Thursday, August 29, 2013

Things I've Learned While Bored


·      The human body can withstand an entire jar of Nutella with no ill-lasting affects.
·      It is okay to talk to yourself if you just need to have a nice conversation in English for a change
·      You can dribble a soccer ball in a 6-foot circle for roughly 90 minutes before realizing what has happened
·      It is possible to time travel. If you stare at a wall just right, hours will fly by.
·      You can be envious of Bill Murray in Groundhogs Day because at least he has amenities.
·      Making sound effects while doing the dishes makes it fun
·      You can kill approximately 17 seconds by counting all your teeth with your tongue
·      You can never sweep your floors too much
·      When walking around town, any Roots album goes along perfectly with the flow of people, vehicles, and animals
·      Based upon my singing and dancing abilities while alone in my room, I’m pretty sure I should have been a rockstar. All I’m lacking is musical ability, songwriting prowess, and general talent.
·      If you walk around long enough, someone will invite you to coffee
·      It is not always a good idea to take a coffee invitation just because you’re craving coffee
·      Insanity workouts make the day go by roughly 14% faster.
·      The longer you can sleep in, the less time you have to find a way to kill
·      It is impossible to be unhappy while making tortillas
·      Once every two weeks, a majority of children seem to have a “scream day”. All they do is scream. Happy or sad. Excited or lethargic. They just scream.
·      Sitting with your vegetable lady not only increases her business, but also is just a pleasant time
·      If you order one drink, they will never kick you out of a café
·      The maximum I can read is about three hours at a time
·      I have yet to find the maximum amount of time I can watch movies and TV shows without tiring.
·      When a fellow volunteer starts a phone conversation “Hey (three second pause), how’s it going?” it means they are just as bored as you. And that in less than an hour, neither of you will have minutes left on your phones
·      If you think someone back home may be awake in the middle of the night for some odd reason, they are not.
·      Waking someone up back home with a surprise call is only appreciated during the first three months of a Peace Corps service.
·      Number of times going to the post office does not increase the number or letters or packages.
·      Whether it is the best day of Peace Corps or the worst, it will end in a matter of hours. Keep some perspective  

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Computer, America can make you bigger, stronger, faster!


My mid-service trip back to America came and went. It was a wonderful time filled with all the things I have missed over the last 14 months. I ate an embarrassing amount of food yet felt no shame about it. I spent time with family and friends. I met seven kids that have some claim to call me aunt (or will when they can speak). And I spent countless hours playing with The Colonel*  

But the most important thing I did, in terms of the duration of my service, was getting my computer fixed. If I may be cheesy for a second, I would like to give a huge thanks to my parents. I would not have been able to get my computer working without their help. They are the greatest parents a kid could ever ask for and while it’s impossible to send a new computer to Ethiopia because of taxes and such, I feel like had I asked them to, there is a serious chance they would have flown halfway around the world to hand deliver one.

Anyways, I am thrilled to have the computer back and I have a long list of topics to write about. I want to finally post pictures from Fasika (aka, the greatest Peace Corps weekend), show off my new place, recount my adventures in a strange land call America, and brag about the summer camp nine Peace Corps Volunteers and myself put on. But for now, I thought I would answer some of the most commonly asked question during my visit home. So, sorry for the hiatus, I’ll try to make up for it!

Do you like it there?
Yes, I love it there actually! Annoyingly, about 50% of the time, my response was followed up with the person asking “Really?” Ethiopia is an amazing place. It is not the most romantic of destinations in Africa and you wont see safari animals here. But if you ever get the chance to visit Ethiopia, take it. I have completely fallen in love with this country. There are things I disagree with and drive me crazy, but the culture, people, food, landscape, and history more than make up for it. 

How hot is it?
Ethiopia has an extremely diverse climate. A region in the northeast of the country called Afar averages the hottest year round temperature in the world. Towns along the mountain ranges can be painfully cold. I personally have gone to the town of Bekoji, about 45 minutes away from Asella, slept in four layers of clothes with three blankets and still been cold*.

But, when people ask me this question, I assume they mean where I specifically live. Asella has a wonderful “weather condition”. Throughout the year, the temperature ranges from 60-75 degrees. A majority of the time, you are looking at cozy cocoa weather.  The seasons are opposite from America. The rainy season is usually June-September (though this year it started in March and has not quit). October- February is the hottest time where it can get to be a sweltering 75 degrees. March-May is ordinarily cool with a little rain here and there.

What is the food like?
Fantastic. I have made no attempt to hide how much I love Ethiopian food. You are on the Internet right now reading this blog. Instead of reading my ramblings, use your favorite search engine to find the nearest Ethiopian restaurant. Turn off your computer, and go there. Why are you still reading this?

Welcome back, I hope you enjoyed your meal! Ethiopian cuisine is perfect for a vegetarian, vegan, or carnivore. There are a lot of lentils, chickpeas, and veggies cooked for hours with onions, garlic, and spices. Chicken, goats, sheep, and cows are commonly eaten, especially on holidays. But if you really want to know about the food, go find some.

What do you do at your school?
My official Peace Corps title is Primary School Teacher Trainer. My aim is to work with the teachers at various elementary schools in the area to develop and improve their English and methodology skills.

What do you actually do at your school?
I hang out a whole lot. I drink tea with teachers everyday. There is not a lot of interest in formal trainings, so most of the work I do has a pretty informal feel. Last year, I was able to accomplish some stuff I am proud of and hopefully the upcoming year will be the same.

I have a weekly club with teachers at my school where we practice speaking English in various ways. I also try to sneak some methodology training in there. For example, we practiced reading aloud to work on reading skills, pronunciation, and public speaking. I picked sections from the textbook for them to practice and then successfully bullied them into read aloud to their classes more often. Through this club, I also set up a Pen Pal program between teachers in Ethiopia and teachers in America. Both groups seemed to really enjoy it, so hopefully that will continue.

I observe and co-teach with teachers as often as possible. While schooling in Ethiopia has come a long way in recent years, there is still a tendency to have the kids silently work all period. I try to push teachers to include more active learning techniques in their lessons and support them in any way possible.

Last year, I had an English club for students, but it was not very successful. I was not excited or motivated to run the club and I think the students read that and as a result, they were not excited or motivated. A teacher from my school and myself were trained on a new program to Ethiopia called Grassroots Soccer. It uses soccer as a vehicle to teach kids about HIV and its prevention. I am pretty excited about it and look forward to devoting a lot of time to an important cause/program.

What is your average day like?
My average day during the school year starts at 8:30 or 9:00. I wake up, cook/eat/clean up breakfast, and arrive at school a little before the teachers’ 10:00am tea break. During the tea break, I will set up whatever I am doing that day. If I am observing a teacher, I will find him or her. If I am running a club, I will pimp it out to everyone. If I am doing nothing, I’ll just hang out and guilt the teachers into practicing English. Once I have finished the day’s task at the school, I will either go home or to a café for lunch. The post-lunch coffee is a daily requirement at this point. From there, I will either go back to school to work with another set of teachers, or do stuff around town. In the evening, I’ll cook dinner, try to weasel my way into a dinner invitation, or go out with friends. If I am out, I leave wherever I am by 9:00pm so as to avoid a run in with a hyena.

It is a pretty relaxed schedule but it often changes without notice. It is not abnormal to get to school to find out I am leading a training I know nothing about. Or, equally as likely, there is no school that day. Some days I will not go to school at all, others I will be there from 7:30-4:30. It took a while to adjust to the inconsistency, but I’ve grown to love the fact that every day is an adventure.

What is the religion?
Again, Ethiopia is fairly diverse but I will assume people want to know specifically about my town. The majority of Asella is Ethiopian Orthodox. There are also many Protestants and Catholics. The number changes depending on who you ask, but I would guess Asella has a Christian population of about 65%. The remaining 35% of the population is Muslim. These two groups coexist in Asella happily. Muslims will go to their neighbor’s house for Christian holidays and Christians will go their neighbor’s house for Muslim holidays. Though that is not the case for all people and all towns in Ethiopia, this has been my experience.

What animals are in Ethiopia?
I would not recommend coming to Ethiopia for a safari. As the country has developed, animals like lions and hippos are becoming rare. Ethiopia has many bird species from what I hear. There is the Ethiopian wolf that is kind of a big deal. There is some sort of wildcat that lives in the mountains of Bekoji and I would imagine throughout the region. There are various types of primates. All over the country there are hyenas and that’s terrifying. In my time in America, I learned there is a misconception about hyenas. The Lion King painted a very inaccurate picture. Hyenas are huge. My head could fit in their jaws. They are the size of donkeys. They will absolutely kill and eat a person without much trouble. But yeah, Ethiopia doesn’t exactly have a sexy collection of animals. 

Are you glad you went there?
Completely. A common Peace Corps slogan is “The Hardest Job You’ll Ever Love”. The past year has been, without question, the hardest of my life. But the past year has also probably been the best. I have met people, seen things, and accomplished goals I will forever take pride in. Relationships with people back home have grown and become stronger. I have been stretched and change in irreversible ways. Simply put, I am a happier and stronger person for my time here.

*The Colonel
*In fairness, I am a wussy when it comes to the cold. And heat. It is a really good thing I ended up in Asella now that I think about it.