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.
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.
Smiling from ear to ear as I read this. SO excited for you as you go through this experience. Love you Ta :)
ReplyDeleteSO happy for you! I miss you soo much already but am so excited for what this experience has in store for you! Love you!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad no one else tried to pick you up at the airport. Makes me feel so much better! ;)
ReplyDeleteYou 2 be safe. Hopefully you'll get to relax over the weekend. Mrs. P.