that they do not leave today. I mean, I have no problem with the kids who live over an hour away leaving early, but 1/3 of them do not live that far away.
On Wednesday we helped Amanuel with organizing the pharmacy. They organize things by body system, which is nifty. Anisha missed class again, because she was sick. Poor sick Anisha.
At 2:45, Cameron went to the bathroom—he told me to write that. After class, Cameron and I tried to go play foot tetherball, but it was not there. Pup and Rocky come to me when I call them, and they love to be pet and scratched (they have fleas…) and Pup will follow me, too. We need to give him a proper name. So we gave up on soccer, but then someone brought a BASKETBALL!!! And since the ground is hard a dry enough, it bounced well enough. Cameron stole a trash can off a tree and we taped it to the top of the soccer goal and played for awhile. Then we played soccer with a basketball.
Today is Thursday, and we played UNO and helped Amanuel put in prices for the pharmacy. I am having trouble making Excel turn a cell red if the value goes below a certain number (it works on my computer, but not Amanuel’s…). WHOOPEE, I may have figured it out. Schweet. Third grade was so noisy today. I made them put their heads on their desks at the end of class until they were quiet. Then we finished the question we were doing. They kept asking for the time, and I said that it did not matter :-D. Our toilet broke. I broke a knob on a drawer this morning. Oops. Solomon is here to fix the toilet, though. I am finally “done” with the Christmas pageant. I printed a partial script for everyone (only the pages with their lines), and Cameron translated the Amharic script into English characters and I highlighted everyone’s lines and I am almost through with adding up the costume yardage… er… meterage. I emailed Darwin so maybe he will help me with the song in ASL, and now I just need practical ideas for blocking and stuff. Otherwise, I will make it up… or pretend I know what I am doing. Heehee.

Sunday-Sunday, during which we go to Gimbie

So the reason there is such a gap between this entry and my last is because 1. the internet in Gimbie was down during the time we were there and 2. because I did not bring a computer to type on and using Cassie’s was just too much work (she says sarcastically). Anyway.
We woke up at 305 to meet Abebe at 330 to get to the bus station in time to catch the 600 bus to Gimbie. I slept most of the way to the bus stop, and most of the way to Ambo (about two hours outside of Addis). The city streets were eerily abandoned--so different than from when we usually drive in the city. We ate breakfast at a little restaurant in Ambo. They charged us 26 birr for 5 drinks and biñet (injera with samplings of different fasting (vegetarian) dishes. The toilet there was gross, but we were grateful for the opportunity to relieve ourselves, for we knew there would be no more potty-stops :-(. On the way there, I slept, played a game of cards with Cassie, and pretty much did nothing. The bus stopped again about halfway through, and a lot of people got off (the boys got to go to the bathroom--unfair), and we bought sugarcane! For those of you who do not know what it looks like (I did not, until this trip) it is about an inch and a half in diameter, and were cut into about foot-long pieces. You have to peel off the 3 mm thick “skin” with your teeth, then you chew on the sugar cane (you can rip it off into smaller pieces to chew on). Then, the cool people like us throw it out the window, where it joins all the other sugar cane from the window-seat people, and the people in the aisle seats just throw/spit theirs onto the floor of the bus. That was the most interesting part of our trip on the bus, I think. Anisha felt sick, and wanted the window open, and Ethiopians do not like the windows open on the bus (they think it makes them sick haha), but we kept the window open anyway. The roads were not as bad as we heard they were. But the sporadic Ethiopian jazz they played was too noisy (it would have been awesome if it had been quieter). We walked from the bus station to Gimbie hospital, and it was so weird walking around the city, and Cassie kept saying hello to people she knew. Anisha and I ended up staying with Cassie (well, we stayed in her bed) and one of her house mates, Joyce, was kind enough to lend us her room for Cassie while we were here. She also did it so we could be noisy during the day (she is a night shift nurse). Cassie’s other housemate is Kelsey, the Matron. Cameron stayed at the VD (volunteer dorm) with the boys. Cassie (and Kelsey and Joyce) have a girl, Jolly, who cooks and buys groceries and cleans and does laundry for them. The boys have a lady, Bajigtu, who cooks (with lots and lots and lots of oil) for them, and another lady who cleans and basically tucks them in at night :-). Both Jolly and Bajigtu are awesome cooks. A previous SM gave Jolly some recipes, which she has written down... which I now have written down--YAY PITA BREAD AND PATTIES!!
The soil in Gimbie is a burnt orange color. So different from anywhere else I have seen. It turned my tennis shoes reddish. After dinner that first night, we went to Jimi Juice, a place that has awesome, awesome smoothies. I got guava pineapple. We brought around a few of the orphans from the orphanage, and treated them to a smoothie. Gerata ate his in about 10 seconds—with a spoon, he was very talented. It was sooo good. The hospital is so big. The next day, one of the SMs, Jeremy, gave us a tour of it. They have a pediatric ward, a female ward, and a male ward. On the third floor are a chapel and the administrative offices. The church on the compound is humongous. Apparently people crowd outside on Sabbaths too. Jay hung out with us one night, which was fun, and told us the crazy story of how he and his girlfriend came to be. Cassie, Anisha, and I stayed up late talking. I went to bed around midnight, but they stayed up until two!
Paul and Petra eventually came back from visiting one of the clinics. They had brought a new member of the family. On the side of the road, there was a man holding a small animal. They were going to buy it (for no more than 300 birr) and then let it go. The man said 15 birr, so of course they bought it. As they were pulling away, the man said something about milk! They realized that they had a baby animal! They thought it was a dikdik, but it ended up being a duiker. They named it Tokoma, which means “first one” in Oromifa. We hung out with him one afternoon, trying to get it to go to sleep. He is super cute. He kept slipping on the non-carpeted floor. He got better as the days passed, though.
On Thursday, Thanksgiving, most of the Americans had off work. Cameron and I made pumpkin pie/soup. The recipe called for evaporated milk, so we had to improvise and it was too liquidy. The girls’ oven does not work (and only one of their burners works), so I went to the VD to bake it. It took foreverrrrrrrrrrr. Over twice as long as it was supposed to, but we finally gave up and took it out. It actually solidified quite well by the time we ate. In the afternoon, I invited myself to the VD for lunch, and afterward, convinced the boys to wash the potatoes (Bajigtu kept trying to help, but I kept telling her that the boys were actually able to do some semblance of cooking). Around 230, I convinced them to come inside and peeled and cubed the potatoes. Anisha and Cassie were busy making pumpkin bread, salad, sweet potatoes, and apple pie. While the potatoes were boiling, we played ping pong. I finally beat one of the local boys who hangs around, Chala, when he gave me a 15 point head-start. Jeremy took a mini bus to Jimi Juice and bought 19 smoothies worth of…smoothie… for Thanksgiving. (Apparently we only trusted them with juice and potatoes.) And he got soda. Thanksgiving was a feast! There was cranberry sauce and stuffing-like-stuff, and everything we had made and much, much more. We played some games afterward, and I learned (after afterward, when we had gone over to Paul and Petra’s house) how to play 7 Up, 7 Down. I had a terrible time upon learning that the camera card I thought I had brought with me was merely the ADAPTER! So I am sad. But Mom is sending one to have Janyne bring (Anisha’s neighbors are visiting in a week or so).
On Sabbath, we had Sabbath school/church on the porch of the people upstairs. Paul brought Toko, and he hung out with me. He kept licking/rubbing his teeth/biting me, and then he peed on my/my sweatshirt. Who else can say they have been peed on by a duiker? He still seemed like he needed to go more pee, so I took him outside so he could go on the grass. Then he came back, and curled up in front of me on the towel and slept for the rest of Sabbath school/church. So cute. After potluck, we went on a hike. It seemed not far away, but it totally was. We were sooo tired after hiking up, but I felt bad for Anisha and Cassie, who had to hike and were not feeling well. I had wanted to return to the Learning Village on Friday, but alas, no luck. We were planning to return on Sunday, but then Becky said we had to get the tickets a day in advance, so we would have to return on Monday. I was feeling homesick and just wanted to go back to Addis. On the way back, Jay and Nick waited for Anisha and Cassie, and Cameron and I tried to follow Becky and Petra back, but they left without us and we lost track of them. We ended up… er… going back an untraditional way. But we figure that is the way it is out there…. just make up your own way. On Sunday, Paul called Cassie to have her come learn how to take care of Toko while they were in Addis. We were like… wha?? TAKE US TOO! And so she asked Paul when she was there, and Paul called us and told us that they were leaving in the Land Cruiser at 230 (an hour and half). Anisha wanted to take the Land Cruiser back because she did not want to get sick on the bus. And I wanted to go back as soon as possible, so we were all super happy!! We packed and managed to get some snacks in town before we had to meet Paul and Petra and their driver, Ashiber. Right as we were leaving the hospital to get snacks, we were attacked by a small red ball. Gerata! And Damika. They walked with us and held our hands, and so we got them some food before we left. We left around 300, and I was awake for the whole time. It was much fun. We stopped and bought some roasted corn on the side of the road. It was pretty good. I thought it was our dinner, but we ended up stopping at this restaurant in Ambo. And Ethiopian restaurant. We ordered injera, but they came back about 15 minutes later and said THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE INJERA! Tragic! Petra had ordered orange juice, but it turned out to be tang with some pulp. I ended up getting “mixed vegetables” and they were very good. Paul helped me eat them. They drove us back to the Learning Village, and we had invited them to stay with us, but they had to be back in town for something early in the morning, and so to avoid traffic, they stayed in town. I was SO happy to be back. We had a nice time in Gimbie, but the Learning Village feels like home.

Back from Gimbie

I am finally back from Gimbie, but I am super busy. I will try to update the blog soon!

Friday-Sunday, during which we have a camporee and do not go to Gimbie

On Friday, they started setting up for the “camporee” after class got out (half day). We were supposed to meet at four to practice Jesus Loves Me in ASL for the camporee… almost no one was there, though. But Amanuel said that his kids were coming, so I decided to help build the tent while I waited for them. It was pretty fun. Those eucalyptus trees are pretty sturdy. We practiced (and had an awesome showing, including Mek’des and Estifanos (who usually do not come to Pathfinders). The evening meeting was pretty cool (though, all in Amharic). I wore short sleeves just to prove to myself that it was NOT really cold, for a Connecticut girl.
Saturday was busy, but we got very tired of the meetings, since we did not understand anything and the preacher went on and on and on. Even Azeb, Dr. Gemechu’s wife, wanted him to stop. Hareg thought it unsafe for us to eat the food with everyone (the vegetables had not been prepared safe enough), so we went back to make our own lunch. We were getting ready to cook the potatoes, when they call us to come go to lunch with them! It was very nice of them, especially since Dr. Gemechu is as sick as a dog. During the afternoon program, we sat on the side and I read and we talked a little (quietly). The evening program was a movie that had been filmed in Brazil, was in Spanish, and dubbed over in Amharic. I understood what little Spanish came through the very good dubbing. I was sooo tired at the end, and we still had to pack for Gimbie. I went to bed earlyish.
The Great Ethiopian Race was today (Sunday). We had to get to the SDA union office right as the race was ending, so we had to find our way around (rather, Yared did). We got there, and found out that there was not enough room in the land rover for all of us to go back. Cassie was there! We ended up deciding that we would take the bus out to Gimbie tomorrow anyway, and that Cassie would stay with us. Yared could not come get us until two, so we went to lunch, then to a shop to get potatoes for supper. It was nice. I was glad that Cassie knew her way around Addis. We generally rely on Abebe or Yared. We got back to the Learning Village and started to make dinner. We had a good time. Now we are making pumpkin bread to bring with us. Sooo that is why I am still here in Addis. We have to be ready to leave with Abebe at 330. 330!!!!! AM!!! ACK! I will be sleeping, thankyouverymuch, on the bus.

Gimbie for Thanksgiving

Gone to Gimbie. Be back next Sundayish.
Leave me messages/emails!

Love
Jennifer

Tragedy

Please, everyone keep the friends and family of fellow SM Kirsten Wolcott in your prayers. She was murdered on the island of Yap, and everyone over there is pretty shaken up (as I am sure her friends and family at home are).
Pray for them all.

My hat it has three corners

Okay everyone. So my blog is confusing, right? I am sorry. I mostly just write it down in my scatter-brained way, and while I do realize I am kind of writing for an audience, I do not take that into consideration while writing. Things that make perfect sense to me just confuse everyone reading my blog. So please comment/email if you have any questions. We all know I love, love, love mail of any sort. I have had a request to describe the Learning Village. The city is Addis Ababa. There is a section of town called Kalaala. We live in Kalaala, in a kind of rural area. The city is encroaching on us from the back, but we live on a plateau ishthing with an awesome view of the city. It is quiet (except when the planes fly into/out of the airport, then they fly RIGHT overhead). The clinic’s proper name is Summit International Higher Clinic. The school is named Shibu-Ejersa Primary School (grades preschool-8), and it is located on the grounds of the Learning Village. The best word I can find for it is “compound.” We have a fence around the immediate living-area (as opposed to the fields where we grow teff and wheat), and guards (with flashlights and guns at night!). There are approximately 16 people (we tried to count) who live here, plus the three of us student missionaries. In addition to the school and clinic, they have a bee hive, a dairy, fields of teff and wheat, a garden, a greenhouse (well, it is under a tent), and are trying to grow fruit trees. They plow the fields with oxen. We have a few wells here (but are in need of another!), and we provide water to the surrounding community. They have no other way (well, I suppose they could walk all the way into town…) to get water except here. Sometimes we have electricity outages, but thusfar they have not been bad. We have had a tougher time with the water situation. Since we share with the community and the people who live here (who use it, like us, to do laundry and cook), sometimes there is no water to wash dishes (oh darn), and sometimes we do not have enough water to shower. Yay for being dirty. The fields of teff and wheat are so beautiful—they remind me more of “amber waves of grain” than the US ever has (then again, I have never been to the Midwest). All of the people are awesomely nice to us. We like to go stargazing at night. We get to see so many stars, and the lights of the city below us, and the airplanes landing from the west and taking off to the east (over our heads). Everyone here is so good at football. Soccer, rather. We play most weeknights, and Sunday mornings. Cameron is a really good goalkeeper. I can do…defense?
We go grocery shopping about once/week. We like getting our produce from a produce stand (better quality than the supermarket). The roads are pretty good, for the most part. There are parts where you really need to be careful and navigate the gaping holes. Drivers have to navigate the holes, people, donkeys, goats, sheep, dogs, not to mention other cars. The people walk right in the middle of the road and it is not unusual to see a donkey walking seeming without anyone following with two yellow water-jugs strapped on its back. The traffic can be horrific. There are no pollution laws, I do not think, so sometimes it is quite smoggy in the city itself. While parts of the city seem obviously impoverished (tin walls, etc), right down the road there are often very ritzy homes. Man, and this totally does not sound appealing, but it really is a great city (for a city haha), and Kalaala (especially the Learning Village) is awesomely beautiful and I love it.

Monday-Thursday, during which we get to work in the clinic!

I would like to dedicate this entry to Dr. Hamstra because he commented on my blog and that’s awesome.
Also, who is Milton?
Anyway. Monday morning, we had no water to shower, which was sad, but Dr. Gemechu sent Tesfeye to come get us to go DO STUFF! We went to the clinic, where the nurses were doing some health education. We listened to them educate in Amharic and Oromo, then I helped Ado take blood pressures. There was this one guy and his paper said he was 66. I did not believe that, so I pointed it out. Turns out we had the wrong paper haha. We get to go back to the clinic every morning now. Sweet. I worked on the powerpoint for class after lunch, and then went to class. Oh, I love 2A. They really seemed to understand. After class, we were waiting for Estifanos (previously referred to as “Stefanos,” but he spells his name Estifanos) to call us to go PLAY SOCCER. We were really excited. And since we have so many leftovers, we are not cooking all week. They ended up playing FULL COURT (ick) but I somehow ended up as goalie (Samson left to go play defense, then they came back toward our goal so I filled in). Meskerem and Mek’des and Harmela (I have her in one of my classes) and Estifanos and China and some other little girl were there too, and they helped me guard the goal. I stink, even with 6 other people to help me. We wrote stuff in the dirt (they helped me spell things in Amharic) and we played with a stick China had. It was really really fun. I was still having fun and stuff when everyone else decided it was too dark and quit for the night. Haha and Estifanos told me at the end to “shut up.” I told him not to say that, but he said it again so I grabbed his face (just to have him look at me, not hard or anything) and made him apologize. He said it again to Anisha, and she did the same thing and told him not to say it and made him apologize again. That boy needs some discipline. Guess what we had for dinner?? Injeraaaaaaaaaa! Same as lunch!
On Tuesday, we worked in the clinic again. I folded the outpatient forms (CRH nurses, if you read this, they had SOAP on them and they felt familiar since I copied them down so much :-)), then we sorted all of the medications for the pharmacy. After lunch, I made a slideshow for 2B (that would be simpler for them than the one I made for 2A). Class went alright. It is quite frustrating when they do not understand “Ronald is Hannah’s father. Hannah is Ronald’s ________?” I have to figure out a way to help them understand the correlation. At least the teacher stayed and could help explain. There was another teacher who came to observe, and he was also helpful. At the end he suggested that I use Amharic names instead. While part of the point was for them to become familiar with American names, guess what 3rd grade is doing today (Wednesday)? (At least until I think they understand…) Soccer was fun (duh). In the beginning, Anisha and I were one goalie, and we were playing with some little balls with Estifanos and Tamu (basically keep-away, Anisha and Tamu vs Estifanos and I). After I played for a little while, I ended up leaving the game (full court again, ick) and playing the same keep-away game, but this time it was Meskerem, me, and the nanny, Wobenesh, against Tamu, Estifanos, and Samuel. So much fun. I went inside early to try to use up some of the fresh produce we bought (not fully understanding how many leftovers we would have) before it went bad. I invented something. It had potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, and it was pretty good. Anisha fell on a rock and got a bloody knee. Her knee attracts trouble. Yikes, Anisha wants me to cut her hair tomorrow. I felt more comfortable on the other end of the scissors with Amanda. Oh well. After dinner, we cut garlic. For three hours. And still did not finish.
Wednesday: We worked on inventory in the clinic again. It was fun to know how to draw some (or parts of some) from Organic Chemistry. Boy, I miss school. Back to the house for lunch, then I changed the powerpoint to Amharic names and chopped some more garlic. Class went really well for the most part. They understood the Amharic name powerpoint, and wanted to do the English name one, so we started that. They were excited to hear that tomorrow we would do my family. Afterward, we were supposed to have a Pathfinder meeting to practice “Jesus Loves Me” in ASL, but only like six people showed up. Then Nehemiah and Ruth and Samson had to go study (the 8th graders have to study after school), so it was like, four kids and the three of us practicing. Emmanuel was somewhere else, Kibret was picking stuff up for the Camporee, and Girma was driving sick Bereket home. Those are most of the adults in Pathfinders. Anisha had a rough day in class. Almost no kids were there, and those who were were super disruptive and rude. Soccer was fun, even though I wiped out. I ended up rolling somehow, and I landed on my hands and chin. I always land on the weirdest body parts (Cyrano—landed on my hips, thanks Kveton). Supper was… leftovers! We watched “Summer of the Monkeys,” which I had already seen, but it was still the best Family Film we have watched. LKFj;l ;l there’s a spider on the floor but it ran away when I went to get a shoe. Oh goodie…. I found him. Bye bye. I have failed miserably in writing more for an audience. Sorry peoples. And hi, Meredith and Curtis, who I found out are following my blog! What more do you know about your baby? Bed time!
Thursday: Pretty much the same as yesterday. Inventory, leftovers, class. Ooooh and I did my family and they totally liked learning about my family. They thought Jeffrey was a girl sometimes, though, and that Grandma was a boy. Oh well. Mostly successful. I have to do more powerpoint. We had a lot of fresh produce going bad still (molding potatoes) so we made potato chips and Laura Lynne. Cameron said he falls in love with Laura Lynne more and more each time we eat it. The school has only a half day tomorrow, so people can set up for the Pathfinder Camporee.

Saturday-Sunday, during which we cook, cook, cook, and have a party!

Saturday is our busiest day here at the Learning Village. This week, Cameron taught Sabbath School. No one else understood, so Bereket taught, kind of, after him so everyone else could understand. Potluck was delicious, as usual. We had prepared a Pathfinders’ song service the night before, and talked about ideas just in case Emmanuel asked us to do Pathfinders (he did :-)). After song service, we ended up talking to them about the Christmas pageant, having them sign up for what part they thought they might want (and I made them write their names down so I could 1. know their names, and 2. learn how to spell them!). While the list went around, we practiced the alphabet and then did a game I made up on the spot. I shall give an example. I had six volunteers come up front, and I whispered a letter to each them. They took turns holding up their letter, and the people in the audience would have to say the letter. Once all six people had done their letter, they all held it up at the same time, and it spelt a word (once again, guessed by the audience). Temmy even got “youthforlife” without spaces. Then people volunteered to fingerspell their names. They have no double letters in Amharic, so I will have to explain how to fingerspell with two of the same letters in a row next time. Even though we described what all of the characters were in the play, we still had one girl want to be Elizabeth, one girl want to be Hannah, and one 16-year old boy want to be Jesus. Thank you, Samson, for making my day. After recruiting some angels (everyone wanted to be shepherds), I taught everyone to say “Can I please have a cookie?” in ASL. They had the hardest time raising their eyebrows, and everyone laughed at everyone else when they came up front to ask. Kiberet came up and asked, very seriously, if he could have two cookies. Kiberet is a grown man. In the end, everyone ended up getting a cookie—even Girma, who fingerspells with his hand facing himself. All in all, I think it was a successful Pathfinders.
No resting allowed, we started cooking for our party on Sunday right after Pathfinders. We had invited Dr. and Mrs. Pearson, Mr. and Mrs. Kim, Hareg, Dr. Gemechu, and Azeb (and Yared and Abebe, but they did not end up coming) to come for lunch on Sunday after the former two couples got out of church. Anisha made dhao (basically lentil soup) and chickpea curry that night (lots of chopping). When I was done cutting onions, I did casting for the Christmas Pageant. I now understand why it takes PT the whole weekend to cast for a play. I mainly went by what they had signed up for, since there were only a few people who wanted to be the same part. Double spaced, it is six pages long, not including the fact that we are singing five songs (and half of the people will be signing one of those). I will email it to Emmanuel to translate.
On Sunday, we woke up early and continued cooking. I made pumpkin cookies for a dessert, and Anisha made hardboiled egg curry and we made a bunch of rice. (“A bunch of rice” plus two messed up batches=LOTS of rice.) S’ike stopped by with a loaf of birthday bread (which is over a foot in diameter and at least four inches high), and Hareg and Azeb brought three Ethiopian dishes, a salad, and a cake sampler from Bilo’s Bakery. THEN S’ike stopped by with injera! We had SO much food! You should see our refrigerator.

We tried to give as much as we could to the Pearsons and Kims, but they did not want much, unfortunately. We had a really good time, though. After eating, we moved into the living room and had pumpkin cookies, tea and cake. We chatted and showed them pictures we took of the Rift Valley. Much fun was had by all. It will take us two weeks to eat all of this leftover food, and we are leaving next week to go to Gimbie (in the west—we know people there) for Thanksgiving. Thank you, freezer. No one was very hungry for dinner, having eaten so much at lunch, so after a small dinner, we watched another Family movie. We watched White Wolves II, which also had bad acting and a very predictable plot, but it was good.

Wednesday-Friday, during which we go on a trip and see lots of cool things!!

So Cameron/’s family knows this couple (Mr. and Mrs. Yost) from Florida Hospital who is organizing a mission trip to Ethiopia in April, and they came out here for two weeks to check out here and Gimbie and plan a group trip and see the needs and stuff. Dr. Gemechu said it would be very nice if we skipped class Wednesday-Friday and went with them. They also paid for it all. Super nice.
On Wednesday, we met them at their hotel, and we met the driver/tour guide Tamrat, and headed to see some historical/archaeological sites. *goes to copy written entry… darn, I wrote it in Spanish…* Anyway. The Yosts are really really nice people and it was fun to spend time with them.

The first place we went brought us through country with volcanic rocks and other really pretty country. We saw a goat on the side of the road who had died giving birth—that was very sad. We stopped at a rock-hewn church, styled after Lalibela. It was very cool. There were two entrances—one for the men and one for the women. We had to take our shoes off too… great idea, Jennifer, to wear your hiking boots…. In every Orthodox church, there are three sections. The first is a general one, the second is where people go to take communion (anyone can go in those two), and the third is the Most Holy Place where only the priests go. It was really cool, and Mr. Yost and Cameron had to duck in parts of the passages. There were little crevices in the rock on the outside where the nuns pray.

On the road again, this time to a place called T’iya, which resembled Stonehenge. They are ancient warrior graves, of both men and women. The height depends on how important the warrior was, and the number of swords on them correlates to how many other people they killed.

After that, we stopped for lunch along the side of the road. While we started a fire with some sticks, our driver bought and slaughtered a goat. We helped him cut it into pieces and roasted it with some herbs we had brought until… just kidding, we had brought some peanut butter and jelly. We also brought pumpkin cookies and the Bole Mini crackers, and the Yosts brought apples and chips. We had a feast... sans goat. We then hustled along to a museum/archaeological site. The tour people had gone home for lunch, so Tamrat drove in and found one and brought him back. There were a lot of evolution posters and rocks and bones in the three hut structures. Then we saw a site that they had finished excavating, and a hippopotamus slaughtering place. It is amazing that there used to be a lake there—it was very dry and safari-esque.

Back to Addis, to the Holy Trinity Cathedral. It had amazing stained-glass windows, and is known to be one of the most beautiful churches. Then we went to some museum, the one where Lucy, the “missing link” or whatever, lives when she is not touring the United States. The bones here are replicas.

Then we went to Entoto again (with cameras this time, yay). The tour was more rushed because they were closing, but at least we got pictures. Anisha got a guy’s address. Everyone thinks that Anisha is a Habisha, which is the opposite of a feranji (white person). It basically means an Ethiopian. She’s Indian and they do not believe her at all. That was the end of our amazing day. Back home to make dinner, take showers, and pack for overnight. In the middle of making dinner, the power went out, came back on for a little while, then went back off until the middle of the night. Luckily, I woke up to turn off the lights, and switch batteries to be charged. We woke up eeeeearly, and packed up and were ready when Tamrat picked us up. We picked up the Yosts, and headed south! We saw five wrecks alone the way (not actually happening, but wrecked trucks)! It was terrible! We also got to see some lakes, and camels along the side of the road, and giant termite mounds and birds. We saw a bunch of Meribu Storks at Lake Ziway (the first Rift Valley Lake). Lunch was really good. I got this rice and vegetable dish that tasted like sourkraut (yum!). We went to Abijata-Shalla Lakes National Park, and that was super cool. The mission trip that comes in April may not get to go, because you cannot bring busses (only 4-WD trucks). There were a bunch of ostriches and gazelles, AND (shoutout to CRH) we even got to see some warthogs (are they the same thing as wild boars?)! They ran away, so we did not get to get pictures, but we have pictures in our heads. Tamrat brought us to this cool overlook thing, and we got to see Lakes Abijata and Shalla. Looking through Tamrat’s binoculars, we could see some dots that were flamingos. The Yosts and I each bought a souvenir house made out of limestone—they got theirs for 35 birr, and I got mine for 20! Heehee. It is pretty cool. We saw more camels, and were taking pictures of them from the truck, minding our own business, when this teenager camelherd comes running up to the truck threatening to throw a really big rock at us! We were like, “whaaa?” Tamrat was kind of laughing at him and stuff and he eventually put the rock down, but he gave him 10 birr. Apparently, that usually happens :-). We drove down to the shore of Lake Shala and saw more flamingos (there were two kinds), and we touched the water, which was surprisingly warm. THEN we got to go see the hotsprings! Wicked cool!

Some were just regular hot, and there was one that was scalding hot. The locals roast corn and potatoes in there. There was another guy there who thought Anisha was a habisha. He was very friendly. Everyone was very nice there, except that guy with the rock. From the park, we drove to Awasa, on the shore of Lake Awasa (another one of the Rift Valley Lakes). We checked into our hotel, and went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. I asked what “cream” meant on the pasta menu, and they said that, yes, it was like cheese. Well, it was not. It was cream. It was not very good, but Anisha had two dishes, and there was one with pasta and spinach, and Ethiopian spices and yams or carrots… THAT was good. Haha and we had breadsticks. Then we went out on the town haha. We found this cool little shop with some authentic stuff—Mrs. Yost wanted a head-shawl, and both she and Anisha bought some earrings. We went back to the hotel, showered (it had problems draining, and if you left the door open, it squirted out), and used the internet on Anisha and Cameron’s itouches. The beds were very hard, but we slept our first night under mosquito nets (which are hard to keep in place).
Friday came very early. We went for breakfast at the hotel restaurant again. I ordred French Toast, and Cameron got Bulla porridge. The porridge is made from the false banana tree, and the dish was invented during a famine. It was funny, but apparently very filling. My French toast was very good, especially when they brought my honey. It was a little less sweet than the honey we are used to, but it is thicker, and very good as a spread. We put our leftovers in zippy bags, and gave them to a little girl on the street outside our hotel.

We went to a fish market on the shore of Lake Awasa and there were lots of people, fish, Maribu storks, and Vervet monkeys. One monkey even took bread right from Mr. Yost’s hand!

We drove to the top of Mount Tabor and saw the fish market and our hotel—it was all very beautiful. On our way back, we went to the National Park again to try to see/get a picture of the warthogs. No luck. On our way back through Shashemane, we went by the Rasteferians’ community. During Emperor Silasse’s reign, he gave some land to the Jamaicans, so a bunch of them moved to Ethiopia. They were all very nice, albeit high on marijuana. They asked us to smoke with them, but after several minutes of careful consideration, we decided to decline :-). They go to church on Sabbath too! One of the boys there goes to the SDA secondary school down the road. Neato. I am happy to report that we saw no new wrecks on our way back to Addis. Tamret brought us by Tomoca (the best place for coffee) so the Yosts could get some, and he also took us by a souvenir shop, which was really good. We were so tired by the time we got home, but we had an awesome, awesome time.