It has been a busy few months (read from bottom up)

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.

No water, electricity or phone

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

Busy Week

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.  ;)

The holidays are almost over

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.

Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year

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!

11/15
So it has been an interesting week.  I finally got the bees moved, it was a much simpler task than I had imagined and the farmers son who drove us by Gari (horse cart) was very nice.  He did charge me a little more than I wanted to pay but I guess it was technically illegal for him to be using the Gari after six pm so he was worried about getting a ticket.  It is ironic that it is illegal for him to do that, but it is also illegal for me to mess with the bees at all before seven pm, so there is technically no legal way for me to move the bees without contracting a car.  Anyway, I got my first visitors on Monday, they helped me transfer the bees from the traditional hives they were originally in, over to my modern and transitional hives.  It was their first time transfering bees, and for one of them it was the first time ever working with bees.  The transfer went very smoothly and I am happy to report the bees seem to be very happy in their new home.  I will hopefully be doing an inspection on them early next week so I will be able to tell more then.  Otherwise I have continued to be very busy, I had my first boys and girls development clubs on Wednesday.  Sadly they went pretty badly and I hope I can recover from the flop of a first class. 
As far as that goes it has just been one misscommunication after another.  First they administration was hesitant and being difficult about setting up those clubs at all so I went to the prep school.  I had everything ready for starting there, but at the last minute the administration said it wasn't a good idea to do it there so I went back to the high school.  The second time around they were very quick about getting it going so I was encouraged.  But I had problems with communication and language barriers so the clubs were set for the wrong times.  So I tried to change it and the times were messed up again.  The third time I tried I just decided to live with the improper times.  But, that meant that the counterpart I had lined up for the boys club couldn't help me.  So I decided to just try it with the teacher in charge of the club.  So I get there and start the class.  But, the teacher had a hard time understanding and translating so the activity didn't work.  Then I tried to explain the point of the activity and the lesson from the meeting and he couldn't get the point so the whole club meeting finished without getting the idea to the students.  Then the girls club met in the afternoon.  The student showed up on time, but there was no teacher to help me with it.  Thankfully the matieral is in fidel (the written form of Amharic, Ethioipia, but not my zones, language), but the problem then arose that most of the students didn't read fidel, and the ones that did were too nervous to read out loud.  So, after a while one of the teachers comes to help me and explains what is up...then half the students stand up and leave...still noone would read so I start to pack up to leave.  One of the girls finally volunteers to read for me, a little after that the teacher for the club comes and says that she thought the club was Thursday (even though she is the one that told the students to come Wednesday, I guess she just forgot).  The end of the club went ok though so hopefully some of the girls will show up next week.  After all that I decided I needed to have a talk with the principle and we worked it out where I from now on am supposed to have an English teacher there to translate for me at all times. 
Wendesday afternoon I had my English club at the preperatory school, we learned about Haikus and then I had the students write some of their own.  It went really well, and I think everyone had a great time!  I am really glad the students there are starting to open up, I had kids yelling across the room to come over and read their poems and to help them correct it.  There were even one or two that were really very good. 
I found out today that my site is in fact being considered for a health site mate.  The staff will be visiting some time to acess my site and then I will find out for sure.  I just hope if I do get one that they are a cool, and motivated volunteer.  I already have a health worker in town wanting me to get a program started to teach nutrition and health to people living with HIV.    I am also considering teaching a health and nutrition class for women and infants.  I also just had an idea on the ride over here that I should check out the ambulance staff.  I found out that the health center doesn't even have a doctor on staff, so I wonder if the ambulance staff has proper first aid/CPR training.  If they don't that is something I could easily teach. 
So anyway, if my plans work out today I will spend sitting by the pool on wifi to enjoy the weekend and my first day officially off from site!
11/7
Another week another experience.  As recently it has been a week of great accomplishments, and annoying set backs.  Sometimes it is cultural differences, sometimes language barriers, but always it is something that I have to learn to not let frustrate me.  I will start with the schools.  So far I have had two meetings with the preperatory school, and three with the High School English clubs.  At each meeting I learn better ways of communicating, and ways of helping them understand.  I never pictured myself a teacher, but I have to admit I kind of enjoy teaching these guys.  I think it is different than from the states though, because these kids honestly want to learn from me.  They are there voluntarily, and they come on time (mostly) because I asked them to, not because they are forced to.  But, sometimes it is frustrating too.  On Wednesday I ws teaching at the prep school, I was about forty-five minutes into an hour long lesson, and half of my students showed up.  I spoke to the principle after and he said he would talk to them about it, but the students that showed up on time I truly think got something from the lesson, and they were very attentive, even starting to open up and participate with me.  The next day at the high school the teacher in the room ahead of me went fifteen minutes into my time and made me cut my class short.  Still, the teacher helping me in that class thinks I am doing a good job, even though at the High school I feel like they are having a hard time with my club, and he encouraged me to continue how I am.  But, between the good and bad of those clubs, I have to say so far I am glad I started them, and I hope it continues well.  The real frustration was because of the language barrier.  Last week I finally managed to get the boys and girls gender and development clubs scheduled.  The teachers told the students when to come, and everything was in order.  So I get there when I am scheduled to do the girls clubs and the fascilitator, and the students are not there.  So I talk to the principle of the school and go home.  That afternoon I went back to speak with the fascilitator and see what went wrong, turns out that he had scheduled the class a half hour after we discussed, I guess he actually thought that was when we agreed on, but as we talked about it I wrote it in my schedule so I know it wasn't.  Then I stick around and wait to start the boys club that is scheduled for the afternoon.  The fascilitator for that class finally shows up about an hour after it is supposed to start and says that the girls club is scheduled and not for another hour, which happens to be when my English club is scheduled at the other school.  So I discuss it with them, show them my schedule and try to get it going properly for the next week.  Still, I know there was still miscomunication, hopefully it works itself out though.
In other areas I was scheduled to have the bees I am buying transported to the farmer training center on Monday.  I look for my counterpart in the afternoon so we can go over to the farmers house who is selling me the bees, and I can't find him anywhere.  Since the farmer speaks zero english there was no reason to even try to go by myself so it was a wash.  Tuesday I find him and he says he had to go out of town for the afternoon.  We go that afternoon and the farmer tells us to come back on Thursday and we will move them.  So yesterday we go and the farmer says he is tired from walking all day and wants to go do "stuff", and we should come back tomorrow.  So today we are going back again, if he comes up with another reason I am just going to tell him to forget transporting them, that I will do it myself and just pay him less.  Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but I am really anxious to get them moved so I can start working with them. 
But, regardless of all the frustrations I have to say that being this busy really helps a lot.  The frustration and boredom have been offset with having things to do and it makes it easier to deal with the monotony.  I have a couple more things in the works that I hope will pan out and give me even more things to stay occupied with soon.

Hanging in Hawassa

11/15
So it has been an interesting week.  I finally got the bees moved, it was a much simpler task than I had imagined and the farmers son who drove us by Gari (horse cart) was very nice.  He did charge me a little more than I wanted to pay but I guess it was technically illegal for him to be using the Gari after six pm so he was worried about getting a ticket.  It is ironic that it is illegal for him to do that, but it is also illegal for me to mess with the bees at all before seven pm, so there is technically no legal way for me to move the bees without contracting a car.  Anyway, I got my first visitors on Monday, they helped me transfer the bees from the traditional hives they were originally in, over to my modern and transitional hives.  It was their first time transfering bees, and for one of them it was the first time ever working with bees.  The transfer went very smoothly and I am happy to report the bees seem to be very happy in their new home.  I will hopefully be doing an inspection on them early next week so I will be able to tell more then.  Otherwise I have continued to be very busy, I had my first boys and girls development clubs on Wednesday.  Sadly they went pretty badly and I hope I can recover from the flop of a first class.
As far as that goes it has just been one misscommunication after another.  First they administration was hesitant and being difficult about setting up those clubs at all so I went to the prep school.  I had everything ready for starting there, but at the last minute the administration said it wasn't a good idea to do it there so I went back to the high school.  The second time around they were very quick about getting it going so I was encouraged.  But I had problems with communication and language barriers so the clubs were set for the wrong times.  So I tried to change it and the times were messed up again.  The third time I tried I just decided to live with the improper times.  But, that meant that the counterpart I had lined up for the boys club couldn't help me.  So I decided to just try it with the teacher in charge of the club.  So I get there and start the class.  But, the teacher had a hard time understanding and translating so the activity didn't work.  Then I tried to explain the point of the activity and the lesson from the meeting and he couldn't get the point so the whole club meeting finished without getting the idea to the students.  Then the girls club met in the afternoon.  The student showed up on time, but there was no teacher to help me with it.  Thankfully the matieral is in fidel (the written form of Amharic, Ethioipia, but not my zones, language), but the problem then arose that most of the students didn't read fidel, and the ones that did were too nervous to read out loud.  So, after a while one of the teachers comes to help me and explains what is up...then half the students stand up and leave...still noone would read so I start to pack up to leave.  One of the girls finally volunteers to read for me, a little after that the teacher for the club comes and says that she thought the club was Thursday (even though she is the one that told the students to come Wednesday, I guess she just forgot).  The end of the club went ok though so hopefully some of the girls will show up next week.  After all that I decided I needed to have a talk with the principle and we worked it out where I from now on am supposed to have an English teacher there to translate for me at all times.
Wendesday afternoon I had my English club at the preperatory school, we learned about Haikus and then I had the students write some of their own.  It went really well, and I think everyone had a great time!  I am really glad the students there are starting to open up, I had kids yelling across the room to come over and read their poems and to help them correct it.  There were even one or two that were really very good.
I found out today that my site is in fact being considered for a health site mate.  The staff will be visiting some time to acess my site and then I will find out for sure.  I just hope if I do get one that they are a cool, and motivated volunteer.  I already have a health worker in town wanting me to get a program started to teach nutrition and health to people living with HIV.    I am also considering teaching a health and nutrition class for women and infants.  I also just had an idea on the ride over here that I should check out the ambulance staff.  I found out that the health center doesn't even have a doctor on staff, so I wonder if the ambulance staff has proper first aid/CPR training.  If they don't that is something I could easily teach.
So anyway, if my plans work out today I will spend sitting by the pool on wifi to enjoy the weekend and my first day officially off from site!
11/7
Another week another experience.  As recently it has been a week of great accomplishments, and annoying set backs.  Sometimes it is cultural differences, sometimes language barriers, but always it is something that I have to learn to not let frustrate me.  I will start with the schools.  So far I have had two meetings with the preperatory school, and three with the High School English clubs.  At each meeting I learn better ways of communicating, and ways of helping them understand.  I never pictured myself a teacher, but I have to admit I kind of enjoy teaching these guys.  I think it is different than from the states though, because these kids honestly want to learn from me.  They are there voluntarily, and they come on time (mostly) because I asked them to, not because they are forced to.  But, sometimes it is frustrating too.  On Wednesday I ws teaching at the prep school, I was about forty-five minutes into an hour long lesson, and half of my students showed up.  I spoke to the principle after and he said he would talk to them about it, but the students that showed up on time I truly think got something from the lesson, and they were very attentive, even starting to open up and participate with me.  The next day at the high school the teacher in the room ahead of me went fifteen minutes into my time and made me cut my class short.  Still, the teacher helping me in that class thinks I am doing a good job, even though at the High school I feel like they are having a hard time with my club, and he encouraged me to continue how I am.  But, between the good and bad of those clubs, I have to say so far I am glad I started them, and I hope it continues well.  The real frustration was because of the language barrier.  Last week I finally managed to get the boys and girls gender and development clubs scheduled.  The teachers told the students when to come, and everything was in order.  So I get there when I am scheduled to do the girls clubs and the fascilitator, and the students are not there.  So I talk to the principle of the school and go home.  That afternoon I went back to speak with the fascilitator and see what went wrong, turns out that he had scheduled the class a half hour after we discussed, I guess he actually thought that was when we agreed on, but as we talked about it I wrote it in my schedule so I know it wasn't.  Then I stick around and wait to start the boys club that is scheduled for the afternoon.  The fascilitator for that class finally shows up about an hour after it is supposed to start and says that the girls club is scheduled and not for another hour, which happens to be when my English club is scheduled at the other school.  So I discuss it with them, show them my schedule and try to get it going properly for the next week.  Still, I know there was still miscomunication, hopefully it works itself out though.
In other areas I was scheduled to have the bees I am buying transported to the farmer training center on Monday.  I look for my counterpart in the afternoon so we can go over to the farmers house who is selling me the bees, and I can't find him anywhere.  Since the farmer speaks zero english there was no reason to even try to go by myself so it was a wash.  Tuesday I find him and he says he had to go out of town for the afternoon.  We go that afternoon and the farmer tells us to come back on Thursday and we will move them.  So yesterday we go and the farmer says he is tired from walking all day and wants to go do "stuff", and we should come back tomorrow.  So today we are going back again, if he comes up with another reason I am just going to tell him to forget transporting them, that I will do it myself and just pay him less.  Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but I am really anxious to get them moved so I can start working with them.
But, regardless of all the frustrations I have to say that being this busy really helps a lot.  The frustration and boredom have been offset with having things to do and it makes it easier to deal with the monotony.  I have a couple more things in the works that I hope will pan out and give me even more things to stay occupied with soon.

Two weeks worth of posts

10/30
It is a good thing I like being busy, because this week has been crazy.  Right now I am trying to remember where it all went and not having much luck.  Saturday was pretty good, which is suprising because it is market day and it is usually my least favorite day of the week.  People come in from all the rural areas and the harassment goes through the roof.  I went to the market to get some vegetables and supplies.  I couldn't find the supplies and ended up picking up a local guy who insisted on carrying my stuff.  We walked to one of my coffee places and just sat and talked to all the people we knew for a while.  I managed to out wait him thankfully, he isn't all there because of a head injury, and hung out with friends from the office for a while.  Then I went home and made tacos all from scratch, the tortillas and everything.  I guess it all started getting crazy on Sunday.  I went out to get some coffee, I was sitting at one of my favorite places talking to Astar, the owner of the "shop".  As I am sitting there a couple of donkeys walk past with grain sacks of straw on their backs.  I had been needing straw so I could mix with mud and seal my beehives.  After that my counterpart rides up on his bike and asks me what I am up to, we agree to meet up in a few minutes to try and find where they took the straw.  We find the straw a little up the road and negotiate a price.  I have to have a grain sack to trade them so I run home to get one.  When I get back my counterpart has been talking to the guys and discovered that they had bees that they would sell me.  We negotiate a price and arrange for me to see the hives the next day.  So Monday comes, I have a meeting with the preperatory school administrator, then I ride my bike out to the farmer training center outside of town to water the seeds I planted to feed the bees, then I come back to observe a vaccine clinic the health clinic arranged, afterwards one of the guys there took me to lunch, then to coffee.  Finally I went to see the bees.  We get to the arranged meeting place and find that the guy isn't there.  We manage to find his house, but his wife tells us that he went out to get soap to wash his cloths, we try and fail to find him so I go home.  About ten minutes after I get home my counterpart shows up with the guy so we head to his house.  Turns out he has five hives, and he caught a swarm the day before.  (A swarm is when the bees overpopulate a hive and part of the colony leave in order to allow more room in the hive, the hive then creates a new queen and continues on)  He shows us the swarm which is clinging to the straw lid from a pot.  He then goes through it and pulls out a peice of grass with a string attached to it.  At the end of the string is a bee that he has tied to it.  He hands me the string and I manage to get the bee to land on me, it is the queen that the guy had caught and secured to make sure the bees stay where he put them.  It was extreemly cool to have the queen of a colony just sitting on my hand with no protective gear at all.  It is not something you could ever do with a bee colony, much less African bees, unless they are in a swarm which is naturally more docile.  Anyway, I managed to negotiate the final deal and Monday we are supposed to move the bees to my apiary, then on Thursday I will transfer them.  Ok, well that is enough about bees, the other volunteers say I have bees on the brain, and I will admit that is true more often than not.  So anyway, Tuesday I transported all the rest of my materials out to the FTC.  My counterpart (cp) and I mixed the mud and used it to seal two transitional hives, the lady who works at the FTC wanted to get our picture, but sadly I didn't think to bring my camera.  That afternoon I had to go back out to the FTC to bring the hives inside and lock them up for the night.  Wednesday I went out the the FTC to put the hives in the sun, water my plants, and finish the lid to a hive, I came back to town to go to the market, had lunch and immediatly had to go back out to put the hives up because I would be busy all afternoon.  It was the first day of my English club at the Preperatory school.  Finally after all the paperwork, going back and forth for letters, the meeting to discuss my "curiculum", making schedules, and getting the students selected I finally got to teach.  It was a really interesting class.  We discussed the poem "One Inch Tall", the students had a harder time understanding it than I expected, but otherwise I think it went pretty well.  By the end most of the students seemed to understand the poem, the biggest problem they seemed to have was my rate of talking, I need to slow down for them to understand better.  After class some students asked a few questions and I was explaining poetry to them (who would have guessed the guy who never liked poetry would be explaining it to others) and I was discussing some of the poems by Edgar Allen Poe.  They were so intense just listening to me talking about it that I am going to download some more poems tomorrow so I can read them to the students.  It was really interesting seeing them figure things out and I am really interested to see how the clubs turn out.  Anyway today I had the second meeting of the High School English club, the students there have a lot harder time understanding so I am going to come up with other strategies for them, I ran back out to the FTC to seal the cracks in the mud, and of course water the seeds again, I came back and had a meeting with the High school to set the times for my boys and girls club, then headed to coffee again at Astars.  She is so sweet, I have coffee there probably five times a week, and I have not once paid for coffee, the chocoaltes, or gum that she gives me, or the mashed potatoes from the store next door.  After hanging with her, her friends, and some of my friends I try to head home.  I ran into my landlords brother who invites me to coffee (even though he knows I just drank some), so he closes his shop and we go to a coffee house.  A bunch of his friends join us and we sit around for about half an hour just chatting.  Anyway, I am glad to get to go use the internet tomorrow.
I hope you all have a happy Halloween!
P.S. I keep hearing people are reading my blog.  Just today my PC Kelley told me she was reading it (Hi).  I don't know how you guys are bored enough to get through all this but if you manage to get to this part thanks for reading.  :)
10/21
Things are moving along here in Gassera.  I am still trying to get a horse, but it is slow going trying to find a place to keep it among all the other stuff I have going on.  Yesterday was pretty busy, I started out waiting for my counterparts to come to the office (which they never did), and got caught in a rain storm.  Since I was going to work on building I had tools and supplies with me and no books or anything to keep me entertained.  Then I went to the Education office to get a letter for my clubs, that made the fourth time I have tried to get letters from them, not to mention the two I had to give them to get the letters in the first place.  Then I finished building the hive stands at the Farmer Training Center, watched some of the livestock office guys giving cows hormone injections and preping them for artificial insemination in a couple days.  After lunch I went back to the FTC and dug and planted some flower seeds for the bees I hope to have there soon.  Then I wished my mom a happy Bday while I was walking back to town.  Since the FTC is one and a half kilometer from town it seems to get network.  I don't know why, but it seems the further from town you get the better signal there is.  After I rushed home I wiped myself down to try and minimize the smell so I could go to a meeting with the school administration.  I found out there that the letter I had gotten earlier that day only specified the English language club and did not have the boys and girls club even though I had been very specific about those.  So the principle told me I needed to go get another letter.  It was still early enough so one of the teachers went with me to the ed office to translate.  We got there right as the head of the office was leaving and after about ten minutes of them arguing I understood enough that the letter was general enough to cover that and that the administrator was refusing to write another letter and that the principle was just going to have to deal.  So this afternoon I have a meeting with the principle and the teachers so hopefully he will accept it and I can just get the dates scheduled and be done with it.  Otherwise I have my first club starting on Thursday so I will be able to finally get into it.  Then the other four clubs are supposed to be scheduled soon so after that I should have my hands very full!  I am still waiting on feedback for my proposal about creating the fish pond, and I am hoping to get started with my field visits for the beekeeping next week.  As always though, I am on Ethiopia's time table and I will just continue to wait.
10/19
So I think it is about time I do a shout out to all my new friends I have gotten in PC.  First of all to my friend Fred, in Butajira you were with me for my first major holiday, "Fasika."  The end of the Orthodox fasting season (or one of them at least), my host family was good enough to cook me vegetarian food, sadly we didn't get to enjoy it.  I know I haven't heard from you in a while but I have been told that is normal after, I am sure you will visit me again before the end of service.  Then there is George, we were on and off all PST.  We may not have gotten along all that well, but we never seemed to really have it off too badly during training.  I am glad that we were able to at least keep it civil.  Now to Bob and Charrolette, you guys have been there for me ever since I have gotten to site.  I know you don't like the chemicals I spray in my house, but you put up with me anyway.  I know when you have children they will be all over me cause apparently even though I don't really like them the kids seem to love me just as much as the adults.  Then there is Susan, I really hope you aren't reading this cause to be honest I am about ready to wage all out war against you.  You seriously bug the CRAP out of me, between you are your friends I want to tear my hair out sometimes.  Last but not least I can't forget Paul.  I swear you can keep me entertained all day.  I know you hate the smoke when the Habesha start up the cooking fires, but I swear when I see you first thing in the morning it just cracks me up.  One of these days I will figure out the thing you have for squares.  Anyway, I just wanted to make sure I let everyone know how huge a part of my life you have become and that I will never forget the time I get to spend with you.
Friends proper names:
Fred: my ameoba friend that made sure food was only coming up, not going down during Fasika.  I hear that they can last in your system even after the initial treatment.
George: my bacterial infections, they bothered me all during PST but never got bad thankfully.
Bob and Charrolette: my fleas.  I keep treating my house and bed but they keep coming back.  Female fleas can lay over a thousand eggs a day.
Susan: mosquitos, only the female sucks blood and only right before they are ready to lay their eggs.  If it wasn't for my bug net I am pretty sure I would have shrivelled up from blood loss by now.
Paul: this one species of fly that flys in squares over and over.  I don't know why, but they seem to do it until the Ethiopians start cooking inside, then the smoke gets them to leave.  I can't even guess how much time I have lost just watching them flying in squares.

10/8
I finally managed to teach a class!!!  Yesterday I started my two day training on beekeeping.  It started out a little stressful, it was raining in the morning and the rain pretty much shuts everything down in rural Ethiopia.  I managed to get to the office just in time to meet my counterpart to get the last of the supplies and take them to the training location, except, when I got there he was missing.  He finally shows up about half an hour late, then about twenty minutes after that the guy whose office was funding the meeting showed up to tell us where to go.  We get the people who have shown up for the meeting over to the office where they tell us that we didn't reserve the room so we can't hold the training there.  So the guys from my office argue with them and finally convince them to let us use the conference room to hold the meeting.  We get everything set up and  are about to start the meeting when...the power goes out.  So they have to call for a generator to run my slides off of.   We finally start the meeting scheduled for 8:30am at about 11, and with a whole areas worth of people having not shown up yet.  I work on the slides until 12:30 when we break for lunch and I tell my counterpart multiple times that we need the wood for constructing the hives at the office when we get back.  He assured me it would be there so we go for lunch.  I get to the office with the supplies I need and low and behold the wood isn't there, neither is my counterpart, my translator, or the host.  About twenty minutes after we were scheduled to start everyone shows up, but not the wood.  So my counterpart goes off to get the wood and I am trying to stall for time, everyone is getting restless so I decide to use the wood that I had personally purchased for another project to get stuff started, of course it isn't really the right size but I made it work.  Finally he shows up with the wood and I find out that the people I am training have had the training before except for one group and they others are experts and not really interested in learning it again.  I convince them to build one hive so the people who have never done it can get the experience.  Something that took my volunteer group about four or five hours to do during our training took the Ethiopians about an hour and a half!  I was very impressed and they even built the lid which we didn't finish during the PC training.  After that we just do some discussion and break about half an hour early.  That meant that finishing the hive which I had scheduled for today wasn't necessary so I had a whole afternoon with nothing scheduled.  So today I get to the office, again because of the morning rain have to wait for my counterpart to arrive.  When he gets there I am told that he has been assigned work in another area and can not help me at the training.  We get to the meeting hall and don't have the projector, the generator, and are of course late.  We start at 10:00am instead of 8:30, but at least it is a bit earlier.  The power come back on so they want to turn off the generator to save gas.  Of course we don't have the proper extension cord to reach the outlet though so no slides until someone comes and gets everything set up.  So I teach without slides for a while.  Then we finally get power in time to finish the last five slides.  We break for lunch and come back to finish the day which we decide to substitute the hives for some other examples.  They only take about an hour and a half, most of which was just answering questions while wax boils.  Then it is one to the talk about the office politics, the problems the different groups want help with like not having a fence, things being stolen, and why they aren't productive (even though the hives are in rooms at their houses and not set up), needless to say it wasn't anything in my area so I sat until they finished at 5pm.   All that to say that I think it went pretty well.  The people seemed pretty interested while I was talking, the questions that were on topic were pretty good, and the feedback all said good things and that they want me to come work in the field to help them get things running.  In the end we had about fifty people attend, although one group showed up five minutes before we broke for lunch the second day and literally were not there for any of the lecture.  Overall I was pretty happy with how it went, although for any future training I will be taking more direct responsibility for making sure rooms are reserved and supplies are were they are supposed to be.  As far as the time I stressed about it the first day, but the second day I just decided that I had to deal with the fact that Ethiopians do not work by the same time constraints that I am used to and I decided not to let it bother me.
As for other things, I am still in the process of trying to reschedule the meeting to train about the banana disease, I do have people occasionally stop me on the street to ask me when I am coming so I know I have interest.  The schools just started this week, although the students are showing up but the teaching doesn't start until next week (don't ask).  I met with some of the school administrators this week and they are ready to work with me.  I have to give them action plans for the clubs I want to start next week and the week after that they are going to start setting up the school clubs.  They did give me a hard time about the class sizes though.  I have the numbers set between twenty and thirty depending on the club.  They said that wasn't a good number because they have thousands of students and more than that will want to attend.  I tried to explain that I am not a teacher, that I am a volunteer and this isn't my primary project, on top of that I need to have a manageable size so that I can provide the assistance the club is designed to provide.  They still tried to get me to do more clubs or more students and I basically told them that we would see.  So far though I am planning on having five clubs, having narrowed it down a little, at three different schools, each an hour long each week.  On top of that I am working on the beekeeping stuff, which I have offered to come out to each bee cooperative once a month for four kabeles, one of which is a day trip into the gorge where I have to climb down and back up a mountain.  I am working on a proposal to work on fish farming in a kabele about forty five minutes bus ride from my town; and my office has asked me to work on business design training, and maybe some poultry production.  Anyway, I am not overwhelmed yet, but I am trying to keep it that way.  I have plans to ask PC to send me some help next year, so hopefully I will be able to get a new volunteer to pawn some stuff off too.
So basically getting that class together has been my week.  I spent all day Monday getting supplies together and meeting people to organize things (see how that went).  I did realize that my big report for PC was due last Sunday so I have to run into town the day after tomorrow and write it all up.   When I get back I just got permission to start my own beekeeping project at the Farmer Training Center so I will be starting that the beginning of next week.
The thing to think about in this post is responsibility.  In America when you are told/asked to do something you are generally expected to have it done on time.  That is not necessarily true in Ethiopia.  So next time you ask for your significant other to have dinner ready when you get home, or the person at the office to get a report to you by the end of the week.  If they come through for you make sure to appreciate it.
P.S. I have heard that some of the acronyms and words I use are not necessarily understood so I want to take a second to do a refresher on them.  I hope this helps.
PC: Peace Corps
PCV: Peace Corps Volunteer
HCN: Host country national
Habesha: The Ethiopian name for an Ethiopian (Think "American")
Forenji: Translates to foreigner
FTC: Farmer training center
Woreda: Think county
Kabele: A governmental division of a Woreda (my Woreda has twenty-one kabeles)
GAD: Gender and Development committee
Buna: Ethiopian word for coffee
Gassera: The name of both the town and the Woreda I live in