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.

With the good, comes the bad.

I realized I have only blogged about the things I love about Addis… So I am going to fill you in on some of my not so favorite things…

1. The dust. It is hot and dry here, and there is dust everywhere. On my feet mostly. but breathing gets hard when it is windy, and I am pretty sure my lungs are red (because the dirt is red). You have to wear sunglasses when walking outside, or else dust gets in your eyes. 

2. The hot sun. It burns you VERY easily. I am a peeling mess, and the nannies at the orphanage were very concerned as to why my skin was coming off. Don't worry, beautiful black skinned women, I am white, and it happens very often! 

3. The lack of running water. Oh how I miss you! I have not had a shower in over a 

Sidenote: While sitting in Lime Tree, in walked an American couple with the CUTEST Ethiopian babies! They passed embassy, and are flying home tomorrow! YAY! I <3 Adoption! 

Anyway… Showering… It has been over a week since I have had a proper shower. We are making due with water bottles, but I am really missing the feeling of being totally clean. No matter how hard I try, it does not seem to happen. 

4. Toilet paper. I miss charmin. And toilet paper in public places. If you go out here you need to remember to bring some with you (which I never seem to remember). But even so, the toilet paper here is like a paper bag. Not soft. 

5. The beggars. I hate when kids come up asking for money. I want to keep them! It is so sad. 

Anyway. I did not want to pretend that everything here is amazing, and great. For the most part, it is ;) But not always! 

A blog of randomness.

Nothing big to report, so I am going to fill you in on a lot of little things!

We got pick pocketed yesterday…Well Deanna did. We were walking to lunch yesterday, and a couple of boys came to us asking for money, which is not unusual. We told them no, but they kept walking with us, and asking. Again, not unusual. We told them "senteem yeleem" "I don't have change" (note: Any amharic words on my blog are just sounded out. I have no idea how to spell anything) My bag is very pickpocket proof, and is pretty impossible to get into, unless it is off of my back. Deanna had a purse with her, it was closed, and she had it close to her, but a boy boldly reached in, and tried to take things! She of course pushed him away and told him no, and made sure she had everything of importance (wallet, camera etc) When we got home she realized her headphones, which was in an open pocket, were missing. So, lesson learned. She has since switched to carrying her backpack, and we are now wearing our moneybelts (a flat fanny pack that goes under our clothes). Do not worry… we were perfectly safe, and there were a lot of people around, who would have helped if needed. We are in a city, and with any city setting, comes the chance of "sneaky stealers"! 

Deanna and I are still getting along. We have not had one disagreement, and she is basically the perfect travel buddy. She is not to crazy, and does not want to do scary things, but she does not want to sit at home all day either. I am in charge of the alarm clock, and we wake up at 7am, but I usually wake up before then, and lay in bed for a while. Deanna sleeps as long as she can. One night, apparently she had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I heard her get up, and I woke right up too! I sat straight up and said very cheerfully, "Wow, your up before me today?!?!" Deanna looked at me like was crazy and told me it was the middle of the night, and to go back to sleep. We had a good laugh in the morning. Also during the night I apparently have been talking in my sleep… Dundee, the owner of the house lives in the compound. His room is on the other side of the wall as ours, although he has a separate entrance. He has told me that he can hear me talking, and laughing in my sleep. Embarrassing? Yep! He thinks its the funniest thing ever. 

The kids at the orphanage tried to braid my hair today. Smooth hair is very unusual around here, lots of people like to touch it. I wish I could keep it cleaner ;) I think I am going to ask them to cornrow it ;) Good news though! I have heard we have running water at the house!!!! I may get to shower today! For the (do NOT judge me!) second time since I have been here!! We have been keeping clean, don't worry, but bottled water is not a shower! 

My heart hurts :(

Oh my oh my! We had our first day at the orphanage today. I can't even begin to tell you the emotions that I felt today! I got to hold sweet little babies from 0-6months all day. It made my life. Until one of the nannies told me the the 2/3month old baby I was holding got left in a toilet by his mother when he was born. Then my pleasure turned to heartbreak. Who could throw this amazing little baby away?  

It was a lot of fun today, but it was a weird kind of day. As much as we loved and kissed on the kids, it still was in the back of my mind that this is the extent of their love. They stay in a room all day with random people coming in and giving them kisses and snuggles. It is great that they get that! Don't get me wrong. The nannies really do love the kids, and I would much rather them be in the orphanage than in the streets like millions of other kids, but there is no way to recreate the love of a family. You can just tell something is missing when you look at them. It kills me. I want to keep every single one of them, or at least bring them back to the States. I know a lot of people who would fall in love with them, and give them amazing forever families! I decided today that I am going to have a ton of kids. What better thing can you give a child than real, unconditional love? I can't think of anything. 

We are going back tomorrow. I am excited, and dreading it at the same time. I just wish I could do more for them. Just meeting their basic needs is not enough. I need to do more! Speaking of basic needs… They are barely being met. There is a HUGE need for anything and everything child related. Just in the infant room, The bottles were used, and had to be washed so the next baby could use it. There was one pacifier for all 5 kids. They use cloth diapers, but don't have enough, so some babies got baby blankets wrapped around their bottoms. And clothing wise…any color and any size goes. They are so short on clothes, so it does not matter. The babies all laid on a crib mattress that was on the floor, and had to share the two toys that was in the room. A set of toy keys, and a little ball that does not squeak anymore. If anyone would like to send thinks, email me(kpcs2002@gmail.com), and I can give you details. Seriously, do it for the kids! I can't stop thinking of the nursery of my church in NJ, and how many toys ect there were, I bet there are more toys in that one room than the entire orphanage…and just for one day a week! We have no idea how good we have it in america. I bet if an Ethiopian woman saw the amount of clothes I own she would be disgusted. I can't even come up with a good reason of why I have so much, especially since I hardly use most of it. Anyway…back to the point. Mail me things! Also school supplies are a need at the school. Any kind! 

My heart is heavy, and so are my eyelids… Time to go to bed! Please pray that all of these kids (not just the babies!) find forever families! They are to perfect to not be loved like they should be! 

Thank God for wifi!!!

It's a Girl!!! For those of you who don't know, my bff is Kalene, and she happens to be pregnant with her first baby :) And I am super thrilled. She had her ultrasound today, and I made sure I was able to get on the internet to Skype! Best news ever! Little Penelope Kendra (yes, KENDRA!!!) is going to be spoiled by this lady! I know of some nice African things I can buy her already!

In other news… I am still loving Africa. Even more so now that  I have found an internet cafe with free wifi! After school today, a friend of Deanna's friend who happens to live in Addis, came and picked us up, and took us to Lime Tree. A very nice and cute cafe in Boli (pronounced bowl-ie). We have decided it is going to become our new hangout. I am 98% sure I can figure out the minibus to get there, and back, so it will cost less than 5birr to get there. (which is 29 cents). 

A lot of people have been asking me to describe Addis, so I am going to try! It is hard to put into words though! And no matter what I write, it will be nothing compared to actually being here. My recommendation is to come, and quickly! 

The weather has been great so far. In the morning it is a little chilly, so a light jacket is needed, but it gets into the high 80's during the day. The sun is always shining, and the sun burns you way more easily than it does in America! The air here is for the most part clean, and refreshing. I had heard before I came that it smells here, and it sometimes does! the cars/busses let off a lot of exhaust, and the animals and people peeing on the streets is a bit gross… but going for a walk is usually really nice and enjoyable. I am still getting used to the altitude. I get winded easily, and am drinking TONS of water. It is really easy to get dehydrated! 

The food has been really good as well. At the guesthouse, Tigist is a rockstar, and always has every meal ready and waiting for us. She is such a nice lady! We eat traditional Ethiopian food, although she tries to make it as nonspicy as possible. She is not sure if we like spice :) All the food is cut up, or mashed so we are able to eat it with Injera, a pancake like sourdough bread that we use instead of a fork. We have been eating a lot of lentils, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. Never meat. There is one dish she made with eggs and tomatoes that I did not like, but I don't like eggs, so it had nothing to do with the cooking! At the restaurants you can find any type of food. Burgers, pizza, pasta, sandwiches, anything really. It may not be exactly like in America, but pretty close! 

The clothes that people wear is all over the map! You see a lot of people wearing traditional Ethiopian clothes, middle eastern clothes(head coverings ect) and jeans and t-shirts. The majority of people never match, and wear anything they can find. It is not uncommon to see a boy in pink, or in girl shoes. If the shoe fits I guess… It is also not uncommon for people to wear the same outfit for multiple days. The smell of body odor is  also pretty common, unfortunately.  

People really have no sense of personal space here. But not in an uncomfortable way. It is hard to explain, or maybe I just don't mind. For example, today I was in the Minibus, and it was a bit crowded, and a lady was balancing on the very edge of a seat, and held her hand on my leg to steady herself. It was not weird, or inappropriate, just a good place to hold onto! Men walk around holding hands all the time. and people will walk up and want to shake my hand. Or if they are walking next to me they will give my arm a little squeeze. Not hard, but just like a little hello :) I like to think of it as a little sign of love!

I added a few pictures to Facebook, and hope to add more soon, and hopefully videos! Now that I found wifi it will be easier! Tomorrow we are going to an orphanage that we will be working at a few days a week. We love the school, but don't want to spend all of our time teaching! We are excited, and will take lots of pictures! I hope my heart can handle it, and I will be able to leave them at the end of the day! A few boys asked us for money today, and told us their mom was dead. I almost offered to be their mom! It is probably a good thing that it is illegal to take home babies, who knows how many I would try to keep! 

xoxox

Kendra

Biggest Market in Africa - They're not kidding!

I was lazy yesterday, and did not write a blog! So this is two days in one. Sorry, I am sure everyone is holding their breath, waiting for my long blogs!

Yesterday was Friday, and the kids get a half day on Fridays, and the time that they are there they get to play and do a little Bible study. It was so much fun! I started to teach them a little song, but it happens to be much harder than you would think! Those kids are smart, but I guess singing a song in a different language must be hard. They sang a bunch of worship songs in Amharic, and it was SOOO cute. They yell as loud as they can, and some close their eyes, and are so into it, it is amazing! To see little kids Worshiping to God... Ugh! Talk about faith like a child! I love them! When is was time to go, some shook my hand and said Ciao. Others kissed my cheek and gave me big hugs. I soaked it up! One little girl lives near us, and held my hand while we walked home. She kept looking back at her family ang giggling. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. And so did I. :)

After school we went to what we thought was a young adult small group held at the International Evangelical Church (ICE). But really it was a planning meeting for the people starting the group. Oops. It was a little boring, but we met some nice people! After, we met some of Dundee's friends at Kaldis, and got some more coffee :) Then we squeezed 6 people into the car again, it was crazy! All the friends made fun of us for laughing so much, which is basically none stop with Deanna and I! We dropped the extra people off, and got a nice tour of the city. We were SOOO tired when we got home, we went straight to sleep.

When we woke up this morning, I looked at the time on my phone, and could not believe that we had slept in until 10:00! We got up and got dressed, ate, and waited for one of the guys to take us to the Marcado. Which is the largest outdoor market in Africa. Once we were on our way, I looked at my watch and told Deanna that it was 9:30am. It took us a while to remember that my phone had never changed time since I left Chicago! HA! We were really thrown off then, and figured we had really woken up at 7am. We rode a couple of Minibuses, and got off at the begining of the Mercado. It was pretty crazy! Imagine chinatown, but bigger, busier, and WAY more insane. There were people everywhere, selling anything you can imagine. There was so much food, spices, clothes, ANYTHING. And the people! I think I just saw about a million people today. And hundreds of donkeys, and goats. And Chickens. That were alive. And hanging upside down just wait for people to come eat them. Eww. Someone asked me if I can cut my own goat in America. I was like, ummmm we buy it at the store... They looked at me like I am crazy. Nope, just American! Deanna and I both bouht a pretty scarf. It is a handmade traditional Ethiopian one, and is pink! Woohoo! Sidenote- We start taking Amharic classes on Monday! Dundee found someone who will teach us an hour a day, for 50birr/hour. Thats about 3USD/hour. So 15USD a week for 5 hours of language class. And we will be the only students. So cheap! And so worth it! I am basically fluent already.

Words I can say (but not spell, so I won't):

Water, two, thank you, How are you(to a man, woman, or group) I am fine, yes, no, hello, Monday, goodbye, And lots of places around the city that I need to say to the conductor to make sure I am on the right minibus.

I can't even describe the feel of theis place. I really hope that everyone gets to experience something like this someday. Most of these people have little to nothing. They live off of less than one american dollar a day, and they do so happily, and with such joy. It just raidiates from them. Even if you cannot communicate or speak the same language, you can just feel the love of Jesus through them. It is so amazing, and I hope that a little bit of that will rub off onto me!

Xoxo

Be still my heart!

Man oh man. Day 2 in Addis. I did not think that I could fall more in love with this place than I was yesterday. But when I woke up and breakfast was ready and waiting, I did! Just kidding. Although that is a nice way to wake up! We walked to the school after we ate, and met the teachers and the kids. Oh my goodness. I can not even begin to describe how cute and adorable these kids are! When we walked in they grabbed at my hands right away, and asked me what my name is. Now all I hear during free time is KENDRA, KENDRA in little Amharic accents. I met my class, they are upper kindergarten. So they are like 6 or 7. I will be teaching them english, math and science. Except on Fridays. It is a half day, and Bible study day. I get to teach them childrens Bible songs (so if you know any good ones let me know!) and read out of the English Bible. I am a little nervous about teaching them. There is only one book, which the teacher uses, and a very small white board in the classroom. How is that going to work?!? The classroom is SO small! Smaller than my bedroom at home, and has long tiny metal tables with mini chairs squeezed in between them. there are almost 30 kids in my classroom. During class they are all SO silent, and pay attention 100%. If one of them even rests their head in their hands the yeacher will nudge them or something to snap them back to attention.

We played outside for over an hour with them, The outside is a fenced in (the fences are metal slabs set next to each other) dirt yard with piles of rubble everywhere. And tires for the kids to climb on. There was a metal slide, although the kids did not use it, I think it was to hot, and 2 swings. But the kids still had a blast! Then we did "sports class" which was just doing streches in the yard. It was to hot to do much, so we just sat in the shade, and the kids played a game similar to 20 questions, although it was in Amharic, so I just sat on the swing talking to the teacher, and getting sunburned. Oops. I guess if you are in Africa you should wear sunscreen. After it was lunch time, and I think my teacher could see I was tired, since she said I could go home for the rest of the day!

So, we went to Kaldis's! My first time figuring out the minibusses without help, and it was a success! The poor conductors (people who ride in the back of the bus, calling for more passengers, and collecting the money) have a hard time understanding my accent, but we eventually got it worked out. I always get a good giggle when trying to say thank you in Amharic. It's a tough language! Since our water is still not working (ugh!) we went to take a shower at a gym (which was super fancy!) our first shower since leaving America! Baby wipes and hats can only cover so much, so we paid for a shower, and let me tell you... it was worth it! We then went to Kaldi's, got some yummy coffee, and then went to the internet cafe, and I got to email some of my peeps! Email is the best way to stay connected, since even facebook is a lot for the internet here! So if you want to email me (and you should! I don't want to get lonely!) my address is kpcs2002@gmail.com. I expect many new emails next time I log in!

We came home, and rested a bit. I am soooo tired. This day feels like it has been really long! We chatted with a few of the workers here. One of them is from Cali, and is staying here for 2 years! She is the only American we have met so far. Hopefully we will meet more at the International Church on Sunday!

Well, it's almost 7:30. This girl is going to bed!

xoxo

Donkeys, and Lions, and Goats! Oh My!

We have done SOOO much already! I love love LOVE this place! the people are SO nice, and all they want to do is help...And they are beautiful! I can see Jesus shining in everyone. It seems like I am going to have a hard time not falling head over heels for these people. Especially the beautiful babies! As I type this the daughter of Tigist our housemaid (yep. Housemaid!) is giggling and being adorable. I love her.

We flew into the airport a bit late, and had to wait forever for our visas (although we went straight to the line, Jill!) Once we got our visa we sailed through customs and money exchange. We got all of our bags piled onto a cart and met Tamrat and Dundee who were holding signs with our names on them. (Mrs. P, you will be happy to know that not one person asked us to ride with them!) Also with Tamrat and Dundee were two boys from Switzerland who are also volunteers with Love volunteers. So me and Deanna. Tamrat and Dundee. And 2 Swiss boys. Thats 6 people. And when we went to Dundees car I almost died. It was SMALL! We were able to squoosh 3 of our 4 giant suticases into the trunk, and the 4th went on the floor of the passenger side. Then the 4 of us volunteers piled into the back seat and held all of our carryons. It was a vety tight squeeze. I am still shocked the doors did not fly open while driving. Luckily it was the middle of the night, and not one person was out. Apparently do not leave their houses afer 9pm. Then it would have been a SSCARY first ride! There are NO traffic laws here! I don't know how they figure it out, the only system I understand is that the biggest car goes first!

We stayed up a bit late last night (until 5am) we unpacked a little, and wrote in our journals a bit (thanks Carey for the awesome new journal!! xoxo) then went to sleep. We woke up at 9:30am and got dressed and Tamrat was waiting for us, and breakfast was all ready and wating for ud. I think I am going to get a bit spoiled here! We had cereal with milk from a bag, a very think bread, and peanunbutter and jam. Then we got a brief synopsis of what we were going to be doing and places that we would probably like to visit. Tamrat told us to be aware of "sneaky stealers" (aka pickpockets) but otherwise we will be totally safe. After that we walked around and saw one of the schools that we will be working at. It was empty since the kids are still on holiday. Christmas here is on January 7th. We met an american about our age who works there, and has been living here for 6 months, She already knows a ton of amharic! We also saw a bunch of donkeys, ox, sheep, goats, and cows... in the streets. Walking around outside you definitely feel like you are in a 3rd world country. The road our house is one is basically dirt with rubble on it. The "main" roads and sidewalks have HUGE potholes that make the ones in Jersey/NYC look smooth. And the people, I cannot even express how much I love them! The kids will run up to you saying "faranje" their word for foreigner. If I smile at them (which of course I do) they giggle and get shy. When I give them a dumdum, they look so cute and run off to show off their gifts.

Then we rode a minibus. Holy cow. I thought NYC was crazy driving. I was dead wrong! Minibus is just a fancy name for large van. They are all 12 seaters, but I don't think I saw one that had less than 15 passengers, and even saw one that had to have at least 23 people in it! We rode it first to a building that is kinda like a mall. We got some coffee at Kaldi's, Which is delish, and has a logo that is basically a starbucks logo, except the desigh in the green circle is a bit different. On the way there we walked past a cow head. Just the head. After we came home and lunch was ready and waiting, again! Tigist made some sort of Ethiopian food and rice. it was good! Then another worker (I can't pronounce his name) took us to the National Museum, and the "lion cages". The museum was pretty cool. It had a bunch of artifacts, and things about the Ethiopian royalty. Usual museum stuff. The "lion cages" were exactly that. Poor lions in small itty bitty cages. Just concrete floors and metal bars. There were also some monkeys who were in the same kind of cage, and there were people teasing one poor little guy, and he got so worked up he jumped around the cage for a bit, rattled the door, then got all sad and curled up into a ball. I wanted to take him home.

We took 3 different minibuses home, and now am writing this since we have some down time, and will post it as soon as we have access to internet. We have to have an internet stick, and Dundee has one we can use, but we all have to share it. Apparently they are expensive, but there is also an internet cafe next to Kaldi's we are going to test out soon.

The prices are amazing here! It is 17 Birr to 1 USD. My macciatto was 11 Birr- less than 1 USD! The museum was 10 Birr, and the lion cages was 20 Birr. The minibus is 2,5 Birr for a 10-15 min ride. That is like 1.5 cents in America. Ummm CRAZY? And it is SO easy to know your way around in the minibuses. Or at least I get it. Tamrat kept testing me all day on the names of our stops, and I always got them right! I totally feel ready for us to venture out on our own! Although until our Amharic improves they don't want us to go further than Mexico alone. (HA!)

I really need to take a shower, but the water is a bit tempermental, and only works sometimes. Deanna and I have our own room, and bathroom, with a big gerry can full of water for the toilet when the water is out. We are really in Africa! It is almost dinner time, so I am going to go clean up, as much as possible! I miss everyone back home, but am pretty sure I am going to love it here!! xoxox.