Sorry for the lack of updates, blogspot has been blocked for about a month and Andrea has returned to the world of academics and has much better things to do than update her sister's blog. Since my last update it's been the usual amazing highs and depressing lows. I had a week long training on permaculture (sustainable gardening) which was a bit frustrating, but overall pretty useful. On Monday I am meeting with the HIV positive women in my town about starting a garden. It's going to start small for nutritional support, but if things go well we hope to expand the garden so it can be a source of income generation as well. It's a pretty easy project and will boost my feeling of productiveness. In terms of work, I've been quite busy lately with the youth center, seeing as though the grant proposal is due next month. When I came back from the training I was stood up for 3 meetings and was starting to feel like the grant would never get written and the project would be a bust. I was thrilled when this week one of my guys dropped a complete, detailed budget and part of the proposal in front of me. I couldn't believe it....this is actually going to be finished on time! Unfortunately, as I predicted, we are waaaay over budget. I'm working on cutting down the scale of the project while still making it worthwhile. I have a few ideas, but will have to see what my committees think before making any decisions. The last thing I have going on as far as work goes is the summer camp. Things are starting to shape up, next week I'm meeting with another volunteer to work out the budget.
Other than the increased productivity in my work, life has slowed down a bit due to the rainy season. I spend a lot of time at home hiding from the rain/mud reading, watching tv/movies (pathetic, i know) and grant writing. While I was at training someone broke into my kitchen and stole all my food that wasn't locked up so I've been pretty moody as well....probably better that I'm not being overly social.
I don't have a whole lot to report, so I'm going to tell you about my favorite birds in Ethiopia. Sounds really lame, but the birds are crazy here.... it's supposedly one of the most interesting places for bird watching because there are so many endemic species. The first worth mentioning is Toucan Saul (I don't know the real names of the species and no one understands what I'm asking when I try to find out). Toucan Saul is the name Alissa and I gave this giant black bird with a huge white beak (an evil toucan). During consolidation one came in our room and was mocking us.... it was terrifying. This bird is so big that when it flies over my house I can hear its wings flapping and when it lands on my roof it sounds like there's a fight above me. Another crazy species is the stork of Hawassa. These guys gather in large flocks in the trees (it's a gamble to walk underneath). When they stand they are over half my height and have a brigh orange crest and incredibly ugly features. They seriously look prehistoric. Gross, but awesome. The last bird that I'm a fan of is much less bad ass, but still unique. It's super tiny (about the size of a hummingbird) and bright blue. They remind me of neons in a fish tank full of much bigger, meaner fish.
Other than the increased productivity in my work, life has slowed down a bit due to the rainy season. I spend a lot of time at home hiding from the rain/mud reading, watching tv/movies (pathetic, i know) and grant writing. While I was at training someone broke into my kitchen and stole all my food that wasn't locked up so I've been pretty moody as well....probably better that I'm not being overly social.
I don't have a whole lot to report, so I'm going to tell you about my favorite birds in Ethiopia. Sounds really lame, but the birds are crazy here.... it's supposedly one of the most interesting places for bird watching because there are so many endemic species. The first worth mentioning is Toucan Saul (I don't know the real names of the species and no one understands what I'm asking when I try to find out). Toucan Saul is the name Alissa and I gave this giant black bird with a huge white beak (an evil toucan). During consolidation one came in our room and was mocking us.... it was terrifying. This bird is so big that when it flies over my house I can hear its wings flapping and when it lands on my roof it sounds like there's a fight above me. Another crazy species is the stork of Hawassa. These guys gather in large flocks in the trees (it's a gamble to walk underneath). When they stand they are over half my height and have a brigh orange crest and incredibly ugly features. They seriously look prehistoric. Gross, but awesome. The last bird that I'm a fan of is much less bad ass, but still unique. It's super tiny (about the size of a hummingbird) and bright blue. They remind me of neons in a fish tank full of much bigger, meaner fish.
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