10/28/09

This past weekend was kind of rough for me and Kimberly. We were just
feeling very overwhelmed with everything Ethiopian. The language, the
food, the culture, etc. It was just getting to be too much and we
were almost at the breaking point. Actually, we were probably past
the breaking point, but we sucked it up and stayed anyway. This week
has been considerably better than last week and the weekend.

On Monday, we got to go to the big city near our town to visit an
Anti-AIDS club and a Women's Support Group. This was helpful because
we got to actually do work instead of just learning language. Plus,
we got out with the other people in our group. Also, going to the big
city is nice because we get to use the internet and occaisionally get
good food. Monday we checked our email and found out we have a
package or two coming to us, so that is nice. We also got actual cake
from a hotel there, which was incredible. Then, for supper we had
halushki, a recipe Kimberly gave to the family. They won't let her do
the cooking because there is no actual kitchen or stove, but they did
a fantastic job. It was buttery and garlicky, which was different
than most of their pasta which is just oily.

On Tuesday, we took a hike with the group after class. We got to see
some of the beautiful Ethiopian countryside that I hope to show
pictures of eventually. The pictures will probably have to be emailed
and not posted on here, because it's just a little too hard. That
night we had vegetable soup made with ramen noodles. Normally, this
is not a dish I would necessarily write home about, but here in
Ethiopia, any semblance of American food is awesome.

Tuesday night, one of the sisters from our host family was visiting
from a bigger city and she brought a gift for us. For breakfast this
morning we had sliced loaf bread with strawberry preserves and
nutella. It was the closest thing to PB&J I've had since I got here.
For lunch, I had sukwar dinnich (sweet potatoes), homemade potato
chips, fried eggs, and Koka Kola. Kimberly got salad instead of the
sweet potato. The sweet potato was not like at home though. It was
the same color of regular potatoes and just slightly sweeter. The
potato chips and Koka Kola though was awesome!

Things are better, but still hard. Please continue to pray for us and
anything sent to us, even just a simple letter, is a wonderful thing.

10/25/09

So, I decided that today I'm going to talk about the people of
Ethiopia. As I mentioned already they are incredibly friendly, but
their friendliness can be a bit of a shock to Americans. We are used
to walking down the street without anyone saying anything or even so
much as looking in our direction. This does not happen here in
Ethiopia, especially when you are one of only 9 white people in the
entire village. Ethiopians love to stare, they love to yell out your
name (or if they don't know it, they yell "ferengi" or "china"), they
love to introduce themselves, and the kids will honestly follow you
for miles, not caring where you are going.

Last week, we decided to go on a hike and there were probably 20 kids
who walked with us for the entire hike. The children holding your
hand for the entire walk is not out of the ordinary either. Also, men
with arms around each other or holding hands is not uncommon here in
Ethiopia, but homosexuality is actually against the law. Yesterday, I
had an elderly man grab my hand in the market and he would not let go
the entire time. Ethiopia is definitely the place you want to go if
you are trying to step out of your comfort zone.

10/24/09

So, we've now been in Ethiopia officially for 11 days, it feels like
it's been much longer. That's partly because we have experienced so
much in a short amount of time and also because time doesn't move very
fast here. There have been some great experiences and some not so
great experiences. I'm going to be up front and say that it's been
the hardest thing that I've ever done and it so far is much more
difficult than I ever could have imagined. It's mostly because of the
culture shock of living in a country about as different from America
as you can get, and then having to learn a language in hyperspeed on
top of that. There have been at least 3 days already where one or
both of us entertained the idea of ditching and going back home. I
believe it's only the grace of God that has prevented us from
following through, that and there really are great things here in
Ethiopia.

The culture is so different that it's almost exotic to us "ferengi" or
foreigners. This is constantly yelled at us as we walk down the road,
that or "China." Some great things are the hospitality of the people,
who are overjoyed to have us here. The coffee, which flows like water
does in America and tastes better than any coffee I've ever had. They
have a little ceremony every night in which they roast, ground, and
make the coffee right before your eyes. Tea or chay is delicious as
well and we usually have that at breakfast and then again at 10:30 am.

The food is one of the not so great experiences. There is something
called injera, which is some kind of soured bread similar in shape to
a tortilla and not similar in flavor to anything I've ever had. I've
only eaten it 3 times and struggled to keep it down each time,
therefore we just don't eat it. Since this is their national food and
something they eat with each meal, and they know we don't like it, we
usually get the same meals over and over. Pasta, rice, carrots,
potatoes, bread, and eggs. This stuff is good, but not as good as at
home, and it gets old fast. One good thing is the fresh fruits and
vegetables in the market.

That's all I have for now, but I promise to post more later when I can.

Here we go again...

So, the government of Turkmenistan apparently didn't want our group so we got sent back home. Now, it appears that Kimberly and I will be joining the group going to Ethiopia. Unfortunately, they leave today for staging and we won't be joining them until about a week from now. All the paperwork that we filled out for Turkmenistan must be filled out all over again for Ethiopia, including the Visa application. So, that's why our departure is being delayed. Hopefully we won't be too far behind the rest of the group in the learning process.

On the positive, we knew about Turkmenistan for about 7 months and never really got too excited about it. We have known about Ethiopia for 4 days now and are really, really looking forward to going there. Africa is where Kimberly originally wanted to go when we signed up for the Peace Corp anyway, so we feel like things are really being corrected here.

Ethiopia here we come!

Packing

I know when Kimberly and I were preparing for the Peace Corp we searched everywhere for some information on what to pack and what to pack it in. We weren't very successful so I hope that this might help some future Peace Corp volunteer...at least a little bit.

I can't tell anyone what to pack since I haven't actually gone, but I have been told that many people over pack. You can get many items you take in the country that you are going to. We chose to get one hiking pack and one backpack for each of us. Eventually, we ended up using one more bag to pack some additional items. So, the first picture is the backpacks that we are carrying on, and the second picture is the 3 bags that we are checking.

Another thing we did was get Compression Sacs (like vacuum bags, but you roll the air out yourself) to put some of our items in. It saves a good bit of space.

You'll see in the picture that we actually have a hiking pack and then an army duffel bag. Well, we were advised by someone at REI to get cheap army duffel bags to put the hiking pack in for checking it at the airport. Apparently, this is so that TSA doesn't cut the straps on your hiking pack. The army duffel bag is actually a good bag in itself, but it doesn't have as good of support for carrying as the hiking pack. I would recommend it as a good cheap bag alternative.

I hope this was helpful to someone. If you have any questions feel free to leave a message here with an email address and I'll try to respond as soon as possible.

Things I'll Miss, Things I Won't...

I'll miss:

• My family
• Duke basketball
• Alabama football
• Baseball
• Chick-fil-A
• Indoor bathrooms
• Durham, NC
• My church
• Lost

I won't miss:

• A 9-5 job
• Traffic
• Buying gas for my car
• Bills
• Commercialism
• Humid summers

Our Story

I've realized one thing, everyone has a different story about how they came to be in the Peace Corp, so I thought I would post ours.

Kimberly and I had been looking for something exciting to do, something more than just a regular 9-5 job, but were unsatisfied with everything we had found. Either it cost too much or it wasn't what we were looking for. Sometime in July of 2007, Kimberly's mom had emailed her information about the Peace Corp because the daughter of a lady she worked with had just returned and she thought we might be interested.

August '07 - I read the information and was instantly sold. We went to an informational meeting and knew it was for us. We immediately filled out an application, and it was accepted within a couple of weeks.

September '07 - Met with our regional representative for an interview and she later nominated us.

February '08 - We learned that we had been nominated for North Africa and the Middle East for Health Extension.

March '08 - We began getting medical and dental check-ups.

May '08 - Medical and dental information was sent into the Peace Corps office and we were just waiting for clearance.

December '08 - We had been told that if we hadn't received an invitation by the end of the year to contact the Peace Corp's office. Since we hadn't heard anything up to that point, we assumed that no news was good news. In the middle of December we learned that the Peace Corp did not have a piece of our paperwork. Our Medical Officer had left his job and the position had since been filled with two other people. Because of this, notifying us had been lost in the shuffle.

January '09 - We learned that even though we had turned in our paperwork all of the invitations for our country were now gone.

February '09 - Recieved our second nomination, this time for Central Asia. Later in the month received an invitation to serve as Health Education Volunteers for Turkmenistan.

July '09 - We redid our dental check-up since it expires after a year.

August '09 - We finally were fully cleared to enter as volunteers into Turkmenistan.

September 29th - We fly out for Philadelphia for staging and then finally on to Turkmenistan!!

So, that's our story. It's been a long process, but we are now only 2 weeks away and soooooo excited!