Another Update

7/3
So this week has actually been pretty interesting for a change.  First let me say that the utilities here are crazy!  Last week I went a week (speaking litterally here) without water.  Now it is only coming late at night, and for the last two nights it hasn't come at all.  Then last Thursday the power transformer down the road fell, not sure if it was hit or if it just fell from the wind, but also the power line at my house somehow got disconected and even though the transformer was fixed on Saturday, I just got power back at my house.  My cell phone died on Monday, so I eventually had to send it to one of my co-workers houses to be charged because I was tired of not having a charged phone.  Honestly my kindle was about to die, my phone was dead, my computer long dead; if it had not come back today I would have died from nothing left to do.  Anyway, that aside, it has been an interesting week.  I finally got the problem with the office sorted out, so I am allowed to go into the rural areas again.  On Sunday I went on my first hike here and it was beautiful.  I am going to try to upload some pictures, but even they don't nearly do it justice.  As I think I have said, my town is situated on a gorge caused by the Wabe river, picture the grand canyon and that isn't that far off.  So I hiked around the rim of the canyon for a few hours, the view was amazing, I even saw a few of the local deer.  Then as I was sitting on the edge a hawk caught a thermal right in front of me and circled all the way from the bottom of the canyon to about a hundred feet over my head.  It was really an awesome way to relax.  I know it doesn't sound like I have much to relax from, but honestly sitting and doing nothing all day is probably more stressful than being crazy busy.  Then on Tuesday I FINALLY got to go into the gorge.  The Kabele is called Balle Habebe, and one of the two people who went with me family lives down there.  It was about an hour walk down, originally we started on the road, but quickly veered off onto the locals trail.   It was a switchback trail that ran down the side of the mountain.  In some places it was a few feet wide only, and most areas were at least a thirty degree angle.  On top of that it was mainly loose dirt with rocks so there was more than a little slipping and sliding.  Still, it was a fun trip and the views of the valley were incredible.  Sadly the whole area is beginning to be effected by erosion.  The road was not planned well when it was constructed and now a large portion of the mountain has begun sliding into the valley, the wall of rocks runs for several hundred feet and is almost at the doorstep of the closest houses.  But, the most shocking part to me was the change in environment as we walked.  In just the few kilometers it would change from mountainous terrain and flora, to arid almost dessert in just a few steps.  I litterally saw the local flaura one second, then the next it would be nothing but cactus and agave, just to switch from that to almost tropical with elephant ears and natuarl springs.  Still, it wasn't all fun and games, well it was pretty much all fun for me, but we also went for a reason.  The local famers mainly depend on fruit crops in the gorge.  This included: banana, avacado, mango, guava, coffee, and a plant I still do not know what it is.  However, some of the fruit crops are having diease problems that are threatening the livelihood of the farmers.  So I took a look, some pictures, and got some ideas about how to go about finding out the source of the problems.  Also the Wareda office is trying to start an improved bee keeping project, but with no expertise and only some small training the project is failing completely.  As This is the project I am most interested in I was only a little sad that they were having such a hard time, because, they are more than happy for me to step in and try and make the project work.  After all that was done, and we had spent a while at the springs, we went to my coworkers house for lunch, coffee, and to chew on some sugar cane while we waited for the heat to die down a little before the walk back.  They gave us around twenty avacados they picked from the trees while we watched, and even tried to get us to stay the night and walk home in the morning.   We decided to go home of course, but I will admit the walk back was HARD.  I mean, I have hiked mountains before, but this was intense.  It took over an hour and a half, compared to the hour to go down, and we had several breaks.  I was breathing hard and exhaused by the time I got home.  I drank two glasses of water, and laid in bed for a while before I would do anything else.  Now I have to look forward to it again next week.  I have been asked to return so I can see the changes they make to the bee hive site so we can work on getting the project up and running.  I can't wait to see what I can get going there, and with all the trips down I am bound to make I will be getting more cardio than ever!
Wishing you all a happy fourth of July
Love, Trey
6/18
As usual I am not doing a lot.  I have read two and a half books in the last two days, if that gives you an idea of how busy I am.  I have decided to quit trying to tell you when I am going to the gorge.  I can see it daily, but have still not been able to get down into it.  I had a set plan with a coworker to go this Tuesday.  But yesterday came and I met the person I was going with, only to find there was a problem.  I am not sure how it came up, or how the office even realized I was here.  But, it appears that the zonal agricultural office found out I was living in Gassera and had not been told I was here.  They were apparently a little pissed at having been left out of the loop and my liason called PC to sort it out.  From what I can understand, and that isn't a lot, there was a letter that was supposed to be delivered to the zonal office but either someone at my office or someone at the PC office forgot to deliver it.  So now I have been told I am not allowed to go to any of the rural areas until it is sorted out.  That means that the few breaks I got to go explore with someone are now on hold until this is over.  So sitting at the office is the only thing I can do at the moment that is work related.  So for now I wait.  I do have faith that SOME DAY I will make it down there to see all the cool stuff I have been told is down there.  Last weekend was pretty interesting though.  I was in Robe to get some supplies and Devin and Jill were kind enough to let me get into their beehive just to get some experience.  It was a really interesting experience to see how they work to protect their hive and the progress they had made in making new combs.  Sadly we were not able to do a lot because they were too active from the relativly high afternoon temperature.  But, it was still a really interesting experience and made me even more interested in getting a beekeeping project going while I am here.  And hey, I only got stung twice, I am also sure I am not allergic!

Update

6/18
As usual I am not doing a lot.  I have read two and a half books in the last two days, if that gives you an idea of how busy I am.  I have decided to quit trying to tell you when I am going to the gorge.  I can see it daily, but have still not been able to get down into it.  I had a set plan with a coworker to go this Tuesday.  But yesterday came and I met the person I was going with, only to find there was a problem.  I am not sure how it came up, or how the office even realized I was here.  But, it appears that the zonal agricultural office found out I was living in Gassera and had not been told I was here.  They were apparently a little pissed at having been left out of the loop and my liason called PC to sort it out.  From what I can understand, and that isn't a lot, there was a letter that was supposed to be delivered to the zonal office but either someone at my office or someone at the PC office forgot to deliver it.  So now I have been told I am not allowed to go to any of the rural areas until it is sorted out.  That means that the few breaks I got to go explore with someone are now on hold until this is over.  So sitting at the office is the only thing I can do at the moment that is work related.  So for now I wait.  I do have faith that SOME DAY I will make it down there to see all the cool stuff I have been told is down there.  Last weekend was pretty interesting though.  I was in Robe to get some supplies and Devin and Jill were kind enough to let me get into their beehive just to get some experience.  It was a really interesting experience to see how they work to protect their hive and the progress they had made in making new combs.  Sadly we were not able to do a lot because they were too active from the relativly high afternoon temperature.  But, it was still a really interesting experience and made me even more interested in getting a beekeeping project going while I am here.  And hey, I only got stung twice, I am also sure I am not allergic!

Missing and markets

6/13
So it seems like all PCVs do this at one point or another on their blogs so I figured I would get it over with.
Things I take for granted in the states.  Hopefully you will use this to take a second and think about all the little things that you take for granted on a day to day basis.
1.  You would think that the daily (and sometimes week long) power outages or the water that only works during the first few hours of he morning would make my list.  But honestly that doesn't really bother me.  What gets me is the cell reception, or rather lack there of.  We have two cell towers in the town, but despite the fact that I can see them both out my front door, I have no cell reception at my house, only certain areas along the road (and beside the bathroom at work) have cell reception, and often even those spots do not work.
2.  Pizza, you can get it at almost any restaurant in the US, but here even the places that have beautiful pictures of it on the wall are only really teasing you.  I have taken to pointing at the picture and ordering it, just so when they say they don't have it I can ask them why not.  Maybe one day they will get the idea and learn to make it.  But honestly, this goes for all food.  There is really only foreiner food in Addis and I am a day bus ride from there.
3.  I know I already mention food, but food DIVERSITY.  In Ethiopia they eat the same thing EVERY DAY.  I am not kidding.  They cook about three types of wat, but it seems that each family usually only cooks one type.  They occasionally have chopped up bits of meat cooked called tibs, and fir fir (the cooked remains of what ever injera they had left over).  There are a few special occasion dishes, but in general there really isn't a whole lot more.  Even when I try to cook something new for myself there isn't enough food diversity to do much new.  To get a different selection of vegetables I have to go to the special place in Robe, and then most of the squash, peppers, or egg plant are over ripe and wilting.
4. Privacy, not like at my house, when I am here I am in my own space.  Just out and about.  I have gotten used to the stairs and people yelling at me.  Thankfully here it is just a couple groups of kids in a few places.  But sometimes it is just too much.  Last weekend I went to the gorge to sit and relax while reading.  But first I had a kid come up and stare at me, then that kids (I assume) grandad came up and tried to get me to give the kid money.  I refused and told them to go away (not rude here), then a few minutes later another kid came over and started staring at me.  I ignored it, until her parents and some more kids created a crowd around me and started trying to look over my shoulder at what I was reading.  At that point there was no relaxing and I just had to go home.  As I said, I am used to it and usually it doesn't get to me, but some times you just want your personal space and having people come take the thing out of your hand to look at it gets on your nerves.
5.  Things to do.  I have read twelve books since I have been here, and during PST I think I only read two or three of those.  I have watched about nine different seasons of various TV shows.  There is truly nothing to do on the weekends in this town.  I try to make a trip out during the weekends to get coffee and read in public so I can at least say hi to the people I know that I see on the street.  But there is no movie theater, mall, public park, I don't have my dogs, or any other thing that you would normally do on the weekend in the states.  I have not even gotten a feel for where I can and can not go hiking yet.  Everything around me is crop land and I haven't been to the gorge yet to get my bearings down there.  (right now that trip is planned for Tuesdays)

6.  Junk food.  Ya it is another food one, so I miss my American food OK.  I was watching a show the other day and the people where eating ice cream straight from the carton.  I almost had to turn the show off.  I have sadly been eating more candy than I care to admit.  It is hard to save the candy for the kids when I can hardly ever give it out, and it is the only real junk food I can get in my town.  (If I try to give out candy every kid within a mile seems to know and show up by the time the second piece is handed out.)  I am going to add cheese in this one too because GOD I miss cheese.
I think friends and family go without saying, but I do miss you all.
Honestly it has not been that hard to adapt to life here.  It is far different that what we are accustomed to in the US.  But the things that we find indispensable in the states are really not that big of a deal.  I could add hot showers (I take a shower about once a week, and it takes me about half an hour to boil enough water to make the shower water not icy), but really it doesn't really matter to me.  I could add cars, everywhere I go I walk.  Once every two weeks I take a bus into town, but otherwise my feet are my ONLY transportation.  I could add supermarkets...well I do miss those, just not enough to make my top few.  I could add being able to microwave a meal right out of the freezer, but I have gotten pretty good about planning my meals and heck, all my ingredients are fresh, how can you beat that.  So really, there are a lot of things to be thankful for in the US.  But I challenge you to stop your day, and think about a couple things you take for granted.  And if you are the adventurous sort; actually go without something for a week.  Anyway, obligatory post out of the way.
On a more normal note.  This week has been as slow as every other one.  Only real difference is I finally got the material together for my garden.  I have finished two of the three beds.  Using a hoe on the end of a eucalyptus handle I had to assembly myself, I have single dug one ~6meter bed, and double dug another ~5meter bed.  I have ten large blisters on my hands, and still one more bed to go.  Once I find something I can use as a watering can I will start planting, but for now not only do I not have anything, but the water source is about forty feet away from my garden so I have to figure something out.  This weekend I am going to start working with another volunteer getting some hands on experience working with some bee hives.  Next week I am going to try to start really working on my community needs assessment.  It is not do for another two months, but I am bored, so might as well start working on it.  That is about it.  A whole week summed up into one small paragraph.  I have a couple plans for possible projects.  So lets hope one or two of them pan out.
Trey
6/8
So as I said I was supposed to go into the gulch last week, however, because I had installation visit by Peace Corps I wasn't able to find the time.  I do plan to make it this week though.  I also am planning on going to the Sulfumar caves in the next few weekends.  Installation went well.  Because of a bunch of unforeseen events I was not able to pass out the invitations until the day before.  I expected only a few people to come, but out of about 45 invites, almost 40 people came.  (Installation is where PC comes out and explains to the community why we are here and what as volunteers hope to accomplish, etc.)  After I was getting even more greeting on the street and people telling me they want to work with me.  Otherwise it has been the same old same old.  I reaffirmed there is NOTHING to do in this town just to relax.  The pool "hall" is one table where the teenagers of the town play a game I have never seen, and gamble.  So I will be reading a lot of books and getting really good at doing nothing.  But my landlord the last two weekends has invites me over for coffee and breakfast, and I will probably be getting a horse after the next two months so I will have some places to visit on horseback.  Anyway, yesterday my counterpart and I went to the market to pick up some supplies.  He LOVES playing with my camera so I have a lot of pictures of it.  I am going to try to upload them with this blog post and give some explanations so here goes.
Market day:
In every town (pretty much) in Ethiopia there is a day or a few days where people come together to show of their products and sell supplies to the local community.  For example my town has two, a small one on Wednesday, and a large one on Saturday.  They sell everything from fruits and vegetables, to livestock, to clay pots and even manure.  Usually depending on what the product you can save as much as 1/3 the price you would pay for things in town.  Eggs in town are 2.50birr, at the market they are 2.00birr.  Most of the town will at some point on Saturday end up at the market.  It is where most people buy their weeks supplies of food.  For me it is an excellent opportunity to see the local culture and my counterpart was in a very sharing mood this weekend.  He pointed out different things that meant people were looking to be married and explained different styles of dress among other things. The first picture is of some hand made clay pots, as well as hand made Jebanahs (coffee pots).  These are made from the local clay around the river.  The second is of spices, these are mostly collected locally, although some of them are imported from other parts of the country, as you can see some of these are very familiar to Americans, I can get cumen seeds, mustard seeds, rosemary, among other things.  The third is some traditional Orthodox wraps.  These are draped over the shoulders or wrapped around the heads as a traditional part of their religion.  Next is some home made baskets, these are made to hold decorations as well as to use in sorting t'eff.  It is required that as a way to symbolize a women is ready to marry that she be able to make these.  Finally the last picture shows some Sudanese women.  In the very bottom of the gulch some Sudanese have migrated, they are prominent for their clay making.  They bring everything from pots, to injera pans for the injera making machines.  They are easy to ID because of their different style of dressing.
Family: I know you want pictures of me, but there are none.  The only one he even tried to take of me was of me eating a prickly pear and that wasn't about to happen.  Sorry.  So I hope from this you can see a few similarities as well as differences, not only between America and Ethiopia, but also between the different people of Ethiopia.
Trey

Been a while

5/18

Finally at site!  We finally got the OK to leave Addis.  Last Tuesday most of the new volunteers headed out to site.  There was a lot of confusion and work to figure out how we were getting there, thankfully though I was one of the lucky volunteers who got to ride in the PC vehicles to get there.  We dropped of the first person that Tuesday, then spent the night at a hotel in one of the larger cities on the way.  On Wednesday the other two people got dropped off.  The driver was really nice with me and took me to a city a little out of the way were I picked up some things from a volunteer who is about to complete her service.  I was able to get some kitchen stuff, a bed, and table.  Then it was on to my site to drop me off.  He made the drive in nearly half the time it takes the big busses and it was so much more comfortable.  I arrived at site, went into the compound, and found that my room had been turned into a tea house.  My landlord cleared out quickly and it was no problem, she did give me a chair after also so I have a desk set up in my room.  Finally the driver and I went out to lunch, he absolutely refused to let me pay even after all his help though.  That is just the Ethiopian mentality though, even when they are doing you a favor they still think they are the ones that need to be generous.  Even though we got to site pretty early I still decided to spend the rest of the afternoon setting up my room, reading, and watching movies and just enjoyed a lazy day.  The next day was my first day of "work".  The cell network here is terrible and I wasn't able to call my counter part so when I just showed up to work they were a bit surprised.  Still they let me go out in the field to work on a survey they were doing.  On the way I got to see the results of my counterparts permagarden training, even for him it is difficult to get people to understand the benefit of doing a small sustainable garden, he was able to find some people who had taken to the practice though so that was very encouraging.  After we finished we went back to town and had lunch to finish the work day off (there had been a chemical spill in the office so we couldn't work in the office that day).  Finally on Friday I went in for half of the day, they were having a meeting and invited me to attend.  I wasn't really able to input anything, but it was still interesting to see how the office operates.  About half way through the meeting someone came in and interrupted to tell me I had received "supplies", after a few minutes I figured out that I had a package at the post office.  I assumed that this person worked at the post office since he was walking me there.  Halfway there I found out he actually worked at the AG office and was just being nice and walking me to the post office.  I doubt I will ever find out how they knew to contact me at the office, or how that particular person knew I had a box, but it was really nice of them to make sure I knew as soon as it got in (also they did not charge me a customs fee even though they are supposed to). 

So far the people have been very nice and the harassment has been very minimal.  I really hope that I can keep it that way for whoever comes to Gasera next and they will be pleasantly surprised

5/22

Well first of all as I expected the network here has been horrible.  So for those of you trying to call me I am sorry but I don't expect it to get better any time soon.  On the bright side apparently there is a plan to build up the infrastructure in town...starting in a year and a half.  So maybe a month or two before I leave it will get better!   I know that I also haven't been online to chat with anyone.  Please remember though that I have not even been here two whole weeks yet so I haven't had much opportunity.  I was able to go into town today to pick up some supplies.  Sadly though the internet was not working while I was there so no way to get up with everyone.  Suffice it to say I am fine.  I have been sick once again but it seems to be self limiting and I am feeling better after only a day of being out.  I will say this country seems to be fighting with me and I only hope my immune system gets it's second wind soon. 

Well before the call got dropped my mom was asking me how things are going and what I have been doing.  Honestly, the answer is not very much.  As per PC tradition/recommendation the first month or two is used to build relationships in the community.  The best way usually is sticking with a counter part (or if you have one a site mate), and meeting the people they know.  For me this involves long walks to and from the Ag office for various reasons and stopping every few feet to say hi to more people.  In the Ag office I have been trying (maybe not as much as I should) to communicate with people using Amharic or Oromifa.  The office staff are very nice and maybe too eager for me to start working.  They have been having me read manuals, attend meetings, and (on the once instance) go out for field work.  They even tried to pay me per diem for the field visit which PC forbids me from accepting.  I admit to being a bit overwhelmed.  They are in the data collection and analysis phase of the yearly training needs assessment.  The things they are bringing up are far out of my experience field and I am not ever sure how I would go about gaining sufficient knowledge on them.  I think that is probably often a concern of new volunteers but that doesn't make me feel any better.  I have realized that a lot of what they seem interested in me doing is out of my reach though, and I have been working on some plans to get other things equally useful and more attainable going.  First I am very interested in bee keeping training programs.  Currently the most widely used method of bee keeping is the traditional hive.  Basically the keeper captures a colony, places it in a hollowed out log, then at the end of the season harvest the honey.  I would like to start teaching on the transitional hive where the hive is monitored, cared for, and altered as needed.  It seems like a simple thing, but really to get the full benefit out of bee keeping it is imperative to properly care for the hive.  This can then lead to the next step of the more expensive, but higher yielding, modern hive.  This may sound like an easy task, but as we see in America, it is difficult to get people to see that there are better ways of doing things then the way they have always done them.  I hope to just change the mentalities of a few people, and maybe just maybe start a chain reaction of people seeing the benefit and making the effort to change.

The second thing I am working on is school clubs.  Currently all schools in Ethiopia are required to have certain clubs, these include English clubs, and Environmental clubs.  I have gone to two schools as well as the woreda education office and requested to be allowed to participate and help direct the clubs that are already in existence.  In addition my counterpart is very interested in also working with the gender equality clubs, and having access to some very good material I am happy to help with this as well.  I have spoken to the director at one school and he was very excited to have me, I also have a meeting set up with the director at another school, and I do not expect any resistance.  The education board seems extremely excited to have me as well, although they are requiring me to submit a proposal for the project.  If I do get the final approval, that would put me at six clubs in two different school each meeting at least once throughout the week.  It is going to be a heck of a lot to juggle along with any other projects that I get into.  Not to mention having to find at least one more counter part that is willing to help me with the clubs.  All in all I know that sounds like a lot, but I assure you, it was enough work to MAYBE fill a day and a half, all drug out over a week and a half. 

Otherwise it has just been getting my house as in order as I can, I made it to the market yesterday; after getting caught in a torrential rain storm for about twenty minutes I managed to make my purchases (only slightly getting ripped off), and get home in the rain without getting too wet.  I was able to make my first real meal at home after that.  I have not had power except for a half day since the day after I got to site, so I made a simple salad out of habesha cabbage, and a few toppings, my landlord also gave me some bread that went pretty well with it.  It is a simple thing, but having something that is at least a little forenji went a long way to feeling more at home.  Today as I said I was in my hub town.  I went to a COSing volunteers house and bought a bunch of things from her as well as getting a bunch of donations from the volunteers there.  It was a nightmare getting to and from town today because it was the big market day, but I finally made it home to make my first REAL meal and it was FANTASTIC!  Tomorrow it will be back to the usual.  I will go to the office, sit around and read some manual or another.  If I get a free second maybe read my language manual some more, then home for leftovers before they spoils since I will likely not own a fridge while I am in this country. 

As soon as I get a chance to upload this I will get online and hopefully be able to check email and FB.  For those of you who may have tried to reach me please know I am not ignoring you, I will do my best to check as often as possible, just be patient.

Side note, I just got a small taste of how the soon to come rainy season might be like.  It started raining and within minutes got so loud that with just the rain, no thunder or anything, I could not hear the movie I was playing even with headphones on.  When the rainy season gets here it will likely be like that, but for much longer, and every day.  It will be an interesting experience, and I REALLY hope I get my rain boots in the mail before it hits!

Love, Trey

5/30

Not much has happened in the last week.  I have been cooking for myself which has been great.  I have a lot of spices and things from the volunteer who just left so it has been really nice.  On Wednesday I went to the market to buy charcoal for my garden and there was none there, then I walked to the office.  Now to put this in perspective, my town is not very large, my house is more or less in the middle but the market is one one end about a 15 minute walk, then my office is on the other end, another 15 minute from my house.  So from the market to the office it is about a 30 minute walk.   When I got to the office I found out it was a holiday and it was closed.  But the people there told me the charcoal was definitely at the market so I decided with my free day I would walk back and double check.  Sure enough it was not there.  I asked a kid who had walked back with me about it and he said I could get some at the edge of town so we walked the extra 5 minutes and waited there...no luck.  So I walked home and proceeded to read all day.  Other than a short walk to a cafe' I literally read all day.  I finished half of one book, a document, and half of another book.  So minus the walking that is pretty much how I spend any weekend, day off, or holiday.  Glad I brought a lot of books because by the time I am finished here I will be VERY well read.  So basically I did not do anything this week, I couldn't garden because I am still trying to get the material.  Most of my coworkers have been in the field all week, and they have said I DON'T want to join them.  On top of that the power has been off except for a few short bursts all week, the network has been practically inoperable, and the water has been sporadic at best.  Honestly though, I don't mind any of the utility outages, I would just honestly like to have a working cell network.  But tomorrow I am going into town for my first Ethiopian wedding, at least one that I have officially been invited to (I may have crashed one already), and hopefully the internet will be working while I am in town.  Today I found out not only that I may be able to get a land line installed for free, but also that within a few months we may be getting some form of internet in town.  Honestly though I will believe it when I see it. 

Next week sounds promising though.  I have been recruited to participate in a training with USAID, and also to go into the rural area in the gorge to look into some projects.  In the gorge they not only have a high fruit tree production, but a high number of bee keepers that I might be able to meet.  It is going to be a hard walk though since I am not allowed to ride motorcycles.  Anyway here's hoping that I am able to get internet in Robe.  (The first time in 3 weeks)

Stuck in Addis

4/8
Why is there so much forenji food!  But seriously I enjoy a lot of Ethiopian food, but having the selection of so much variety is really nice.  In fact yesterday was the first time I have had traditional food since being in Addis Abab and I proceeded to vomit it all up shortly after.  For those of you who don't know all of the new volunteers who were supposed to go to the Oromia region (think state) were held in Addis due to protests and riots happening.  While the volunteers from SNNPR, Tigray, and Amhara regions were (all but a few along the borders) allowed to go to site.  I can not go into detail about why they are protesting, but it has caused several volunteers to be recalled from site for safety concerns.  Before you all get worried, Peace Corps is being cautious and not letting us go to site until they are sure everything has died down.  I have heard of no volunteers being in unsafe conditions and everyone is ok and accounted for.  Those of us in Addis are going a little crazy though.  There is only so many restaurants to go to, only a few movies are in the theater, and we have been asked not to be so loud when a lot of us hang out in the rooms.  So for most of us we are about to pull our hair out we are so anxious to be able to go to site.    But being in Addis gets expensive quickly, a lot of people have had to pull from their moving in allowance to pay for being in Addis and all the money I have saved up until now is gone.  I will admit that some of it is due to excessive luxuries though.  Two days ago a couple of us went to the Sheratan and spend the day at the pool.  I personally spent 6 hours straight in the water, BUT it did cost almost an entire days pay just to get into the pool.  It was worth it though, being able to sit in heated water that is not infested with shitosoma is an amazing feeling.  So for now we will sit at the hotel, or find things to do as much as we can.  There is still one museum I have yet to go to so that is on the agenda for the next couple of days.
Just for those of you who are interested I will touch on the swearing in ceremony quickly.  Last week we swore in as official volunteers (the next day a lot of us were told we didn't get to go to site), we went to the US embassy, although we were only allowed in the ambassadors garden the whole time we were there.  The PC director Greg Engle gave a speech, then the US ambassador, finally the heads of the two programs PC is working with.  We then were called individually to receive our certificates from Greg and the ambassador, and when it was all finished there was a small buffet.  All together the whole thing took probably 4 hours including eating time, but in the end we finally got to drop the trainees title.
That is about all I can think of, I am not sure when I will be able to upload this, but I have yet to receive any questions or anything, so please feel free to ask.  At least right now it would give me something to do.
4/10
So latest news is that we will likely be moving out on Monday/Tuesday.  We are waiting on the assessment from the PC East African security head to give the OK.  But some people in the Amhara region are already being able to go back to site so it is looking good for us.  Everything recently seems pretty calm.  There have been a few more protests but everything seems to be going peacefully.  PC is of course going to be on the look out for a while, but it looks like everything is calming down again.
On a side note I want to wish my grandma a happy birthday!  I love and miss you!  And to all the mothers reading this blog happy mothers day from all of your PC kids.  We will all be thinking about you tomorrow even if we don't get to speak to you.

BTW my new address is:
Trey Foerster
PO box #12
Gassera town, Bale Zone
Ethiopia

End of training

4/23/14
So today marks six days until we finish training (for the most part) and return to Addis Ababa for swearing in.  It is a nervous time for some of the trainees, there are three major events in the next few days.  Tomorrow we have a test to see if we have learned the goals and methods of PC.  On Sat/Sun we have to run  a camp with thirty something kids from our host families.  On top of that we each have to hold an hour long training session to teach the kids something.  Finally on Monday we take our language placement test that determines if we can join PC, have to stay an extra week in Addis for more language training, or will not be allowed to swear in.  After that as I said, we will go to Addis for the last small bits of training, Addis day to buy supplies we can't get at site, and the swearing in ceremony.  The ceremony will be held at the US embassy, we will have a formal setting where we meet the US ambassador, as well as some Ethiopian officials.  It will also be partly televised, so the PCT who has to speak at the ceremony has something even more to be nervous about.
As many of you know, this week was the end of Fasika.  That is the fasting season done the 55 days before Easter.  Easter being probably the most widley and prominantly celebrated holiday for Ethiopians.  It is a time where they celebrate the religious holiday, the family comes together, and they break fast.  So since Sunday Ethiopians all over the country have been slaughtering animals and eating COPIOUS amounts of meat.  I was really worried that it was going to be a hard time for me since I am a vegetarian.  Unfortunatly that problem was eliminated for me when my body decided to let an ameoba eat my intestines.  I was sick all day Sunday, and was not able to eat anything other than a banana all day.  Even the next day my worried family was trying to get me to eat and I barely could.  After the doctor gave me medicine I called on Tuesday to ask why I was still nauseous only to find out that the nausea from the ameoba had probably gone away and been replaced by the nausea from the medication.  So now battling stress, language six hours a day, I also have to contend with an upset stomach every few hours when the anti-nausea medicine for the anti-amebois medicine wears off.  But looking on the bright side, many of the other volunteers got sick from eating the Kitfo (raw meat dish) served for the end of Fasika, and even more so, we only have 6 days till it is over and the REALY PC experievnce starts!  So please, those of you back home, keep us in mind, send us some good luck to get past the next week to start our service!  
4/28
It is finally over!  I have taken my language test (LPI) and I am done with tests for PST.  It seems like such a short time ago I arrived in Butajira.  Since my stay began I have had some many amazing experiences, made great friends, and formed another extension of my family, I will miss my family here and I do intend to visit them again at some point during my service.  We also finished camp, it went surprisingly well.  I will admit I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected, but by the end of the second day I was ready to be DONE with it.  The kids seemed to enjoy it a lot, there were some interesting talks, and our 32 kid camp with all host family children ended up being about 15 host family kids and the rest of the nearly 50 kids just walked up to us and joined in.  The logistics were intense, since we would not turn kids away we were on a mad dash to make sure we kept up with the snacks, there was no water at the school so we had to come up with a way to keep the kids hydrated, food had to be divided between nearly twice the amount we had planned, and supplied had to be shared by the kids to do the activities.  Still with all that we pulled it off with only one scraped knee, and happy children.
So now that it is over, tomorrow is for packing, then Wednesday it is off too Addis for swearing-in, then Saturday and Sunday morning for traveling and the official start of my two year service.  I am going to be really sad to see my friends off, but I know that we can (with some difficulty) keep in touch, and regardless I will see them again in 3 months for in-service training.
I CAN'T WAIT for some forenji (foreigner) food in Addis!  Nachos here I come!!!

Awash National Park Visit

4/14/14
Including this week we have three weeks left of training.  I can't seem to decide if that is really soon or so far away.  It seems like we have lived in Butajira for a year already.  But, I know that soon we will be swearing in at the US embassy, leaving our new friends, and in my case going to a city with no other PC within two hours.  When they asked, I told PC that I didn't care if there was another volunteer at my site.  Now I am wondering if it would have helped.  Regardless, there is always the call (and by always I mean almost never) and other means of communicating.  I am really excited though, I am ready to get out of Butajira and start my service.  I already have plans on what I want to get started as soon as I get to site.  I know I am supposed to take it slow the first few months but that is going to be hard.  I have started  list of things that I want to pick up on Addis day (where we get the day to go shopping for things in Addis that we can not find at site or our hub towns).  But between now and then we have a presentation in a school, a day and a half camp we have to run, and the language practicum.  This week especially we have language for six hours nearly every day.  It is going to be nearly impossible to stay focused for all of that and I am sure it is going to be difficult on the volunteers as well as the LCFs.  But life goes on, there are a couple people who have birthdays in between now and then so there will be opportunity to celebrate; plus the end of Fasicca is nearly here.  This Sunday marks the end of the two month fast the orthodox have been observing.  That means there will be celebrating, and people will start eating meat again.  For me as a vegetarian and animal lover though this marks a hard day.  Most orthodox housholds will slaughter an animal to cook for the celebration, this is done AT THEIR HOUSES.  I asked my father and from what I could understand they are planning on slaughtering a sheep, a goat, and a chicken, along with purchasing beef.  I have been trying to decide if I should see if PC will let me hide at the office, or if I should just lock myself in my room.  Unfortunately I think that leaving the house would be culturally rude and I think PC office is out of the question.  That means I will be wearing headphones, blaring music, and trying not to think about what is happening outdoors.  Hopefully my family will only make me come out when the mess has been cleaned up.  For other volunteers this is an exciting time.  For the last two months it has been difficult to get meat, and they are ready to go crazy for a protein fix.
But now to the fun stuff.  This week was out trips.  The healthies went to Ambo where the Ambo soda factory is; I have not gotten many details yet, but I believe they visited a hospital, and then went on a horse back ride down to a crater lake.  I know they had a pool at the hotel, as well as Pizza.  The Ag/Enviro group went to Awash national park.  The first day was really annoying, we got there, saw the amazing water falls, and the beautiful scenery!  Then PC put us in a hot room, with next to no ventilation, direct sun in some spots, and told us to sit for four hours and listen to talks about park conservation, and management.  Now normally these would be topics I would be very interested in, but when I know that there is a world wide known national park outside the room, along with it being 85+ degrees in the room we are sitting you can imagine I was less than willing to be there.  During the short break we had we looked out the window to the river below and saw a crocodile sun bathing, but as we had another lesson planned we could not go see it.  So after dinner we went back to the tens, that were surrounded by baboons, and monkeys, and spent the night around a campfire having fun and watching some cultural demonstrations.  That night it rained, hard, and when we tried to go to the hot springs the next morning the road to it was impassible so we could not get there.  It was a major disappointment.  We proceeded with the game drive though, and saw some awesome wildlife, sadly though we did not see any of the big cats, lions, leopards, or cheetahs; still the Onyx were beautiful, we saw two very endangered bat eared fox, wart hogs, monitor lizards, monkeys, and more birds then I could count.  After we went on a short hike to a local community, there were maybe three house holds, the whole compound was surrounded by Acacia branches with their thick thorns to prevent the carnivore from getting in to eat the goats and chickens.  It was the picture of what most people think of as Africa.  Mud huts, animals running around, and a very difficult existence.  After lunch we finally had an hour of free time, the first (and only) free time we had there, and I got to go on a small half hour hike.  I went along the waterfall trail and got to appreciate the beauty of the park.  When I got back to the falls I met up with some other volunteers and we sat on a rock near the falls, and enjoyed the spray of the water and watched a crocodile surf the current coming from the waterfall.  It was an amazing picture of nature in Africa, but also a reminder of what we have to protect.  We learned in the lesson the day before that the park due to politics and agricultural pressure has shrunk nearly by half in the last 6 years or so.  The river feeding the falls is the most exploited river in Africa for water and agriculture.  There are several species of wildlife in the park that are nearly extinct.  Even in Orynx has gone from several thousand, to about six hundred in the last ten or so years.  Without aggressive conservation measures the park could very well loose it's battle to preserve Africa's wildlife and habitat.  After language class (yes they made us take two hours of language there) we went on a thirty minute drive to another area of the park (that is having a massive highway built in it) to a hyena den.  As we made our way to the entrance we looked down into the crevices where Africa is separating due to tectonic activity and saw bats using the cracks as home.  As sun set about fifteen hyenas including babies made their way out of the den to wake up in the cool night air.  We left as it started to get too dark but soon they would have left to start the hunt.  After one more night in the tents we made our way back to Butajira.
The experience was a memory of Africa that I will always appreciate, though I still want to go see some other wildlife preserves in Africa; it wet my appetite for what I can see and be a part of during my two year stay.  I can't wait to see what it's other natural parks have in store for me.