1 Month Home

Wow. I can't believe I have already been home for one month! At the same time it also feels like it's been forever since I left Ethiopia. I got a great job that I love working as a lead teacher in a childcare center, and am back in school! I found a roommate, and will be moving into our apartment at the end of the month! And I have taken a shower EVERY DAY! (except one). It is crazy how things seemed to just fall into place for me. I applied to the job while I was still in Africa, and am so happy that it worked out! A friend who I had known when I lived here before works with me, and her roommate is moving out soon, and she need someone to live with her... I am so in! I am excited to be here, and am starting to feel like a real, responsible adult ;)

I miss Africa though. A lot. I miss my kids. I miss my friends. I miss my coffee ;) And even Ethiopian food. Good thing I have a 7 year old Ethiopian buddy who misses injera more than I do, and is always up for a trip to spokane for some lunch! I still love walking down the street, and no one calling out to me. And I love being able to jump in my car and go wherever I want. And I love having ice and tap water at my disposal.

I miss Deanna like crazy. :) She is the best travel buddy ever!

Now that life is starting to settle down, I am going to try to keep my blog updated as much as possible! I miss my little blog! 

The final stages of the countdown

Really? Is this REALLY my last Tuesday in Africa? Am I never going to watch MTV Arabia at night anymore? It still does not seem real. I feel like Sunday is so far away. I have been looking forward to going home for so long now, I can't even believe it is here. This has been the longest and quickest 3 months of my life.

This place has become my home. Even though it is considered a guest house, after a few weeks, you stop being a guest. Which is good, and bad. Good because I feel at home, and can do what I want... but bad because the workers stop treating us like a guest. You broke your toilet seat, and it wont stay on the toilet long enough for you to sit? Solution? Tape it yourself! Your bathroom smells because there is no running water? Solution? Use the other bathroom so yours does not smell. (I am not sure why my examples have to do with toilets... but they do.)

All that to say, I think I am going to miss this place. Mostly the people. Our cooking/cleaning lady who I can't remember her name. Every morning she greets us in Amharic, and yells GOBEZ when we answer. Every morning. It is exciting. Every time. And Desta, who I found out, spells his name Destaw. He is just a fun guy. He does what we ask, no questions... even if it is compleatly redicilous request. Like asking hime to wake up early on Aprl 1 to help us fool someone. Which we did, and it was EPIC. And here they call it April The Fool. Which is a fantastic name, and one I am going to use henceforth. Or hiding a sheep from someone. Or help making food in the kitchen because I am afraid of rats. Or jumping in on random dance parties. He is just a bundel of fun. Today for example, Deanna and I were sitting in the living room, reading, and could see Desta(w) through the window. And he was straddeling the railing of the front poarch and laughing. He saw D and I watching him in confusion, and came inside to inform us that he was riding a "gamel" (camel) like we did a few weeks ago. What? We laughed, hard. I guess there is not much to do outside all day, when you are just guarding the house. And Amare. I wont miss getting beat up daily, and being teased ALL the time. This man is pure Ethiopian. But is funny, and kind, and basically a walking party. And I will miss Masre, and Amen, and the Kalkidans (there are 2) and Faven, whom we nick-named flava flave. And our american friends. I don't know if I could have done this with out them. Kaela and her roomates. And her house. Like America in Addis. I have spent weekends there pretending that it is normal to be white. And eating food with utensles, and watching movies. And taking showers. I love little America. And I love Kaela and Co for letting me vent, and complain, and for helping me realize that my feelings are normal, and I am not the only one who has culture. Apparently Deanna is a freak, and I took her culture shock. I had it bad enough for both of us, and then some.

Oh Deanna. She is the best travel buddy one could ask for. Who else would be up for staying awake until 3am, just because I think it is a good idea to acclimate ourselves to the US a week early? Or to take random walks to the garbage dump, or not shower for weeks, and not complain about it? I think that traveling with anyone else for this amount of time would have killed me. But not Deanna. WWe have not been separated in these 3 months. Not once. Even in the hotel in Awassa, we were told that we could not share a room, so we paid for 2, but only used one! We wake up in the morning, and have little meetings to inform each other what we missed out on while the other was sleeping. Like dreams, or thought that may have occured in the early morning. I don't know what I am going to do without her in America. It is a good thing that we have made plans to go to lunch and see a movie the day after we get back. Wean ourselves slowly.

Sooo, I can't remember the point of this blog. I like people I guess? It's true. I love them! But am excited to see my family. My nephews are leaving me videos on Facebook telling me to come home, so I will! And my BFF is about to have her baby, my namesake, and I would not miss that for the world. I applied for a job already, and God willing will have one ASAP, and can start my life in Washington. I am excited. But Africa will always be apart of me. I am already planning my trip back. And still want to adopt from here, even more so now. I want to make this place a regular part of my life. I am offically addicted. And I like it!

African Ponderings

As I sit here in my bedroom, eating Trader Joes candy (yep. TJ's! Thanks Christine!!) And Deanna is bucket showering in the bathroom. I am thinking back upon the last 11 weeks. I only have 10 days left here, and I am not sure how I feel about going home.

Excited. Yep. That feeling is definitely there. I had pretty bad culture shock the whole 2nd month here, combined with my stalker issue, it was a rough month. I wanted to go home, daily. But I am glad that I stuck it out. I ditched the stalker, and things got better! But still, America beckons. Oh, to walk down the street and not be noticed! I can't wait! If it is an Ethiopian noticing me, than they either yell "Kendra!" or "forenje!" or "you" or some thing to get our attention. If it is a white person than naturally they have to approach us because we are white. I feel like a one man (or woman) parade no matter where I go.

Sad. I love my babies. I don't want to leave them! The kids at the day care are so cute and snuggly, and I am not looking forward to Friday when I have to say goodbye! I can't do it! And then there are the after-school kids. I have seen them everyday mon-fri for the last 2.5 months. I even gained a brother out of it! They know we are leaving soon, and every day they give us huge hugs and say "America you go? Today? Tomorrow? I miss you" Sometimes it is in English or Amharic, but either way, it kills me. I miss you too sweet babies! The connection I have made with these kids is something I can't explain. They expect nothing from me, just my company, and they love me for that. And they are FUNNY! These kids are hysterical. Some of the things they say and do... I don't know where it comes from. And trying to communicate with them is funny in of itself. Both parties look like dorks, half signing, and speaking in broken english/amharic. But we make do, and have some intelligent convos.

I keep asking myself if I would do it again. If I would come here and do it all over, knowing what I know, and I am honestly not sure. I think I would do it a lot different, and then would have a totally different experience. But oh well. You live and you learn, right? 

Anyway, I have a few stories, exciting, right?  

Well, he have some tinish ights. Which translates to small rats. But really we have mice. There have been some new volunteers, and one of them found a mouse in their bed. IN. THEIR. BED! Ewwwww. And then there was one in the guest bathroom. I have told myself that it is safe as long as it is not in my room, or bathroom. Because mice are choosy like that, you know. 

Also Deanna has fleas. (really she just found one on her, but thats still pretty gross.)

On Saturday I rode a camel. It was epic. Because I am in Africa, and rode a camel... in Africa. Legit, right? Right. 

Sidenote: I just took a bucket shower. The last time I really showered was 11 days ago. 

And I am going to splurge and buy cheese today, so I have run, because cheese is waiting.

Sweet little babies, and new brothers!

So, if you have not noticed, I may have been feeling a little anti-ethiopia recenlty. I want to go to America, but Deanna wont let me, and if I left her here alone, her mom (Momma Donna) would kill me. I want to make it clear that reason for me wanting to go home has nothing to do with the kids here. I love them more than I did when I first got here. So thats a lot!

This blog is not going to be about why I don't like it here (although I did yell at a person tonight and told him that he is runing my experience here in Africa). But it is going to be about these amazing kids.

I now have a brother in Ethiopia! His name is Bereket, and he is the cutest and funniest Ethiopian brother ever! And I am not just saying that because he is my Brother. Or maybe I am...

But the kids at the after school program really are great. It is amazing the conversations we can manage through broken english and amharic. The kids are curious about our lives, and like to tell us about theirs.



We have also started to work at a daycare a few days a week. Since the orphanage did not work out we asked some American friends if they needed help at their daycare. They gladly accepted. Thier program is called Embracing Hope. Look it up, it's amazing! It is for mothers in the Kore community, which is where we live, and is one of the poorest places in Addis. It is right next to the garbage dump, and a lot of the people survive on the cities garbage. Anyway, the daycare is free for mothers who have a job, and the kids can come and be taken care of so the mother is free to work. The kids are given breakfast and lunch, and vitimens and minor medical needs. They get clean clothes as soon as they arrive, and the youngers get to play all day, and the older ones get a few lessons. Its a pretty great setup. So far we have only been in one classroon. The kids seem to be about 2/3ish and are so amazing. the first thing I notice is how different kids are here than in America. 2 year olds know to come in the class, get changed, and sit for prayer time. What? 2YO's can do that!?! Yep. They can also sing songs and play games that I would think would be way above their ages. But I guess we may baby our babies in America. ;)

All week we have noticed one little boy, who has just sat in the corner, very quiet and very still. He only did what he had to, otherwise he did nothing. A few times I tried to snuggle him, but he was very timid, so I left him alone. I don't want to freak him out! On Friday one of the nannies noticed that he was very warm, and brought in a nurse to check him out (she was American, and spoke less amharic than we do, so all questions were directed at us). She noticed that his neck was very stiff and was worried that he may have meningitis. What? Poor baby! I am really hoping it is not the case, since he has been withdrawn all week, and I am fairly certain that menungitis takes lives very quickly. We left for the day before anything was determind... and will hopefully see the Shannons (the people who run the daycare) at church tomorrow. If not we will get an update on Monday. Pray for sweet little N if you re into that kind of thing!

I love me some Awassa.

Where to begin?? Awassa was the best place in Africa! It is like the Florida of Africa. Palm tree lined streets, amazing weather 24/7, sleeping under misquito nets. What else can you ask for?

With us on the trip was Dundee and Ruth, who are all in love and did their own thing for the most part, and then Deanna, me and Lisa. We had some fun times in the back seat of that 4/5 hour drive. On the way there Lisa casually says, "hey look, a camel". Deanna freaked out, looking for her camera and trying to look out the window while saying "where? Camel? WHERE?" I looked, and saw a herd of calels in the distance, and wanting to get Deanna's attention yelled "CAMELS!!!" while pointing out the window. Sadly we did not get any pictures of those camels, as hard as deanna tried. We did all keep our cameras at the ready in case something came up. It didnt.

Once we got to Awassa we were shown to our hotel rooms, and were tolt that we cannot share. What? Deanna and I have not left each others sides from the moment we boarded that airplane. And they want us to sleep seperatly, on the ground floor of a scary hotel with no guard? Nope. We decided that we will just pay for the 2 rooms (since they were 9 USD per night) and only use one. So that what we did. And they had a shower! We showered, changed, and headed off to meet everyone for dinner. Dundee has a friend who lives in Awassa, and he was around too. After dinner we went to his "man house" as he called it, and played some card games. Then went back to the hotel to get some sleep for the best day ever.

THE BEST DAY EVER:

We went to breakfast and got pancakes. YUM. But really it was one GIANT pancake that was way to big for me to eat. Josie (dundees friend) said to get it for take away, and feed it to the monkeys. Yep. Monkeys. Just wait, it's coming.

After breakfast we walked to the fish market (Awassa is righ on lake Awassa) And as we were walking I start to see these HUGE birds. Taller than me. And super ugly. When we get into the market, those birds were everywhere. And there were people gutting fish, and throwing the undndeed parts to the birds. It was not pretty. Also not pretty were the little boys walking around with fish hooked to their fingers. There was no way I wanted to buy a fish, but thanks! Eww.

After the fish market we went to a park of some sort, and saw tons and tons of MONKEYS! It was awesome. Even more awesome tis that they will take food right out of your hand. I was feeding one Momma monkey, who had a cute little baby attached to her front, and was breaking off pieces of pancake for her. I guess she got tired of the little pieces, because she threw the little piece down, came forward and ripped the big piece out of my other hand. I got it on video, and one back in the land of the free, will upload all 1000000 of them. Then a man came and told us to come with him, he had something to show us. So we did. He brought us to a tree where bigger black and with monkeys (I call them skunkeys) were hanging out. He gave us some nuts and we proceded to feed them. Then he asked if we wanted to carry them on our shoulders, and showed us how. I jumped on that. I got to hold a skunky on my shoulders! Legit. Again, caught on video :)

After feeding all of our food to monkeys, we jumped into a boat and went hippo spotting. Lake Awassa is not small, and apparently hippos live on the oppisite side of the lake, so we took a 45 min boat ride. It was very nice, except when lieele droplets of water would land on me, and I was afraid I would get sick. There is only one lake in all of Ethiopia that is safe for swimming, and Awassa is not one of them. When we reached the hippos it was pretty fantastic, and I took lots of pics. But we just kept getting closer and closer. Massai, our boat driver was a professional, and I thought I would trust him, but when the hippos got annoyed with us, and went under water to what I assumed was to tip out boat and kill us, I was not a happy camper. But apparently he was better than I thought, because we came out alive, and not as hippo food. Phew.

We then had lunch at a resort, and all while eating monkeys came and went, doing their thing. Stealing food from tables, and just causing a ruckus. I loved every second. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful, until after dinner when we went hyena hunting. (we stayed in the car, I have no desire to become hyena food) we drove up and doen one certain road and saw 3 hyenas! But they are fast little buggers, and was not able to get a pic of them. Sad times. By the way, Hyenas are huge. Like a lion!

The ride home was quiet, I think we were all sad to be leaving Awassa. We stopped for dinner at a nice resort, and relaxed for a while, and then continued our drive. I spotted camels, and made Dundee turn the car around so we could take pictures. As we were piling out of the car, Dundee said, you might want to get back in. I looked out of the window and saw a man running (have you ever seen the olympics? Those Ethiopians are FAST!) and he was waving a giant stick at us. Apparently he did not want us to take pictures of his camels. we jumped in the car and drove away very quickly. I am glad I did not find out what he would have done if he caught up with us!



So now we are back in Addis. I am missing America, and Awassa. But only 4 weeks and 5 days until I am home! Woohooo!

7 weeks!

I can't believe that I have lived without running water for 7 weeks. I really miss showering, and baths. When I get home (Carey: I know you have a nice big tub!) I want to take a super long, super hot bubble bath.

Last sunday we got invited to a wedding. By invited I mean Dundee told us on Saturday night that we had to go. It was not Dundee's wedding. In America it is not ok to just show up at someones wedding, but apparently it is fine here! Since we were not told of this wedding in advane, we were not prepared clothing wise to go to a wedding. I mean... I am in Africa. The nicest thing I brough was a black skirt from Old Navy. And even that Deanna had worn to church the week before, so until got got at least 3-4 good wears from her and was washed again, it was hers. We don't waste anything here. Clothes must be worn at LEAST 3 times before washings (only pants and shirts. Everything else we wear once. We are not THAT gross). Although we at least try to switch it up and not wear anything twice in a row. Unlike Ethiopians. They wear an outfit for about a week straight before changing. Which I have a lot of questions about, but think it would be rude to ask. But I will ask here, and if anyone has answers, please fill me in.

1. Do they wear pajamas, or sleep in their clothes?

2. Do they change their underwear? Or does that last a week also?

3. Do they shower, and then put the same clothes back on? Wouldn't that defet the purpose of showering?

4. Why do they wear their clothes for so long? I mean, if it is the only clothes they have, then I would totally get it. But I know for a fact that some of them have a lot of clothes!

Woah. Back to the wedding. Focus Kendra. So Deanna wore my black skirt, and a very fancy blue t-shirt, and I wore her denim skirt, and a black shirt. And went to a wedding. Unacceptable in Americe. But I am not in america anymore!

The couple go to our church, and we know them, the woman is American, and the man is Ethiopian. The wedding was very different than any I had been to, but was cool to see. We only went to the ceremony. There was a reception, but the two American friends we went with were not going, and we did not want to go alone.

Guess what! I am clumsy. I did not really realize it before, but I guess its true. I hurt myself a lot. Last week, I was walking in Mexico (not the country) and a man scratched my arm with his bag! I still don't know how it happened, but it did. RUDE! Then a few days ago, I was exiting a taxi, and scraped the back of my leg on the dumb mekina (car). I knew I did it, and once I got inside I saw my blood soaked pants and realized how bad it was. The blood would NOT stop comimg. It took forever, but finally stopped. Deanna was willing to stitch it up if needed. Now I have a very nice, very long cut on the back of my calf. And I fell out of a minibus. Twice. The first time was not as embarrassing, just slipped while trying to get in, but the second was a doozy. Someone had spilled something on the step of the minibus, and as I was stepping down to get out I slipped right out! Everyone in the bus gasped, but it was ok. With my catlike reflexes, I was able to grab the side of the bus before I landed in the street. 

Also, apparently to deanna, ethiopia is a scary place. Last week I was filling up our water bottles in the water cooler, and deanna was standing in the kitchen talking to me, about a foot and a half away. As I finished I said "oookkay!" and then stood up. Apparently it was unexpected because deanna Jumped about a foot in the air and flailed her arms and screamed.  The best night of my life.  And then there was last night. We had a not so great meeting with the guy who is supposed to be in charge of us, and we were angry. I am not going to go into details, and say something mean, but just a recap, he was an hour late to meet us, and then proceeded to yell at us the entire time, and make us feel like crap. Because thats the reason I used all of my savings to come here. It was amazing. So as we were leaving Deanna and I were both pissed. We were walking down the street and I noticed a man sleeping under a blanket on the sidewalk. Deanna was venting and not paying as much attention as I was so as we passed, I was not as surprised when he pulled the blanket from his head to look at us. Deanna jumped may have yelled a few choice words. The man, and myself both cracked up. After the shock wore off Deanna did too. 

Remember out old housekeeper Tigist? We loved her. Se invited us to her house for coffee and we readily accepted. So we met her and her daughter after she got done working at her new job at the school, and we walked to her house. Well, room. She lives in one room smaller than my bedroom, and in it is two beds, a small table and a cabinet for storing food. She was very proud to show it to us, and served us shiro, and had a mini coffee ceremony. Freshly roasted beans, ground in front of you is the best coffee ever. and it is served with popcorn. A wonderful combo! It was so sweet of her to show us her house :)

Tomorrow (friday) we are getting away for the weekend and going to Awassa. I am pumped. some american, and ethiopian friends are going, and it will be a good time. And there will be a shower in the hotel room.  A real shower!! 

I bought presents!

For most of my friends anyway. I still have a few more to buy, but every month our church has a bazaar, and a bunch of the locals hand make things, and sell them! I spent over half of my souvenir budget... But bought over half of the people on my list!
Little Penelope Kendra- you are not even born yet, and you have way to many gifts from Auntie. I have made Deanna promise not to let me buy you anything more!

Also good news- an American family who lives like 3 compounds away from us also run a daycare. Since going to the orphanage as much as we wanted did not work out, we have offered to work there! I am excited. I have not been very happy here lately, and I think it's because I have been so bored. Only working 2 hours a day is not enough to keep me occupied. And since it is an American run daycare, maybe the babies will actually have clean diapers! Wooohoooo.

Worst African fears confirmed.

This is the blog Deanna wrote about our night last night. I cannot bring myself to write about it. I just want to be in America.



Last night started off just fantastically. Kendra and I turned on one of two English TV channels, and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was on. We decided that this could be a fun movie to watch. Our dilemma was the couches. They aren't the most comfortable I've ever sat on, and if we were going to stay up to watch a movie we were going to need better seating. Quickly, we found a solution: bring out a matress and sleeping bag. We did exactly that, and were very pleased. Of course, Amare and Masresha found it hilarious, but what else is new. After getting comfortable, we remembered that Amare had bought popcorn in a can the other day. Popcorn in a can?! Fun! Obviously popcorn and a movie is a good choice, and making popcorn from a can using the stove (old school!) makes the choice even better.

Unfortunately this is where it all went downhill.

We excitedly got up and headed out to the kitchen. Allow me to help you try to picture the setting. Amare and Masresha were finishing a late dinner in the house, sitting at the kitchen table by our little family room / eating area. They were going to come help us with the stove after we got set up, because the stove is quite tricky...you have to turn on the gas tank then turn on the stove and light the flame and sometimes it's a little frightening. Now, the kitchen where food is prepared is outside. You leave our house, and along the side of the house is kind of like another teeny tiny house. There are two rooms that you enter from outside, and the kitchen which you also enter from outside. Essentially an outdoor kitchen. It's very small, and the light doesn't work. It was nighttime, so it was very dark. Luckily, we had our phone to light the way until Amare and Masresha came out to help. Anyways, we go into the kitchen and Kendra opens the cabinet to take out a pot for the popcorn. That's when it happened.

It all happened so quickly. My thought process was as follows, "Woah something just ran out of the cabinet! Oh man it's big and black and it's running at me! There ARE rats here, I KNEW it!!!" There were most likely some profanities in those thoughts, considering what was actually coming out of my mouth in that split second is not appropriate to post in my blog. Kendra took the worst hit. She was right in the line of fire and the nasty rodent actually made contact with her, running over her foot. I had started running and screaming immediately, and Kendra was not more than a second behind me. We got to higher ground (aka we stood on a step outside the kitchen...as if the rat couldn't climb one step?) and continued screaming.

Amare, Masresha and Desta came running and looked genuinly concerned for our well-being...until we screamed at them that a rat just jumped out of the cabinet at us. Then they just about died laughing. Amare couldn't even move, he was laughing so hard. We continued freaking out, and told them to find it while we refused to leave our safe higher ground. Desta brought a flashlight over and they checked the teeny little kitchen. No luck. They assured us that he had escaped, and it was okay to come into the kitchen. We weren't so sure, but we tried to be brave and cautiously made our way back in. It didn't help one bit that all three boys were having a fantastic time freaking us out by brushing our feet with things, turning off the flashlight to scare us, and any other trick they could play.

Amazingly, we still made popcorn (under the protection of three guys who were willing to kill the rat if he showed his disgusting face again) and returned safely inside.

And so, my fears have been confirmed. If you remember from a few posts ago, I awoke one night and swore I heard some sort of rodent on the roof. I was only comforted by that fact that I not actually seen one. Well, now I've seen it. And this was no small mouse. This thing was legit. It had to be as big as two baseballs (I know that's not a very good comparison, but all I can think of besides that is "it was as big as a giant, black rat" and that's not helpful at all). Gross. Disgusting.

Needless to say, I had to check under my blankets before I went to bed last night. The coast was clear, and somehow I slept just fine. Perhaps because I still haven't seen a rat inside the house, I feel relatively safe. But I know he's still out there somewhere, probably with all his nasty rat friends. And can I just remind you once more that we found him in our kitchen?! Ew. That's just never a good place for a rat.

Amare and Desta just came in to say good morning to us, and to see if we survived the night. They're still laughing and making fun of us. I have a feeling we're not going to live this down for awhile :)

Ew.

It's getting wild!!

This morning, I go outside, and notice something is missing. I see Bobby. I see Squeekers. But where is Luna?

About a week ago amare informed is that he believes that Luna is pregnant, because her breasts are getting large. Masrasha cut in to say "that's inappropriate" it was fuunnnyy. Anyways. I did not give it much thought, until I could not find Luna! I asked Amare to find her, and him and Desta went on a hunt. Well, we found her, under a spare bed in an room in a different building in the compound. She was in the process of giving birth to puppy #1!!!! Pongo. He is sooo cute, and brown all over. As we watched, out popped Oreo, a white a black little boy. They are the cutest little guys ever! Luna did some cleaning, and cutting of cords... Yuck. I had never seen anything be born before... So now I am totally prepared to be Kalenes birth coach! Don't worry little Penelope Kendra... I know what to do! ;)

There was also an animal attack that I cannot write about. Deanna did, and I will post her blog for you all to read. I am to scarred to relive it again.

No more boring life for me!

Excitement has been basically my entire life these last few days. Well, last night and today at least. We found out that we had running water!! Woohooo! We did not believe them, since we have heard this many, many times in the past month. But guess what! It was true! And we still have it! 24 whole hours later! What? I can wash my hands? And my hair? Shave my legs? Inconceivable! The bad news is that the water heater is not so great. As in broken. But hey, the water is not coming from a bucket, and is a steady stream. Beggars can't be choosers, and I choose the steady stream! No more bucket bathes for me!!!!!

Also big news, I went to shishu. We have heard big things about this restaurant. It supposedly has "American burgers". I have to admit... I had doubts. Big doubts actually. You see, people here say a lot of things that are way not true. I have taken to not believing anything. It makes my heart hurt less than to get my hopes up, and have them squashed like the hyena I saw squashed to the road today (more on that later). So, the burgers... They were actually very good! Very very close to America! I think it is my new favorite place! I also enjoyed the fact that the menu stated that because of a "bacon shortage in the city, they will not be serving bacon in the unforeseeable future". Ha.

So, after a delish BBQ burger, we waited for our friends to pick us up, and we headed to street ministry. Street ministry is where we find a bunch of street kids, and we sing, pray, and just have fun with them. We also give them food, so everyone is happy.

The next day, dundee decided to take us on a little road trip. We went to the Blue Nile Gorge, like a grand canyon, Africa style. It is about 2 hours outside of the city, and the drive was amazing. It was very mountainous, and there were a lot of fields. I saw a bunch of people hunched over, working in the fields. And tons of grass houses. It was like being in Africa!
Once we got there, we ordered lunch, and Deanna and I decided to go for a walk. We followed a path, and was just walking, enjoying the beautiful sights, and we turned a corner, and BAM! Monkey. Just sitting there! A bunch of them. They were huge, and a little scary... So we backed away, and went the other direction. But wait. Monkeys? I mean, I know I am in Africa... But the only wildlife I have seen thus far is some dogs, and a big turtle. I was not expecting to see MONKEYS! We told the people we were with, and they did not seem impressed. Monkey sightings are not a daily occurrence in my life. FYI.
So, that brings me to the hyena. When we were driving, we saw one! It was most definitely dead. Road kill to be exact, but a hyena nonetheless!! Crazy!

This blog is taking many days to write, so now it is Sunday, and I am going to fill you in on the weekend too! So deal with me... Internet is not as widely found as in America.

So. Friday night we had a "movie night" at our house, and had a bunch of people over. It was a blast! We played a few games, and during one of them, the power went out. Which made watching a movie difficult... So we just lit a bunch of candles, and had a romantically lit game night. It was a ton of fuuunnn.
Saturday, we took the kids in our program (68 of them) to a children's theater. We rented two minibuses, which seat 12, and crammed everyone in. It was the kids, D and I, two Amharic speaking workers, an the driver and the conductor. It was a tight fit. But a lot of fun. The theatre cost 220 birr for 72 people to get in. That is almost 15 American dollars. You can't even get one person into the movie theatre for 15$ in America! Crazy.
When we got home we took our first shower in our house! We used the other bathroom since ours does not have hot water. But whateva! It's water! After we showered we got our pjs on, and started to wait for our hair to dry so we could then straighten it. Exciting Saturday night. I know. But then Dundee came home and asked if we wanted to go bowling! Yes we do! So we got dressed, and headed over! It turns out that there were no lanes open, so we played pool for a bit, and then went home. Not as exciting as it was supposed to be. Oh well. Better than waiting at home for our hair to dry. Literally.
Exiting day today! I should mention that I am a blog stalker... I have loved to read them for years! One blog, who I follow religiously for a few years now is "the shubin clan" it is an adoptive family, who has fallen in love with Ethiopia. Well they are in country! I emailed her, and we agreed to meet up! I met her this morning at church, and it was great. It's weird meeting someone who I already feel like I know well. But I am glad I got to meet her! Hopefully we will get to connect again before she leaves!
Well. That's all I got. Now I just need to find me some wifi to post this thing! Xoxoxo.

I did NOT come here looking for love.

Warning: this is going to be my venting blog.

First, let me get some random stories out of the way.

1. Deanna and I have rearranged out bedroom. We came home today, and thought that it would be a good idea. We were correct. Our beds were on opposiste sides of the room, now, they are very close! Because we do not spend enough time together... we need to sleep very close to each other as well. Amare came home after we had finished, and all he could saw was "wow. I am so proud". It is amazing. Not so amazing: the amount of nastiness we swept up from under the beds. ewww.

2. While leaving a store earlier today, Deanna was talking about how much money we could spend. Deanna said 2000 birr. At the same moment, I realized it was cold outside (cold for Africa at least. I said BIRRRR. So the convo went like this.

"2000 birr."

"BIRRRRRR"

We looked at each other and laughed! We are some funny peeps.

Ok, now for the real reason I am writing this. I think the men of Africa think that I came here to find a husband. That actually is not the case. Far from it, in fact. As most of you reading may know, a few months before I left for Africa, I had my heart broken. It was not fun. And I had a pretty rough time getting over it. I am probably not totally over it. But thats ok. It's life, ya know? So, coming to Africa at this time was basically a Godsend. My biggest prayer while I was here was to help heal my heart, and get over Dumb-ex-boyfriend. (He is not really dumb, but this is my blog, and I can call him names if I want).

I had (and have) no intention of falling in love. If it happens, well then I will cross that bridge when I come to it. But I am not out activally seeking anything.

So, certain men who I have to see on a daily/weekly basis, why do you seem to think otherwise? It's because I'm white, isn't it?

The proposals on the street do not effect me as much. Although I have taken to wearing a ring on my ring-finger, and it has helped immensly to ward off the white-wife hungary strangers of Ethiopia.

It's the people who I know that bother me. And today seems to be worse than normal. Maybe I am being crabby, or maybe I am getting tired of being hit on ALL. THE. TIME. It's exhausting, being the center of attention. Normally, I would not mind. You see, parties in my honor are my favorite. Maybe thats why I move around so much... so I can have parties ;) Not really. But my point is, I like attention. But I guess it has to be a certain kind of attention.

I should also point out that I am a normal girl. I like to be flirrted with. Totes flattering. But when the intrest is not reciprocated, give it up. Seriously guys. enough is enough.

Phew. Sorry. But I actually do feel better. And I am being summoned out of my room :( I guess I should go let them try to win me over. It apparently is not going to stop anytime soon.

Africa, almost half way done.

Next week will mark the half way point to our 3 month stay here in Ethiopia. I have exteremly mixed feelings. The thought of leaving this place, and these amazing people make me want to cry. But the thought of going to a normal restaurant and ordering meat is very exciting. Deanna and I talk about going to Chipolte the day we get back very often. We have have a plan with Momma Donna (Deanna's mom) to bring us some when she picks us up from the airport. She agreed! I love me some Momma Donna!!!

Anyway, this place has a way of creeping into your heart, and I don't know if I can ever get rid of it. I don't know if I even want to... For all of the modern convieniences that I miss, it really does not matter. I have learned so much about myself these past few weeks, and who I want to be, and who I think God wants me to be. I am just waiting to see if He wants me to stay here, or to stay in America. I also learned that as much as Ben had broken my heart, I am so, so glad I am no longer with him! For a long time I had put on a fake smile, and pretended to be okay, but it was not until recently that I realized how awful my life would have been if that relationship had worked out. (maybe not awful, but defenitly not great). I am in a much better place, and am very happy for it! Being here also shows how much crap I have that I don't need, and really don't want. I am excited to get home and go through all of my stuff, and get rid of everything I don't use/need. I have a lot. Why? I have no idea. Just a big waste of money.

I know I have said this multiple times, but it still amazes me. The people here are sooo amazingly nice. And the kids! I love them all! I love that if I take one step out of my compound the kids immedialty yell "Kendra!" :) My heart has never felt so full, and also so broken at the same time. I want to do anything, and everything I can to help them. Sitting in church (the small, African church) the other day, I sat next to a lady who had a itty bitty baby in a sling. When she unwrapped the sling, the baby was in the dirtiest shirt (only a shirt) I had ever seen. It was supposed to be white, but was so discolored and brown it looked like it was washed in mud. I don't know if you people in America can even imagine it. When Dylan (the boy I nannied for) got his clothed dirty, we either changed them right away, or threw the clothes away. The mom saw me staring at the baby, and held him out for me to hold. I am not kidding, I don't think the sweet baby had ever had a bath. He STUNK. So badly. I would guess that the shirt was the only thing he had to wear, and the family either lived on the streets, or in a tiny room, with a dirt floor for a bed. The mother did not smell very good either. Bathing is probably the last concern she has for her family.

If eating some not so great food (mostly meat) is something I have to deal with :::Sidenote: I fit into my "skinny pants" today!!!! YES!::: Then that is something I am more than willing to do to get to help these people! I told the mom that next time I saw her I would bring wipes and a onesie for the baby. Poor thing.

By the way, happy valentines day to my american loves! It is celebrated here, but not to the same extent as it is in America. Amare has clamed that I am his valentine ;) Deanna and I treated ourselves to a yummy breakfast, and decorated cookies to give to out African peeps! I made one specially for Desta (our guard) it says "Desta, NAH! Which means "Desta, Come" which is what we yell when we need him to let us into the compound. He loved it. later tonight we are going to lay out and look at the stars. It is becoming a daily routine, that we bring blankets, pillows, and music out, and whatever african is around will lay with us. At first they did not get it. Once they saw how excited we were to see shooting stars (seriously, the most amazing sight ever. They are SOOOO bright here!) I think they understood a little. They still think we are weird, but are not as surprised by our antics.

This place is amazing.

Just another Sunday

I went to a different church today. It's called Beza, and is similar to Willow Creek in the early 90's but more african. It was a lot of fun. Different than the more traditional church we have been attending, although that is a much church too! A couple times this week we went to services at KCC (kore Christian center). It is a pretty basic African church. Metal walls, a tarp roof, holes for a toilet. The worship part lasts forever, an you dance, jump, and praise however you please. Deanna and I of course got in on this, and my legs are still sore from all that jumping! Church is totes fun!

I am feeling a lot better, and sound less like a man, so thats nice. No big plans yet this week, you know, the usual, trying to convince little babies to come home with me. (not really. That's illegal here too. At least I think).

Yesterday we spent the morning at our American friend Kaela's house (Kaela...shoutout!) we were helping her roommate with lesson plans for a kids church program she is writing. Yeah, an entire program! That's insane! But she is doing a pretty fantastic job!

The other night Amare's sisters decided to braid out hair, Ethiopian style. People here just love to touch my hair, and they had a great time! I liked it too ;) it did not last the night, but we took pics!

Also big news, we were sitting I'm a field yesterday, and out of the bushes popped a giant turtle! Or maybe it was a tortoise! Either way, I spotted it, and was yelling with excitement! The big guy was cruising straight for us. For a turtle, he was surprisingly speedy. Apparently people feed them, so they come to humans for food. I was a little apprehensive, and sat on a wall until he left. But wait. What? A giant turtle in the middle of the city? From the way the people around is were laughing at my antics, it is not uncommon. Seriously. Turtles are common in Africa? Who knew! This place gets crazier and crazier!

Sick, and a broken toilet.

So, remember how I told you we bought a hair straightener? Great investment! I don't believe that I mentioned that the outlets are unimaginably high. So high in fact, that all of my 4feet 11inches is unable to reach the one in our bathroom. But it has not been a major problem, since the outlet is right above the toilet! So, when I wanted to straighten my hair, I climbed onto the toilet, straightener in hand, and fell in the toilet! What? The whole dang seat came off the cheap African toilet! Luckily a piece of toilet seat landed under my foot, and I did not actually get any contents of the toilet on myself. Deanna, who was washing her hair in the sink, thought it was the best thing that had ever happened. I think she is still laughing about it.

I woke up sick this morning. Not even good sick (like from eating weird food or something) I have a very sore throat, and no energy. I don't think pepto will help me with this one. Doesn't my body know that we are going to teach the kids to make paper airplanes today? I need allll of my energy! Apparently not.

Dundee and Amare's mom invited us to her house for dinner last night. Apparently she is a "farenje food specialist". She made pasta!!!!!! And shiro!!!!!! And meatballs ;) it was the best meal I have had here by far. Sooooo goooood! Woot!

Dear Tigist, how I miss you.

I have written about Tigist before... She cooks, cleans, does our laundry, makes our bed, and let's me love her baby. She is pretty much amazing. Well for some reason she got transferred from the guest house to the school. Yesterday was our first day with our new housekeeper. She seemed very nice, but did not have a baby for me to love. -1 point. When we went to eat lunch it was weirredd. Deanna and I are not very picky. We typically eat what we are served, and eat it happily. So, we ate the food. Poor Deanna got so sick. She had to take some pepto, and take a nap, and even still, she was not feeling 100%. Amare even asked her if she had diarrhea. HA! Ummmm weird question to ask someone! She of course said no, she would not have told him, even if she did! Anyway... When dinner came around, I tried a tiny bite of it, and it was oatmeal with salt in it. Gross. So we went out for dinner. D got pasta, to help her tummy, and I got a sandwich. The other volunteers went out too, and the food at home was untouched. I think the workers got the message... Today we have a new "cooker"! We get to sample the first meal at lunch (in 40 mins) and hopefully it is good! Apparently she has a degree in cooking, and even can cook faranje food! Exciting.

On the minibus on the way here to kings hotel, Deanna and I were sitting next to each other, and I pointed out a white man walking down the street. We are not used to seeing them, especially in our community. Well, he stopped the bus, and the only open seat was next to us! 3 faranjes all in a row... It was crazy!

We bought a hair straightener. I almost feel like I look like I am in America! It is amazing. The kids touch my hair even more now. Deanna and I have been checking each other for lice daily. Not because we think we have lice, but the kids are all up in our hair, and you never know... So far our findings have been very satisfactory!

No matter where we go, we see people we know. Just walking from the minibus stop to here, we saw a friend from church, Tiba. Very exciting. Also exciting when you leave your house, and any child that is outside will yell "Deanna! Kendra!" we are popular with the mini peeps. We love it!

Best night of my life

Last night (friday) was not shaping up to be a very exciting night. We had an Amharic lesson planned, and that was about it. Fun stuff. 

During our exciting lesson (really, it is fun! Ready is basically the best teacher, equal to Amare, of course!) Amare came inside, and said, "sorry to interrupt, but my mom is making injera". I was quite relieved, because these lessons are getting more and more difficult. With permission from Ready, and forcing him to come along to be our camera man, we headed across the dirt path to make some injera! Amare's mom, whom everyone refers to as Mother, was in the injera making room, and in it was an electric injera grill. It is basically a large electric round skillet. Hard to explain… but she had already prepared the teff (batter)  and was going at it! You have to pour the teff in a spiral on the maker, from the outside in. It is hard because the teff is very thin, and you can't leave holes, or make it to thick. Deanna went first, and did a really good job! She had one thick spot, and was pretty much a circle shape. I was impressed! Then it was my turn… And mine was shaped like Australia. I obviously did it on purpose, as a homage to all of my favorite Australians that I miss in NJ! (Meg, email me!!) 

When we had finished, we were invited inside for some shie. (tea) and we ate my injera. It was very delicious. Probably the best I have ever had. We had some cinnamon tea, and cookies. They were dry, so pretty good, compared to the other desserts i have tried here. 

We then came home, and started a game of frisbee. It was us, Ready, Desta, and Amare's brother, Amen. We played some normal catch, monkey in the middle, and then taught the Ethiopians 500. It was a lot of fun. Then something amazing happened. There was a power outage. A city wide power outage! Deanna and I looked at each other, and said "ghost in the graveyard!!!!" We explained how to play, and got to it. Everyone was just as excited as we were. They are all in their 20's, and for some reason play along with Deanna and my antics. I love them. So we played GITGY for a while, and then switched to regular old hide-and-seek. The best part of this is that the minibus was back in our driveway. When Desta was it, Deanna and I both crawled into the back of the bus, and hid on the floor, between the seats. It took Desta around 20 mins to find us, and apparently he was getting very worried about us. Us Americans are the best hiders! We played until 10pm, and then the power came back on. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. 

While we were having tea after making injera, deanna commented that her contacts were bothering her. Ready sort-of freaked out, and said "what!? You have them in your eyes!? NOW? Can I see!?" After inspecting her eyes, he said "wow, i've only seen those in movies!" Ha! We laughed. A lot. 

Also, he asked us how old we were, Deanna told him that she was 22, and  I said I was 24. He was surprised (like everyone else) that I am older. Then he looked at me, and said "I like older!" He said it very creepily, but did not mean it that way. He was meaning since he is 27, that he is glad that we are both not super young. But it was really funny. Deanna and I cracked up, and he had no idea why. Poor Ready. I think we are making him worry about his english skillz. 

Written entirely by yours truly.

Where to start...

I have been having dreams about spiders. (Elissa, please come kill them all!) Two nights ago, I had a dream (or it could have been real, I am not exactly sure yet) that there was a massive black spider in the corner above my bed. I sat up, and asked Deanna to turn on the light. I think that is when I woke up. I was sitting, and knew that I had seen a spider, but it was so dark in our room that it really would have been impossible to see one. And Deanna was still asleep. If I had really told her that I had seen a spider, home girl would not have been asleep. So I laid back down, and after what felt like hours of trying to look into the dark abyss of my room, convinced myself that I was really dreaming and to go back to sleep. Then last night, I woke up again, and saw a not so massive spider on my wall. So I reached for my shoe, and killed it. I went back to sleep feeling accomplished, and brave. When I woke up this morning I proudly told Deanna about it, and went to show her the spider who was smashed on the wall. It was gone. Or maybe never was there. The shoe was next to my bed, where I had left it.... But I think it was a dream. And I killed a fake spider. Seriously Kendra. There are bigger worries in your life. Case and point, as I type, a giant african killer bee is flying around my flavored Ambo. This is horrifying for 2 reasons. 1, if it is in fact a killer bee, which I doubt it is, because the guy behind the desk of the hotel is laughing at us... it would be a bad way to die. And 2, flavored Ambo is the best thing ever. It is made here in Ethiopia, and sooooooo good. I think I will have an entire suitcase full of it when I come home. I can't imagine life without it. If the bee touches m Ambo, I am gonna be MAAADDDD.

Our house had water!! Not running water... don't get crazy over there... but a bucket of water. Which when your daily shower is consisting of a water bottle, a bucket is like luxury. We even used the electric tea pot, and boiled some water, and added it to the bucket. VOILA! Warm water! WHAT?!?! I am clean, and happy, and am going to do it again. TONIGHT! Woah. Now this is living large. Going back to America is going to be crazy. Getting water from a sink. BATHS! Brushing your teeth with as much water as you want. Unfathomable. Really though, Deanna and I talk all the time how weird it is that we just totally adjusted to living like this. As much as I like to complain... it really is not a problem. So what if I am a little dirty. I see kids here who I am sure have never had a bath in their lives. Or know what a toothbrush is. Why did I get to be born in America? Maybe I did not have everything growing up... but I had a lot. I may have had to share a bed with my sister, who puked on me, but I had a bed. People here are always sleeping in the streets. Babies, curled up next to their moms, trying to stay warm. Its not fair.

I want to help every single person, especially the kids... and I can't. It is killing me. The amount of abundance we have in America... and don't even think about is insane. My favorite thing to do is not finish my food while at a restaurant, and give the leftovers to someone on the street. They are always so grateful, and surprised that I don't want to keep it. It makes me wonder how many times I brought leftovers home in America, and ended up throwing them out.

Speaking of leftovers... Deanna has a sweet tooth. She is on a mission to eat dessert. So we orderd some very good looking cake! I went to take a bite, and literally almost vomited. It was horrible. It was wet. Like they soak it in water. I don't understand. if you push on it water leaks out of the cake. It is not natural. So We complained to Dundee. He took us to Kaldi's to try their cake, which is apparently good. He promised I would like it, and I was doubtful. Give me a box of cheezeits over cake any day. So he ordered white cake. One bite of the liquid nastiness and I declared I did not like it. So he ordered the tiramisu... which I knew I would not like. "just try" he said. So I did... and it was DRY! YAY! Buuuttt... tasted like tiramisu. Eww. Then he ordered the chocolate cake... and I was hopeful. I love me a good chocolate cake! But once I pushed my fork into the soggy, soggy cake I knew the outcome was failure. Someone made out good on leftover nasty cake that night. The hunt for good cake is still on. Or just boxed cake I can make myself. Or even better... brownies! YUUMMMM!!!!!

Afterthoughts:

I forgot to mention... I peed in a hole today! At the lake, there were bathrooms. But not bathrooms that you would think of. You know, a toilet and all. It was a very tiny room with two raised platforms for your feet, and a hole between them. A small hole, so no worries about falling in. Although by the time I was desperate enough to use the hole, falling in was not really on my mind.

There are some epic stories on Deanna's blog, and since she is a great writer, and I am more into posting pics of Facebook, please enjoy this copy and paste from her blog (I don't think this will become a normal thing. I just need to stop being distracted by other things...)

Yesterday Kendra and I made a fantastic investment. While looking around in the "children's toys" section of a supermarket for some entertainment (for ourselves, yes) we came across a couple things that could provide hours of joy at our house. We purchased two badminton rackets and a birdie, and a frisbee. Super exciting. Obviously when we got home, we had to play right away. We went out front and whipped out our brand new frisbee, only to discover that this was no ordinary frisbee. It was, in fact, a flying dick. Right there on the front in nice big letters is "FLYING DICK". What a fabulous English mistake. I mean that's just kind of epic. Soon, I'll have a picture up on Facebook for you.

Anyways, we had a wonderful time with our flying dick. Amare and Desta joined right in, though they weren't so good at it. Desta may have never thrown a frisbee in his life, I'm not sure. But he's getting better. What he is really good at it getting the frisbee when we accidentally throw it over a giant concrete wall or on top of his "house" (see the sheep blog post for a description of where Desta lives - we're big fans of his place). After some frisbee, we busted out the badminton rackets and started playing. We only have two rackets, but Desta decided to use the frisbee as a third. This is why we are fans of Desta - he just jumps in at random times and when we're doing stupid stuff (i.e. sheep stealing?), no questions asked. Not that he could ask questions if he wanted to, because he doesn't really speak English. Like at all. We use a lot of sign language, broken English, and the few Amharic phrases that we know to try to explain things (okay, but really Kendra and I know a lot of Amharic. Soon we'll be fluent, thanks to Amare and Ready!). So, long story short, we're very happy with out badminton and flying dick. In fact, tonight we played a mean game of Monkey in the Middle with Ready and Amare and our flying dick. It got intense. I may have some injuries.

And now for the megabus story. Mom and Dad, I know hitchhiking is bad. And please remember that I'm a smart girl, and I don't do stupid things (not dangerous-stupid, at least). Remember the minibuses that Kendra and I take everywhere? Well, sometimes, just on the rare occasion, a minibus is actually a megabus. Meaning sometimes the minibus comes in a slightly larger size. Hence, "mega", according to Kendra and I. You ride these the same way, but they hold a few more people. So, Kendra and I were leaving the hotel we've been frequenting to steal wifi from (by "frequenting" I mean often enough that all the employees know, love, and get excited to see us) a couple nights ago and we walked across the street to find a minibus. At night, when it's getting later, it's sometimes harder to catch one and it's times like these that we've come across the megabuses. We cross the street and there's a megabus with about five or six guys getting on. They ask us where we're going, and we say Mekanisa. They tell us to come on. We listen. This is how the minibus works - you wait, a guy either shouts the destination or asks you where you're going and then when you answer he tells you if his bus is the right one. Okay, so we hop on the megabus and commence talking about many really important girly things in English like two American girls would. The Ethiopian guys kept speaking in Amharic, turning around, looking at us and laughing. We noticed, but weren't surprised because this happens a lot. We also noticed the bus wasn't stopping anywhere to let people on and off. But, no worries, we knew we were going the right way. And we have a cell phone, and Pat taught me how to punch. So, If something happened, Kendra could call 911 and I could beat people up. Just kidding, just kidding. When the bus arrived in Mekanisa, Kendra and I said "Wadach!" because that's what you say to stop a bus when you want to get off. All the guys turned around at once, looking shocked. One said, "You speak Amharic?!" and they all started laughing. They pulled over and we asked how much we needed to pay. They laughed some more and said, "This isn't a minibus, you don't have to pay us." Whoops! Not a minibus. Or a real megabus. It turns out it was not a running megabus, and those guys were all friends. They decided to give us a ride, which is very common around here. Hitchhiking happens all the time, and it's like, legit. People just do it to be nice. Kendra and I never do it...except this one time on accident. We figure the guys pulled away, cracking up about the stupid American girls who thought they were a minibus. I really hope this isn't one of those "had-to-be-there" stories... 

Week of rest?

This week has been an odd week. Since our normal school kids are off, we have bee teaching the street kids instead. They usually have an after school program for them, but this week they are able to go during the day. The kids love school! The smell in the small classrooms is not pretty. Thank God for windows, and beautiful, sweet kids who make all the hand holding, and dirty kisses not only worth it, but that much more special. I can wash my hands and face later. Also since Deanna and I found that catching a minibus at 7am is impossible, we have not been able to make it to the orphanage this week :( I miss my babies! Even Amare came with us this morning to see if he could get us a bus... no luck.

Good thing though! He invited is to go with the Strong Hearts youth group (teens) to a retreat an hour outside of the city. It was a ton of fun. Amharic worship song battles, lots of joking, and making fun of the Americans... whats not to like? We went to a big lake, and just explored, and breathed in fresh air for the first time in weeks! The lake was so beautiful! I loved it, and it made me excited for our trip to Southern Ethiopia!

People here decorate their cars/minibuses. Pimp my ride style, but usually with religious items. On the bus today was a very large picture of Jesus. Deanna whispered to me:
D-That man on the sticker... is it Jesus?
Me-yeah...
D-So he's white, even here?

I died. And then explained that Jesus was Jewish, and we have pretty legit proof that he was, in fact white.

I posted more pics on FB! Check them out!
That is my quick update for today. For more Ethiopian goodness, read Deanna's blog too!
Deannasadventureofalifetime@blogspot.com!

Just life. African style. But America has its perks.

Life has been good here. I think we have settled into a routine. We wake up, eat some breakfast (which I do not usually eat. I don't like cereal, and that usually is what we are given. Milk is not my fave. Then we either go to the school, or attempt to catch the minibus to get to the orphanage. lately we have not been able to catch them in the mornings. Apparently there is a shortage of minibuses, and by the time they get to our stop, they are packed full. After an hour of waiting Deanna and I give up. If we do not have to go to the orphanage, we have a bit of time before we have to go to the school. So today we went for a nice long walk, and got to explore Kore! Amare took us, and we had a very nice little walk. Since the kids in the school that we normally teach are on break, they have a program that any kid can come for the morning, and play, and have school. It is nice because Deanna and I have our own class, and we are able to teach anything, and not have to deal with another teacher in the room, just us! So we are able to teach American style, and have a lot of fun in the process.

We also have afternoons off, so monday we helped paint the new hospice center that Strong Hearts is opening. We were doing great, jamming to Deanna's Ipod, until Amare started a paint war. We got paint all over ourselves... which would have been fine, except the lack of running water at our house prevents us from taking a shower. I miss that a lot.
Here is a list of things I miss.

Running water.
Meat. That is not chewy, and suspicious. 
Driving in my car.
I miss not feeling the freedom to safely walk around my living space barefoot.
Flushing toilets.
Being able to throw TP in the toilet. 
TP, for that matter.
Target.
My Iphone.
Sandwiches.
I miss the smell of laundry detergent.


I still love Ethiopia. I am looking forward to getting out of the City for a bit. Possibly this weekend, or next. You can never get a real 100% answer here. But I think the country will be a nice change. 


Here is deanna's recent blog: it pretty much sums up what we have been up to. My computer is about to die, and for some reason I can only charge it at home. My fancy converter does not work well. 


A couple nights ago, Kendra and I were hanging out at King's Hotel for awhile, because we've discovered that they have wifi. Nice! It's much closer than the wifi cafe we had been going to, and cheaper because they let us just sit in the lobby and use our computers. And they pretty much just love our company. They do anything to make sure we're enjoying their internet to the fullest extent possible. Once when we were there, Kendra's battery was low on her laptop. The only outlet is behind the counter, so they not only used another cord to make it reach far enough, but they also got three men working on it when her plug wouldn't stay in. They even busted out duct tape. It was intense. They also apparently find Skype pretty interesting, because often we catch them watching or laughing at us. When Lee Ann was Skyping with me, she noticed that one of the hotel guys was just casually standing behind my chair watching. He was trying to play it cool, but it was totally obvious. Silly guy. Anyways, we had been hanging out at the hotel for awhile one night. To get home, we have to take two minibuses. We hopped on the first one, and got off where we catch the second. As we stood outside waiting to fight our way on, we decided we should just walk home. Why not? It was quite a beautiful night out (btw, you can see soooo many stars here...it's pretty awesome), and it's really not that far of a walk. In the end, it only took us about 30 minutes. It was hard work though, because it's a pretty steap uphill most of the way! When we were nearly home, we ran into one of our friends. He kept us company the rest of the walk, and we told him about how we stole Dundee's sheep the previous night. His response: "Okay." I think perhaps we confused him. Maybe because sheep stealing doesn't happen very often? Oh well, it happens.

So when we got home from our wonderful walk, we were reminded that we apparently have our own minibus now. There it was, just parked in our yard. It had been there the day before as well, but we didn't think it would stay...I mean, what the heck is a minibus doing parked at our house? But alas, it was still there. So we thought, well, we should obviously drive it. Amare, Mastasha and Desta were pretty excited about this. Mostly, I think, because they like laughing at us, the stupid Americans that get really excited about pretending to drive an old, rusty, broken van. So the boys laughed and took lots of pictures of us, and Kendra and I took turns being the driver and conductor. We basically had a fabulous time. Afterwards, we went inside and played some pretty exciting card games. We tried teaching Desta how to play spoons, but it took him a very long time to catch on. Like 15 rounds. Once he got the hang of it, he got serious fast. It was intense. Spoons were flying.

When we finished playing cards, Amare and Mastasha brought their new puppy over. Kendra was cuddling with the super cute little guy when she saw a little bug crawling in his fur. She said, "Um, does he have fleas?" and Amare answered, "Yes, I think so." I cracked up, Kendra changed her clothes. I sure hope she doesn't have fleas ;)

Yesterday, we went to the school in the morning. The kids who are normally at the school have this week off. The school provides an after-school program to a different group of kids. Since normal school is closed this week, the after-school program is during the morning. Kendra and I helped with that, which was a lot of fun! We taught some English and Math, and then played outside with them for a long, long time. The kids taught us a game that was very similar to Red Rover, and Kendra and I got pretty dusty and dirty playing!

When we got home, we had lunch and then headed over to a house that Strong Hearts is going to use for hospice care. They needed help painting the walls, and Kendra and I volunteered. Pretty soon after we started, a rather large paint fight broke out...thanks to Amare. Paint was everywhere. It was win-win though: We had a wonderful time attacking each other and in the end, it earned us a shower! After all, they couldn't let us sit around all covered in paint. Dundee took us to the gym, and....oh yay yay yay, we showered! We're feeling spoiled, because it's only (haha, "only") been a week since our last shower. We are a couple of lucky girls ;)

I'll end on that happy showering note for now...especially since I think this post is kind of a whole lot of nothing. But hey, not every post can be about something as exciting as freeing sheep...I can only steal so many animals, after all.

Operation Rescue Baaa-xter. Part 2. The good. The Baaaad. And the ugly.

RIP Baaaa-xter. You will be greatly missed.

The only thing ugly about this post is that Baaa-xter is now dead. Poor baby. 

Anyway. Once Dundee went to bed, we texted Amare, and headed out to hide the goat. The guard was looking at us like we were crazy. We tried to get the sheep out of the compound, and he was not having it. Who would have thought that moving a sheep would be so difficult. Lucky for us, Amare was there. And also the guard Desta. Desta is our guard, he is the best. He lives in a 3x5 room next to the gate, with a tiny bed in it. He can't even stretch out his legs. Anyway. Once he realized what we were up to, he took charge. He has moved sheep before. He took the ram by the horns, and pulled that little buddy across the yard, and tied him to a tree. Mission accomplished. 

When we woke up this morning, I had a black tongue. I took pepto tablets yesterday, and they turn your tongue black, for some reason. But I had to google it to make sure I was not turning African, or have some odd disease. 

Also, Dundee came in and asked if we had seen his sheep. Ummm no? Why would you even ask that. 

He somehow had seen the text that we had sent Amare saying "he went to bed, come help us steel the sheep". Incriminating? I think not. No, I did not touch your sheep. (truth). I did not move your sheep (truth, again!) Seriously Dundee, how could 2 american girls move your sheep (again, fact). 

He knew that it was us. But it took him awhile to find were the sheep had been relocated. So although the mission was not a success, Baaa-xter has since died, at least his memory, and friendship is something I will never forget. 

Operation rescue Baaa-xter. Part 1.

So heres the back story. Dundee is  prankster. He tells us things that are not true. Teaches how to order elephants at restaurants (when we think that he is teaching us real things) and if you turn your back he will add salt to your coffee. Not cool. 

Today: I come home to find a sheep (a ram?? It has horns, so I don't know what it is. They are calling him a sheep… so it is a boy sheep.) tied to a tree in our yard. His name is Baaa-xter. (named by yours truly). we come to find out… after taking pictures of him, and spending quality time with him, basically deciding that we were going to be lifelong friends… that his life is ending tomorrow. This news came as a surprise, and not the good kind. Baaa-xter? Why him? For what reason does HE need to die? And why is he even in my yard? Well. Apparently before a weeding the groomsmen are supposed to ask the father of the bride if the groom can marry his daughter. If the father says yes, then Baaa-xter gets the axe. 

Dundee is the only person I know who is a groomsmen in a wedding…

Enter operation rescue Baaa-xter. unfortunately I can't really rescue him. He is not my sheep. Just my newest friend. And Dundee might get mad. But as Deanna and I were laughing about the possibility of rescuing him, I came up with a fantastic idea. Why not HIDE the boy sheep? We can tie him to a different tree! Or even put him in the yard across the dirt path (aka street). Genius! 

But, it is not as simple as it seems. Every house here is called a compound. There are multiple buildings in one, and they are all surrounded by a big concrete wall. And there is only one entrance, a big gate that is manned by our guard. (yeah, we have a guard ;)) He is very nice, but does not speak much english. I am not sure if I can convince him, or the guard across the dirt path that it is okay that I am taking the boy sheep, and tying him to a different tree, in a different compound. In the middle of the night. Enter Amare. Dundee's brother. He lives across the street, and speaks perfect Amharic! He is the perfect accomplice to our crime. When we asked him to be in on it, he agreed. Only after laughing at us, and Thinking that we are totally insane, I am sure. 

But I don't care. Operation rescue Baaa-xter is on, tonight. 

To be continued. Please stay tuned for "Operation rescue Baaa-xter, part 2. The good. The BAAAAAAAD. And the ugly." 

Coffee Ceremony x2

We had our first coffee ceremony! It was very exciting! Two new volunteers came from Brazil, and apparently Dundee wants to make things special for them. I could be mad… but am reaping from the benefits ;) He is even talking about making the water work! Can you imagine? I can't. Anyway. We had a coffee ceremony. Dundee's sisters roasted the coffee beans and ground them. Then they brewed it in front of us, and made popcorn! It was yummy! Today the woman from the Kore community made us lunch, and had another coffee ceremony. The food was really good, except the meat. The meat here is super fatty and chewy. I really don't like it! It is rude not to eat the food given to you, so you have to force yourself to eat it. Then when I was almost done Dundee told them to put more on my plate. Ugh. It was so nice of them to cook for us, but so hard to eat it! I hope we don't get sick from the meat! 

Also, this morning we went to the field day at Bingham Academy. Bingham is the international school here in Addis. Being on the grounds was very similar to being in America. Everyone spoke english, and no one stared at me because I am white. It was a small oasis in Addis. (Jill, I can totally see your kids going to the school, it was your type of place! It made me miss you!)

We had our second Amharic lesson with our other teacher, Ready, last night. He is intense! I learned so much I could not soak it all in. My brain is still hurting.  

We are now sitting in Lime Tree with our new Brazilian friends, waiting for the internet to work. We had the longest minibus ride ever to get here, and now the internet is not even working! Don't they know I have 2 blogs to post!?!? 

Showers and cooking lessons, my life is grand!

(this blog has taken three days to write. I am sorry for the craziness of it)

Good news. I showered. A real, flowing water, and soap, even shaving, shower! I think it was the most luxurious shower I have ever had. Although thats not very true. It was in a gym, and in America I have showered in some very fancy showers. But not  showing in 13 days does things to a person. So I am clean. This week at least ;)

Yesterday we went to the orphanage, and they were celebrating their 4 year anniversary, and we got a plate full of cookies, cake, and little crouton like things, that were weird. None of it tasted very good, but because of Ethiopian Culture, it is rude not to eat it. So Deanna and I busied ourselves with the kids, and set our plates aside. We took our plates with us when we left at lunch time. right outside of the compound I told deanna that we needed to find someone to give it to, not just throw it away. As I said that a  (beggar looking) teenage boy passed us, came up to us, said "thank you, I love you very much. Take?" and took our plates. I am not sure if we got stolen from, or if we gave them to him. He did not know our intention to give it away, and was not forceful… but really did not ask. Needles to say, Deanna and I have decided to save any and all leftovers to give to the street people. I don't know if you knew this, but there are starving people in Africa. And I am in Africa. 

We had our first Amharic class. I am pretty much fluent. I can say so many things! I can tell people what color clothes they are wearing, and how many of an object they have. I am good to go! We have our next class today… can't wait! After language class, we leered to make Shiro with Tigist. We love Shiro! It is SO SO super easy to make. If anyone back home wants me to make it for them, let me know! I am going to get to make injera today! It supposedly is really hard, but we will see! 

We failed at being Ethiopians yesterday :( We were supposed to go to the orphanage, and we woke up, got ready, and headed out. We waited for the bus outside of our house for an hour. We were supposed to catch the bus to Mexico (hehe, Mexico?) ant then transfer to meganana hiya hulett. But for some reason the buses to mexico never came! We eventually got one that was going to mekanissa, which is on the way to Mexico, so we got on that one. Once we got there, we still could not get a dumb minibus o Mexico. After an hour and a half of trying, we finally gave up, and came back home. We were very upset with ourselves. Come to find out that there was as Africa Union (all the heads of the African countries) meeting and a lot of the roads were closed to the public. Oops. 

It actually worked in our favor. Dundee took us to a handmade toy store, and I was able to buy gifts for my favorite nephews! The Ross family, and I got little Penelope Kendra's first gift! And her big brother Zach ;) All the toys are African looking, and are made with people with disabilities. Pretty sweet find. 

I got to check my email, and got an exciting email from Barb Blasey, the best math teacher at WWCC (Walla Walla Community College) and she said that her students are going to bring in a bunch of things for that babies, and the school kids, and TRiO is going to have a fundraiser to pay for the shipping costs! WOOOHOOO! Thanks! The kids are going to be SO happy! 

This morning we were supposed to go to the school. They were having exams all week, and we were excited that they were done, so we could finally play with them. When we got to the school the gate was closed. Curious. The gate is always open in the morning. So I knocked on the gate, and the guard answered and said that the kids are resting for 10 days. Which means they are on break. Why don't people tell us things! Oh well, we are going to go to Bambis today and go buy some things for the kiddies. Teaching here is HARD! And look around, and see if there is anything we need ;) It supposedly is like a supermarket. Exciting. 

Last thing. When we were walking back to the house from the school, we were waiting for our guard to open the gate, and Bobby, one of our dogs, walked up, and had a goat head in his mouth! I looked at him and said "ewww Bobby!" Which Deanna thinks is the funniest thing to say to a dog. Once the gate opened, Squeekers snuck up and stole the head. Then Dundee chased all 3 dogs around, truing to get the head away from them. It was funny, and so gross. 

Oh no, my life is boring!

I can't think of anything exciting to blog about. But I am sure, my loyal followers, that you are waiting on the edge of your seats for my new blog, so here it is! 

Deanna and I are seriously considering buying a Donk. We will love him, and feed him, and keep him forever. Well, 3 months at least. And when we leave, we will donate him to Strong Hearts. (To use, not to eat.) The boys who hang at our house (we live in a party house, it is used for worship time, and prayer, or just to chill, in a Christian environment) don't think we are serious. They obviously don't know us! So that will be fun. They are about 50 USD, 25 each. Donks are cheeaaap!

Deanna slept with a bug last night. He was curled up next to her pillow in the morning, trying to snuggle, I believe. She was less than thrilled, but did not totally freak out. She did kill him though. Future spouse of Deanna, beware. 

I drove a real car here, on the real street. It was late, and not many people were out, but I still did it! Wooohooo! 

We fit 8 people into said real car last night. Is is not a big car… it was a TIGHT squeeze. But fun!! I like adventure. (not while I was driving) 

I have gotten a few emails about sending supplies! YAY! The kids are going to be thrilled. And so will this lady. 

My new Toms are almost ruined. Poor Toms :( I wear them daily, and the streets here are not exactly shoe friendly. The paved roads are not horrible, but for the most part they are not paved, and it is rocky terrain that I am hiking over, in my beautiful canvas Toms. Even sidewalks, when not so crowded that you have to walk in the street, are broken, and are really rocky dirt with patches of sidewalk. So if anyone who is sending a package to me, wants to send a new pair of Toms… I wear a size 6. Just sayin'. 

People can smoke in restaurants here. It is not a big smoking community, nothing like Europe, probably even less than the US, but is still not easy to enjoy a meal with someones smoke all up in your space. 

Still no improvement on the showering. It has been over a week since I have properly showered. At this point I think maybe we will see how long we can go. Why not? It can't get much worse! Water bottles don't count as showers, but they are what we have at the moment… and am grateful for them! Especially my BIG one. HE holds 2000ml! Thats like a whole body wash right there. 

Dundee seems to think he can read my mind. It is a bit creepy, and as I type he is guessing all the things I do not like about ET. He just looked at Deanna and said while STARING at me "I am just reading her mind". Weird, Dundee. HE is also my Facebook friend, and I am certain he read my blog about things I don't like. As an American, I don't like cheaters! 

The internet at Lime Tree is down right now. Its a bummer. I would like to connect with my peeps, now that it is an acceptable time for you all to be awake. Ohhh, cakes here! YUM!

xoxox

They call me Mommy.

Sweet sweet babies. I know you live in an orphanage, and I know you want a Mommy. I don't blame you. You should have a Mommy. You should have your biological Mommy, and Daddy. But unfortunately you don't. It breaks my heart. I want you to have a Mommy more than I want anything in the world. I even want to BE your Mommy. I really do. But I can't. Not yet. But I am praying. And praying hard. But you calling me Mommy makes it even harder for me not to love you. And I already love you so much. I want you to have everything. A Mom, a Dad, maybe even brothers and sisters. And I really really believe that you will. God says that he will not leave you as orphans. If only 7% of Christians adopt one child, than there will be no more orphans! 7%! Very doable. 

So don't worry, babies. Even if I can't be your mommy, I know there is someone out there who needs a baby. Just be patient! And until then, I will love you. I promise.