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.