5/25
We survived the election!  But, seriously the Ethiopian national election was yesterday.  PC was on high alert just to be on the safe side.  We were recommended to stay at our own house during the voting to make sure everyone was in a place PC could reach us.  Of course, with the cell network down for the last week I am not sure how they really thought they could reach me at all…  I was not worried about the election since my town is relatively small, and peaceful.  But, I did stay at my house, not because PC recommended it, but because the power was on ALL DAY!  It was the first time in at least six months.  To be honest, I only moved from my bed to go to the bathroom; for the rest of time I was watching the series “Grimm,” I even cooked and ate from my bed.  I finished about a season and a half yesterday, my site mate came to my house to make sure I wasn’t sick since he hadn’t seen me, I then told him how I had to change my lunch plans because I was too lazy to put on real clothes and go the twenty steps out my front door to buy some bread.  All in all I consider it a very successful day!
On Saturday we went to the market just to get some supplies and eat prickly-pear fruit.  I still have the spines(hair-like prickers) from the fruit in my hand, and I am pretty sure one in my lip. From now on I am letting the Habesha peel my fruit for me.  When we finished we went for coffee and we were hanging out in front of Aster’s coffee house.  The electronics store next door was playing music and “I’m Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO came on.  Ali, the store keeper, skipped it as he does all forenji music until I went over and fussed at him.  He quickly turned it back and I started singing dancing in front of the coffee house.  About that time one of the large buses loaded down with well over a hundred people drove slowly by. The redats (door men) cheered me on, and the passengers could all be seen with their faces pressed to the windows to watch the white boy dancing.  How is that for spreading understanding of Americans to Ethiopia!
Last fun story for now: I was at MSC (mid service training) in the “Teaching HIV at camps” session.   It was time for Jeopardy and we had to decide who would go first.  In true PC fashion it was decided that the last person to have crapped their pants would be first to go.  Everyone began to try and figure out if they were first, it was settled that someone who had a few months ago would be first to go when I raised my hand.  I said that I was pretty certain I would be first having had a problem about two weeks prior.  I won, and our team went on to dominate! 
Random thought, you learn to love the rain after you do laundry.  At least, those of us who are lazy do.  Doing laundry by hand is the worst.  Ask my mom, I used to hate doing laundry because I don’t like to fold clothes.  Well now, doing laundry entails wetting, soaping, scrubbing, rinse scrubbing, rinsing, and THEN folding.  So you can image how I now feel about laundry.  Since my laundry lady stopped doing laundry (I am not sure if she was fired, or decided she doesn’t like doing it, or what) I have been doing my own.  No surprise, I am lazy about it, and often skip the second rinse.  That means, that quite often my laundry goes on the line to dry with a little ,or a lot, of soap still on it.  But, that is where the rain comes in.  The Ethiopian second rinse is a well known/loved part of the Ethiopian weather by PCVs. 
Crapping in a hole… when people think of travelling to foreign countries they often dread the hole.  I don’t know if it is because we think it is unsanitary, even though our rears never have to touch something that was touched by a thousand other peoples butt cheeks that day; or if we think it will be uncomfortable, you do have to figure out the right position so your legs don’t go to sleep but after that it is so much more…linear for things to make their way out.  But I really have come to enjoy them.  Don’t get me wrong, a nice porcelain throne can make a day once in a while.  But I really do like the way a shinta bet works.  Now, to be fair there are BAD shinta bets.  Whether it is lack of cleanliness, or the ever dreaded splash back!!!  Imagine squatting over a hole in the ground, doing your business above a lake of filth below, then all of a sudden you hear a splash and feel the drips of a million bowel movements ever so (not)gently hit your buttocks.  The thoughts that go through your mind are hardly repeatable in a blog.  But, horror stories aside I think I am going to miss the squat toilet. 
Hopefully I have entertained, and disgusted a few of you.  The rest, well this is just how my brain is functioning today. I should soon be back to the more orderly, and fulfilling blog posts shortly.  Until next time.

5/17
G10 is now one year into service.  It is hard to image even what I was doing one year ago.  How scary it was coming to site.  Trying to figure out what the heck I was doing in the middle of rural Ethiopia, or what I was going to do with myself for two whole years here.  Now, some days I can honestly say I still ask the same questions.  But, some days I can’t help but wonder about how I am in Africa, living, and working among new friends and people I could never have imagined a year ago.  I’m reading a book now called “One Hand Does Not Catch A Buffalo.”  It is a book that was created as one in a series about the development of Peace Corps and to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary.  Reading it is reinforcing the amazing history I have found myself a part of. 
For those of you who really don’t know what Peace Corps is, or what we REALLY do I want to explain a little.  For that I am going to add a little history first.  The PC was proposed several times before it was actually adopted.  When it was put before President Nixon, it was rejected as just another way for people to “dodge” the draft.  Then Kennedy, as a presidential candidate, on October 14, 1960 asked students at the University of Michigan at 2 a.m. how many would be prepared to give years of their lives working in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.  The day after his election the new President asked Sargent Shriver to form a presidential task force to report how the Peace Corps should be organized, and to make it happen.  Within one month the report was presented to the president on the morning of Friday, February 24, 1961 with the promise that “If you decide to go ahead, we can be in business by Monday morning.”  From that, the PC was conceived with the goals of “contributing to the development of critical countries and regions; promoting international cooperation and goodwill towards this country; and contributing to the education of America and to more intelligent American participation in the world.”  To this day the Peace Corps still works towards these same, slightly reworded, ideas. 
In February, 2014, I joined the ranks of Peace Corps volunteers to train for Peace Corps service.  At the inception of PC volunteers had to do training such as Tarzan style rope swings into nets, and morning runs, things like language training, home stay, and yes, even drinking the local home-made alcohols remain to this day an integral part of training,  Many other things have been removed from the training program.  The main theme of every PC post in the world is integration.  Some volunteers may never have what they consider a “successful” project.  But, making household gardens, or teaching English is not what PC is about.  Sure, those may play a role in what we do, but goal two and three are all about understanding.  If we can help our community understand American culture, and bring back our host countries culture to America then we have succeeded in our service. 
All of that is great, but it doesn’t really tell you what Peace Corps Volunteers really do!  We promote world peace, we spread culture, we help train people to better their lives and the lives of their countrymen.  But, what does that mean.  Well if you ask any PCV what they thought they were coming to do when they joined PC, nine times out of ten they will say “I wanted to change the world.”  Then if you ask Returned Peace Corps Volunteers what they did they will say I am the one that changed.  We who join PC are the idealists.  The people who want to go out and teach a community, and see their whole communities lives change.  Then when you get into your host community and see how things really work you start to understand that probably isn’t going to happen.  But, what really changes?  Other than yourself, it is the people you interact with day to day.  Maybe you teach a women to make a tippy tap to wash their hands before they feed their baby and help prevent the baby from catching a water borne illness.  Or perhaps you teach a man living with HIV how to make a bio-intensive garden so he can feed himself.  Or maybe you tutor a student and help them do better on their exams so they can get into university.  There are plenty of examples of volunteers helping to build wells to help water their entire village, but by far the the average volunteer feels their service is a success from the small actions that affect one or two people.  And, by affecting that one you better their lives.  From there that one person tells one or two people, who in turn tells one or two more.  And that one small action can change the whole community.  That is what PC really is.  The small actions, that can go on to change the world. 
So if you are thinking about joining Peace Corps what is the advice I would give you?   First of all I would say do it!  Understand that when they say it is the “toughest job you will ever love” they aren’t kidding.  PC service will try you in every way possible.  You will have the worst days of your life, and the best.  I would also say come with the idea of “changing the world.”  Maybe you will realize that you probably aren’t going to change the world.  But it is like one of my favorite quotes “what is an ocean but a multitude of drops.”  So while you might not change the world; you will be part of a history of PCVs who are changing the world and making it a better place.

2/5
Back from my first real vacation in Ethiopia.  I have visited Hawassa for a day or two to refresh.  But I just went to Harar for several days and was a real tourist for the first time.  Harar is one of the oldest cities in Ethiopia, and it is a Muslim Holy city.  It is a walled city, with the old city having museums, and buildings built around the time the city was started.  Harar is also known for it’s color.  The people often wear brightly colored cloths, and almost all the buildings are painted in pastels, and other bright colors.  It was truly an amazing place to visit.  But, before I start on about the city, I should tell about getting OUT of Addis, and on the road.
I was in Addis for a GAD meeting, where we met our new members, and discussed planning for the upcomeing AGE summit.  The day we were to leave Addis we got up and left the hotel around six AM.  The bus station we had to get to is far outside of town, and taxis charge a lot to get there, so we decided to take the busses to get there.  But, there was one problem, we weren’t sure which buses to take.  So on the corner of the road we asked a lady, and she happened to be going that way.  She told us to wait with her and she would help us get on the bus.  Well we were thinking we were waiting on a line-taxi (15 passenger vans that run specific short routes in town), but after maybe twenty minutes of waiting, we realized it must be a large city bus.  None of us had ever ridden those busses, but the lady seemed to know what she was doing so we decided to give it a try.  When the bus finally arrived we got on only to realize that they are SLOW.  I mean, the distance that would have taken three or four minutes in a line taxi took ten.  Then it is time to get off the bus…and we realize we have NO idea where we are.  But, our friend from earlier finds us and tells us we have to get on another bus.  So we get to our next stop, and we know we are in the general area of the bus station, but are still lost.  We once again get told we have to find another bus.   By this time we are over an hour past when we wanted to leave.  So we try to get a taxi, but they are all full, the line taxis are also all full, and we aren’t sure how we are going to make it to the station.  Then a bus pulls up and ask where we are going.  There is only a couple kids, the driver, and door man on the bus.  He tells us they will take us to the station, but charge us ten birr each (we could have line taxied all the way from the hotel for less), but we agree.  After a few stops we realize that only kids are getting on the bus and they are all in school uniforms.  It was a school bus, and we were the only adults, much less Americans on the bus.  The kids were from a private school so their English was pretty good, we ended up talking to them, and taking pictures.  It was actually pretty fun after a rough start to the morning.  The rest of the day we were on busses to get to Harrar.  We finally get there, go to a hotel and rent a room.  We managed to get local prices, instead of the foreigner mark up so we stayed in a sweet!
Ok, so now to Harar.  It is truly a beautiful city.  The culture is very unique, and the things to do are nearly limetless.  We started the first day off going to the museum de Rembeau (sp), he was a french man that came to Ethiopia and lived in Harar for many years.  We saw his art and poetry, as well as some of the history in pictures of the town.  Then we wondered the town for a while just seeing the old city.  After a while we met up with another part of our group, they had met a college kid who wanted to show us around town so he could practice his English.  He first took us to the meat market.  We arrived and a bunch of kids ran out immediatly and started holding out pieces of meat in their hands.  But, to our surprise they weren’t doing it for us to eat, but for the hawks on all the surrounding roof tops.  As soon as they would open their hands a group of hawks would swoop down, and the first one there would grab the meat from their open hands.  After that the began putting it on top of their heads.  Soon, the brought us over and had us feed them.  It was amazing to see these amazing animals with huge talons swoop down, and with barely a graze to our hands grab this piece of meat.
After the show, it was time for the group to try camel meat.  I, as a vegetarian, of course did not try it.  But, I was told that it was amazing to eat.  Then we headed off for the Harar beer factory.  Of course being in Harar, Harar beer is everywhere.  But, it was cool to drink some straight from the source.  Finally we closed out the night with dancing at a local club.
The next day we took it easy and just explored the city some more, then went to the pool for a while.
Then it was time for the wild day.  We got up early and took a taxi out of the city to Babille Elephant sanctuary.  After picking up an armed guard we drove a short way to a nearly dry river bead.  After finding our way across we walked through a chat field, through some scrub land, and all of a sudden the guard told us to stop.  Just off the path maybe fifty meters was an elephant.  From there we went off onto a little foot path till we found an area with a better view.  The guide had us each climb a tree to get a look.  Then we continued on closer.  We ended up so close the elephant got anxious and finally turned around and went off to the other two of its group.  It was very cool seeing how quickly and easily these massive animals followed foot paths so narrow that at points we had to turn sideways.  After tracking them for a while they managed to give us the slip.  On the way back we watched some monkeys and went off the beaten path a little.
That night it was time to feed the hyenas.  There are two men in Harar that have managed to get them calm enough they can be fed from sticks in your mouth.  So after he called them over, we took turns feeding the hyenas.  Then it was my turn, and he told me that the one coming up was the nicer one, and I should hug it.  So of course as it comes to grab the food I wrapped it in a big bear hug.  He quickly got tired of it, but it was interesting hugging an animal with one of the highest jaw pressures in the animal kingdom.  After that it was time to close out the night with some pizza.
The ride home was long, and we went through Awash (a mostly desert area) and the whole bus full of people were on the verge of heat stroke.  But, it was totally worth the long, arduous, trip to get to see that city.  So far, my favorite place in Ethiopia.

5/14/15  It has been a while since I posted.  I think I am getting lazy about this whole blogging thing.  The biggest thing that comes to my mind is how time flies.  It has been a whole year since I arrived at site, and fifteen months since I landed in Ethiopia.  It has been an amazing year.  I have met great people, both habesha, and forenji.  I have met people who I will call friends for the rest of my life.  And I have seen things, both good and bad, that will forever be a part of me.  Looking forward to the year ahead I am worried that it is going to go TOO fast.  I have so much to do, so many things to see, and people who I want to work with.  In the next few months I hope to do two bee and honey training sessions, work more with the GAD committee, train both G12, and G13 on different subjects, have a mini-camp this summer in my town, improve the communities existing projects, continue my work with the bees, and have at least one bio-intensive garden training session.  I also have ideas for working on nutrition, oral rehydration solutions, sanitation, and about a dozen things that don’t pop into my head at just this time.  On top of that my vacation in America is quickly approaching!  About once a day I get all excited about having the sand between my toes, sitting on a beach, with a drink in my hand and I get soo excited…Oh, and seeing family; that is what I really think of first…no really. 
We are all about to leave Addis.  G10 has been here for Mid-service conference and it has been amazing seeing everyone and, between sessions, trying to catch up.  It has been a week and a half of being stabbed by doctors, eating the buffet at the Sheraton hotel (the best food I have had in the last year), and sitting through sometimes great and sometimes terrible sessions.  I have a taxi taking me to the bus station tomorrow at 5:30AM.  Then it will be nine months until I get to see all these amazing people at one time again.  I have been saying all week how I wanted to leave early to go back to site.  I consider it one of my great accomplishments that I now consider Gassera home, and I am home sick.  That being said I am truly sad to have to be saying goodbye. 
Going forward I am preparing myself.  I have made a list of goals for myself.  Things like smiling at people more, taking it less personally when people call me forenji, and being more forceful in order to get people to help me with projects which are high on my list.  I also have a list of projects I want to accomplish before I leave.  On top of that, I am planning on having a horse within the next two weeks.  I know, I know; I have been saying that for a year.  I have even earned myself a line in the AG wheels on the bus song “the Trey on the bus, still no horse, still no horse.”  I swear though, it is going to happen!  Also I just got my chickens; I ordered them about four months, and of course they choose to bring them the week that I am in training.  But, I am excited to become a chicken farmer.  All of this, and all within the constricts of travelling to Addis every two to three weeks until it is time for my vacation.  So here is too the next year, and my future sanity!
Miss you all everyday, and can’t wait to be back for a whole MONTH!

4/15
Melkam Fasica (Happy Easter) everyone.  I hope you had a great holiday and that all of my friends and family get fat on all the forenji food while I am gone.  Fasica has come and gone, but I am still dealing with the after effects.  Easter here is celebrated a week after American Easter, and even though it was on this last Sunday, now even on Wednesday many of the shops are closed, the school isn’t in session, and friends are still away visiting family.  I thankfully passed this holiday with much less discomfort than last year (I had an amoeba on Fasica last year), and I was able to enjoy Mexican food with great friends! 
These past few weeks have gone pretty well.  My site mate has come and we have been enjoying living in Gassera.  Water has still been off, except for two days, for two months.   Along with water issues, power has been off more than on, and the cell network has been pretty terrible.  Otherwise, it has been good though.  I am supposed to start new work next week (will believe it when I see it), and as soon as my saddle is finished being built I will be buying my horse.  I also have been asked to come support a volunteer near Hawassa with providing beekeeping training for the college.  I am hoping I will be able to get that going soon. 
On Monday I am supposed to go out to some of my rural kabeles and start helping them develop monitoring strategies to determine if they are being successful and profitable.  Then, depending on the information try to help them improve.  It will be a difficult task since people in this country have a very hard time changing.  But, I am going to give it a go at least.  I am going to try to work on seed multiplication, pump irrigation, poultry production, and honey production (continuing this work). 
I keep getting asked how my bees are doing so I am going to put a little in here about them.  Bee keeping is a project where I feel I could continue to learn for as long as I keep.  I have bought more bees and I intend to try and transfer them in a few months.  But, I have also been seeing a lot of bees around town.  When bees outgrow their home they create a new queen and approximetly half of the bees leave with the old queen to find a new hive.  I have been able to catch one of these swarms, but sadly the bees did not stay in the hive.  But, just from that experience I learned several things.  I have also been asked to clear some bees out of an office.  The health post in one of the rural kabeles has two rooms, as well as the whole ceiling infested with bees.  I went out to see them, but sadly the office was closed and I could not.  Since the bees have invaded one of the offices has been sealed, and another is on the verge of not being able to be used.  I guess when people come to the health post they don’t enjoy being stung, go figure.  So as soon as I can figure out the details I am going to go and try to collect all the bees, then add them to my hives so I can use them as examples.  Now is the small rainy season, so the bees have a few plants and trees that are flowering so they have some food.  But, soon the rains will stop for a few months, and then the real beekeeping season will start.  I am anxious for it to come, because this season is the last chance I will have for getting people to actually improve what they are doing and make some real changes.  I hope I can help them graduate to real beekeeping and maybe actually be able to improve their livelihood!
Moving on to my clubs, they are…complicated.  I currently am trying to work on the same four clubs I had before the break.  But, so far I have had two individual meetings of the clubs in about two months.  It is very frustrating because either the teachers don’t come, or the students don’t come, or there is a holiday no one ever told me about.  I am really not sure what I am going to do with these.  But, on top of all that, the older students are preparing for their national exams.  So, the kids I really enjoyed working with are studying for the most important test of their lives and, understandably, are not coming to club.  But, if I can get my gender club to come back, the next two lessons are sexual reproductive anatomy, then condom olympics.  I noticed during my last meeting that the kids didn’t have a good understanding of many common sexual practices, and even my adult friends do not know how to properly use a condom.  It is interesting to me that so much emphasis is placed on HIV and STI prevention, but there is no understanding of how these things are passed, or what activities are more dangerous for STI transmission.  Last week I tried to teach the anatomy lesson, but the students didn’t come, so I sat at my coffee shop and we did the lesson with my adult friends and one of the students that I had enlisted to help me.  Then, sitting in front of the main roads, we did condom demonstrations.  You would be surprised at how little you care about attention after you have spent a year being stared at walking down the street, eating, going to the market, or pretty much anything.   
In general though it has been life as usual.  For instance I have nothing to do right now, well a few things I COULD do but don’t want to, and I am just trying to decide if I want to read a book, or take a nap.  Let me tell you, it is a hard decision.

3/26
It has been a busy few weeks, I have barely slept, and not had much of any free time.  (That is about as far as I got before I had to take a nap) and I’m back.  The AGE summit is behind us, the kids are home, and the GAD committee is glad to breath a sigh of relief that everything went so well.  But, there is no rest for the weary.  As the M&E officer (monitoring and evaluating) it is now my duty to put into numbers all of the things that we did.  For your sake I will say it looks something like forty kids directly trained to be leaders and gender ambassadors for their country.  We also are hoping/estimating that those kids over the next few weeks will help train about fourteen-hundred other kids on gender related activities.  I have to say I was incredibly impressed with the kids that came.  They are without a doubt Ethiopia’s best and brightest.  They were intelligent and quick learners, who were able to understand instructions that many of the kids I work with would have taken weeks to understand.  I truly have very high hopes for them, not only for their individual futures, but what they could accomplish for their country!  It was great getting to see them participate in activities, running their first ever 5K with nearly seven thousand other women, and meeting people like the American ambassador to Ethiopia, the creators of different NGOs, and the programmer of one of Ethiopia’s TV programs entirely dedicated to educating the child viewers (think sesame street).  The look on their faces when they met Ethiopia’s Miss Ethiopia winner, who also happens to be an airline pilot as well as a humanitarian, was fantastic.  Finally, meeting the girls from the Center for Creative Leadership, who were not only our translators but also fun, amazing, dedicated girls, is a friendship I am truly happy to have made. 
Still, for me I still have at least a weekends work ahead of me to meet my deadline for submitting the final breakdown.  Already I have spent about a day of working on collating the data, and sifting through endless pages of numbers and names.  The amount of a breakdown that they want for the grant is really annoying, and especially since I was ill-prepared for having to do it like this.  Still, it will get done, and then I will sleep for a full night for the first time in three weeks.  
To add on to all of the AGE summit, I also had my second site visit by the PC this week.  One of my program managers came to see how I was doing, talk to community members and make sure they were satisfied with me, and help me with any difficulties I may have been having.  It went great, with my co-workers getting ideas about how I can help them, as well as me getting great feedback that I think will greatly improve how I am working here.  I am excited to see that changes that come out of the meeting. 
Finally, I have had an interesting week with the bees.  I am was given a swarm of bees that someone had found in a tree.  This prompted me to quickly prepare a hive for them, and set things up in less than an hour.  That happened among a full day of work making for an interesting afternoon.  I am also preparing to buy three more colonies from one of the teachers I work with.  So at least for the next few days I know I will be kept well occupied. 
Finally, to bring all of this to a close I had great news the other night around 11 pm in the form of a knock on my door from my landladies son.  The water is BACK!  It was a few days short of being six weeks without water!  I don’t know how long it will stay, but I am going to be making the best of it.  My laundry is being washed right now, some of it has been dirty for about seven weeks at this point!
3/4
It has been a long time since I checked in last.  I have been here at site, my typical day has settled into a few hours at the office where I play a game on my computer or read a book.  Then going for coffee for a few hours, lunch, maybe a movie, more coffee, then bed time.  I am trying to get the school clubs started back up, but as getting them started in the first place, getting them resumed is taking an act of god. 
The AGE summit is almost here.  I am leaving for Addis on Saturday. It is exciting that months of work is about to come together. I am crossing my fingers that it all goes well.  Also my new site mate came for site visit this week.  It should be fun to have another American to hang out with now.  The Ethiopians that I hang out with keep telling me I am speaking another language to the new PCV.  They are so used to how I talk to them, pronouncing everything very carefully and slowing down my speech, that when I talk to an American they don’t understand anything. 
Finally, today I am supposed to get a visit from Peter Vrooman, the Deputy Chief of Mission, from the US embassy.  He is going to stop by with his family for lunch before he heads back to Addis.  It has been an interesting week in the middle of being so bored and it is so refreshing. 
2/19
It has been several weeks of nothing to do.  Two weeks before the kids had their exams I stopped the clubs.  I wanted them to have the time to study, but, I also wanted a break.  About the same time bee keeping season ended.  So with my projects on hold I have had a lot of time on my hands.  Pretty much the only thing I have done since then is go to a wedding.  It was actually not bad, they had a lot of T’ej there (honey whine) so I was able to stay entertained.  That was the second wedding I have been to in Ethiopia (not including the one I crashed), so far I have gone to an Orthodox wedding, and a Catholic wedding.  I need to go to a Muslim wedding, and I will have seen the gambit. 
Last week the power was out for about four days, coming on for only about ten minutes a day, if at all.  Also the phone lines were cut, I am not sure how or why, so there was no cell, land line, or internet access for about three days.  Finally there has been no water for going on three weeks now.  I keep eighty liters of water at my house, but I ran out early into the second week, my landlord keeps a fifty-five gallon drum of water, along with I don’t know how many jerry cans, even she ran out.  It has come down to sending jerry cans on a donkey or horse cart in the afternoon, and the next day they return them.  Since I only have one jerry can it means I have to be very careful with water consumption.  Still, people ask me how Gassera is, and I still tell them it is fine, I don’t find it difficult to live here.  They always look at me like I am crazy and say: “there is a lack of power, and water, and network, it is not good.”  I just tell them it isn’t a problem, and that I still like living here.  I would think that after living here your whole life that it would be something you hardly even notice anymore. 
So I have had a lot of time to think these last few weeks.  I felt like sharing some of my thoughts.  I apologize in advance!
With just the money I make as a “resettlement allowance” to go home at the end of my service, I could live in this town for approximately 5.5years.
In Amharic and Oromifa they have only one word for both “need”, and “want”.  Is that because in these languages infancy, needs were the same as wants?  Or is it because, these cultures consider wants and needs as equal.  Sometimes I wonder about this.
I am the first white person ever to live in this area of Ethiopia.  I guess that kinda makes sense that the women point me out to their children and tell them to look at the forenji.
I have another post already to go, but I forgot to post it last time I was in Robe.  It describes my visit to Harar, but I want to be able to add some pictures to it, so it will have to wait till the next time I have a computer with internet

1/26
It is amazing what a few hours can make on the course of your day.  I went to say goodbye to some Dutch friends who had finished their work here and are returning home.  They invited us to their home for food, drinks, and goodbyes.  I left in the late morning, on the bus, I was subjected to more than the usual amount of people pointing and talking about me.  There was a lady who was trying to get me to sit by her or give her my number, and on the ride there a very young girl in the seat by me was trying to press up against me and even put her head on my shoulder a few times.  Needless to say it was not a very enjoyable ride.  I get to Robe, and head to a restaurant for lunch.  As soon as I walk in this kid yells at me to “give me money”, I tell him he is “balagay” (rude: very insulting to Ethiopians) and walk to a table.  He came back and I had to be very forceful with him, but he finally got the picture and seemed to understand that he was making me angry.  I had a great breakfast though and that lifted my spirits again.  I did some shopping and couldn’t find a lot of what I wanted to buy. As I got onto my email, the network went out so I wasn’t able to even look at a single message.   I went to get a drink and the lady at the first place walked away as I was talking and went to a coworker and started pointing and talking about me, so I left.  The next place was similar but I managed to get a drink, but at that point I was steaming again.  But then I made it to my friends house.  They had invited many people, and prepared amazing food, both traditional and foreign.  There was shiro and doro (chicken) wat with enjera, as well as fallafel, humus, and meat loaf.  The best part was the HUGE plate of chocolates, cookies, and pastries.  We spent most of the time eating, talking, and listening to music I have never heard before.  Then we played settlers of Bale with leftovers, coffee, and tea.  It truly helped me forget the rough day I had.  On the bus it almost started up again when they tried to charge me 40 birr for the ride back to Gassera.  It normally costs 29 and I was starting to make a fuss, but one of the teachers from my school explained that there had been no buses going to site so they had negotiated with a bus that normal goes another route to take us, they had of course charged more but it was the agreed upon amount.  I was in the very last row by a window.  And even though Ethiopians HATE riding with the windows open, I decided I was going to enjoy myself this ride so I opened the window wide and stuck my head in the wind.  It is crazy the amount of enjoyment I can get from just having the wind in my face.  It took me back to riding along the ocean with the windows open.  Even though by the time I got back to site my face and entire right side of my body had a thick layer of dust on it, it still was well worth it. 
Tomorrow I am going back to Addis to have a GAD committee meeting, then if I get approval I am going on a short vacation to see the city of Harrar.  Everyone who has gone has said how beautiful it is so I am very excited to see it.  I am excited for the trip, but I know that when I get back to site I have to really buckle down and find some new work to do before I lose my mind.

2/19
It has been several weeks of nothing to do.  Two weeks before the kids had their exams I stopped the clubs.  I wanted them to have the time to study, but, I also wanted a break.  About the same time bee keeping season ended.  So with my projects on hold I have had a lot of time on my hands.  Pretty much the only thing I have done since then is go to a wedding.  It was actually not bad, they had a lot of T’ej there (honey whine) so I was able to stay entertained.  That was the second wedding I have been to in Ethiopia (not including the one I crashed), so far I have gone to an Orthodox wedding, and a Catholic wedding.  I need to go to a Muslim wedding, and I will have seen the gambit. 
Last week the power was out for about four days, coming on for only about ten minutes a day, if at all.  Also the phone lines were cut, I am not sure how or why, so there was no cell, land line, or internet access for about three days.  Finally there has been no water for going on three weeks now.  I keep eighty liters of water at my house, but I ran out early into the second week, my landlord keeps a fifty-five gallon drum of water, along with I don’t know how many jerry cans, even she ran out.  It has come down to sending jerry cans on a donkey or horse cart in the afternoon, and the next day they return them.  Since I only have one jerry can it means I have to be very careful with water consumption.  Still, people ask me how Gassera is, and I still tell them it is fine, I don’t find it difficult to live here.  They always look at me like I am crazy and say: “there is a lack of power, and water, and network, it is not good.”  I just tell them it isn’t a problem, and that I still like living here.  I would think that after living here your whole life that it would be something you hardly even notice anymore. 
So I have had a lot of time to think these last few weeks.  I felt like sharing some of my thoughts.  I apologize in advance!
With just the money I make as a “resettlement allowance” coming home at the end of my service, I could live in this town for approximately 5.5years.
In Amharic and Oromifa they have only one word for both “need”, and “want”.  Is that because in these languages infancy, needs were the same as wants?  Or is it because, these cultures consider wants and needs as equal.  Sometimes I wonder about this.
I am the first white person ever to live in this area of Ethiopia.  I guess that kinda makes since that the women point me out to their children and tell them to look at the forenji.
I have a post already to go, but I forgot to post it last time I was in Robe.  It describes my visit to Harar, but I want to be able to add some pictures to it, so it will have to wait till the next time I have a computer with internet

1/22
It has been a busy week.  A new group of volunteers, G12, have arrived in Ethiopia.  I was asked to come help give them some training on life in Ethiopia.  It was a fun getting to know them.  I was able to show some of them around the fun places in Addis, and others I introduced to T’ej (locally brewed honey wine), and Arake (local moonshine).   Others volunteers and  I  took the newbies to see Timket (Epiphany).  Here it is celebrated by the churches taking their model ark of the covenants to be blessed.  People parade with them to the locations, then after the blessing with holy water, they are taken back to the churches.  Addis is the second largest celebration site in Ethiopia. The roads were closed and thousands of people came out to see the procession.  Along with all the work, dental, and things I had to do in Addis, I barely even slept.  It was really fun getting to know the new volunteers. I am excited to see who I get at my site. 
The GAD comittee is preparing for the AGE summit, that’s the Action For Gender Equality summit.  It is a run in Addis to promote equality for women.  GAD is bringing a group of ten volunteers and twenty of the kids they work with at site to Addis.  While there, we will teach gender-related lessons, promote good health, etc, as well as of course running in the event.  We have already booked people like the US ambassador to Ethiopia, and one of the girls empowerment groups working in Ethiopia to speak to the girls.  The idea is that the girls and boys will take what they learn in Addis and become change agents in their towns promoting equality and working with their volunteers in the clubs.  Since this is such a big event it is taking a lot of planning and work, we are having another meeting this coming week to finish the major planning.  That means I am travelling BACK to Addis.  It is a lot of traveling to go from Addis on Tuesday, arrive at site on Wednesday, going to Robe to say goodbye to friends on Saturday, then back to Addis on Tuesday.  Still I am going to make the most of it, and since my programs are on hold at the moment it is a good time to get out and about. 
Last but certainly not least.  I found out this week that some of my best friends got engaged!  I am so excited for them, not only that though, but I have been asked to officiate the wedding when I get back from Ethiopia!  I can’t wait to do it, right after I get some Krispy Kreme doughnuts of course.  😉

1/6
The holidays are almost over.  Tomorrow is the Ethiopian Christmas, then it things will get back to normal.  The schools are gearing up for mid-terms, then the break.  So I have not club meetings for about a month.  That means that I have NOTHING to do.  The beekeeping season is over.  The person I was working with to try to do the banana disease training has changed offices so I can’t do it with him anymore.  So right now I am bored.  I decided to get some chickens so I have been building a chicken coupe.  It is almost done now, I just have to buid the doors and it will be finished.  It has been interesting building it, and I remembered how much I HATE carpentry.  Especially since the most sophisticated tool I have is a tape measure.  If I ever decided to do something like this again it wouldn’t be with out at LEAST a drill.  But, when I finish with this I will be back to nothing to do.  I really need to add another project so I can at least stay a bit busy.  That being said the next few weeks shouldn’t be too bad.  A NGO worker who lives near here is coming this weekend to see my area.  In a week and a half I am going to Addis to do a training, and to have a tooth checked out.  Then I am thinking about a mini vacation.  By that time the schools will be about ready to start back up, so I will be back to having two days a week with things to do.  But, I still want to add something on to my schedule. 
Last week PC came to assess my site for a new volunteer.  They approved a health volunteer!  So in about three months I will have someone to keep me company.  I have to work on finding a house for them now though.  It is going to be interesting since all the people I usually work with have been busy or not very helpful recently.  I don’t know when PC is coming out to approve the housing either so that adds on a little complication.  But, regardless, I am excited to see who comes.  Since I am giving the new group training in the next few weeks my plan is to try to find the person I would like to come, then request them.  I am hopefull that we will be able to do a few projects together, and I am going to have them start up a few new clubs so the schools should be happy about that. 
I will be in Addis a lot over the next few months, giving trainings, going to trainings, and doing comittee stuff.  So I am in a way looking forward to that. I don’t really like Addis, but being able to have great internet, and forenji food is exciting.  Plus, getting to hang out with my friends is always nice.  Otherwise, it is the same old.  I am drinking way too much coffee, and hanging out with some friends.  That is about it for now.  Hopefully things get busy again so I can keep what little sanity I have left!
Miss you all, and I hope you had a great holiday season.

Note: there are several dates of blogs in this posting due to the unavailability of internet.

12/28
Merry belated Christmas, and Happy New Year!!!
This has been my first of several without my family.  The first year I have spent my birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas without being with family.  It doesn’t help that they all fall within a month and a week from each other.  Honestly it wasn’t too bad.  While I missed you guys a TON, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  For lunch my landlord had me over for lunch and a coffee ceremony.  I had not been feeling well and had JUST laid down in bed to try and take a nap when she knocked on my door.  That all took several hours of course so I only got to take a short nap before I had to go back into town to call the fam.  I was happy to be able to talk to my family on Christmas, even though it was freezing outside, the connection wasn’t great, and I was sick.  But, of course I am willing to sacrifice for you guys 😉  I was sitting in front of my coffee shop talking to everyone, and when I finished I went and said goodbye to her; but the thing was she had already made plans for me.  I tried to get out nicely, telling her that I was sick and really just wanted to go to be.  She was very dissapointed (and maybe a little offended), so I caved and agreed.  She had me, and about seven of her friends over where she had cooked some food, and prepared a coffee ceremony for us.  It was extreemly thoughtful of her, especially since Ethiopians celebrate Christmas on December 29th, which falls on January 9th of our calendar so for her it was just another day.  But, being sick (and nauseous) meant I was having to try really hard to seem like I was enjoying it.  If I hadn’t felt terrible it would have been great though!  After all that and not getting home to almost ten pm I just wanted to sleep in, but of course I couldn’t.  Friday the president of Oromia came through town and my coworkers had told me I had to come and meet him.  So I got up early, too sick to eat breakfast I went to work hungry, tired, and feeling aweful.  I sit at the office and for some reason only one person was there.  I figured people were off getting things ready to receive him, but after ten oclock I felt like something was definitly fishy.  I checked with the one person there and he told me that the president wasn’t actually coming to town, but going through town on the way to Balo Aminia.  A walk I take regularly and coule easily have done that morning.  But, I was told he was already there, and probably wouldn’t be staying long, so my waking up, and making the trip to the office was a total waste of time. 
I went home, frustrated, and feeling worse by the minute.  When I got home I was promptly sick for several hours, and about every five minutes.  I decided that it was time for some medicine so I went to a pharmacy, and by the time I got home (without taking any meds) I was feeling better.  I don’t know what happened, if I just got whatever it was out of my system, or if it was just a short acting thing, but after that everything was good.  So that was how I spent my Christmas.  Eating food I felt like I was going to puke up, and freezing to death.  So why do I say it wasn’t that bad…well, it just didn’t bother me for some reason.  I don’t know what to say, maybe I am used to being here, maybe it was because during the day it was hot as crap and didn’t feel like Christmas; maybe it was because people took the time to try and make my day special even though for them it wasn’t a normal holiday.  But, whatever it was, it was nice to know that I can get through such an important holiday in Ethiopia. 
Otherwise things have bee pretty normal.  I have had a few interesting things over that last few weeks.  I was invited to help harvest honey at one of the rural kabeles.  I knew they weren’t going to do it right and wouldn’t listen to me.  So instead of helping I just took pictures.  I would be posting a few of them, but there is no internet.  I also got invited to go on an inspection of the farmer training centers that USAID was doing.  It was interesting to see what they were doing, and how.  I also enjoyed getting to see some of the many kabeles I have not been able to see yet.  I am up to nine out of twenty-one so far.  In English club I had the kids make Christmas cards and we discussed the different ways people celebrate the holidays in America.  In one club I wasn’t specific enough so all the kids made cards to me!  Otherwise it has been pretty normal here at site, although I have realized I am now addicted to coffee.  If I go too long without drinking it I get a terrible headache!  I would try to wean myself off of it, but coffee is a way of life here so I guess that will just have to wait till I get back to the states.   
This week I have a lot to do and happening.  I have to finish getting my local material bee veils made.  I need to inspect my bees to see what they are up too.  I want to finish making my fruit dehydrator.  I need to plan for my next few English clubs, get my lesson ready for the boys club, and figure out how I am going to report the assignments to the students so they can see if there is any change from coming to club.  My peace corps report is going to be emailed to me to start filling out (but since there has been no internet in Robe for the last month and a half I am not sure how I am going to accomplish that).  I am trying to get my landlord to let me make a chicken coup, then I have to get some modern chickens ordered.  I want to try to get my horse AGAIN this weekend (I am over two months of pestering my counterparts to help my buy it).  Peace Corps is coming out to determine if they are going to put a health volunteer in my site, which would mean someone here to keep me company and help me with projects, and another group of PC is coming out to do my second site visit to talk to me about what I am doing, and help me solve any problems, etc that I am having.  Finally I am supposed to go out to a rural kabele to do some beekeeping and poultry training.  Should be an interesting, if hectic, week.
I hope you all ate way too much food these last few weeks and also that you have a great 2015!  (Or by the Ethiopian calendar, a great rest of your 2007) 
12/17
So nothing has changed since the last time I wrote here.  When I say nothing, I do mean NOTHING.  I had no club meetings last week due to testing.  I had no work because the only active programs I have right now is the beekeeping and the clubs.  On top of that my counterparts were giving training all weekend so I wasn’t able to get a horse…again.  I am still not giving up though.  I really want a way to get out of town for a few hours on the weekend and just explore and get around a bit.  So planning on it again this week.  All I did all week last week was drink a LOT of coffee.  I probably averaged 4-6 cups a day.  I did get invited for lunch to one of my friends houses.  He had BBC news going so I got a little glimpse of civilization!  His wife was very nice and cooked us pasta and tea.  It was a nice time just hanging out and talking. 
I went to Robe on Monday to get some interent, pick up some food, mail letters, get some stuff working on my new phone that requires interent access, and check up with Jill and Dev’s landlord.  It was pretty much all a bust.  There was no cell internet network, no internet at any of the internet cafe’s, the food I wanted was sold out, and their landlord wasn’t home.  The only thing I actually accomplished was mailing the letters, and I did eat some pizza (although it wasn’t as good as I remember from last time).  So ya, Ethiopia! 
The only random cool thing happened yesterday.  I was heading to have more coffee (I think that was my fourth cup of the day; still had another two), and two white guys were walking there too!  I was shocked having almost never seen white people in town that I didn’t invite myself.  We sat down, and they told me how they were passing through Ethiopia on their way to Chad and decided to stay and explore a while.  They were on the third to the last day of about a month stay.  Having finished Dinsho park and Sinete plateau, their guide brought them here to look at the gorge.  They had enjoyed a short time in Gassera and were about to head back to Goba.  They shared their experience in Napal visiting PC friends, and visits to countries all over the world.  But, the biggest surprise was when they told me they were from Florida!  Shortly after they headed out, but it was cool just seeing white people in my town. 
12/8
Well, I haven’t written anything in a while because nothing unusual has really happened.  I am still doing all the same projects, although I have gotten tentative approval to do a women’s, and children’s nutrition training to the lactating and pregnant women that come to the health center every week.  With the help of the person in charge of the anti-retroviral drug department, we gave a post exposure prophalaxis training, as well as an HIV myths/facts lesson to the kids at the highschool.  It was the typical story getting that to happen, we had it scheduled three times before the students were actually told to show up. 
Yesterday we had a farmer field day to see the projects the AGP (agricultural growth production) office is doing.  It was not particularlly interesting though, especially since I didn’t understand a word that was said.  Otherwise Christmas is coming up fast, I am sad to not be with family for the first year ever.  But, I am thinking I will just have to bake a lot of cookies and stuff and celebrate with my landlord and her family.  Habesha actually do celebrate christmas as well, it is just not as big and it is a few weeks later than we celebrate it in the West. 
I am still trying to get my horse.  The last week I have bugged my counterparts to help me everyday, so hopefully within the next week or so I will have a horse!  I can’t wait to be able to go explore easier during the weekend.  At this point since everything is so spread out it takes a few hours of walking to get anywhere new.   
And that is about it.  That is my life in a nut shell right now.  I am used to the slowness of it all more or less, but there are still days where I want to pull my hair out from boredom.  It is going to be nerve racking/and awsome to come back to the states and actually have a job and a life that is fast paced again.  I think there will always be a part of me that likes this slow paced way of doing things though.  Just sitting at my favorite coffee place and chatting with the people who come to take a break.  Spending half a day just snacking in between cups of coffee or tea.  It can be really nice sometimes. 
Merry christmas, happy New Years, and enjoy all the other holidays I am leaving out!
11/24
We are nearing the end of November, and I can’t help but think about my time so far in Ethiopia.  It has been over nine months since my plane landed in this country, and about six since I arrived in Gassera town.  Some months have been rough and I have stayed in my house watching movies and wanting nothing more than to be back in the states.  And there have been times where I have been so happy to be working here, and getting things accomplished that I want to stay forever.  I expect nothing more and nothing less than this from PC service, still sometimes it is interesting to look back and wonder.  This weekend I had to say goodbye to yet another PCV friend I have had the privalege of getting to know during my service so far.  Thankfully this one was on good terms.  Laresa from Goba has finished her service and is returning to America, I wish her nothing but the best and am happy to have gotten the chance to know her.  It was, like most going aways, a bitter sweet time.  Sad because the parties and get togethers we would throw at her house now are orphaned.  Sad because she is a great asset to the Bale zone, and a good friend.  Sweet because she now gets to join the small ranks of RPCV!  And because she gets to return to American.  And finally (admittadly selfish motives here) sweet because of all the goodies we got to scavenge from her house!  So I know PC service is an aspect of all our lives we will never forget, and I hope to see you again in the states Laresa!
On  less dramatic note I am preparing for and enjoying the thanksgiving time of year.  I have taught myself how to make sugar cookies (ok so not a huge deal, but since there is no such thing as cookies here I am glad to now have some to eat!), and I made pumpkin bread from scratch yesterday!  I don’t know why I didn’t pick up backing back in the states, but now that I find an abundance of time on my hands I am enjoying the trial and error of learning.  I also am loving the raw cookie dough!!!  I know I shouldn’t eat it because of the raw eggs, but come on, can you really expect me not too!  Everytime I eat cookie dough I think back to the time where Jess, Adam, Ashley, and I would spend every afternoon making tacos, eating raw cookie dough (because we rarely got any all the way to the oven), and watching Disney movies.  I miss those nights and can’t wait to come back so we can have a Disney marathon and eat cookie dough till we are sick! 
This year there was a raffle for Thanksgiving.  Many of the US embassy families have offered to have PC volunteers come and enjoy the holiday with them over thanksgiving dinner.  It is so nice for them to accept us into their homes and families for the holidays.  I am happy to say I get the opportunity to travel to Addis to enjoy the holidays with them.  I can’t wait to stuff my face with all the wonderful food I have no other chance of getting for the next year and a half!  Plus it means I get to spend time with many of my PC family as we will all be in Addis.  I am sad to say this is the first year I will not be able to spend the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons with my family and I wish them all a wonderful time and to gain way to much weight in way to short a time!
For all the rest of the people who still can stand to read what I put up here, thankyou. I hope you enjoy it, and even more I hope you are able to spend this special time of the year with your family and loved ones.  Have a wonderful time, and know that I am thankful for everyone of you!