3/14
Sorry I have not checked in lately.  The internet has been completly non-functional at the hotels recently, which is where I usually get on the internet.  Plus we have had next to no sessions at the hotels.  This week has been particularly stressful because it seems that Peace Corps decided to make all the extensive assigments due or starting this week.  We also changed LCFs (Language and culture facilitators) this week so our routine we were just starting to develop completly changed.  We found out that we are going to be doing a two day camp for some of the local children as part of our final assesment, the logistics of it are a little worrying though so it is going to be interesting to see how that works out.  Otherwise though it is buisness as usual.  Going to class for most of the day, having very short breaks although since we have not been doing many classes at the hotels that has gotten a lot better.  And trying to learn the language in the mean time.  We have actually had a little bit of free time the last couple of days.  It has been nice because we have been able to hang out together and de-stress a little.  We also visited the local market for the first time the other day.  It was Tuesday which is the slow day, on Fridays the market is much larger.  Still it was very interesting to see all the things that are available, plus we got to see our LCF haggle for prices and we got to buy/try some of the other fresh produce.  Afterwards we tried the Tej Bet (local honey wine house), the tej was sweet an pretty tasty, we split a small bottle between three of us so it wasn't much but even then the whole bottle cost only two birr, about ten cents US dollars.  Afterward we went and got juice, I got mango so it was basically just blended fresh mango and a bit of sugar.  It was amazing, It was only about fifty US cents, but it was still kind of expensive {about half my daily pay}, so I won't be having it every morning, but I will absolutly be having it on a regular basis regardless.  Last night was actually a really good night.  I had gotten most of the big work done so I wasn't too stressed.  A couple of trainiees got together and we hung out for a couple hours.  After I got home and had dinner my brothers told me they were going to go get my mother who was at a friends house to walk her home.  I told them I would go with them, it was just a short walk to the other house, maybe 10 minutes or so, but almost as soon as we got there it started raining.  When I say raining though I mean POURING down rain.  The mothers moved the food they had been cooking on an outdoor fire into a small kitchen seperate from the rest of the house, and by the time we were all inside the outside fire was completly extenguished.  As they continued to cook they kept trying to get me to go home when the rain occasionally let up.  I refused and told them I would go home when they all were finished.  So they made some tea, got some bread, and we sat around and ate and cooked.  They cracked up when I took the mace and pessle from one of the ladies and started grinding the spices, I am pretty sure they didn't end up using any of the ones I ground though, I think I didn't do it very well.  At one point the women and kids started singing, I have no idea what they were singing, but the power was out so the only light was from the one flashlight and the fire they were cooking over, there was only the sounds of the rain pouring on the tin roof, and the song.  It was awesome!  When they finished cooking it was about 10:30 pm, it was stil raining buckets, and pitch black outside.  We started walking home, there were a couple of umbrellas but It was more fun to just walk in the rain.  My brother was doing his best to keep me under the umbrella, but I wasn't making it easy.  On the walk home I was splashing in the puddles and walking in the deepest parts of the rivers of water.  I am sure my family now thinks I am mad, but I figured if I was going to get wet I might as well do it right.  It was a great night, and hard to do it justice in a blog post, regardless I hope I was able to give you a little bit of a mental picture of my night; I am interested to see what it is like when the rainy season starts.  P.S. I am REALLY glad I got you to send me those rain boots mom, my feet would never have gotten through the rainy season with the shoes I wore last night.
3/16
Yesterday I planned a hiking trip for a few of the PCTs, when I got up this morning though it was raining and dreary and I thought it wasn't going to happen.  I talked to them though and we all agreed that rain or shine we were going to use our free day for the best and go on the hike regardless.  Thankfully it cleared up early and we got a great hike in.  It took us throught the local gorge, through a few fields, around a couple people's houses, to the top of a small mountain/large hill, and finally back through the gorge to look at some hyena dens.  It ended up going very well, we made it to the top with minimal stops even though it was EXTREEMLY steep, the habisha children put us to shame though.  They ran up and then even more impressivly down the hill at full speed without even acting tired.  When we got to the top we had a fantastic view of the city of Butajira and the mountains surrounding it.  I hopefully will be able to upload some of those pictures but if the pattern holds the internet will not be good enough for that.
A couple of the trainees said that their mothers were reading my blog, I find it hard to believe that anyone would find this interesting enough to read, but in case you are there: Ryan, Kelley, Naveed, Nakil, Sam, Allie, Nara, and Kaylene , your kids say hi.  We are all doing well, the excitment and nerves are high right now, in four days we will find our site placements and have a rough idea of what we could be doing.  Then we will be going to Addis, and on to our sights to get our first view of our homes for the next two years.  We will have a couple of asigments, like opening a bank account, finding the bus station, and the post office, etc.  But between now and then is more training, as usual.  Next week we have two days with four language classes; we also have another day with three, it is going to be a long week.  But for today, we are going to relax, this week has been a lot to deal with, and everyone is glad it is over.  Today, is for hiking, eating, internet, and maybe some bottle cap poker.