Time for Semester Exams

This one will take some explaining...

Ethiopia is in the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 31 years. It is a very exciting time for football fans and attending their first game on Monday night was definitely a highlight of my time here thus far. At some point, I will go into detail and explain what it is like watching the National team play here. But for now, I was forced to have a second lunch after a huge first one so I can hardly function I am so full.

The photo of the day is my favorite so far, but it will take some back story. As mentioned, Ethiopia has not qualified for the Africa Cup for 31 years. As a result ETV (the Ethiopian national channel) has always received the rights for the tournament for free. This year, since Ethiopia is in it, they would need to pay something like 20,000,000 birr to obtain the rights. In the weeks prior, it was rumored that they had/would reach a compromise somewhere between 15-18,000,000. Since the game was on, it was easy to assume they had reached an agreement. Then, in the second half of the game, this came on the screen. And the announcers made a big fuss about ETV committing piracy and shaming them. This screen shot is from the international broadcast (thanks to Abel Asrat for the photo!) so every African country and anyone lucky enough to be watching in the world saw this.

As a result, ETV is a hero in Ethiopia. For those who could read and understand the English during the game, there was laughter and cheers. Everyone else figured it out afterwards. Coming from a country that is so uptight about piracy- where it feels like the government investigates teenagers illegal downloading music better than murders- what an amazing breath of fresh air. So I must say, I feel in love with this country a little more Monday night because of this hilarity.

Self-Supplied Cruel And Unusual Punishment

As I sit on a bench in my house killing time before going out to watch Ethiopia play their first Africa Cup of Nations game, I am enjoying my newest favorite pastime: torturing myself.

I have heard there is a point, in a Peace Corps Volunteer’s service, where the PCV stops driving him or herself crazy dreaming about American food. I foolishly thought I had reached this point. For the past 2 or 3 months, while I had cravings, I felt I had reached a point of contentment, where care package goodies were enough to tame my food desires.

Then, about a week ago, I started smelling bacon. It is important to note that bacon is only sold at two stores in this country- neither of which are in Asella. Muslims and Ethiopian Orthodox are not suppose to eat pork and since those are the two biggest groups in my town, I can say with confidence there is not a single pig or any pork around me. Yet, hand on a burrito, I swear to Carne Asada, I could smell bacon.

From there, it all went downhill. In talking with someone back home, we came upon the subject of pizza. I delved into a ten-minute rant about what type of pizza I would want if I were home. zPizza is cheap and within walking distance. Nice thin crust, a salad, and a Pepsi with ice (WITH ICE!- I don’t remember what that stuff even looks like). But New York/Barros are higher quality and way more greasy. Then I thought about the glory of Tony’s pizza- deep dish with more cheese on a small than I will see over the course of my 27-month service. I may or may not have shed a single tear at the mere thought.

I talked to my mom to find out my family had dinner at BJs pizzeria and brewery. I literally made her tell me what everyone ordered and then placed an order of my own to the universe.

Last night, I daydreamed for 30 minutes about eating at Taqueria de Andes in Yorba Linda. I was debating about what I would order and then had the brilliant (cannot wait to test it) idea to combined Ethiopian style of eating with Mexican good. I dissected the logistics of ordering a burrito and an extra tortilla. I’d open the burrito and use the extra tortilla like injerra to scope up the goodness. The bite distribution would be incredible. Some bites you want meat, others heavy on beans and rice is better. This allows you an ideal bite, every time!

This is my life now. This is what I fantasize about. The moral of this: when I come home in about 6 months for a visit, you will likely be able to find me by going to the greasiest, most unhealthy restaurants you know. I am going to do some serious damage at all my favorite eateries. I bet I can gain 15 pounds in 3 weeks. It is going to be amazing.

Buna!

As predicted, I have become a coffee snob. I have taken to roasting and grinding my own beans. They look glorious!

Ugghhh... I hate traffic.

My New Office

One of the hardest things about being a Peace Corps Volunteer is struggling with the feeling that you are not accomplishing anything by being here. An English Teacher Trainer- my official role- should “help teachers improve their command of English and the methodologies they use in their classrooms”. While that sounds like a noble cause (and it truly is) myself and Volunteers like me will rarely see tangible results of our effort. If you build a well and help provide better drinking water, you can stand back and look at that well in triumph. In teaching, there are very few opportunities to actually see the betterment you have created. (I always love making grammatical mistakes while writing about the process of improving the English language. But this is English not Latin, so I will split infinitives as I damn well please!)

Recently, well months ago actually but things move slow here, I was given an office. By this I mean, they were proud to have a computer room (complete with 3 computers that do not work) and told me I could use it as an office if I wanted to. That clearly shows they do not know me well enough because as far I am concerned, this room is mine now. I have spent a lot of time and effort fixing it up and creating an environment where proper learning can take place. And at the end BOOM, something tangible that I can reflect on and feel pride in!

Here is when I first walked into the room. Spiders probably outnumbered me 100-1. The first steps were: using an entire can of bug spray, washing the walls and mopping the floors. The entire time, school staff seemed impressed that a delicate “forenji” like me could properly clean! 

Once it was clean and I felt safe from spiders the size of my fist, I was able to start rearranging and putting things up on the walls. As someone who has never taught at a primary school, I stole many of the ideas from fellow volunteers. But there is something satisfying about the fact that if someone walked into the room, they would be under the incorrect assumption that I know what I am doing! 

 

 

Finally, the last note worthy thing about my fine new office is what I found while cleaning out old cupboards. I preface this with- this cupboard had not been opened for years, maybe decades.  The reign of corporal punishment has, for the most part, long since ended. But still, I could not help but gasp when I saw an old relic of that time. This is by far the most terrifying switch I have ever seen (as if I have a ton of experience with switches or something). It has a wooden handle about a foot long and then 18 inches of pure leather cut like a whip. This could, and I am sure did, do serious damage.

When things seem unnecessarily difficult and I just want to yell at the ridiculousness of some aspects of this place, this will be a nice reminder of how far they have come.

I was being rained on as I took this, oh Ethiopia!