3/1/14
Ok, so everyone is asking for pictures.  Well I haven't had time to upload them so I will get to it when I can.  To explain why I am busy I am going to explain my typical day.  I get up around 6:30 am or 1:30 habisha time.  I eat breakfast, this is usually bread and peanut butter or jelly, two pieces of fruit a banana and avacado (they pict the avacados off the tree in my compound), and tea.  Sometimes I will get scrambled eggs with onion and tomato, and sometimes they will serve me a "biscuit" basically a fried dough ball that has been cooked to crunchy about half of they way through.  I don't have the heart to tell thim that the "biscuit" isn't to my liking though.  After that I do the daily stuff, take my anti-malarials, brush my teeth, rinse my face off, sometimes if I have time do my dishes.  This actually is a really long process though, often on Ethiopian time it takes till about 7:30.  I have to be at class at 8, this is sometimes in the class room on my compound, and sometimes it is at the local primary school where we learn how to create a permagarden.  After the first class, this week we have been going to one of the hotels.  We are supposed to get out at 10am, then have thirty minutes to walk to the hotel halfway across town.  My language teacher Abera is good about getting us out on time, our gardening teachers to NOT follow that exmple.  They often let us out ten to fifteen minutes late, so when we get to the hotel we are often about ten minutes late to class.  This means that the next class cuts into our lunch break from 12:30 to 1:30.  After lunch, which at the hotel we have been at the last couple of days is not very good, we have another class, that means we trudge up the stairs to the sixth level of the hotel, on full stomaches, to a hot room with very little air movement, with almost 40 people in the room.  It is very hard to focus most of the time on the lesson, although we have had a couple interesting lessons.   After a two hour class we go to the next class, again, often getting out 10-15 minutes late, and we have to walk back to our house for lessons, or to the school.  If we are in permagarden, this class will sometimes run an hour over, leaving us tired, hungry, and still having to spend the afternoon with our host family who wants to know how class was, how the food was, and all about our day.  When we get home it is time for a snack, coffee, and often fruit.  I can not stress enough that I AM getting enough food.  Some host families have straight up told us that their goal is for us to gain five pounds before we leave.  Some people have told their families that after eight they are going to go to their rooms and study, so I suppose I could probably make time, but I enjoy my host family and they are very determined for me to learn the language so it is good practice and I don't want to hide in my room.  I don't remember if I have introduced my family so I will here.  My father's name is Abera, he is an electritian for the Ethiopian power company, Genet is a stay at home mother, the family serves food in the compound, I would not call it a restaurant because they prepare the food and you basically get what they have cooked, but it is really good food and I enjoy eating it.  Genet make sure that the food gets cooked, and often cooks it herself, Alumt'si helps with the cooking, cleaning, and general upkeep of the house.  Mentesent is the oldest son, he is also the best english speaker and often helps interperate for me.  He was explaining the school system to me, which I am still not completely clear on.  But basically for two weeks some students go to school in the morning from about 8 am to oneish, then they switch and the other students attend school till eight pm, after two weeks they switch.  After fifth grade the students learn all the lessons only in English.  In case you did not know English is Ethiopians secondary language.  T'sadkan is the oldest daughter, that also means she helps a lot with the cooking and cleaning.   There is also Yamlaksira, and Sosina, the younger daughters.  Finally there is Andualem, he is as old as Mentesent but in Ethiopia it is common in the rural areas not to know your birthday, so there is some debate about who is older.  He is Genet's nephew, he lives and works here in exchange for being able to attend the local school.  We also have a cat, she did not have a name so I am calling her Sophie, she has recently had a kitten wich I guess is about 4 weeks old and is female.  We also have a "guard" dog, his name is Machal (problem fixer) he stays only in his house though, which is a steel kennel near the back of the compound, he also does NOT like me.  In my compound there is an Avacado, Mango, and two coffee trees.  There is also another women named Leah, a police man (today was the first day I saw him so I have not met him but his name is Akale), and my LCF (language and cultural facilitator).  I have started tutoring Andualem in English before bed each night, he knows a lot of the basic words so we are just polishing those, and I am getting an English language clubs manual so I can have something more to go on.  Before you ask I will get pictures as soon as I can!
I am lucky because I have another PCT living right next to me, Alex (Alexandra), so we are able to easily exchange things, and study after class.  Today is one of the PCT's Birthday so we are going to meet at my compound, have some lunch, then go into the nearby gulch to play some soccer, frisbee, and things.  In Ethiopia only the big birthdays are really celebrated, so that will probably be about the extent of the party, but I have heard rumors of a cake, I am not sure how they will make it though because there are no ovens that I have seen so far.  In a few weeks I will learn exactly where I am going, but for now I just know I will be heading to the Oroma region.  It consists of one third of Ethiopia's land mass though, so that really doesn't tell me much.  For now I will continue to have four classes a day, they will differ in what they are though, and I will try to continue to learn Amharic with my host family, and Afan Oromo with my LCF and my host father.  Sometimes I wish I could concentrate on one language, but I want to be able to talk with my family better, so I will continue to learn Amharic on my own; it will also be helpful when I have to travel back to the capital for in and midsevice training.
There is so much I could say, about the culture, the sights, and smells, the food, and wildlife (one of these days I am going to go see the Hyenas that live nearby), but I don't feel like typing any more so that will have to wait for later.
Love and miss you all.