Peace Corps: a 27-month long game of charades!

The problem with this blog entry is that I have no idea what I wrote in the last one and do not have the Internet to check. I am currently writing this while at my site in Eteya, which is roughly 30 minutes from any sort of Internet. I’ll save this to my flash drive and presto! I’ll save myself time, birr and stares by not having to sit in an Internet café for a while typing this. So I am just going to assume that I did not update the blog when I found out my pre-service training (PST) site. If I did and you have read this before, cut me some slack; I’m 9,000 miles away.

Anyways, I was placed in Eteya, which for those keeping score at home is about 3.5 hours from Addis in the Oramefa region.  It is a smallish town of about 24,000 people. The weather has been fantastic. It is about 65-75 degrees everyday and though it is the rainy season, it only rains for an hour or two at a time. Although, last night it did pour. I cannot be sure if it was the amount of rain or the tin roof, but it sounded pretty awesome (up until I put ear plugs in- thanks Adam!)

My host family is very nice. It is a father, who owns a hotel/bar/restaurant/social hang out/catch all, a mother, and their 6 children. The ages’ of the kids range from 20 to 4. All of them are students so it is quite a busy household. On top of that, Ethiopia is a very family-first orientated country, which means while there are 8 technical family members, there always seems to be 15 people on the compound. I try to hang out with the family for a few hours a day. This consists of me staring blankly/nodding, coloring with kids or playing futbol. Since I have been here, the Euro Cup has been going. It is really fun to be in a country that deeply cares about soccer. At the time of this, Germany is still in it and due to my allegiance to Amy and co. I have been rooting for them. There is also the biggest Manchester United following here. Every third car has a ManU sticker and I think it may be a country requirment to have at least one article of ManU clothing. But yeah, I have my own room and share a latrine (or shint bet as we call it here).

In my room, I have taped pictures on the wall so I can feel a little at home. This turned out to be one of my favorite games here. There are 9 pictures on the wall and I happen to be in 6 of them. In the pictures, there is only one other female with brown hair. The rest are blonde or redheads. When my host family comes in my room, they like to look at the pictures. I LOVE playing “where is Laura?” I give them as much time as they need and all they have to do is point out where I am in the pictures. I am standing in front of them in case they need a reminder of what I look like. Simple, right? Oh no. No one has managed to point out more than four correctly. I guess all us American folk really do look the same. Which reminds me…

I was sitting at an Internet café a few days ago and a group of LCFs walk in. (LCFs are the language coaches hired by Peace Corps. While they are most certainly Ethiopian, they hang out and work with American enough that it is easy to forgot the cultural barrier that exists) When they see me, one walks up excitedly. I greet him and we start talking. This is literally what he told me, “I didn’t want to say anything the first few times we met but now that we have seen each other many time, I just wanted to tell you, you really look like Michael Jackson. Especially when you have your sunglasses on. In fact, I told one of the other LCFs [he points to another man who is nodding empathically] and he agree that you look just like Michael Jackson”.  I have never been more confused. In one moment, I was a little offended, a bit flattered (he is the king of pop) but mostly more amused than I ever thought possible. My only possible respond was to make a silly face and give my best, most high pitched MJ “ah hehe” impression. This may add to my folklore…

But any who, my family does not speak English. One of the son’s speaks a bit but otherwise, it is a silly silly game to try and communicate. They have a lot of animals so I would walk around making the animal noises and then asking “min” or what. Once they stopped laughing, they would tell me. This worked well until we got to the chickens. Apparently, in Ethiopia they have a different sound for chicken. So cock-a-doodle-do as I may, it did not work. I could only think of Arrested Development where every family member thinks a chicken makes a different noise.

So along those lines, a family friend came over for dinner tonight. We greeted each other (seriously, greetings are huge here) and then he asked me if I was Korean or Chinese. He had pretty much pinpointed it to be one of those two. When I told him I was America, he got very excited. He started pointing to a Jesus poster on the wall and kept asking me something in Amharic. He then started bowing to it and asking “America?” I don’t know if he was asking if I was religious or if America was religious, but either way, I felt the best answer was yes. He also went through animals’ sounds asking if we had those in America. Don’t worry, I did America justice. He now thinks all Americans are super religious and eat nothing but meat. As long as he goes to the South if he ever makes it to the states, I should be set. He then started to explain that he was a butcher. Although I know enough words where we could have communicated this properly, he acted it out for me. I think I cried a little I was laugh so hard. His (expert) game of charades started with him making a “moooo” noise and was a 20 second display of how to properly kill and butcher an imaginary cow. I cannot compete with that level of mastery. He blew any charades I have done out of the water. It also made me glad that I didn’t have meat to eat today.

I would say that is 95% of people here in a nutshell. They are extremely outgoing and just curious about American culture. They only want to take up your time to get to know you. Whether it is a hilarious butcher or a waiter who wants to play banana grams with the “forengis” everyday, most people are great. And when I am well rested and in a positive mindset, this country is so fun.

Next week, I am going to be back in Addis so I will try to load pictures since I will likely have Internets. I also find out my site (where I will send the next two years) on Saturday, so stay tuned. It’s time for me to kill some bugs and then go to sleep!

Tomorrow, I leave the capital city of Addis to go to my training site: Eteya. There I will live with a host family to try to fully integrate with the culture. I will eat, sleep, cook, bath, and speak (hopefully) like a true Ethiopian! I am excited to start the next leg of this journey. In a lot of ways, this is when the "Peace Corps experience" begins. It is commonly considered the hardest yet most memorable part of the 27 months. So on that note...

One of the most exciting parts of everyday is when they bring the mail in. It is like Christmas morning (if Christmas was filled with intense language training, four hour lectures and upset stomachs). So one way you you can help me feel the love over the next two years is to send me letters or care packages! Several people have asked about this so I thought I would put the information out there. If you would like to send me something, awesome. Sadly, it is really expensive. So I say this in all honesty, I know it is cheesy, even if you can just afford to send a letter, it means just as much as a huge care package. In this case, it is the thought that counts (not that I would be bummed out to get some rice krispy treats).

Below are the prices for flat rate mail, and a link to the USPS website where you can find out how big these boxes are. I’ve also listed my initial address and some helpful tips from current volunteers:

Package Rates:

· First-Class International (letter, standard envelope, 1 oz.): $1.05 (remember, label this one AIRMAIL, too!)

· Priority International:

o   Flat Rate Envelopes, Padded Flat Rate Envelope, Legal Flat Rate Envelope, and Small Flat Rate Priced Boxes (Max. Wt. 4 lbs.): $16.95

o   Medium Flat Rate Boxes (Max. Wt. 20 lbs.): $47.95

o   Large Flat Rate Boxes (Max. Wt. 20 lbs.): $60.95

Link to pictures/dimensions/prices of flat rate boxes: https://www.prioritymail.com/flatrates.asp

You’ll have to fill out a customs slip when you send a package, but never fear! The slip is available behind the desk at the post office, and while it looks like a packet, it’s actually only one mini page of information. It’s easy!

Tips from current PCVs:

1. It’s best to be general in your descriptions, such as ‘food', 'personal hygiene items', 'housewares.'
2. Never use packing peanuts or other useless filler. Be creative, and find little things to fill the box that will be useful, tasty, comforting, or fun!
3. Remember to label the box very clearly: AIRMAIL. It also doesn’t hurt to write “Peace Corps Volunteer” on the outside, for some potential sympathy votes for quick processing.
4.  Don’t send anything irreplaceable or of amazing quality. While most packages arrive successfully, the occasional one does go missing. Also, most items will have to be left in-country when I return.

Copy and paste is an awesome feature!


My first address (send things no later than July 15, and smaller/consumable is better, for now – such as letters!):

Laura Schickling/PCT

US Peace Corps/Ethiopia

P.O. Box 7788

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

I will find out my permanent address in about a month, and I will post that address shortly thereafter. 

Again, I cannot state this enough: a letter from home is a wonderful thing. Do not feel like if you are not sending some big care package, it is not worth sending anything. For $1.05 and a couple of minutes writing a note, you can completely make my day. 

So it turns out I’m in Ethiopia

Today marks the one-week anniversary that I have been in country. While normally a one-week anniversary is reserved for addicts and 14-year old girls in relationships, for me, it feels like an accomplishment. Based off everything I have done, it feels like a month ago that I was home. And a lot of that comes from the three-day long trip I was just able to take. 

Peace Corps Ethiopia has this new part of training called “demystification”. The goal is to get us, new volunteers, grouped with experienced volunteers so we can see what life is actually like for a PCV. My group left Saturday afternoon to live with an education volunteer in Hossaena. We caught the bus at Mercado- the largest outdoor market in all of Africa. At that moment, I finally felt like I was in Africa. There were seemingly endless people all trying to peddle their product. It was pretty overwhelming due to the sheer amount of people and my lack of language skills. But, we made it onto the bus and we able to see the amazing scenery of Ethiopia before arriving to Hossaena.

Once there, we visited the compound where the PCV lives and saw some of the town. We went out for dinner and as we were eating, the power went out. Although eating dinner by candlelight in a distant land may sound romantic and surreal, it just made eating mystery meat a little more unnerving. After that, we got to run home in the pouring rain and hope that we did not trip on the dirt roads.

On Monday, we were able to visit several schools in the area and observe a class. We went to a public primary school, private primary school and college. All were different so it was nice to be able to see them all and compare. The public schools have about 50-60 students per class while the private schools have 30-40. Summer break was just starting so it was not a routine day but we were able to see a teacher give a lesson to young students where they sang about the actions of various animals. I don’t know that it taught them practical English, but it was really cute. On the way home from these schools, we walked by a very “oh man, I'm in Africa” scene. There was a dead hyena being eaten by vultures. I mention this disgusting detail for two reasons:

1. Apparently no one every sees dead hyenas and when we told people around town, the were instantly jealous
2. Vultures are huge. Like seriously huge. I have never seen a bird that large. The wing span had to be 4+ feet across.

All in all, I don’t think I will watch The Lion King that same way every again. Here are some photos on the walked back- minus the hyena.  

One of the worst parts of being a PCV is all the down time. You may work 6 days a week, but only for 3-4 hours a day. While watching movies and reading are all great options, the Peace Corps is kind of about experiencing culture so it is important to get out. One way we did this was to go to a juice bar in Hossaena (I had a half mango half avocado drink, it was great). This juice bar also has cultural things, which makes it a fancy/special café that I cannot remember the name of in Amharic. It was there that I met a little friend. He was enthralled with his own reflection in my glasses so, today, I leave you with this 

And so it begins...

Here I am, I arrived safely with all my possessions. I flew out Sunday morning to Washington DC and was able to watch the quite amazing Miss America pageant with Matt and Taylor Schickling. I’m happy for Miss Rhode Island and everything, but Miss Ohio was cheated. Plain and simple.

Monday orientation began. I was able to meet and spend some time with all the people I will serve with in the next two year. Monday night was my last night in the US so I did what any good American should do, ate terribly. I went out with a group and my newly acquired “walk around money” and found my way to a place that had a 2:00am burger. Cheeseburger, bacon, fried egg and potato. Yeah, it was a good send off.

Early Tuesday morning we left of the airport. The buses we took were sightseeing buses. So as the buses is turned on and we drive again “This land is your land” came blaring on which was followed by similarly awesomely patriotic music. It was such an over the top cheesy moment I could help but laugh out loud. After a 13.5-hour flight we landed.

So far I have not seen a whole lot of the city. I have walk outside the hotel to a local mall but that it is. We have had full training sessions days as we try to kick jet lag. This weekend we are going to a different sight, which will involve seeing the country. I’m pretty excited!

Feel free to send me emails, I would love to hear how you all are doing, I will have internet for the next week and a half so if you don’t have my email address, hit me up on Facebook or ask someone you think would know. I’ll try to post some picture the next time around. Now that I have converters, I can drain my battery worry free!

Also, I am super jet lagged so sorry for the directness and I take no responsibilities for errors!

Hello all!

The point of this blog is to keep family, friends and anyone else who cares updated on my happening in Ethiopia. I really have no idea how often I will write or what exactly the content shall be- I've never done this before! If you know anyone who may be interested, please pass it along! But check back periodically to see what I am up to. As I go, I'm sure I'll learn all sorts of cool futuristic things like how to upload pictures and videos.

For now, I think this monumental first entry, which I get to write at home on a comfy couch (or as it will be hence forth referred to as "back when I was naive and idealistic"), will consist of the questions I have been asked over and over.

Where are you going to be? What is the living situation like?

Part of the Peace Corps is not really knowing a whole lot going in, so here is what I know: I am going to Ethiopia. It is a country in the northeast of Africa. I fly into the capital city of Addis Ababa. From there I will be sent to another part of the country for training. Training is a ten week period where I will learn about the culture, language, safety etc. During this time, I will live with a host family who will help me transition to living in Ethiopia. After training, I will go to my long-term site where I will be for two years. I may live on my own or with a host family.

What will you be doing?

My assignment is English Teacher Trainer. So I will work with teachers to improve methods and share ideas of how to teach English to the students. I could be placed at a teacher college and work with new teachers, or I could be placed in a school and work with all the teachers there. Again, it is all a bit up in the air.

What is the food like?

It entirely depends where I end up in the country. Whatever is local, I shall eat. Most likely, this will include a lot of veggies and not too much meat. Their main staple is injera bread . It is a flatbread that is spongy.

How difficult was it to become a Peace Corps volunteer?

I started the process over a year ago. First, I had to fill out an application, get references,  and write personal statements (like many college applications). From there I had an interview where I was nominated for a teaching assignment in Central Asia. I had to get a full heath check up with visits to doctors, dentists, and Costco optical. There were tests to make sure I was in good enough heath and then a BUNCH of vaccinations. It was an interesting experience. I had to get a Yellow Fever vaccination and I'm still convinced the doctor at the clinic was drunk. Go American healthcare! Once that was done, I just got to wait for months. Eventually, I heard that I was no longer in consideration for the Central Asia position but they would find me a spot somewhere. About 6 weeks later and countless times checking the mailbox, I received that magical blue envelope with my assignment. In all, from the day I started the application to the day I leave, it will have taken 12 and a half months.

Why are you doing this?

To find the Ark of the Covenant, obviously.

I leave in two days so the next time you all hear from me, I'll be in Africa... That still feels crazy to write.