Training!

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

Another update

9/18

Well it is that time again...to get back into a rut.  I cannot even begin to describe how much I have read in my time in Ethiopia.  I am not just talking about books either.  Let's see how much I can remember: about thirty papers on beekeeping, everything from teaching it in Africa, to The Beekeeping Guide for Dummies (not being sarcastic), each one being between 80-300 pages long; fuel efficient cook stoves and ovens, about a dozen similar length documents on that; poultry raising, only one document on that; fuel briquette making, about 4-5 documents; every GAD document at least skimmed, probably about 200 documents; documents about the banana disease I am working on, about 20 scientific papers; and documents and manuals about starting various school clubs; and a ton of small stuff about gardening, tree nurseries, etc.  Then when I add on the thirty something books finished, and the dozen or so started that I am still working on.  Well let's just say you begin to get an idea of where my last five months at site have gone.  But hey, there are worse things I could be doing than increasing my knowledge I guess.  But that seems to be more or less where this week is going too.  So Monday I read (shocker I know) about school clubs, I also got the money supplied by my office to go into my hub town and get supplies for the training I am going to be doing on Beekeeping.  Tuesday I actually went into town and bought the supplies plus did a few errands.  Today the power finally came back and I worked on some tech crap at the office, but that didn't take that long and I READ.  But this week the power has been more off than on so I have read a lot, trouble is I tried to put some more books on my kindle and for some reason it is now saying there are NO books on it.  I have done everything I can think of and I can't seem to get it to recognize a thing I put on it.  Needless to say I am a bit upset.  Thankfully before Jill and Devin left I got a bunch of paper books from them so I am not dying of boredom.  I was even supposed to have a class about the banana disease in Balo Habebe (the gorge) today, but since there was a political meeting also today they pushed the date back.  So my first class has still not happened, but they are talking about me doing the first beekeeping class next week so I am keeping my fingers crossed.  School starts next week though, and assuming I can get these clubs set up I will soon be able to depend on recurring meetings every week with a set schedule!  Looking forward to it.

So the theme for today is: Read a Book!   I know in America we have busy lives, with work, and school, and watching American Idol!  But this week find a good book to sit down and read.  It can be one of your favorites, or one a friend has been nagging you to read, but find something and make a little time every day to read some of it.  Even if it is just a chapter a day, you will be surprised at how quickly you can finish it done, and maybe it will lead to a reading habit.  Now I challenge any of you to out read me!!!

Working

9/6

I have to say I am pretty happy with myself right now.  I have never been much of a cook, but I can whip something up if I really have to.  However, as far as I can remember I have only three times in my life made bread from scratch, and one of those times I used my blender to do the kneading for me.  The other two times have been in Ethiopia using a "dutch oven" style of baking since I lack anything like an oven.  The first time I didn't activate the yeast (did you know you have to do that with non-instant yeast?), and I cooked it a bit too hot and burned the bottom a little.  It was still edible and reasonably good.  This time though I did it perfectly, the bread turned out great, it was well cooked, tasted good, rose well, I even gave an extra loaf to my landlord who at least said it was really good.  Considering my first ever bread was a focacia bread I think I did really well.  On top of that I am considering trying to work with local people to start a bakery, and since the electricity here is completely unreliable it will be a brick oven style thing so at least having some small experience in making bread I think will come in handy. 

When I gave the bread to my landlord she invited me to dinner as well.  Even though I had already eaten I didn't want to be rude by turning her down.  It was pretty good, and I think I am starting to get used to the style of enjera made in this area.  It is weird because I almost never eat it, but it hasn't been so bad recently.  Don't get me wrong, I do actually like enjera for the most part, but the kind made in my area is cut with a lot of barley and it usually takes on a more sour taste than other enjera, so it has been a while getting used to it.  But it was nice to have dinner with her, her little baby, and her maid who was cooking for us. 

On a more general note, I found out today that a date has been set for my first training I will perform.  I am to do training on the banana disease in the gorge (Balo Habebe) on September 8, since I still have not figured out the Ethiopian calendar I really don't know when that is, but it should be soon.  I think the new year, Ethiopian new year is September 1st, is in just a few days so it will be eight days after that happens.  I am a little confused about what exactly is going to happen on New Years, but I think I have been invited to spend it with one of my counterparts, and there may or may not be a camp fire at my office so I guess I will just wait and see.  I am going into town on Monday to do some beekeeping with Devin and James is coming up to get some practice.  This will probably be the last time I see Devin in Ethiopia though as he is finishing his service.  Along with him Bre, Emily, and Laressa, are all leaving the area so it is going to get interesting not having any forenji less than two bus rides away.  When I come back though it will be hard core getting ready for projects, I will be bringing back an almost completed hive that we created during IST, I have to finish that, get the bees to put in it, and get the place I am going to be keeping them ready, then I have to get final approval to do my training so I can get started with the date planning, etc.  Plus school is about to start and I will be starting my clubs shortly after that.  Stuff is finally getting started and it is exciting. 

So here is my thing to consider: I ate some of my bread with the apple butter mom sent me (it is amazing thank you!), and I thought about it.  Really the only sweets we get here are coffee and tea, because they really do put that much sugar in it, and "biscuits" which are basically crackers/cookies with a bit of icing in the middle.  Otherwise the candy here isn't really worth speaking of, there is no ice cream except in the big cities, and even that "cakes" have basically no sugar in them so it is basically just bread.  So while it is probably good for our health, I would really love to just have a bag of darkside skittles, or a cup of fro-yo now and then.  So the next time you are chowing down on a cupcake, or munching on a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie, just think about us poor people in Ethiopia without the basic un-necessities.  That is all.  

Long update

8/29

This week has without a doubt been my most productive week here.  Typing that I feel a little bad because I still have not done that much for US standards.  Like I said in my last entry, it is hard to get any major things done here because of all the red tape, but I have been working on that and actually making some head way.  I have finished my proposals for the banana disease project (doesn't look like I actually needed that one), and the beekeeping proposal is all but done, one more field needs to be filled out and I can submit it.   I was in the office writting the 8/27 blog post and right after I finished it two white guys walked by my office door.  I feel bad because of all the complaining we do a lot of us volunteers have realized that when we see a forenji we stare right along with the habesha.  It is weird because we go weeks or months without seeing anyone other than Ethiopians, so to see someone else is just weird to us.  So I admit it, I stared...for a while.  Then when one of them looked over all I could do was wave.  I missed them when they left their meeting and went to to gorge.  The next day they came back and I got permission to go with them; I found out they were with an NGO from Holland.  They were a documentary film crew checking on the sustainability of the project.  The NGO had distributed goats during the big drought (you know, the one that whenever a volunteer told you they were going to Ethiopia, you asked isn't that the place with all the starving kids, ya that drought) and they wanted to know if the people were still keeping goats.  They allowed me to go into the gorge with them, so while they were filming my counterpart and I went to the kabele leaders and discussed the beekeeping and banana disease projects.  They were interested in both, but in particular the banana disease.  They said they were going to pick a date for me to come and do the training.  They also said they were going to invite all the banana farmers in the kabele.  That means that if every farmer comes to the training I will have about 150 people learning from me at one time.  These people are coming to listen to me try and help them prevent a huge loss of income, income that they can't afford to lose.  So no pressure or anything!  Today I met with some of the staff at my office to discuss the beekeeping project so we could determine budget, scheduling, persons to invite, etc.  They are all for it and have all but handed me the money for the program.  They were even trying to get me to do the training next week, which I am totally happy to do, but I still have to create an apiary (the place where you keep bees), get bee suits made for the practical part of the training, get supplies to teach people how to make transitional hives, find bees to do the transfer part of the training, and besides, it isn't the right time of the year to actually start moving the bees.  So I have talked them down from the next week idea, but they still want to do a two part training so I can do most of the training very soon, and finish the practical aspects in a few months.  They have me planning on an eighty person training, with help from my two counterparts to translate, a two day course with equal parts technical and practical training.  So between now and the actual training I have to: firm up my budget, turn in a proposal, get the materials to create my apiary, (hopefully) find bees I can buy and move to my apiary, (hopefully) have my powerpoint translated into the local language, get at least one local material bee suit made as an example, buy the supplies I can not get here in my hub town and have them transported here, meet with the people who will attend the training, meet with the local beekeeper cooperative, find out how many people from my office want to have the training, and train my counterparts who are going to help me so they are better prepared for the material we will present.  Needless to say I am really happy I am not training next week!  But I have to say, I am a lot happier with this than with not having enough to do.  Getting things going has been a long wait, but now it seems like things are coming together. 

Anyway I said I got a lot of stuff done this week so I should explain.  Along with meeting with the kabele leaders about the banana disease, and the Ag office about the beekeeping, I: had a local material hive tool made, got the first half of a beekeepers suit made, got both of my proposals written, sorted and went through the documents for the GAD comittee, sorted and went through all the documents I got about the banana disease during IST, planted seeds to use at my apiary, found an alloe plant during my trip to balo habebe and planted that in a container at my house, weeded my garden, and almost cut my finger off...

Well I guess that part isn't really an accomplishment.  It really isn't a very fun story I am afraid, while in the gorge with the NGO the people we had the meeting with took us to get some sugarcane.  After we got back I was in my room using my pocket knife to cut and eat it.  I was trying to split a piece and went all the way through it and into my finger.  I went to the clinic to have some stitches but the doctors had gone home.  Thankfully it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been so I bandaged it well, and started taking antibiotics.  After a little though I have decided it will be less risky to just let it heal on it's own and get a nice scar from it rather than risk the sanitation here. 

Anyway, I once again feel the need to appologize for my rambling and am going to quit typing at this point.  For those of you still reading this you have the patients of a saint.  I do feel obliged to keep up with the moral of the story thing I have going so I will add this.

For those of you who have gotten this far I want you to think of this.  To often we complain about having too much to do in the States.  We never feel like we have enough time for all the things we have to do.  But why is that necessarily a bad thing?  The other day I was at work and my coworker was asleep at his desk, I know that isn't unheard of in the US, but it wasn't like he had something to do and was just tired from a night out.  There are no nights out in this town because there isn't anything to do at night.  He really had nothing to do, no work that he was really responsible for at that point that needed to be done, he really just had nothing better to do.  So sometimes you really will need to just slow down and breathe, but when you do also decide to be thankful that you have something to give you purpose.

8/27

Sorry mom, I will never get into politics (like you ever thought I would).  My opinion changes day to day, but for the last week or so my least favorite thing is dealing with the beurocricy.  I swear, every project I want to do I have to type this up, ask these people, propose to this group, and get stamps (no less than three) on every document I create.  It is even more difficult, because with a lack of power or internet I can not email anything or even call someone to get approval.  It is all one on one with people who are rarely in the office.  But, I am finally on the right path.  I have gotten my counterparts sufficiently involved and they are starting to really help me get the wheels rolling.  We are in the process of getting the community groups together that we are going to work with, and then getting approval for the projects from the staff.  I have my proposals typed up, and my beekeeping manual (that I will probably not get to use because of the lack of power) created.  I have plans for how I am going to proceed, and have even started getting some local material equipment created.  It is almost the new year here.  In September Ethiopia will celebrate and then the schools start back up.  I still have to get a letter written up from the Agriculture office so I can work with the Education office, but the schools seem very excited for me to work with them.  At this point it is possible that I will have EIGHT clubs.  If nothing else that should keep me more than busy.  Soon I will start working on the process of getting my horse as well.  Still more letters and papers, and approvals I have to get for that.  Mainly just from the property owner though, I apparently have to have a signed contract with the people saying who will have what responsibility, etc.  Then I have to get hay delivered, then I have to get grain, then I have to get a saddle, then I have to find where I can get vaccines for it, on and on.  The thing I have for you all to think on today is this.  Don't take for granted the fact that with a few phone calls, some emails, and one supermarket later you can have for many things a program started.  For me it has been three and a half months of talking to people about what I want to do, of designing, etc, and I am just now on the verge of actually having something started.  So take a second, and think about all the modern conveniences you have right there at your finger tips.  The computers, wifi, cars, email, and supermarkets that we complain so much about the five minute drive, or how slow our one generation old iphones are going. 

8/23

IST is over, we all are back to site at this point (with the exception of those who went on vacation after training), since I was elected to the GAD comittee I stayed in Addis till Monday morning.  I arrived back to site around lunch time on Tuesday, for some reason I was in a particularly good mood going back.  I am not sure why, but I am trying to make it stick.  I am doing pretty well in that area, since I have been back I have had things to do.  For those of you who know me I don't do well if there is nothing to keep me busy, so being able to at least plan things is good for me.  Since I have been back I have nearly completed the plan development for working on the banana diseas, read about a dozen manuals, anything from scientific papers about the banana disease, to lesson plans for the GAD comittee.  I have planted cuttings of flowers I took from Holeta, some rosmary my coworker gave me, and some seeds to plant at the FTC when I get approval to do the beekeeping trainings.  I have weeded one of the beds of my garden (two more to go), and attempted my first re-batching of soap (it didn't go so well).  Today I went to the market with my counterpart and bought some stuff for beekeeping, plus had a blacksmith make a hive tool for me.  All of this, plus watching a couple movies and playing some frisbee with the neighbor kids.  I am just worried now that I am going so fast that I am going to run out of stuff to do.  For now though I am going to focus on getting stuff started because like all beuraucratic work I have to go through all the "proper" channels, cross all my t's and dot all my i's so I am trying to make sure I don't step on anyone's toes, or offend anyone.  Hopefully soon I will have some stuff actually going, have a horse (oh did I mention I am getting a horse) and that will give me something fun to do on the weekends!

I hope all of you guys back in the states are doing well.  I think about you all every day.  I wish just for a day you all could come see this place, it is so different from being there, yet the similarities are there too.  Just as something to leave you with.  Before IST I had to do a community needs assessment, it was a lot of boring questions and answers and wasn't worth much since I already knew the projects I was going to work on.  But the thing that really impressed me was that one of the questions I asked was what are you most proud of living here in Gassera.  Every-single-time the answer was the sense of community.  If there was one thing I could bring back from Ethiopia, it would be how everyone here knows each other, how they all know about each others children, about their lives, and are willing to help each other.  So let me give you a task, a challenge if you will.  Try this week to go up to one person in your neighborhood that you don't know.  Find out about them and their lives.  I am sure most of you won't but even here I am going to try to, and if I can do it in a country where I can't speak the language how hard is it really for you to?

8/9

So today is the second and final day of our beekeeping training.  It has been interesting so far, despite the fact that the expert who is teaching the class is not good at lecturing.  Devin came in for the training and taught one of the lectures before lunch so that was interesting.  We are all tired though, a week of classes, and going out every night will wear you down.  On top of that we have class till 8:30pm so we can do a bee transfer from a traditional hive to a transitional.  It will be fun, but we won't get back to Addis till some time tomorrow.  They did say they are giving us the bee suits after we finish the training.  I have also been collecting seeds and cuttings from the plants they have planted here in Holeta, so hopefully when I get back I will be able to start my apiary preperaions as soon as I finish training.  Then our counterparts are getting into town tomorrow so we will get no rest.  On the plus side I will get to stay in Addis for a few days extra because of the GAD committee.  There will be a bunch of people I know in Addis still so I am sure we will only be minimally productive. 

Another week and I will be heading back to site.  I am in some ways anxious to get back, and in other ways I am dreading it.  It is going to be rough getting to spend time with all these guys, then go back to only having a few people I talk to. 

8/8

So we are almost half done with training.  Today we are at Holeta Bee reserch center learning about beekeeping in Ethiopia.  I have been explaining a lot of the things that the master keeper has left out or not explained well.  Today we are learning basics and going to do some bee product processing.  Tomorrow we will be transfering bees from a traditional hive to a transitional hive.  I am excited to be able to ask my questions that I haven't had answered yet, and even more excited to get back to site and get them started.  We have been hanging out a lot and saying goodbyes to G7s.  We also had elections for the different groups.  I was elected to GAD (gender and development) comittee!  I am excited to get to working on promoting equality in Ethiopia and to help show other volunteers how to make a difference for women rights, and rights of all people.

On Ebola: So far there is nothing to worry about.  There have been no instances where any PC volunteers in Ethiopia have come into contact with Ebola, and at this point, the PC staff is monitoring the situation, but does not feel it is a threat for us.  As IST comes to a close next week please keep all the volunteers in mind.  Going back to site is one of the most difficult time for volunteers service.  Leaving our friends and the comforts of Addis is hard, and it is a very common time for volunteers to have difficulties. 

Training

8/13
So this week has been up and down.  It is great seeing the other volunteers, and some G7s have been here for their final flights out, some G8s are here for trainings they are facilitating, and some G9s have been in and out.  So we have been seeing and being able to spend time with a lot of people.  But, on the down side it has been so long, we have not had a full day off unless you count Sunday.  We traveled back from Holeta in the early morning, but that meant we didn't get to sleep in or rest.  Classes go from eight in the morning, to five thirty at night, we have had every session this week with our counterparts, and it honestly has been a bit frustrating.  But, it is good practice and allows them to see how PC volunteers are going to go about projects, so in the end it will be very beneficial.  It also has been raining every day, and for some reason I only brought one pair of shoes with me to Addis so I have been walking around in wet shoes for the last week and a half.  This afternoon was nice though, Sam, Naveed, Andrew, Charlie, Taylor, and I went to get Lebanese food, which was expensive but good, then went to a place we were told had good cheese cake.  Sam and I took a bite of it at the same time and both made happy noises at the same time.  It was easily the best desert in Ethiopia.  Then we crossed the street to get a line taxi, one pulled up right as we got across, and it had the perfect amount of seats.  We are sitting in the taxi when a forenji song comes on, Andrew asked if we would get the driver to turn the music up, we said we didn't know how to ask that, but just as we were saying it he cranked the radio to blaring!  We of course all cheer, then start singing.  The only spot on the whole trip (which we honestly didn't care about) was that when he turned the music up two of the passengers asked to get off, as he pulled over they said why so he turned the song.  But even that song was pretty good.  It was honestly just what we needed to make up for the long week so far.  I am really glad I went, because I was considering getting Thai food, but this was so much better.
8/9
So today is the second and final day of our beekeeping training.  It has been interesting so far, despite the fact that the expert who is teaching the class is not good at lecturing.  Devin came in for the training and taught one of the lectures before lunch so that was interesting.  We are all tired though, a week of classes, and going out every night will wear you down.  On top of that we have class till 8:30pm so we can do a bee transfer from a traditional hive to a transitional.  It will be fun, but we won't get back to Addis till some time tomorrow.  They did say they are giving us the bee suits after we finish the training.  I have also been collecting seeds and cuttings from the plants they have planted here in Holeta, so hopefully when I get back I will be able to start my apiary preparations as soon as I finish training.  Then our counterparts are getting into town tomorrow so we will get no rest.  On the plus side I will get to stay in Addis for a few days extra because of the GAD committee.  There will be a bunch of people I know in Addis still so I am sure we will only be minimally productive.
Another week and I will be heading back to site.  I am in some ways anxious to get back, and in other ways I am dreading it.  It is going to be rough getting to spend time with all these guys, then go back to only having a few people I talk to.
8/8
So we are almost half done with training.  Today we are at Holeta Bee research center learning about beekeeping in Ethiopia.  I have been explaining a lot of the things that the master keeper has left out or not explained well.  Today we are learning basics and going to do some bee product processing.  Tomorrow we will be transferring bees from a traditional hive to a transitional hive.  I am excited to be able to ask my questions that I haven't had answered yet, and even more excited to get back to site and get them started.  We have been hanging out a lot and saying goodbyes to G7s.  We also had elections for the different groups.  I was elected to GAD (gender and development) committee!  I am excited to get to working on promoting equality in Ethiopia and to help show other volunteers how to make a difference for women rights, and rights of all people.
On Ebola: So far there is nothing to worry about.  There have been no instances where any PC volunteers in Ethiopia have come into contact with Ebola, and at this point, the PC staff is monitoring the situation, but does not feel it is a threat for us.  As IST comes to a close next week please keep all the volunteers in mind.  Going back to site is one of the most difficult time for volunteers service.  Leaving our friends and the comforts of Addis is hard, and it is a very common time for volunteers to have difficulties.

At IST

8/5
We are on the second day of IST (in service training), so far there hasn't been a whole lot of interest.  Today people are doing presentations about their sites.  Even though it has been such a short time we have already had someone get their phone stolen, it was returned though (for a fee).  We have been in classes nearly all day for both days, so not a lot of getting out of the hotel at this point.  But, the afternoons we have been going out to eat and loving the forenji food.  The end of this week we are going to some trainings on composting toilets, then beekeeping.  I am really exciting about the beekeeping training, I have already prepared some questions to ask the experts there.  It has been great getting to see everyone again.  But, we have been warned that after this going back to site is probably going to really bum us out.  We are all sad to be losing another volunteer, but no one can blame him for his choice, and we will all miss him.
I have gotten approval to buy a horse and for (part or all) of the cost to be reimbursed by PC.  Since  am in such a rural area, bikes are not logical for some of the area I need to go, and the lack of transportation means I had to find other options, hence, the horse.  So I can't wait to get that set up when I get back to site.  I also have gotten a cool idea for another income generating activity that I will research when I get back to site that could really improve my life as well.  I might be being a little selfish, but I think that is ok sometimes.
Yesterday we did kind of a brain storm session where the volunteers came up with our biggest problems at sight, then determined what we can do, and what PC can do to help us with these problems.  Some interesting solutions were brought up, so something good will come out of it.
Otherwise, for all of he parents reading my blog, I wanted to assure you everyone is doing well.  No one has been overly sick while here, and everyone is enjoying the company of the people we havn't seen in months.
8/2
It has happened, the thing all travelers fear.  I have been ROBBED!  Well, all drama aside, I did get things stolen from me.  I was on the bus with my bag at my side and resting against the back of the seat in front of me.  Somehow the person sitting there reached through the seat, sliced a whole in my bag, and stole my point and shoot camera, my ipod shuffle, and my US android smart phone.  All in all, they made of with several hundred dollars worth of equipment.  Thankfully, they didn't take my kindle, or my PC passport (which was in a hidden pocket, in the same pouch).  I really don't know what they plan to do, my phone is encrypted and password protected, and the camera is old enough it will be impossible to find a charger for it, the only thing that is really any good to them is the ipod.  So thief, I hope you enjoy, because you just took away all of my sources of portable music.
Otherwise I have arrived in Addis safely, I will be here for two weeks, so now is the time to get in touch if you want to talk to me.

What I am up to

7/27
I can't remember what I have posted about what I am doing at site so if I repeat myself I appologize.  As I have said many times, I don't do much.  I am up to 26 books read at this point, plus a bunch of series and movies watched.  As far as acutall work though, I am currently working on a banana disease that is decimating local crops, with some help from one of my old clients back in the states it seems that we may have found the pathogen causing the disease.  Sadly there seems to be no cure, but rather just preventative measures that are all just pure hard labor.  So if I can verify that it is the bacteria we are thinking I will be able to start working on a program to work with the farmers in erradicating the diseas.  I also am working on getting a beekeeping program started.  Beekeeping is very common in Ethiopia, but they are still using the traditional techniques that are extreemly outdated, and not as productive as the modern techniques.  I have two locations already picted out where I will work with the local farmers and the bee cooperatives to bring them up to speed on modern techniques.  As soon as IST is over I intend to start preparing the apiary (beekeeping area) where I want to keep some of my own hives as demonstrations.  I also am probably biting off more than I can chew, but I want to try grafting (think breeding) bees to fill all the empty hives that they have sitting out.  Finally, I am also intending to work with the schools doing English clubs at the least, I also may do some environment, and gender equality clubs as well.  I have the inital OK from one of the school administrators, and the Education board, but I still have to get final approval.  If I do get that, then classes start in September here, and I will start shortly after that with the clubs.
So that is about it, I am sure I will find some other odds and ends to fill my time, but right now I have no other projects in mind.  I hope this answers some of your questions about what I am doing.
-Trey