My Biggest Adventure Yet

A Day In The Life

2011-09-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

Today was a very typical “Masha” day. Since I tend to write only when something interesting happens (or not at all) I decided that today would make a good blog entry.

I wake up at 7:30am because of a phone call. It’s an Addis number so I answer it, hoping it’s PEPFAR with news about the youth center. It isn’t. It is a very loud, confused and angry Ethiopian. He starts talking to me and I tell him he has the wrong number, and then he wants to know who I am and what number he called and, of course, he was yelling the whole time. I eventually hang up on him since it’s a pointless conversation and a waste of both of our time. Also it’s early. After the phone call I go back to bed, not wanting to wake up annoyed. Sometime around 9:00 I wake up again, put on music and do some strength exercises because I’m pretty weak and for some reason think I can climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in a few months. I tell myself I’ll actually start training next month and instead of exercising I think about exercising. I move on to the kitchen, light up the kerosene stove and put on the kettle to boil some water. While the water is boiling I do last night’s dishes. First I have to refill my jerry can; luckily the spigot in the front yard is working so I don’t have to use the well. Once I have water, I squat over a plastic bucket and pour water from a small pitcher and clean. After the dishes are clean the water is just about boiling. I make oatmeal with a bit of sugar and tea then put the rest of the boiled water in my filter so I can have it later. I lock up the kitchen and move back into my bedroom/living room, take all the meds/vitamins I’m on (I’ve been sick a lot lately) and brush my teeth. It’s around 10:00 and I head out to work.

At the office I meet with the leader of the HIV Positive People’s Assoc and ask him if he has obtained the land certificate and building permit so we can begin construction on the milling house. He gives me a certificate for something else (this is all in Amharic by the way, which makes it funnier). I tell him that’s not what we needed and he admits he hasn’t asked yet and that he’ll do it tomorrow. I remind him that I’m leaving Masha in 6 weeks and that we need to work FAST. He reacts like this is the first time he’s hearing this information and starts freaking out and then promises to get the certificates. Then I ask him to call his contractor and set up a meeting, when would he be available? He answers that it will take a month to build the milling house. I ask again, but when can we have a meeting so we can begin construction? He looks at me like I’m crazy and repeats that it will take a month. Another failed conversation. I try to reword my questions and ask if I can meet with him and the contractor on Monday morning. He finally understands and we set up a meeting. Oh how I wish my counterpart didn’t leave for grad school…I could really use his interpreting skills. I go a few doors down and sit at my desk and start making lists. What do I need to do to pack up my house? What do I want to do when I go to America? Who do I want to see when I go to America? What do I need to bring back from America? Who else can I ask for donations for this milling project? What am I going to make for lunch? How many days until America? Once I run out of questions to ask myself I pull out a magazine and read a few articles. It’s just about lunch time now, so I head out.

On my way home my zero-English-speaking friend calls to me from some random mud hut. She tells me to come have tea with her, I have nothing else to do so I oblige. She’s getting her hair braided by a woman who is now my sister. I had to promise to come back before I leave Masha to get my hair braided, too (ha). After her hair is finished they tell me to go inside the house and we’ll all have tea. Turns out they don’t have anything to make tea with, so they leave me alone, watching some random kid, to go buy tea, sugar and biscuits. I’m playing with the kid and we’re laughing and having a good time, he’s speaking to me in Amharic and I’m speaking to him in English, making no sense to each other. He climbs on my lap, I figure to touch my hair or my freckles (that’s why most kids get close to me) but he had a different agenda. He reaches in my shirt and tries to pull out a breast…this 2 year old kid wants to breast feed. My initial reaction is to throw him off my lap, but then I bust out laughing. It’s kind of funny. Eventually my friends come back. We make tea and have inane conversation about work, the other volunteers that live in Masha, my moving to Addis Ababa and other non-important things. Even after 2 years this is awkward for me. I’m awful at small talk in English, but in Amharic I’m even worse. After what seems like hours I head home.

Walking home I have to stop and greet a handful of people, some are friends, some are people that I vaguely know and some are people that know me but I don’t even recognize. It’s market day so a lot of beggars are out so I need to politely tell them I’m not going to give them money, but God will provide. It’s also still summer vacation so all the children are out chanting my name and ambushing me for handshakes. Eventually I get home. At this point I no longer want lunch because of all the fried biscuits my friend force fed me earlier so I turn on music and lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. You’d be surprised how long I can do this and not get bored. After some time I read a few chapters before I’m hungry again. I go to my kitchen for a snack (crackers and easy cheese from my last care package…thanks ma!) and when I walk in I find myself surrounded by the dreaded flesh eating ants. They are absolutely everywhere. I take some toilet paper and start squishing them and interrupting their marching formations. I do this for about half an hour, the whole time the ants are crawling all over me. My hands are tingling because they are biting me so much…my hands are completely covered. Then I realize they’ve been climbing up my legs and I’m getting bitten everywhere, and it hurts. I finally can’t take it anymore and splash water all over the room, spray the edges of the walls, especially where there are large holes and run. We’ll see later if that helped anymore or if I have to start all over. An hour later I’m still picking them off of me.

I return to my bedroom and turn the music on again and veg out for a while longer making myself a list of things to do when the power comes back on (it has) and things to do if it stops raining (it hasn’t). Writing this blog entry is on the list. For the rest of the day I’ll finish the items on the list, most are work related. I’ll eventually go back into my kitchen to assess the killer ant situation. If it’s under control I’ll make dinner, if not, I’ll ask another volunteer to make me dinner because I can’t stand to be eaten again. After dinner I’ll probably watch an episode or two of How I Met Your Mother (which I’m watching for the second time) and do some crazy exercise video with my site mate. Maybe we’ll play a game of Catan when we finish that. Around 9:00 I’ll get into bed and read for a while and go to bed.

So that’s a typical day in Masha. If it’s not a kid trying to find milk it’s some creeper guy hitting on me. If it’s not ants I’m cleaning up it’s mud. Seems crazy that I’ve been doing this for 2 years, even crazier that I love it. However, it’s definitely time to move on.

Chigger Alla

2011-09-05T01:25:00.000-07:00

When I was first applying for the Peace Corps a few years ago a lot of Returned PCVs started coming out of the woodwork and telling me about their experiences overseas. One of these people was a man I worked with at the Agency on Aging who served in Gabon in the 80s. We had a few conversations about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Peace Corps service. For him the worst was the chiggers. Chiggers are these tiny insects that live in high grass and love feet. He told me of one time a chigger bored into his toes, laid eggs under his toe nails, and then hatched causing his toe nails to fall off. That was the first time I questioned whether or not I really wanted to move to Africa. Eventually I decided that it wouldn't happen to me because I'd always wear close toed shoes.

Three days after arriving in Ethiopia I stopped wearing sneakers and, like most Peace Corps volunteers, started rocking the Chacos everyday. The first few months I was very cautious and always checked my toes, then I realized that no one gets chiggers in Ethiopia and totally forgot about it. Well, if you've been following my Peace Corps service at all you know that bad things happen to me pretty regularly. Last week I was running a summer camp with my fellow volunteers in SNNPR and my toe started to hurt. There was a black circle and I thought that it was a planter's wart. Kind of gross but not a big deal. A couple days later it started hurting more so I investigated with tweezers. The little black sphere-ish thing came out relatively easily, and then this gooey white sack started spilling out. The eggs. This being my first chigger removal it was very sloppy and I broke the egg sack, only time will tell if they are about to hatch, but I think i got it all out. Now there is a pretty sizable hole in my toe and the thing I was most scared of coming to Africa has happened. In retrospect I shouldn't have been so worried about it, there are much worse things.

Circles

2011-05-28T01:35:00.000-07:00

I feel like my life is repeating itself, but this time I'm ready for it.

A couple of months ago now I attended the environment group's In-Service Training (every volunteer group has this training three months into their service). I was asked to come to give a safety and security presentation because of all the crazy things that happen to me (it's got to be somebody, right?). I had a meeting in Addis a few days later so instead of traveling the 3 days back to Masha only to turn around and travel 3 days to Addis, I stayed to help out with the entire training. While the content was completely different, and my people weren't there, and I wasn't a trainee, a lot of the emotions, insecurities and triumphs were the same. It made me think back to where I was a year before, which if you remember, was not a good time in my life. It was the closest I ever was to coming home early. I was terrified of the crazy guy in my town, I had just watched that poor boy drown, and I was depressed thinking about death and how it was surrounding me. There were a few other things going on at that time, but those were the biggest. Needless to say, I was not a pleasant person to be around during my IST and felt like I was alienating myself from my group by being such a downer. Watching the newer volunteers at that point in their service really reminded me of that time and how far I've come. The questions they had and the anxieties they expressed were all the same things I was worried about at that time, but being a year later I couldn't help but laugh (if you G4 kids are reading, don't be offended, you'll laugh, too, when you realize how little any of those things matter).

A month or so after IST the cycle continued: the Hawassa EveryOne Race. Last year I was adamant about not running. I do not enjoy running for the sake of running…if it's to play a game or sport that's no problem, but at that time 7K did not sound appealing. I still went to Hawassa last year, though, and cheered everyone on and took photos for those who ran. The company of other volunteers was definitely the highlight of that weekend, and it actually is still one of the best weekends in Ethiopia that I can remember. This year, though, I did it…I ran the 7K! I had planned on just walking with a friend, but as we left the starting line with the thousands of other runners we were inspired. We ran most of the way (of course we needed walking breaks…we're not runners!) and it felt great. I wiped out once, which was pretty hilarious, and had some nice bloody gashes to show off at the finish line. We ended up running with an Ethiopian girl (who was really the reason why we ran instead of walked) who was pretty good company. I later found out that she was 14. I wouldn't say that this year's race was a better weekend, but I'm proud of myself for finishing the race. And surprised that the race was actually the highlight of the weekend.

A bit later my life repeated itself again: I went on a waterfall hike. I've been kind of avoiding waterfalls since last year (there are a surprising number in my area). I figured enough time had passed and it was time to get over it, and a few other volunteers were visiting so it seemed like a good time to go see the Sor Waterfall (the second largest in Ethiopia). The hike was about 5 hours shorter this time, and I actually brought water and snacks along this time. I'm also much better at walking through slippery mud (I still fell a few times, but had a better sense of humor about it this time around). I wasn't worrying about breaking a leg the whole time, I was laughing at the harsh conditions and knew what I was getting myself into when I decided to hike to a waterfall. When we were making the final descent to the water I was overcome with memories and emotions, not sure if I wanted to go any further. But I did, and had a good time laughing, getting drenched by the mist and slipping in the mud with all my friends. A far cry from the year before – it was a safe and successful trip.

The next night was another life experience repeat: the annual honey harvest! This time I knew where I was going and what we were doing. Instead of wearing Capri pants I wore long pants, tucked into my socks, a jacket with a hood and better shoes. Instead of getting stung 5 times, I didn't get stung at all. Instead of eating a whole comb at the first basket I paced myself so I didn't have to be rude and refuse to eat any at the second basket. I didn't cringe at the thought of eating the larvae "for strength", instead I asked for a bite. I felt like a pro.

It feels good to be comfortable in this life. I have to admit though, knowing what's coming and being ready kind of takes the fun out of it. The first time around everything was so new and a bit scary. The fascination of watching the men climb trees with nothing but a rope and go head first into a nest of angry bees will never be the same as the first time. Hiking in the muddy, wet, untraveled Ethiopian jungle will always remind me of that first time, but the emotion and sadness that came from that day will never be matched, I've grown numb and less affected by death since being here. I'll never have the optimism and hope that the newer volunteers have just starting their service, full of ideas and ambitions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's probably a good sign that I'm so comfortable and used to this life, but I do miss the feeling of everything being new and exciting. I hope that in the last 6 months I still have some surprises left.

Thinking About the Future

2011-04-21T10:18:00.001-07:00

As time begins to grow short here in Ethiopia there have been a lot of
conversations regarding what is next. The overall consensus is that
nobody knows what they want to do once our service is over and instead
of leading us to the next step this experience has only opened more
doors than we ever even knew existed. Like my fellow volunteers I also
don't have any immediate plans and the near future is unknown, but in
answering the question as to what I want to do I always say that my
end goal is to start and own a residential hospice in New England. I
have a good idea of where I want to end up, but as to how to get
there, I haven't quite figured it out yet. Which is okay.
One particular conversation I had with a close friend I discussed this
hospice dream and called it my eventual life's work. He then asked me
if I thought it was important to have a life's work. His thought is
that there are a lot of things he would like to accomplish in his
time, all of which are disconnected, and therefore couldn't be called
a life's work. From that conversation I began to think what it is that
I am passionate about and what things I would like to accomplish in my
professional life. The common thread is that in everything I do I aim
to help people live healthier and happier lives. I want people from
all walks of life and from all corners of the globe to be able to
enjoy the right to medical care. Whether it is increasing access to
essential medicines and vaccinations in developing countries or
allowing terminally ill patients to receive palliative care to make
their departure from this world peaceful and painless, I want to
dedicate my life to decreasing the suffering of people in some way.
This, I hope, will be my life's work. While it may not be for
everyone, for me personally, it is important to have this commonality
throughout everything I do. It gives my life a purpose and some sort
of direction. My experience in the Peace Corps, with the ample amount
of free time to really think about my life and what my role in this
world in, has brought me to this conclusion. I didn't have a whole lot
of direction before coming to Ethiopia, just crazy dreams. As I think
about the future I begin to realize how amazing this opportunity has
been and how much I've grown as a person from the experience. I want
to take a moment and thank the US Peace Corps, Masha and all the PCVs
I've served with over the past year and a half. I haven't worked out
my entire life plan yet, and I feel like I have more options than
ever, but I have a much better grasp on what I want out of life and
what I want to give to the world as my life's work and contribution.
My hope is that in these last 7 months or so I can work out what my
next step is.
I apologize that this entry reads a bit like a journal entry. I have a
lot of stories to tell since it has been so long since my last entry.
I've been quite busy traveling and working outside of Masha and
therefore have new adventures to log in. I just have to sort out
what's interesting enough to publish. Check back soon for more
anecdotes and commentary on Ethiopia. But not too soon. Masha is
without power for 6 months. My internet access will be limited this
summer!

Call for Assistance

2011-03-09T06:36:00.000-08:00

I think I may have mentioned it before, but my most recent project is
building a milling house with the HIV Positive People's Association in
Masha. The mill house will be an income generating activity to either
provide an income for those unable to find employment or supplement
those who currently have jobs. The proceeds of the mill will be spent
on nutritional support to increase the effectiveness of HIV treatment,
pay for school fees (a handful of the people in the organization are
children) and to implement programs to increase awareness of HIV in
the town. I am funding this project through a Peace Corps Partnership
grant because many of you have asked how you can help/get involved
with my work. I greatly appreciate the offers and really wanted to
give everyone an opportunity to be a part of my Ethiopia experience.
The link below leads to the official PC page for tax deductible
donations. Any donation will make a huge difference.
Thank you so much, and please let your friends and family know too!!

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=663-017

Economics 101

2011-02-11T01:09:00.001-08:00

This past month I was able to experience the EC101 concepts that I used to tutor on a daily basis. While it was kind of boring on paper (especially after teaching it for 4 years), it was fascinating to witness. A while back the birr (Ethiopian currency) was devalued by 22% by the government to attract foreign investors. This will probably prove to be a good move for the country, but for individuals it was devastating. Since then I've seen hotel and bus prices sky rocket (but not my allowance!) and the price of goods and services increase. This is bad news for people who already live in poverty. Recently the government imposed price ceilings on certain commodities to keep necessities affordable (sugar, oil, soap etc…). But, as all of my tutees should know, a decrease in price leads to an increase in demand and a decrease in supply and therefore shortages occur. If I had the internet power to upload graphics I'd really geek out and demonstrate on a graph. So when this happens in America it's not really noticeable to consumers, in the land of excess we don't run out of things very often and with more disposable income we tend to be less effected by a slight increase in price. However, in Ethiopia, it's a different story. Because of the price decrease, shops have stopped selling these items and, in Masha at least, the government has become the only seller of sugar, oil and soap. I realized something was up when I had a really hard time finding oil one day…Ethiopian food is about 50% oil, not being able to find it was strange. The next day as I was walking to my office I noticed a mob of people and thought to myself "hmm, wonder what's going on. Glad it's not me". After I left my office there was still a crowd so I asked someone what was going on….the government was selling rations of said goods. Turns out it was me. Of course none of my English speaking friends were in line (most of my friends that know English are male, and of course they wouldn't be subjected to waiting in a "bread line"). It took me a while to figure out the system (lines do not exist in Ethiopia…everything's a free-for-all). I had to form a group of 25 people and then sign up with the government workers. Once we had our group established we were given a 100kg sack of sugar to split (4kg each) and a box of soap to share (4 bars each). By the time I got there they had already run out of oil. It took me three visits (once to figure out what it was, then I had to go home to get more money, then they took a lunch break) but I finally got my sugar and soap. It was quite the experience having to wait in the mob and secure my goods for the month. In the lush southwestern highlands there are rarely food shortages so it was a new thing for me. I have to say though, I was impressed with how things were run. It was a bit disorganized because of the lack of lines, but everyone worked together and cooperated with the government. When they ran out of oil the guy got up and apologized and nobody got upset. It was actually pretty neat.

So after the whole ordeal I gave Peace Corps a call. They like to know what's going on in the small towns so they can monitor the situation and warn others what may be coming. Apparently they told HQ about it, too. It's funny to think about this situation in little Masha being discussed in DC. The PC staff assured me that this is relatively common here, and happened a few years ago. They suspect in a few months everything will be back to normal and the shops will start selling again.

And now for the good news! I haven't spoken about the Youth Center project in quite a while, mostly because my hopes had been diminished. I hadn't heard from the embassy in a long time and I assumed the worst. To make me even more upset I heard from a PC volunteer in another region that he had gotten a call about it, but I hadn't. Yesterday I walked to the compound donated by the town for the Center to kind of say goodbye. This morning, however, I got the call. The embassy called to say that our proposal was a finalist and they thought the project looked solid. In a few weeks they will schedule a visit to Masha to assess our capacity to carry out the project! I was thrilled that it's not over. I immediately shot out of bed (it was an early phone call!) and went to tell all my guys in town the good news. Their positive reactions were amazing. It was so awesome to see them so happy and excited. I loved that I had something good to tell them, finally. Now we just need to prove to the US government that we can do this project. I have faith.

New Years

2011-01-05T04:50:00.001-08:00

Unlike last year I actually stayed up to ring in the new year this time around. I am really hoping for 2011 to be worlds better than 2010, so I started it off right. I spent the weekend in the city Mizan with a handful of friends and had a wonderful time complete with wine, one confetti popper, card games, singing and dancing...several nights in a row. Needless to say a good time was had by all. The best story I have to offer you from the New Years weekend is from Sunday afternoon. Before beginning I have to, once again, clarify that my blog is in no way affiliated with the US Peace Corps and this is just an anecdotal story, not one that gives a rounded perspective on life in Ethiopia.

I'll start the story from the middle.

I really completed a Peace Corps stereotype the other day. The photos really capture the glamorous vision of Peace Corps that tv and to movies portray. The Peace Corps that I wanted to join a few years ago, the one where volunteers are always happy and smiling. I was with 3 other volunteers, laughing and joking around with hoards of little African children. We were, like good hippies, playing frisbee in an open field surrounded by lush mountains and forests. I wore a tie dye t-shirt, chacos and a homemade friendship bracelet. One volunteer had a camera out taking photos of all the children and we were all holding hands and smiling. It could have been a promotional poster. But what that poster would miss is what lead up to that moment. The part of being a Peace Corps volunteer that you don't hear about in media campaigns or from characters like the young Barney Stinson in HIMYY before suiting up. We had decided to go on a hike to a waterfall that was up on one of the mountains surrounding Mizan. As per usual, we picked up a few cling-ons along the way and our band of 4 became a mass of children with one additional creeper. We picked up orange shirt man on the main road and thought nothing of it as he followed us down the foot paths. This is a common occurrence so we continued on our journey, ignoring him and avoiding eye contact. About 30 minutes into the hike this grown man was still with us...now it is annoying. We approach him and politely tell him to leave us alone, we have no money for him and to stop following us. He doesn't. Several times we try to get him to leave and he always looks at us like we're crazy...why on earth should we want him to go away? So we stop for a little while giving him the benefit of the doubt, hoping that he would continue on his way...maybe he actually was headed in that direction and we just assumed he was following us. Nope. He steps to the side and turns, he takes the break as an opportunity to take a pee. So we decide to go on, perhaps he'll eventually give up. Another time we stop, tell him to go away and wait there until he gets bored with us. So he steps to the side...peeing again? Nope. He exposes himself to us and waves his man parts in our direction (maybe he's making a Monty Python reference?). We tell him he's disgusting and rude and that he really needs to go away. So then he picks a few bananas and shoves them in our faces, after the previous little show the thought of bananas is revolting. This goes on for a while and we reach the edge of the forest and decide that the man will not leave us alone, and while the 4 of us could probably take him if he tried any funny business, it would be better to give up on the hike and stay where people are present. That's when we take out the frisbee so the whole trip isn't wasted. After an hour of tossing the disc with the kids we turn around and realize orange shirt man was still lurking waiting to follow us some more. At this time we're so annoyed we can't be polite anymore and tell him to get the hell away from us or we'll bring him to the police station. He stays back for a while, and just when we think we're in the clear he pops up behind me and strokes my arm, then drops trou again. I've never felt so disgusting in my life. We storm on, not looking back until we finally get into town. We stop for juice to cool off for a bit and then when we leave the cafe we realize he was waiting outside for us. The guy would not go away. We grab a bajaj and ride back to my friends house quickly so he can't follow. It's moments like those that I wish people from home would visit so they realize that life in the Peace Corps isn't that image of the hippie kids playing with children loving life all day long. It's difficult and sometimes unbearable, but those frisbee playing moments make it all worth it. Just please don't think that it's easy.

Nutcracker Live

2010-12-22T04:35:00.001-08:00

So I've been so down about the holiday season I've neglected to look for the subtle hints that Christmas is all around. I've decided that I'm living in The Nutcracker….well, at least the part with the army of rats. When I got back to Masha I was welcomed by a trashed kitchen. They ate through my plastic containers filled with sugar, honey and flour. They didn't eat the flour but it appeared that they rolled around in it than ran all over the place. Every surface was coated with white powder. My Ramen noodles were all eaten and everything not locked up had little nibbles taken out of it. I was kind of amused, I expected something to have happened while I was away. So I laughed it off and cleaned up everything, washed every dish, pot and pan, washed the floors and went shopping. The next day every vegetable was eaten and things were thrown all over the place. Not funny anymore. Every morning I woke up to a mess and a few missing items. A few days ago I found the nest, and in it was 6 sponges, 2 dish rags, 2 pot holders a water bottle, my salt shaker, the lid to my oil and mounds of rat droppings. Disgusting. My landlady found a bunch of kittens and gave them to my sitemate and I. They lasted two days before mama cat found them and stole them back. Good thing, too. They were too young to be away from their mother and smaller than my rats. Pretty useless. So a few days later a friend of mine brings over her cat to help us out. This cat (we've named Pooh…not after the lovable character of our youth, but after her horrible flatulence) has been both a blessing and a curse. She has not caught a rat yet, but she cries SO MUCH and SO LOUDLY that the rats are afraid to come near. So we don't have rats, but now we have this crazy, obnoxious cat. She does have her moments that she is sweet and will sleep on our laps, but other times she is so animalistic and wild it's a bit scary. We feed her bull lungs and leftover food. When we come back from the butcher with the bull lung she turns into a wild animal. One she leapt a few feet in the air, grabbed onto the bag and hung onto it until it tore and the meat was free. She drives us and our neighbors insane, but it's nice to have my kitchen back and be able to keep food for more than a day. It's like having to choose the lesser of two evils. I hate how it always has to be one or the other, and things can't ever be perfect, not even for a little while.

Ethiopia Part 2: The Adventure Continues

2010-12-20T02:30:00.001-08:00

I have been back in Ethiopia for about 3 weeks now and haven't had a bad day yet. It's true...the second year is SO much better than the first. The first few days I spent in Addis reuniting with old friends and making new friends with Group 4. I was amazed by how at home I felt. When I landed at Bole International and got on a taxi to head to my hotel it was so familiar and so comfortable (not sure if comfortable is an appropriate word...nothing here is actually comfortable). It made my trip to the States feel like a vacation and, by some cruel twist of fate, Ethiopia is my actual home. The best part was definitely the return to Masha. It's like Cheers...everybody knows my name. It used to drive me crazy when the kids screamed my name incessantly from every direction, but I love it now (for the time being at least). I also have a lot of new neighbors and a site mate now, which makes a world of a difference. My site mate is pretty awesome and a bit dorky...we get along well.

Work has been going well since coming back, too. I haven't heard about the Youth Center grant yet...but the Embassy told me that they are still reviewing. It's not too late! The garden I started was planted while I was away, which was a pleasant surprise. It seems to be doing well...everything has sprouted at least. I also started a new project with the PLWHA Association. We're going to start a mill house for an income generating activity. So far everything is going smoothly. I hope to submit the proposal in February. I kind of want to to a Partnership Grant, which means that you all can get involved by donating! This way you can be a part of my work, too.

Christmas is in a few days. Just like last year it doesn't feel like Christmas is coming at all. There are no lights on the houses, no tree, no ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas, no Christmas music on every radio station 24/7, no cookies, no family... This weekend we will have a bit of a celebration though. I now have 15 neighbors in my general area so we're all getting together for a pot luck feast, card games and maybe a white elephant gift exchange. Modest, but it will be nice to have the company, our mismatched little Jimma-Loop family.

So that's about all that's going on. I'll write some stories next time to be a little more interesting. Until then, Happy Holidays! I miss you all!

And.....a wish list!!

Ultimate Frisbee disc

Music

Chocolate

Snacks (granola bars, trail mix, cookies...)

Sauce/Dressing mixes

Cheese (velveeta is fine until opened)

Craft Activities

Flute music

Magazines

Books

Tomato seeds (I'm starting my own little sack garden)

Surprises!

Ethiopia Part II

2010-11-29T04:15:00.000-08:00

After months and months of anticipation, my trip home has come and gone in a flash. At the moment I am sitting in the airport waiting to board my flight home (home, being Ethiopia). This time is a bit different than the first, I am less nervous, less sad, less wide-eyed and hopeful and more prepared, more confident and more ready. Last time I was going on a brand new adventure not knowing who I would meet, where I'd end up or what I would do. This time I know exactly where I'm going, what I need to do and who I'm going to reunite with. But there's still that sense of new adventure. First thing I'm going to do is help out at PST and meet all the new kids and my new neighbors. I'm also going to see a few people I've been missing during my absence. I have projects that I am excited to finish and people I am excited to see. I feel like I'm going home, not away.

I am very thankful that I left Masha on a good note. Things were really shaky at the end and I was unsure of whether or not I'd be returning. Being able to go back to my home is a relief and I'm really looking forward to it. I miss Masha, it's where I belong. Being excited to return, though, does not mean I am happy to leave America. This was perhaps one of the best months I can remember. I saw almost everyone I wanted to see (I'm so, so sorry to those I missed...a month goes by quickly!) and ate almost everything I wanted to eat. I made my way across the country from MD to CO to NJ/NY to CT and back to MD again. I did some work (APHA conference and speaking to groups about the Peace Corps) celebrated the holiday with family and had more fun than is good for anyone. Thank you to everyone that went along with my plans, stayed out longer than you would have otherwise and for all the generous giving. Everything was perfect. I already miss you all and eagerly await you letters (especially you, Michael).

I will try to post again when I actually get there, but who knows what the internet/electricity situation will be like. Until next time, thank you and I love you all.

....

I had several requests to post another wish list (yessss!) for care packages. I will do this when I get back to Masha and see what I have and what I need. Thanks!

Good News

2010-10-15T01:19:00.000-07:00

Since my last post I have done some community mobolizing to make it so I do not have to leave my little town of Masha. I spoke to my buddy Ato Getahun (the mayor), the guys I work with and community members about the issue at hand. They were shocked and quite upset by the news that I would have to leave town if the problem wasn't solved quickly. Immediately they sprang into action and started asking for donations and assistance. It felt so great that my community wants to keep me so badly. Often I wonder if people here like me or realize the work that I'm doing, so the tremendous effort made me feel appreciated. The town fought for me as hard as I fought for the town. It was a GREAT feeling.

So now the problem is resolved and I will not be moving to Arbra Minch. I can remain in my town and continue the work that I started. Of course now the pressure is really on to be successful.

Operation Keep Nikki in Masha

2010-09-28T01:07:00.000-07:00

I have spoken to many of you about this, but those of you who have heard second or third hand, here is the story.

There has been an ongoing issue in Masha that Peace Corps has been working on finding a solution to for some time now. The issue itself is a story best told in person, but it is not entirely crucial to the story. Until just a few days ago everyone thought this was an easy problem to solve and it just took talking to the right people. This is why I was so shocked when I got a call at 7am Friday morning saying "Nikki, I think it is best if you leave Masha". I was crushed. My initial reaction was quite strong and I immediately got on a bus to Addis to discuss this decision that had been made without my input. During our discussion I learned that the problem was not that easy to solve, and I realized that the staff really had done everything in their power...there are just too many administrative obstacles. Of course I protested... I'm so invested in this community and the projects I have started. After the waterfall incident and the youth center project just falling into place I was SURE that this was the reason I was sent to Ethiopia. This is my purpose and the meaningful contribution I am meant to make. If I leave my town it's all taken away and in the year I've been here I will have accomplished nothing. I would have to start all over in a new town...by the time I integrate myself into the community, identify projects and get an idea it will be time for me to leave. A year is not enough time to do something big.
The last option we identified is to rally my co-workers, the town administrators, my friends and the community to fight for me. We're going to put the pressure on the right people to take action, to solve the problem once and for all to allow me to stay in the town I've come to adore. We set the deadline at Oct 11th, so that way if I do have to move I can do so before I go home in November. I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that though. I like my town, I like my work, and I really like my (pcv) neighbors. In the city they are planning to move me to I would not be close to any of my friends, I'd be a full day away from anyone and my support system will be reduced to telephone conversations.
I will update when I know what's going on. Until then don't send any mail, I'd hate to miss any letters because I had to change my address.

Before ending this post I do have to say that Peace Corps has been wonderful about the whole situation. They have been calling people every day trying to find a solution that works for everybody. They have seriously looked at all the possibilities and are giving it everything they've got to keep me in Masha. They've let me come to Addis to see friends for stress relief and everytime I call or stop by the office they put down everything to talk with me. I'm in no way upset with the organization or staff members about anything, their hands are tied and if the problem isn't solved I know I have no choice but to move. Everyone has been so helpful and supportive, it's just a tough situation.

I should also mention before signing off that i'm safe and healthy. No worries about me. I'll tell everyone all about it in November.

Summer Camp

2010-09-07T08:26:00.001-07:00

About two weeks ago now the volunteers in SNNPR held our regional
summer camp for boys and girls ages 10-14. The camp ran 5 full days,
each with a unique programming theme.
Day 1: Getting to Know You
This day focused on identity, setting goals, discussing heroes etc…
Day 2: Culture
Campers and Counselors had an opportunity to discuss the differences
and similarities between Ethiopian and American cultures. The day was
full of skits (in my skit I demonstrated a day in the life of a
volunteer… I'm sure I am remembered as the girl who didn't know how to
use a latrine. Poop jokes are funny to kids in every culture). There
was also a cross-cultural scavenger hunt and a pizza party.
Day 3: Health and HIV
Pretty self-explanatory. Programs were focused on HIV/AIDS, dental
hygiene and hand washing.
Day 4: Decision Making
The kids (and volunteers) were pretty tired by day 4, so the
programming was cut short. I did facilitate a fun activity on "how to
say no" that the campers really got a kick out of, though.
Day 5: Adventure
Hippo Tours!!! Carnival!!!

Now for the interesting parts. Unlike the other regional camps, our
group chose a very difficult group of kids. They were pretty young
(and some towns sent kids that were 6 and made the kids say they were
10), about 7 of the boys were street kids, 2 were HIV positive and
there was a great range in social stratification amongst the other
campers. During the beginning of the week we had quite a number of
behavioral issues, primarily with the street kids. Not their faults
though, they have never been in a classroom, have never had to sit
still and listen to anyone, they are not afraid of authority and they
have never had to live with any structure. You can imagine that they
had a difficult time adjusting to scheduled programming. In addition
to these issues, there were many fights to break up. By mid-week we
were discussing if we should send some kids home because we just
couldn't control them. We eventually decided to let them stay, but
because that morning one of the richer kids locked himself in his room
because he was afraid of the street kids we needed to have a serious
talk with them. After that chat they completely turned around. By the
end of the week everyone was friends, programs went wonderfully and
they earned the last day of fun.

But behavior wasn't the only problem. We had a shocking number of
medical issues. The first was one of the kids who were much too young
to be attending camp. He was having a hard time keeping up so we were
thinking of sending home anyway. He was mildly sick, but we decided
this was a legit reason to send him home. A few days later the boy's
family called us demanding money for making him sick.
The next problem was a boy who suddenly got very ill. We took him to
the clinic but all the usual tests came back normal. The only thing we
knew was that his WBC count was high and therefore was fighting an
infection. That night, before the meds set in he went into shock. It
was scary. He made it through the night and rebounded by the end of
camp.
The third medical case was a girl who felt very ill. We took her to
the clinic (by now they are getting used to us) for tests. She tested
positive for malaria, we got her treatment, and she felt better soon.
This was surprising to me. Masha is at a high altitude and there are
no mosquitoes or malaria. I've never been in a place where malaria is
so common.
The last major medical event was, by far, the worst. A few of the boys
were horsing around when one of them wiped out. He banged up his knee
so badly that the bone was showing…pretty nasty stuff. We took him to
the hospital and he needed to have stitches. The boy was a trooper and
was showing off the next day. This case worries me because he was one
of the street kids. I'm sure he won't get the stitches taken out at
the hospital and I doubt he is able to keep the wound clean and change
the bandages.

On top of these events there was also a lice break out throughout the
camp. We couldn't do anything for the kids with lice, but after camp
all the volunteers had to get head checks. It was like elementary
school all over. Along with lice, the kids also brought bed bugs with
them. After the first night the hotel manager showed us all the bugs
jumping in the beds. We had to buy the kids clothes to wear so theirs
could get washed and pay a large laundry fee.

All of these unanticipated expenses were made more serious by a bank
issue. The bank's policy prohibited us from withdrawing all of our
camp funds and left of severely short on cash. After visiting a few
branches and speaking with many people we finally got our money a day
before camp ended. Phew!

Despite all of the setbacks, overall camp was a success. The kids all
loved it and the volunteers, much to my surprise, worked so well
together. Our region is full of strong personalities and leaders so I
was expecting disaster, but instead we all fell into our roles and
were able to provide a great camp. The hardest part, and probably one
of the hardest things I've ever had to do, was to put the street kids
back out in the street again. They were given a week of food, shelter,
love, attention and support and just as quickly as it came, we had to
take it all away. They were scared to go back out there, scared to
wonder how to survive again. The next day I ran into two of the kids
working their neighborhood. They ran up to me and gave me hugs…much
different than the week before when they would have badgered me for
money and harass me. One kid with them that wasn't at camp begged us
to be a part of the program and pleaded "take me, take me!" Seeing
them out there broke my heart. I wish there was something more I could
do for them. I think the volunteer in the town where the kids live is
looking into scholarships to send the boys to school, or maybe with
our left over budget money we can provide them with some kind of
tuition.

The camp was a fantastic learning experience for both the campers and
counselors. The greatest lesson I learned was from the street kids.
There are SO many children in Ethiopia and it is overwhelming. It is
impossible to help all of them or to even give them all attention.
Having such a prolonged and close relationship with these kids made me
realize that they all have such potential. If I had the time to get to
know them, I could love each and every one. Since then I've been less
dismissive of the kids that beg for money and at least acknowledge
them. Again I am left feeling guilty for the good fortune I have had
throughout my life. But more than guilty, I am truly thankful. I am
thankful that I live in a country where I have the opportunity to be
whatever I want to be, I am thankful that I have parents that
encourage me to follow my dreams and tell me I can do anything,
thankful that I have friends and family that support all my crazy
ideas, thankful that I've never had to wonder when my next meal will
be or where I would sleep (except when back packing…right Ellie?). I'm
not sure what all of this means, or where it will bring me, but I am
sure there's a reason that I'm experiencing these things and that they
will eventually lead me to what Dad calls The One Big Thing.

Four Freedoms

2010-08-20T23:35:00.000-07:00

In high school band we played a piece inspired by Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms paintings (which were inspired by a speech given by Roosevelt). Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from fear and freedom from want. A friend asked me in a letter if the past 10 months have changed my outlook on life, and how. In trying to answer this question I was reminded of these images. These four freedoms are so much a part of our daily lives in America that you don't really ever stop to think about them, it's impossible to understand what they mean when you've never lived without. Ethiopia has taught me just how important these freedoms and to appreciate that we live in a place where we don't realize how spectacular it is because there's never been a reason to think about it.
Freedom of Speech:
As a volunteer I often find that I need to censor myself. I am told not to participate in conversations about politics and not to air many of my opinions. I often feel like I have to hide aspects of my personality for reasons such as cultural sensitivity, language misinterpretation and having to be who Ethiopia wants/needs me to be. No one in my town knows the real Nikki, they see me as a recluse, work-a-holic, serious person... at home I am none of those things. There are many times that I would like to speak up or dissent with people (especially at work) but I am not allowed to do so.
Freedom of Religion:
As a volunteer I am also instructed to stay out of religous conversations. Ethiopia is a deeply religious country, with the majority of people either Christian or Muslim. On a daily basis people ask me my religion and pressure me to attend a church service. To me, religion is something personal, and I've never been one to really discuss it openly. Here I cannot avoid the conversation. At home you'd never ask someone you just met what his or her religion is, but here it is the next question after "how are you?" and "where are you from?".
Freedom from Want:
This one is pretty self-explanatory. While there is, indeed, poverty in America and this freedom is anything but universal, in my life prior to Peace Corps I never truly understood what it meant to really want. The exteme levels of poverty throughout this country are still shocking to me. Just the other day I learned what I previously thought was a chicken coop was actually a home. It's heartbreaking to see families living on the sidewalk in Addis, people whose bodies are disfigured from polio because they did not have access to vaccinations, children who cling on to you asking for a birr or a piece of bread. I often say that I'm hungry here...but I know I've never really been hungry in my life.
Freedom from Fear:
One of the things that I am most afraid of here is the access to medical care. I live in a very remote area, the closest hospital is two bus rides away, and with the waiting at the bus station this can take a whole day. If there is a medical emergency there's no guarantee that people can get medical attention (family and friends, don't panic....if I were seriously injured Peace Corps would find a way to get me out). I could continue listing fears, but the freedom of speech thing does not permit me to express all my thoughts on my blog.

Perspective

2010-08-02T02:33:00.001-07:00

"Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones
out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly if they even roll a few
more upon it. A strength which becomes clearer and stronger through
its experience of such obstacles is the only strength that can conquer
them" Albert Schweitzer

It is still difficult for me not to be annoyed when the first thing I
hear when I walk out of my compound in the morning is "Nikki, give me
money!!" I still get frustrated when I'm in a town other than Masha
and people yell "farenji! You! You! You!" I still hate when men ask me
if I am married, and when I say "no" they say "I should have to find
an Ethiopian husband." It still drives me crazy when people seem like
they want to have a conversation with me, but by the third line they
ask me if I will take him/her to America with me. I want to give these
people a piece of my mind, explain that EVERYONE asks me for money and
I cannot and will not give money to every person who asks for it. I
want to tell them that I am giving up two of the best years of my
youth to work for free…isn't that enough? I want to tell them that if
they visited my country they wouldn't be harassed or mocked like I am
here. I don't yet have the strength that Schweitzer talks about in the
above quote. I have a hard time accepting the stones in my
path…especially the ones that people roll upon it.
Today I was reminded why I shouldn't get frustrated or annoyed with
the people who ask for money and go to extremes just to get my
attention. After all, I live my life avoiding "what ifs" and taking
every opportunity presented to me, and I repeatedly embarrass myself
with defeat…because not trying is an even greater failure. You almost
can't blame these people for asking for money or a job or a green card
every time they see a Westerner. The number of Westerners in Ethiopia
is pretty small, so when one comes to a random town such as Masha why
shouldn't they ask? It's an opportunity they rarely get, and while I
consider it rude, annoying and frustrating…for them it is worth it.
The situation that made me think about this today was a particular
person in my town. In the past three days he has come to my house,
found me in town and followed me to work to ask for money. When he
showed up at my office I was angry…this person has no right to be
following me, showing up at my home and not respecting me when I say I
can't give him money. Today he gave me a note. It read (copied exact)
"First I want to great you secondaly I want to say some thing about my
problem that is I am peashent (i.e. I do't have ability to do work)
b/c I do't have family or any helper to get treatment. So that please
help me."
I still politely told him I cannot give him anything, because if I do
then everyone will give me a note explaining some reason why they need
me to give them money. But it did make me stop and consider the other
side of the coin. There are a lot of people here that are poor, sick,
alone and really can't get to a place where he/she can help
him/herself. It does me well to put things into perspective and stop
being so self-righteous. You're not supposed to volunteer and expect
people to say "thank you" or to receive anything in return…it's
supposed to be a selfless act. Being here doesn't mean that I deserve
respect and that people should be appreciative of my presence,
especially if they don't realize that I'm here working and
contributing to their lives in a different capacity.
On a similar note, this incident made me think about what it means to
be human (something I've been thinking about a lot since coming here).
As human beings, we have a moral and ethical responsibility to help
our fellow man out if we can. It is our duty to help those who are in
a rough spot. From childhood we are taught to share, to work as a
team, to support each other. There is a sense of pride in standing
together in our similarities… Think those "Pride in Putnam 1990"
t-shirts we all wore, people have pride in their sports teams, state,
region and country. Why isn't there the same camaraderie among human
beings? Why does it stop at your own country? Why does the
responsibility end there? This particular thought came to mind when I
was re-reading the literature on health care for detained immigrants
(my APHA presentation topic). In our prisons we often treat criminals
convicted of high crimes better than we do detained immigrants (some
just seeking asylum!) because they are from our country and therefore
somehow deserving of better treatment. I should probably stop this
tirade here, I think I'm getting close to being inappropriately
political for a Peace Corps blog (reminder these are my thoughts, not
the position of the US government or US Peace Corps). I guess what I
was trying to get at, in my moments of moral weakness and in my
embarrassing reaction to the people who just want to take advantage of
the opportunity to improve their present condition, to remind people
that everyone is fighting a battle. Remember to take all things into
perspective before judging and reacting negatively. It's a difficult
thing to do, but the uncomfortable and frustrating situations are
those that give us the strength to accept these obstacles in the
future.

Welcome Group 4

2010-07-23T01:37:00.001-07:00

I have no idea if this entry was successfully posted the first time so
I'm going to try again. I apologize if it's a repeat.

On my last real post I had a comment from a friend of a new kid coming
to Ethiopia in September. For any of you group 4 kids reading my blog
please feel free to email me with any questions about Ethiopia, PC,
packing etc... A few of you will probably be down in my area and I'm
wicked excited to meet you and finally have some neighbors! Shoot me
an email at nltherrien@gmail.com I have dial up internet so I check my
email about once a week. Enjoy your last few months at home, eat tons
of delicious food, go to happy hour and spend all the time you can
with friends and family! See you soon!

July Update

2010-07-09T12:37:00.001-07:00

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.

June Update....a bit late

2010-07-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

It's been just about 6 months since I moved to Masha and it's finally feeling like home to me. Two weeks ago all the PCVs went to Yirg Alem for a week long training. Without boring you with details I'll just say that it was a great time with friends, old and new, complete with card games, Scrabble, a bonfire, a "beach" trip, volleyball and beer. The training part was alright, too. Two days were summer camp training from Hole in the Wall camps (PC is hosting regional summer camps in the next few months). It was a good example of a small world- the original Hole in the Wall camp is near where I'm from. The person giving the training knows my cousin who is affiliated with the camp, and is currently living in New Haven. I always get a kick out of talking about CT with strangers in Ethiopia. But anyway! Once the week was over I was very bummed to be going back to site...going from social overload to solitude is never easy. The warm welcome from Masha made it a bit easier. Coming home and seeing children and friends excited to see me was very touching. I'm not sure I'd get that in a bigger town, so even though I haven't had electricity since coming back, I am happy with where I live.

Upon returning to site I learned that no progress was made on the youth center... people were hesitant to work/make decisions without me. I learned that I need to take on a stronger role in the planning process and guide my chairpersons through it, which is fine. I've had meetings the past two days and made some real progress. The first meeting we decided what types of activities will be included in the center and then prioritized them (we won't have the funds to do everything...for example I don't think we'll be installing a swimming pool). The top three priorities are 1. media room (computers, internet, library, HIV/AIDS resources) 2. lounge (cafe, DSTV) and 3. meeting room (to hold regular HIV/AIDS prevention programs, VCT campaigns, dramas, social programming). Today I met with civil engineers who will make a blue print and tell me approximately how much this will cost. I'm sure we're over budget by a lot, but we needed to start somewhere. I'm always in a good mood after my youth center meetings. I was starting to think this project idea was over-ambitious (which it probably is), but when I meet with these people are they are so willing to do the work and are so optimistic I'm reminded that it's going to be worth the headache. There have been nothing but good signs, it has to work out, right?

On a completely unrelated note, but something I'm really excited about...I'M COMING HOME!! A while back I wrote a policy piece with my grad school mentor on medical care access to detained immigrants. My professor had submitted the absract to the American Public Health Assoc. annual conference a few months ago. Much to my surprise, I got an email the other day inviting us to give an oral presentation on our work! Peace Corps is letting me count the conference as work related (so I don't need to use all my vacation days going to Colorado) so I will be coming to America in early November. After the conference I'll be home for two weeks, however I wont have a phone, car or money, so if you would like to see me it's pretty much up to you. I have a lot going on until then so it may even come quickly!

Here Comes the Rain

2010-05-11T05:34:00.001-07:00

Almost a month earlier than I expected the rainy season is here. Every day it POURS for a few hours accompanied by roaring thunder. It starts very suddenly and then stops as soon as it came like it does in the tropics. When the rains come is gets suddenly very, very cold and once it even hailed marble sized pellets. That day I was stuck in the post office for about an hour. The mud is ridiculously slippery and it takes careful planning of steps to avoid wiping out. As bad as the mud and unpredictable weather is, the worst part about the rainy season is the influx of bugs.

I mentioned a few entries ago the flesh eating ants. If you can recall they live in wet mud. You can imagine that now that the whole town is a mud puddle these ants are everywhere. The bee stings hurt less than these ants, once they latch on you need to pry them off...not an easy thing to do when they are in your pants.

Also there are the moths. I like to tell myself they are butterflies, but no, they aren't that pretty. Some days you can't walk outside without getting slapped across the face by wings. They all herd together and sit in clumps. I imagine this is what a plague looks like.

The most obnoxious, but amusing, swarm of the rainy season are these little bugs that look like flying ants. If you are unfortunate enough to walk through a group of them they follow you and stick to everything. By the time you reach your destination you are pulling them out of your hair, off your shirt and still batting at them by your ears. The funny part about these guys is that if you are no where near your destination there is a way to get rid of them. If you bump into another person the swam will leave you alone and start to bother the other person. It reminds me of the lightning cloud item on Mario Kart Wii.

The grossest insects are the flies in the shint bet (bathroom). After it rains the shint bet (a room with dirt floor and tin walls/roof gets very hot and humid. The flies are horrendous. I don't think I need to elaborate. It makes the whole bathroom experience even worse than it was to begin with.

And, finally, the bug infestation that hits closest to home is the spider attack. The spiders are looking for a place to keep dry, and it seems that my bedroom is perfect. I think about John and Andrew during these times when I can look in any corner and see a few making their homes. I could spray and kill them but I don't think its worth it. There are too many, and hey, I don't like being out in the rain either.

And on a totally different note, I've had a few people ask me what I need. Here's my current wishlist:

Food:

Pasta Sides

Suddenly Salad

Meals you can boil

Cheese

Hot Chocolate

Tea (green, white, flavored...)

Cake mix & frosting

Brown Sugar

Mac and Cheese

Parm. Cheese

Books:

The Hobbit

LOTR trilogy

The Silmarlion

John Lennon's Biography

books on meditation

non-fiction

historical fiction

classics that i should have read in high school

Other:

Magazines

New music

Envelopes

Crayola markers

March and April updates

2010-05-01T00:49:00.001-07:00

03/20/10

Since my last blog post I have received more mail than ever before. I
cannot express how touched I was by the immense amount of love,
encouragement and support from home. I really and truly appreciate it.
For a while I was contemplating coming home, but for two reasons that
wasn't actually an option. 1. I'm really stubborn and prideful and 2.
I haven't achieved what I set out to do yet. After a few more
discouraging events and a few days of 12 hour naps I decided I needed
to shape up. Once I more or less forced myself to get out of my funk
and be happy, I had the most fantastic week.

On Monday I met with the mayor to discuss the findings of my community
needs assessment. I then went on to say that I was very interested and
passionate about starting up a youth recreation center. I explained
that the community indicated that this was a priority for them, and
that it would discourage kids from vices such as alcohol, drugs and
unsafe sex as well as give them a better quality of life. It will also
provide leadership opportunities as someone will have to take charge.
The mayor was thrilled. He offered to support the project and call
together a town meeting to get people interested in helping. In
Ethiopia there is a strict vertical power structure- having the
mayor's approval is a huge deal. Even more exciting is that the town
has already considered this project, but did not have the resources to
implement it. There is already land set aside for this purpose...one
less thing to worry about. I am so excited that this may actually
happen. After almost 6 months of training and research it feels GREAT
to actually be doing something and being productive. My motivation is
restored and I am once again sure I am where I need to be. Life here
is hard, but I've never had a job I love this much. I feel like I'm
actually doing something meaningful. I haven't had water or electricity
for 2 weeks, but I've never been this happy here.

After that successful meeting I was inspired. I walked over to the
primary school and offered to teach English classes. This is something
I wasn't sure if I wanted to do, but I feel like if I want this youth
center to be a success I need more face time with the youth. Once the
director made the announcement that I will be teaching the kids all
suddenly became my best friend. I couldn't leave my house without
someone yelling "teacher!!" at me. I decided to teach 5th grade,
because that is when all classes are taught in English. The troubling
thing is that I've never met a kid that can speak the language. Makes
you wonder how these classes go. So on Tuesday I start teaching 139
children English. I'm terribly nervous...this is a huge group and
something I've never done before. I've never been one to hide in my
comfort zone though, so I look forward to this new experience.

I'm also trying to be more social these days and leave my house a
minimum of twice a day. I know that sounds bad, but trust me,
sometimes it's very difficult to get out. It really feels great to be
happy again. 27 months doesn't seem so long anymore. I can do this.
Also, I have internet in my house now. It's horribly slow and
expensive so I will still only send letters, not emails, but now I can
post on my blog and catch the news once in a while.

04/10/10

Honey

Last night was the coolest cultural experience I've had yet. I
harvested honey!! I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but if anyone at
all knows about Masha, they know about the honey. It's kind of like
Putnam, most American's don't know it exists, but if you meet someone
that does, chances are he or she will mention antiques. Bee keeping is
an old, long standing tradition here. Two baskets are put up into a
very tall tree (apparently species is important, the tree needs to be
near water and there is some element of luck involved) and one basket
eventually becomes inhabited and the other remains empty. The baskets
are left in the tree for a whole year for bees to create the honey
comb, it is then harvested. We went out at night because there are
less bees (I still got stung 4 times...and I was just watching from a
distance!), which is a treat for me-I can count on one hand the number
of times I have been out after dark (I'm embarrassed by how lame I've
become in the last 6 months). My counterpart's dad (the bee keeper)
has honey baskets out in the jungle, so we had to walk a small
distance into the wilderness. I haven't spent too much time in the
jungle, I was surprised by how close to the town the monkeys hang out.
They are like rabbits at home, they are pests and destroy
crops...personally I think they are hilarious. So once we get out into
the jungle I meet the three young men that have been hired to assist,
they are the most bad-ass people I have ever met. They are rural
tribesmen, and as my counterpart explained "they don't care about
tomorrow, they only worry about today". They are hunters, risk takers
and lead a dangerous lifestyle, they are also among the nicest people
I've met here. To retrieve the baskets one of the guy climbs the giant
tree, which, by the way, doesn't have branches until the last third of
the tree. He does this with bare feet, a knife slung on his back, in
the dark, with just a rope. And boy can he climb fast, it was amazing.
Once at the top of the tree he cuts the ropes that secure the basket
in the tree, ties the basket on the rope he used for climbing and
creates a type of pulley system. He lowers the basket to the ground
for the other two men to untie. The other men then hold the ends of
the rope and the climber lowers himself down to the ground, it was
crazy! Then is the scary part, I was so embarrassed by how nervous I
was and reluctant to get close (Andrea, I thought of you and the bees
at memeres house. I will never make fun of you again). They take their
large knives and whack at the basket to open it up, then the swarm
comes. Again, it was dark out, so I couldn't see the bees but I could
hear them around me and getting stuck in my hair. Inside the basket is
a perfectly crafted comb, layers of oval shaped nest. The first comb
was broken up and passed around. Before then I had never ate honey
right off the comb, in just a small bit you have a mouthful of
sticky, warm, sweet honey. It was delicious. Then they passed around
comb without honey in it, but it had bee larva in it. Apparently if
you eat it you become strong, so I took a bite. Not something I'd rush
to do again, but pretty cool that I can say I did it. This part of
the process takes a while, there is a loooot of honey comb. Each piece
needs to be brushed off by hand for bees (again, how embarrassing that
I didn't want to stand close when these guys were sticking their hands
in bees) and then put in a sack. Every time I got stung they tried to
convince me that it was like acupuncture. Today's welts beg to differ.
Once that was completed we moved on to the next tree. The process was
absolutely fascinating, it made me think of the time we went to a bee
farm with 4H club, what a difference! What made the night was the
natural beauty of both the honey collecting and the atmosphere. We
were the only people in sight, the wild sounds of the jungle filled
the air and it was such a clear night you could see absolutely every
star in the sky. On nights like that I wonder why I ever have bad days
here. Then this morning somebody asked me what was wrong with my skin
and then another person told me I was a bad christian because I
wouldn't give him money. Then I remembered why.

On a different note, my Youth Center project is underway! I met with
the stakeholders this past week and most of the people that were
invited came...it was quite a surprise. Everyone really liked the idea
and was excited about it. Even though I can't pay them, they all seem
motivated to work, it was wonderful. Then after the meeting one guy
stayed back and said to me "I think we are entering a new phase in
Masha. This is an important project. Thank you for your efforts". I
know you are supposed to do service not expecting anything in return,
but I tell you, it felt great to be thanked.

Live like me!

2010-03-04T04:35:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I recieved a wonderful letter from my good friend Mike Lewis. Towards the end of the letter he relayed a comment that was made about how excessive casino glitz and glamor is and how, especially compared to my life, is completely unnecessary. I want to share with all of you a day without luxury. Here is the challenge:

Choose one day, a weekend will be better because most of you use electricity at your jobs.

You can use only up to 2 hours of electricity throughout the day.

You cannot use the internet, watch tv or use appliances. You may, however, use your laptop but only until the battery runs out. Again, no internet!

You cannot use running water. Fill up some buckets the night before. Not for a shower, not for brushing your teeth, not for cooking, washing clothes or doing dishes. No running water!

You can only drink water from a bottle or if you have boiled it for 3 minutes.

No refridgerator.

You can only use one burner on your stove, and you cannot use the oven.

You may only eat rice, pasta, tomatoes, red onions, garlic (fresh only), mangoes, bananas, potatoes, and carrots. Also, only basic spices. No iodized salt. I have to crush mine with a rock. It sucks.

You can only walk or take public transportation.

You cannot go to the grocery store, walmart or any store like that.

You can only answer your phone if it is someone you have met in the last 5 months or your mother. Or if it is your sibling at a very late hour.

I wish I could think of a way to replicate the harassment, but it's impossible. Just think twice abotu leaving your house.

Have fun and good luck.

The Waterfall/Schweitzer Challenge

2010-03-03T07:42:00.000-08:00

The Waterfall

I've gone over a month without Internet, I am so impressed with myself! It has been a very trying first three months here in Masha, I am very happy to be going to in-service training this week. I desperately need the company of friends and a chance to relax a bit. Before I left I said that the first six months would suck, but then it would get better...I sure hope I was right about that. Of all the intense situations I have found myself in, the last one was particularly rough.

One Saturday night I get a text from my counterpart asking if I would like to go on a 3 hour trip to a waterfall with the youth association. Of course I agreed, I could use something to do on weekends and, to be honest, I could use more friends here. He told me to bring money for transportation so I assumed it would be a bus ride followed by a short walk. Fastforward to the next morning. It's pouring outside when I'm supposed to meet the group so I correctly assume that no one would leave their house until the rain stopped so I went back to bed. When I woke up again the rain had ceased and I grabbed a granola bar for the way and left my house. Finally, a group of about 50 people (mostly high school kids) left. After an hour of walking I decided I should probably ask for more details about this trip. I learn that it's actually a hike...and I only brought a liter of water, was wearing sandals, and had a 90 calorie breakfast. Great. After 5 and a half hous of very steep hiking, up and over two mountains, we reach the waterfall. I feel like I should mention that this hike was not on a path, but through the thickets, most slippery mud I've ever walked through. I had to hold on to two people's hands so as not to wipe out, and of course Ethiopians are super-fit and were basically at a running pace, barefoot, and laughing at the fat American who couldn't keep up (for the record I'm not putting myself down...they are just tiny people). For you nerds out there, picture Gimly in Two Towers falling behind as he, Legolas and Aragorn are tracking the army of orcs saying "just keep breathing". That was me. I didn't know what was worse, the exhaustion or dehydration. When we get to the waterfall I am stunned, it was absolutely beautiful. Of all the waterfalls I've seen I would rank it after the Niagra Horseshoe falls and the one in New Zealand where the Forbidden Pool was filmed (wow, Nikki...really? Two LOTR references?). All the boys stripped down and jumped in for a swim, I was quite annoyed that the girls didn't do the same, because I decided that I would only swim if other women did. After a few minutes we hear screaming, suddenly my thirst, hunger and exhaustion don't mean anything. One of the younger boys was sucked in by the current of the largest part of the waterfall. A few guys reached out to him to try to drag him back to the edge, but was unable to save him. There was nothing we could do, we watched him drown. Everyone was crying and screaming, we didn't know what to do next. An hour later when the body still hadn't surfaced the group started the long journey home. We stopped at a farm about an hour from the waterfall to call into town and the the police for an investigation. Everyone was told to wait for questioning. Some time later a guy comes and tells me to go with him and he'd give me a ride back into town because I wouldn't be much help in questioning. As we ride into town everyone is in the street. At this point I am the only person who had come back from the trip, and therefore the only person that knew what happened. The rest of the night is a bit hazy in my memory. People were at my house trying to ask me what happened, who it was and how many people died. I spent some time in silence crying with the kids in my compound because the boy that died was our neighbor and a friend. It was the worst think I have ever experienced. One of the saddest parts about the whole thing is that so many kids witnessed it. These kids rarely have anything exciting to do, and for the first time they were offered this trip. Even something that was supposed to be fun was plagued by tragedy. They can't get a break. All I can think of is how much these kids endure, whereas my childhood was filled with good times, laughter and everything that a kid could ever want. This experience made me decide that I would like to start up a youth recreation center for my major project. I want to give these kids back their childhood, let them play games and fool around. I want them to have options other than drinking and making them prone to risky behavior and growing up too quickly. I know I can't take away all the difficulties of life, but I hope I can make their lives a bit better.

Last night I went to the funeral. Here funerals last over a month and people filter in and out of the "lekso bet" continuously. When you go you are supposed to prepare something to eat/drink. I went with a bunch of neighborhood kids. The experience, for me, was so different from American funerals that instead of getting closure I left more upset. In the lekso bet tons of people were seated ont he floor of a tiny room. The entire time a man in the corner was starting at me, making me very uncomfortable. The kids were all pushing and laughing and nothing was said about the boy. It was like the wedding in Gonde. I was getting way more attention that i should have and it was very awkward. In addition to this, when I left my house wearing the traditional funeral scarf everyone laughed at me. Usually I'm relatively okay with this, I know I'm different than everyone else and, sure, I guess it's funny. But i was just trying to grieve, it was not the time to be laughing at me.

On another note. Today (Feb 24) is day 143. This is officially the longest I've ever been away from home. My Biggest Adventure Yet is nothing like I had anticipated and is much more difficult than I thought it would be. The big romanticized fantasy is not exactly what Ethiopia ended up being, but I'm happy with my decision. As long as I keep reminding myself that I didn't come here to have fun, be comfortable or fool around. This is a job, a sacrifice and my chance to do soemthing for a world that has been so good to me. If I keep this in mind I can see it through to the end. Also, things can only get better. IST is this week, I have a group training in May and then again in June. After that I can do some real work, take a vacation somewhere exciting and then visit home. After my visit I will be getting a fellow volunteer in my town and life will be less lonely. The hard part is over...I hope.

Oh, and just as a final kick in the ass before IST, yesterday I lost a toenail. I'm not really sure how or why, but it was gross.

Schweitzer Challenge

I have just finished re-reading Out of My Life and Thought by my boy Albert Schweitzer. In the epilogue he states "but however concerned I was with the suffering in the world, I never let myself become lost in the brooding over it. I always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of it to an end." I want to challenge you, my friends, family and random blog readers to, if you haven't already, realize the ethical affirmation of life in everything you do. I understand that life is busy and it is impractical to drop everything and sacrifice precious leisure time, but I ask you to just give some time, maybe even just once a month, to other life in the world, whether it be fellow humans, animals or the environment. "His life will become in every respect more difficult than if he lived for himself, but at the same time it will be richer, more beautiful, and happier. It will become, instead of mere living, a genuine experience of life." Everyone has the power to do good in this world, and even the smallest act of kindness is appreciated. So get out there and end some part of the suffering. I don't mean to sound like a hippie or a do-gooder, but I really believe in this. Write a comment to this entry with what you have done recently and share it with people.

A Trip to Addis

2010-01-15T09:10:00.000-08:00

I'm here in Addis for a few days on medical leave so I have Internet for the first time since Christmas. Strangely, other than blogging, I haven't really missed it. Facebook makes me very upset, e-mails are overwhelming and there is just too much to do. Chatting is nice though.

So what has happened since then?

As I mentioned in my last blog entry a kid stole my candy, but they have since made up for it. Two of the kids in my compound organized an adventure with their friends and me (my best friends are children...it's like I have a chance to be 10 years old again!). They wanted to take me to see one of the waterfalls in the jungle. The first leg of the journey was through some of the rural villages outside of Masha. We went through some of the traditional sar bets (thatched roof houses) and I was able to get a glimpse of life in real rural Ethiopia. We then came upon a farm that has not yet been planted for the season, but generally produces corn. On the property there was a kojo bet, where they make the local staple food, enset (aka kojo) from the leaves of the trees. Here we took tons of photos, the kids got a real kick out of my digital camera (which is funny because it is an awful camera I bought in Czech Republic the summer mine was stolen in Berlin....why do I get robbed so much?!). They wanted to take photos with every possible combination of people, it was pretty amusing. We then sat down for our picnic that the kids put together for me as a peace offering for the candy: fresh mangoes, candies, gum and biscuits. It was so sweet, there's no way I could still be mad at them after that. Our adventure continued into the jungle. I'm pretty sure we got lost because the trek there was much longer than the way back, but it was a lot of fun. We had to cross 2 rivers, climb through the dense brush and dodge plants with 3" long prickers. When the waterfall was in sight I began to feel an awful pain all over my feet and legs....ants!!!!. We were knee deep in mud, which is apparently where these ants live (funny enough, I had read Schweitzer's account of these ants the night before and was thinking how lucky I was they weren't in Ethiopia). We ran as fast as we could through the mud and into the river right at the top of the waterfall for relief. I lifted my pant legs and had to pick them off one by one to relieve the pain. I was telling this story to the PCMO later and he told me that when he was living in my region he had a run in with them too....he woke up to find an army of them crawling towards his bed. He also told me that they lost a few chickens to these ants. Once relieved of the ants we had a great time splashing up by the waterfall and, of course, taking more photos. Now my PCMO says I need to be tested for Shisto....but I couldn't resist the water!

The second story worth mentioning is the trip to Addis. My plan was to leave Tuesday after lunch to go to Gore to meet up with another PCV who had an appointment in Addis, leave for Jimma early Wednesday morning and arrive in Addis on Thursday. But that was just a plan. Tuesday ended up being a really busy day at work. I went to a training of commercial sex workers on HIV/AIDS and starting IGAs first thing in the morning. Then I went to ETC to work on getting my phone line installed (I finally had some success after MUCH trial and error). I then discussed with my counterpart meetings and workshops I wanted to set up for when i get back from Addis, as well as create a survey about the people's knowledge about HIV/AIDS. When it was finally lunch time I hiked all the way to the bus station to find that there was no Gore bus that day. All the mad rushing around that morning was for no reason. The next morning at 4:45am I went back to the bus station to get on the early morning bus that leaves every day to Jimma. By 6:30 I realized that the bus was not coming. I took the soonest bus out of town that left around 8. When I got to Gore the Jimma bus had already left, so I went to the next town where there was also no bus leaving for Jimma. At this point I am very frustrated because I need to get to Addis the next day for my dentist appointment (con: my jaw hurts and sometimes it doesnt open. pro: i've lost 10 lbs this month). I wait for a few hours running to each bus as it pulls in only to learn it is not headed to Jimma. In the process many men take my picture on their camera phones, many more come up to me and try to start conversation...at this point I do not want to talk to anyone. What really made me mad was one guy asked me what was wrong with my face and if I had a skin infection. I flipped out, I couldn't hold it in any more. Then, to make things worse, a guy from my town started talking to me and mentioned he was from Masha. I was so embarassed to have made such a scene in front of people from my town!! I eventually give up waiting and go to a hotel/restaurant. Here my day turned around. I asked a person at the hotel if there was any chance that I could get to at least the next city that day so that I could make it to Addis on time. He said that it may be possible and that he would ask a car contracter. He then sat down to have a chat with me. It reminded me of my first month at Quinnipiac. I had gotten a test back and received a C- on it and was really, really devastated (the 18 year old Nikki does not much resemble the 23 year old version...). I was sitting in the hallway looking upset and a professor sat down and asked me what was wrong. I started to cry, there is something about a nice gesture after a bad day that makes me fall apart. Well that's what this guy at the hotel did for me. He was a Kenyan refugee in America and lived there for 20 years. He said that whenever he meets Americans he wants to go out of his way to help them out and repay the kindness Americans showed him while he was there. We talked about the things in Ethiopia that are different than home, and we also discussed which Wendy's meal we missed the most. What had begun as a horrible day ended up being great. He even had the kitchen make me the most American-esque dish they could for lunch. By 4pm I am feeling better, made a friend and even shared a few laughs. Then things got even better, they found me a ride!! I was expecting that I would be jumping in the back of a lorry and spending 6 hours in a flatbed, but that was okay, I was going to Jimma! Much to my surprise I found an actual bus pulled over on the side of the road waiting for me. I made it to Jimma, and then to Addis the next day for my appointment. The ride was actually the most comfortable public bus ride I've taken, too. Just one more example of how the worst day can end up being the best.

So once I got to Addis it was like I was on vacation. We went to the Peace Corps office and it was SO nice to see familiar faces. I chatted with a lot of the staff and recapped what the past few weeks have been like. We then went to the hotel and there was a shower, tv and....the most exciting....a mattress!!! I have been sleeping on foam for the last 3 1/2 months, I actually woke up refreshed and not sore. It was fantastic. The dentist appointment was a bit disappointing though. The advice I got was to chew gum and not to open my mouth very wide. And when my mouth doesn't open at all I'm supposed to massage my jaw. I have a feeling I will be back next month when that doesn't work. The next step will be to take muscle relaxants.

The best part about the weekend was lunch today. We ran into the PCMO at the grocery store and he offered to take us to lunch. First of all he has an awesome house, I am now seriously considering working for Peace Corps when I'm done. The Thai place he took us to for lunch was delicious. The most I've eaten in weeks! We talked about Ethiopia and shared some of our travel stories. He made a comment that he has lived abroad basically his whole life because he never really felt like he belonged in America. When I was telling him about my New Zealand adventures he said that I am one of those people that will be moving across the globe my entire life. I guess we'll see how I feel when I get home...

New Years

2010-01-14T06:23:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years!!! Like Christmas, Ethiopians do not celebrate New Years on the same day, so I did not celebrate. In fact, I went to bed at 9pm...just like I do every other night of the week. There's not much to do when it's not advisable to be out past dark and there's no electricity to even read by. The lack of things to do at night just got a little more severe as my AC adapter blew out from the wacky voltage here. I have 4 hours left before my computer doesn't work any more. I was feeling pretty down about that yesterday, so I started re-reading Albert Schweitzer's "The Primeval Forest". I wanted to save my Schweitzer books for when I actually started working, but I needed some inspiration. The kids begging for money, the overly insistent guy asking me to marry him, the crazy lady that follows me absolutely everywhere and the yelling was starting to get to me yesterday, the AC adapter was the last straw. While I read i am copying down quotes that make me feel better about being here for so long. The three I have now are:

"I feel more and more convinced than ever that this land needs to help it men who will never let themselves be discouraged" (p 28)

"Yet what do all these disagreeables count for compared with the joy of being here, working and helping" (p 36)

"I should be sorry not to be able to look back on those wonderful minutes, uncomfortable though the experience seemed at the time" (p 56)

I went to sleep last night feeling much better and work up in a good mood. I spend all day walking through town and in the jungle to orient myself and meet more people, then read some Peace Corps material over tea. When I got home I found all my American candy and cookies stolen. My room was locked, so someone must have broke in. It's not the candy I care about (ok so maybe it is a little) but it's the fact that my room was locked and someone went in. I spoke to my landlady and she was receptive to my requests to reboard up my door, put in window screens and i spoke to the kids. I talked to one of the kids that helps me out and she was so sweet and offered to go buy me Ethiopian candy today. I, of course, said no, but the offer made me love Ethiopia again.

Other than those two instances, I've really enjoyed Masha. The weather is absolutely perfect, never too hot and never cold, the scenery is beautiful, the honey and tej delicious. I know where most things are now and can go shopping by myself (this is a bigger feat than it sounds) and I have even made a few frends. Work is progressing slowly but surely. I have had a few interviews and when information wasn't known or available someone offered to look it up for me. As long as I don't remind myself that I am here for two years, I am very happy here.

Becoming a Stranger/It's [Not] Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Christmas

2009-12-15T03:02:00.000-08:00

Becoming a Stranger

12/12/09

I am getting weird. The longer I am here in Africa, the stranger I get. Between the immersion into this new culture, speaking a new language, having all new friends and infrequent communication with my friends at home I can tell that I am already different. I am worried that being in Masha, a very remote village, will magnify the Africa effect. Here are some examples I can think of. In Ethiopia, a way of saying "yes" is gasping (the first few weeks whenever someone "said" yes I asked "what happened"). At first this was weird to me, but now I do it too and I know it will drive you all crazy when I go home. Also, when speaking to Ethiopians I speak in broken English so that they may better understand me. I also do direct translations to help them out (instead of "How are you?" it is "Are you fine?" or "I can't" is "It is not possible"). Now, sometimes when speaking to other volunteers I use my Africa voice. Andy and Berny...if you are reading this I think you are cringing. I also have a few Amharic words that I use in everyday conversation that make perfect sense to everyone here, but will be just as foreign as the aussie slang I once was fluent in. I also have NO idea what is going on the the United States. I do not know what the economy is like, what the deal is with health care reform, pop culture (though I was never good at that before), fads or any current events. I do not know what is going on in the lives of my friends. I don't know what the inside jokes are, what YouTube video the Putnam kids are quoting, what movie Mike is obsessing over, if Mark and Kate have any new squatters in their home or how Ellie's doing in England. Facebook tells me more about my friends than they do...and in a week I will no longer have Internet on a weekly basis. I feel like I will be like Fry when he first gets sent to the 31st century, or like Tom Hank's character in Cast Away when he comes back from the island. I can already understand why Peace Corps warns us more about coming home than leaving.

Speaking of becoming a stranger, I will be leaving Gonde and starting all over again in Masha. I am finally comfortable here, I have friends (both American and Ethiopian), my family is wonderful, I know my way around, people don't try to rip me off as much and the kids know my name here. I am very excited, but also very scared about moving to Masha. I keep reminding myself that Gonde was crazy scary 2 months ago and now it is home. The culture shock from Gonde to Masha will be nothing compared to that of America to Gonde. Things that would make me very uncomfortable in America are now no problem. If my point of view can change that quickly, I can become comfortable in Masha. It's going to be difficult and lonely the first few months, so I hope to get a lot of letters and phone calls. Don't forget about me, I certainly haven't forgotten about any of you.

It's [Not] Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas

12/13/09

It is less than two weeks from Christmas and I have barely thought about it. There is no snow, there are no Christmas lights or TV specials, Ethiopia doesn't even celebrate Christmas this month. I even miss the Christmas music (except that one song that has the children's choir during the chorus) and traffic jams on the way from Hamden to Putnam. I think it is better though that I do not feel like it is Christmas. When I do think about it I get very sad and homesick. Being here takes the Hallmark out of the holidays though. When I think of Christmas I do not miss the gifts, I do not miss the overabundance of food, I do not miss the cocktails, the mall, or the snow. I miss my family and friends. I miss having the first glass of Hood eggnog with dad and making dinner with mom. I miss baking cookies with Jess (or at least testing the cookies she bakes). I miss getting excited to play with the Rice kids the day after Christmas. I miss secret santa (my gift will be late...sorry!). I miss playing pitch with the family. I miss Mandy jumping on me. I miss how Danshults' family knows every single gift under the tree even before they unwrap them. I miss playing wii games with Spencer. When I start thinking of these things I am reminded that 2 years is a long time to be away. At that low point I need to get out and spend time with my Ethiopian family, vent with my PC friends or just take a walk. It does not take me long to remember why I joined the Peace Corps. This country still amazes me and there will always be something to make me smile here. Today it was seeing my favorite Gonde kid in a denim trench coat...I hadn't seen her in a few days and she was just as excited as I was to see her.

2009-12-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

Ethiopia: The Soundtrack

Nothing horribly exciting has happened since my last post so today I will write about the sounds of Ethiopia. In the morning at about 5am we are all awoken by the Islamic call to prayer being broadcasted over a loudspeaker. This lasts for hours, and no matter how hard I look I cannot find this man singing anywhere. Along with the call to prayer,the African sunrise is also accompanied by the farm choir. The cows and ox form a thick bass line (some cows sing like I do though and just sound horrible), the tenor is the braying of the donkey that reminds you just how miserable his existence is. The alto voices are that of the sheep and goat that bleat like screaming children, and then on top, just in case you haven't woken up yet, is the rooster. Before I surrender to the din and get out of bed I hear Nate and Musse (my host nephews) outside my door either calling my name, shouting the alphabet(usually incorrectly), counting (...6, 7, X, Y, Zed), or fighting.After I finally get out of bed, get dressed, and [sometimes] wash up I leave for school. The moment I walk out my door the people begin to shout at me. "Faranj!!" "China!!" "Amerikawit!!" "What is your name!!!" "Nikki, Nikki, Nikki, Nikki" or "Selam!!!" even after I stop to say hello they continue to shout at me until I am no longer insight. Some days it is like the comforting sounds of the Putnam kids singing Queen or The D by a campfire , other days it is like Greg singing "Crawling" by Linkin Park. The shouting never ends. Every time I step outside I am surrounded, the kids are like the Ethiopian paparazzi. Once the sun goes down the sounds get a bit scarier. Dogs howl at each other like in 101 Dalmatians when the puppies get stolen."Dogs aren't that scary", you may think, but when you are taught that all dogs have rabies they are less cute than the Mandys and Peles of America. Then the "whoooop whoooop" of the hyenas start (I was very disappointed to learn they don't laugh). At that point I stay in my compound until the sun comes up...hyenas are bad news. As I go to bed I put in my headphones until I fall asleep. I never dare to try to sleep without them because then the fact that I have roommates with buck teeth and long tails becomes all too apparent. Sometimes the sounds of scurrying across my floor or in my ceiling wakes me up, but usually I just pretend it is a Mefloquin hallucination and go back to sleep unphased. Then, at 5am, the call to prayer starts and the day repeats itself.

The Concept of Time

Time in Ethiopia is quite the paradox. I feel like I have been here forever but at the same time training has flown by. In just 2 months I have learned enough language to have conversations, everyone in town knows my name, I have made friends and really feel at home. Putnam feels like so long ago and America so foreign it blows my mind. I can barely remember everyday life at home. Then other days it is like I just got here. I really can't believe training is almost over and I'm an actual Peace Corps Volunteer. Time has flown by, but then again I still have 25 months to go. Some days that is exciting, other days it is depressing.
On the topic of time, I want to explain the way the clock works in Ethiopia...and I thought military time was confusing!!! The Ethiopian day begins when the sun comes up, and since I am on the equator that is just about 6am. However, they call it 12am. Lunch is at noon, 6am.I get out of class just about as the sun sets, at 6pm. So to convert international time to local time you subtract 6 hours. So now that I have nearly converted to local time, determining what time it is in the US is significantly more difficult. I have to add the 6 hours to get international time, then subtract the 8 hour time difference. whew!Confused yet? It gets better. The Ethiopian calendar is different than the Gregorian calendar. It has 13 months rather than 12, and is 7years behind. So to find the date I need to subtract 7, 8, or 9 days(depending on the month) and then 7 years. I am still working on that.

One good thing about this country is that appointments and schedules are suggested times, not mandatory. So if I am late because I can't figure out what time it is, or make an error in scheduling the meeting it is okay. If I don't know what day it is and need to reschedule,it's okay. The downside is though that if I do want to get something done it is unlikely that everyone will be present. I'm not punctual enough for that to really bother me though. Sometimes there are things that are just more important than work.

Well, I don't want to use up all of my "life isn't exciting enough fora real post" blogs so I will sign out for now. Let me know if there is anything you want me to talk about in these posts, one of the goals of Peace Corps is to teach Americans about the host country's culture so here I am, ready to teach!

Miss you and love you

Cheers,
Nikki

2009-12-05T18:20:00.000-08:00

Something to be Thankful For

2009-12-05T18:12:00.000-08:00

12/03/09

So many of you know I was very ill on Thanksgiving. I had a 24 hour bug that has been passed through my family, it was only a matter of time until I got it. Unfortunately the one day that the Peace Corps made a delicious American meal was Thanksgiving: the day I spent with a fever, throwing up and shitting all day. The funny thing is though,I have never been so thankful on Thanksgiving. I am immensely thankful for the two jell-o jigglers that I was able to stomach without throwing up. I am thankful that I had great friends to spend the holiday with. I am thankful that my friends convinced me to go to Assela even though I was feeling ill. I am thankful for all the great notes my fellow trainees left in my envelope. I am thankful that people know me well enough to thank me for teaching all the card games rather than for my "great smile" (the default compliment people go to when they can't think of anything else). I am thankful that I do have a FANTASTIC group of people to share my Peace Corps experience with and to lean on for support. I am thankful that these people aren't still entertaining the freshman-in-college mentality of "I love absolutely everything about everyone". I am thankful that I have a wonderful host family that went out of their way to treat me to a good holiday even though I could barely stand to eat. I am thankful that in a country so far away from CT I can feel at home. I am thankful that I have this opportunity to reach people that can really benefit from my skill set. I am thankful that I have enough electricity to make it through a buna ceremony. I am thankful that my friends and family have the opportunity to find work and enjoy living in a developed nation. I am thankful that even in economic uncertainty my family and friends are surviving comfortably. It is a weird feeling to be thankful for basic needs...something that many Americans (though definitely not all....people here seem to think that all Americans are rich) will never struggle for. Even when I was worried about finances at home I was never worried about having a place to stay...but I have already met so many people that have to make the decision whether or not to eat. I am planning on making mac and cheese on Christmas this year....and I am very, very thankful for my mom who is sending options for Christmas dinner. I remember just a few years ago when the family was unable to get together and my mom and I had thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant. I remember being very upset and depressed that we spent the holiday just the two of us....today I find myself wishing to death that I was having dinner with my mom, let alone my whole family. Funny how life can put itself into perspective when you need it.

In other news, I am almost finished with training. Crazy- it feels like home was so, so long ago, but it also seems like I just got to Ethiopia. When I think about Philly and my first few awkward nights in Gonde where I sat and smiled while life happened around me I laugh.Now I start and sometimes even dominate conversations at home. I laugh with my host family and have real, deep conversations with my American friends. I am moving to Masha soon and feel completely lost, but I find comfort in knowing that I can have a conversation with someone in Amharic....a language that seemed more foreign than Elvish a few weeks ago.I am pleading to all of you to send me mail in Masha and to call me on or near Christmas. I am having a difficult time with the holidays...my training ends right before Christmas..I am going to try my hardest to make it feel like any other average day, but I suspect the day will have an aura of sadness and loneliness.
I will write again when I get to Masha. I hope to hear from you soon.I miss you all and love you tremendously.

Cheers,
Nikki

Address

2009-11-21T05:28:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention. My new address is
Nicole Therrien
PO Box 100
Masha, Ethiopia

If you are sending a package send it there. If you are sending a letter do not use that address until Dec 7th

Thanks!

Happy Birthday

2009-11-21T05:25:00.000-08:00

I was pretty nervous about my birthday this year, scared that it was going to be terribly lonely. Honestly, it was probably one of the best birthdays of my life. The day started going to hub traning (all the volunteers get together for group training on Thursdays). My CBT group was waiting for me at the car and all sang me happy birthday, gave me birthday hugs and a birthday bracelet (half a lei tied together haha). Once I got to the hub site another CBT group was already there and gave me a slow, awkward group hug. That same group later sang a birthday rap they wrote for Alissa and I (Alissa has the same birthday as me). It was hilarious, and very sweet. I got two awesome handmade cards with sweet little notes. It was great to feel like these people are really my friends, not just randoms that happened to be put in the same country as me. After training a few of us went out for beers before going back to the CBT site.

Once back to site my family had an awesome party for me. They invited all my Americans to join too! We had dinner, french fries, habasha cake, American cake (it's impossible to find sweets here so that was amazing), cookies, candies and fireworks. They decorated the house with streamers and a flashing Happy Birthday sign. They also made me wear my traditional Ethiopian dress that my host mom bought me a few weeks ago. My family gave me two gifts, a bracelet and a flashlight, because they think its funny that Masha has no electricity. The night concluded with a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. I felt so great that night. I was surrounded by friends, family and it felt almost like home.

Also contributing to my fantastic birthday was all the mail!!! Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes. I got fantastic packages from mom, Elisa/Bobby/Patrick/Emma and Jess as well as cards from Jess, Mom/Dad, Andrea/Jeff, the Slotas, Sally/Tom, and Aunt Jeanne/Uncle Bob. I also got a phone call from Nick and the Jersey kids. Thank you all so, so much.

Unfortunately that night the Mefloquin (turns out I'm not allergic to it) gave me awful dreams. I didn't sleep at all because of the nightmares and today I feel awful. The high of yesterday definitely outweighs the bad dreams though.

Site Visit

2009-11-21T05:24:00.000-08:00

Wow am I glad to be back with my host family. This past week was site visit, where all the volunteers spend a week at their permanent posts. What a week it was! Coming back to my host family really felt like coming home. I take great solace in knowing that a place in Ethiopia can feel like home in just a month, so it is possible that my site will one day feel comfortable. My site is one of the most remote, I really live in the jungle...complete with 2 species of monkeys and herds of baboons. To reach Masha I had to take a 2 day journey on public transportation. Without going into too many details, the trip was terrifying. Ethiopia has the most car accidents per capita in the world...I can definitely understand why. We almost hit cows, goats, sheep, donkeys, dogs, people, other vehicles and often veered off the road. Perhaps the word "road" isn't really appropriate. Most of the way to Masha is unpaved, steep and winding. Luckily was I was not travelling alone for this first trip out there. The two closest volunteers to me are awesome and our personalities compliment each others' very well. This will prove to be a very important support system I am sure.

The adventure did not end there. Living in my town is going to be a challenge. With the exception of about an hour I did not have electricity the whole week I was there. The water definitely needs to be purified and filtered...there are floaters. I do not have running water and need to take bucket baths, which I am not very good at yet. I share a shint bet with a ton of people, which is pretty unsanitary and smelly, but at least it is pretty well kept. Because of the lack of electricity I need to keep my door open to let light in...apparently an open door is an invitation. Kids poured into my room, touching my things, putting things in their pockets, rubbing their snotty hands all over everything and eating on my bed. I think the privacy issue will become my biggest problem...I need to fashion a screen door out of my bed net (I don't have mosquitoes! so no need for a net). My living space consists of two rooms, very similar to dorm rooms. They are across from each other, not connecting. One room I will use for sleeping/bathing and the other for cooking/eating. It sounds like I've got the roughest living conditions of the people I have spoken with, but I'm kind of flattered by the placement. The fact that I am so far from other volunteers, close to no-go zones and quite rural means that the Peace Corps staff thinks I can handle it and that I'm tough. Maybe I should have acted a bit more needy and codependent those first couple of weeks?

So enough about the challenges of my site. There are so many good things about it too. The area is bat'am k'onjo naw! (very beautiful). It is wild, untamed, untouched and exactly what I envisioned when I thought of Africa. The jungle is dense and very, very green. The cell phone network is good, so you can call me (hint hint) with no problem. I have a posta bet (Andrea, you know how much I like towns with 1 post office) and a bank, so there is no real need to leave my site other than travel. I am far from a lot of things, but there are also a lot of awesome places to visit near me. I love the volunteers that are next to me. My counterpart is excellent and very helpful. My landlady's daughter is an awesome dancer (iskista dancing!) and I am determined to pick up some sweet moves for when I come home.

My first night sleeping at site was hard. I really, really wanted to pack up and go back to America. Being in my home made me realize for the first time that this is real. I am going to be away for 2 years...and 2 years never seemed so long. Fortunately, that night Kevin called me, and it was the most comforting phone call of my life. Just hearing a familiar voice, being able to speak in English and to talk about familiar things was so, so nice. Kev, thanks...you saved me that night. The next day, however, was much better. I had meetings with local groups such as the PLWHA Assoc (people living with HIV/AIDS), a group of local volunteers, administration, and schools. The exact moment when I changed my mind about the night before and realized that I am exactly where I need to be was when talking to the PLWHA assoc. I guess that they have been trying to get help from NGOs for a while now but with no success. A woman said to me "we would be so happy to be able to work with you for two days, let alone two years". It's going to be hard, but I see a lot of opportunity already and cannot wait to get started. I think I have found my Lambarene.

2009-11-09T06:56:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we all met up in scary Addis Ababa for the counterpart workshop. For those of you who don't know, my counterpart is my #1contact in my host town and my coworker. He will be doing most of my projects with me, and just as importantly, translating meetings while I'm still learning Amharic. We met yesterday and I am very excited about working with him. He is about my age (which is awesome, same as in the US, the young people here are yearning for changes). He is the HIV coordinator at the town health office which oversees the clinic.I'm not actually working in the clinic which is perfect because this way I get to be more on the business side of things.
My town is in the Southern Nations and Nationalities Peoples Region in the western highlands. I'm the farthest west of all the volunteers and in one of the more rural posts. The town has a population of about 7,000 and is supposedly beautiful! Lush forests, temperate climate,high elevation, few mosquitoes and lots of tea/bunna/tej production. I get to visit next week which I am way excited about. And the 2 day journey on public transportation will be an adventure! Luckily my counterpart will be with me and able to guide me through the rougher cities. I will also get to stay at my house!! It has two rooms, and an outside latrine (no luxury toilet like at my host family's house). I have to sleep there all week with no bed...thank you greg and Melissa the sleeping bag.

Mom wrote me a letter asking if this is a hugging culture. It's a bit hard to explain. They do not hug and are often surprised when I try to hug them (I'm a Putnam kid...I love hugs...especially dancing hugs).When people greet each other they shake hands and, if they are good friends, do a shoulder bump. However, they are very touchy feely people. It is not uncommon for two men to hold hands (or pinkies)while walking in town, and they also always have their arms around each other. A hand resting on someone elses thigh is ok too. Not ok with me yet though. I still like my space.

I'm running out of internet time here in Addis, but I will end by thanking everyone for the letters! I get more than anyone else at training and it really makes me happy. So thank you Mom (and Dad for signing the card, too haha), Danshults, Beth, Rosie/Brad, Ellie, Kevin and Jess. You all have letters in the mail. But it takes much longer to get from ethiopia to america than america to ethiopia.

Also, happy birthday greg and jess!!! wish i could be there to celebrate. you should all call me during the parties and pass the phone around.

Love you all and miss you. Come visit, Africa is wonderful!
Cheers,
Nikki

2009-11-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

10/24/09

Blogspot is still blocked in Ethiopia, but thanks to Andrea I am able to post semi-regular updates! I'm feeling a bit better today than I have for a while...turns out I am allergic to Mefloquin (malaria propholaxis) because once the doctor told me to stop taking it my hives have started to go away. Good thing too, the itching was beginning to be unbearable and really put me in a funk. Fortunately there are no mosquitoes in my training town (because of the high elevation) so I don't have to worry about getting Malaria. Also, I had a good reason to request a cooler, higher altitude post (no 100 degree Africa sun OR mosquitoes!) which, if they give me, will be wonderful.I will eventually go back on Malaria meds, probably Doxy, once this stuff gets out of my system and the hives go away. Between Spice this summer and the allergic reaction I've almost forgot what it is like not to itch. I really can't complain though, I'm one of the few who haven't had a GI episode yet (knocks on wood), my family thinks I'm allergic to T'eff so they don't feed me injera anymore, my host sister makes my friends and me french fries and onion rings and I live in a beautiful town.

The past week I discovered some great places in this town. There is a river that supplies the surrounding areas with water (It flooded on Sunday and knocked out the pipes, so because there was so much water there was none) that is absolutely stunning. It flows through green hills and on Sunday the whole town goes there to bathe, wash clothes or just to hang out. I went with my sisters to explore a bit. There is one place where the water looks as though it is flowing from the inside of a tree. The locals believe that the water has a healing power and people come all the way from Addis to drink from it. I'm not convinced though, it did not clear the rash, but it was still really cool. I took lots of pictures, someday I'll figure out how to post them. Then on Friday during community discovery we went walking through the farmland on the other side of town. The fields went on for miles and miles...beans, corn, wheat and lots of those trees that are in every picture of Africa you've ever seen. We stopped to talk to the farmers (by talk I mean introduce myself and say hello a bunch of times because that's pretty much all I know) and to "simply sit".Simply sitting, walking etc...is big in Ethiopia. And I thought Putnam-ites had to be creative with recreation time! It's great though, sometimes I just stop in my tracks to look around in awe at the untouched natural beauty in the rolling hills and mountains. At night I still am struck every time I walk back to my room from the shint bet and I can clearly see every single star in the sky...the best part about no lights.

There are definitely times when having to be incredibly polite to every single person (Ethiopians are much nicer than I am) drives me crazy. And when the fidel (Amharic alphabet) makes me want to stab my eyes out. Sometimes I dread turning on to my street because the neighborhood kids all wait for me at 5:00. And then there are times when I desperately want to be with someone that knows me and I can be myself with. But at the end of the day I am always happy that I made the decision to join the Peace Corps. Especially this past week when we started to get into the technical training and visit health centers I remembered why I am here. The APCD was right, this is a gift. Nowhere in the US would I get the chance to slow down and have the time to reflect on life and appreciate every little thing. You should all visit, Africa has some kind of magic that soothes the soul. And I miss you and would enjoy the company of a familiar face.

Write letters...I have lots of time to write back. And it sucks to be the one who doesn't get mail on hub day (but I wouldn't know because this week I got letters from mom and one from ds!). It looks as though it takes 10 days to send a letter from the US to Ethiopia. I sent my first batch on the 16th...I will let you all know when they got to their destinations.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers,
Nikki

2009-11-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

10/16/09
I haven't been able to blog since arriving in Ethiopia because the little town of Gonde does not yet have Internet. So I am posting this from Asela, the nearest city. Here is a short re-cap of my time so far in the Peace Corps.

Philadelphia: Staging was quite brief. We all got together in a hotel to go through paperwork, discuss aspirations/anxieties and get an overview of the Peace Corps. The next day we got the Yellow Fever vaccine and departed for the airport. Nothing too eventful.
Addis Ababa: Addis was a bit more interesting, but not really Africa.We had a couple days of safety/security training, food and water safety, typhoid, rabies, meningitis and hepatitis vaccines along with the start of the Malaria meds. The meds were the cause of only one interesting dream starring a talking rhino that threatened to kill me if I left my house. He also had a friend giraffe. In Addis I got to know the other volunteers a bit and got past the artificial conversation that you all remember from the first week of college. We went from hanging out in hoards to large groups. Finally on the last day in Addis we left the hotel and braved the streets. We had our first "fishbowl" experience being watched very carefully by everyone.It's a weird feeling being a celebrity of sorts. Everyone wants to shake your hand and listen to you try to say hello. This phenomenon becomes more apparent later.

Training Hub: We all boarded buses to Asela, and then our respective training sites. On the way there we came upon a car accident. Instead of waiting in traffic our bus detoured through the mud. And since the bus couldn't make it through the mud we had to get out of the bus to lessen the weight. Eventually the bus made it back to the main road- I feel like some kind of hitch had to happen. In Asela we had lunch and learned to dance. The Ethiopian dance is a lot of jumping from one foot to the other and controlled arm movements. Women also do this awesome shoulder shake that I have not yet mastered. We all gave it as hot though and a good time was had by all.

Satellite Site: My town for the next 3 months is the smallest of all the satellite sites...it just moved up from being classified a village two months ago. When we arrived it was down pouring and we got out of the bus with all of our bags sloshing through the mud. We took shelter in the pharmacy, which I would later discover is my host father's shop. I had a conversation with a few children while we waited for the rains to stop before walking home.
Two young men carried my bags for me (good thing too, at this point I was not good at walking in the slippery mud) and my host parents led the way through puddles, up a mud/rock road. On the way we passed donkeys, goats, sheep, dogs, horses, cows and tons of curious people watching the "ferenji". We stopped to knock on the metal gate of the compound. The gates open up and I am let into the house which smells like incense. Everyone lines up to meet me, and I am relieved to hear the words "Hello, welcome. My name is Sunnat". She speaks English! Sunny has since become quite close to me and a wonderful resource to be integrated in family chats. Dinner is being brought to the table and a girl brings over a watering can and a slotted bucket with a bar of soap. The family washes their hands and I sit down with mom and dad to eat a wide spread of food. Injera, wot, french fries, vegetables,bread, juice, water, and tea. This is the first time I am able to enjoy food since being in Ethiopia...not because it had made me sick before, but because it was too spicy for me to eat. I eat tons and love every second of the precious food. After dinner I sit on the couch with the family and look at a photo album while coffee beans are being roasted on a charcoal stove. The rest of the night we drink coffee, laugh and I watch them all interact. All my worries were washed away and I was happy to be surrounded by family.

Since then I have fallen in love with Africa. I go to bed every night in awe of how beautiful this country and the people are. I am able to say hello to every person that I meet (and everybody wants me to stop to say hello) and learn Amharic in the garden of one of my friend's compounds. Life is very simple and beautiful. I wake up early when the rooster calls, eat a homemade breakfast with my father and then get walked to school. During school we have 2 tea breaks where we walk through town to practice what we have learned in the community. We often sit at the chaibet with our LCF and make friends with the locals. After school I go home, hang out with the family, have dinner,and hang out some more. We have coffee at lunch and dinner. Then I go to bed around 9-10. Every night I go to bed thinking how lucky I am to have this opportunity. Life here is just so natural. The stars are even more brilliant than in New Zealand. I can't really explain what it is like, but I love it here.

I have so much that I can write about, so to make my blog more interested let me know what you want to hear about. Language?Training? Food? Peace Corps? My Family? Other volunteers? Visual descriptions?
Love you and miss you all.
Cheers,
Nikki

Getting Ready

2009-09-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

Now that is September, and only a month before I depart for the unknown, I am terribly excited. Facebook has introduced me to a few people that will also be a part of Ethiopia Group 3 which makes the adventure more of a reality. This past week my parents visited from Maryland and we got the paperwork business out of the way (appointing power of attorney, insurance, car etc...) and they also were a HUGE help in outfitting me for the journey. True to form I packed immediately and am just about physically ready to go. Not sure I'm emotionally ready quite yet. I don't really feel like I'm leaving my friends and family, that part hasn't sunk in.

For those of you who are working on packing, here is a list of items I've packed. If you have any suggestions please let me know! I tend to under pack (who goes to eastern europe without a raincoat?!) so its likely I forgot something.

Netbook/DVD drive
Memory sticks
Camera
Voltage/Outlet converters
Ipod
Chacos trail shoes
Sandals
Hiking boots (keen hybrids)
Clothes
Toiletries
Sun Block
Sewing Kit
Non-stick frying pan
Knife
Headlamp
Nalgene bottles
Flavored water packets
Alarm clock
Bandanas
DVDs
Pictures
Gifts for host family
Books
Duct tape
Stationary
Journal
Playing cards
Scrabble
Sleeping bag (thanks greg and melissa!)

And probably a few other things I forgot to list.

My Aspiration Statement

2009-08-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

Everyone asks me why I want to join the Peace Corps, and describing why is difficult. Below is the aspiration statement I had to write to the Ethiopia country desk, maybe this will make my reasons clearer. You can probably tell what the questions are by the answers.

A.
I first began entertaining the idea of joining the Peace Corps in 2006 when I studied abroad in Australia. While the difference between the US and Australia is not extraordinary, the experience of entering, sight unseen, into a new world far away from home was exhilarating. The tourism aspect was phenomenal, but what I found most enjoyable was the local culture. Living in another culture is far different than visiting. Taking on the local lifestyle, letting go to strict deadlines and allowing myself to slow down was something completely new, and quite liberating. Being from New England, I am used to a fast paced environment; if a train is late or appointment does not start on time it is an extreme inconvenience. However, I learned in Australia that if you slow down and enjoy life instead of racing through it, you can find more meaning, develop stronger relationships and, most importantly, be happy.
As I began to fall in love with Australia I also began to wonder about the experience I could have gotten out of all the places I visited as a kid if we had stayed a while longer. From there I began researching the US Peace Corps. I actually remember the first time when I learned about the Peace Corps when I was a kid and thinking to myself “why would someone want to do that”…every time I think about that instance I laugh to myself, because now I know exactly why someone, including myself, cannot wait for that experience. I want to experience the world, not as a tourist, but as a part of it. I don’t want to stand by and learn about countries and people far away, I want to be one of them. And rather than just seeking employment in another country, I want to help. The inequalities across the globe are disheartening and just do not make sense. Why is it that so many people die from malaria every year when treatment is so inexpensive? Why is a region rich in oil, a powerful resource, full of people who live on just $2 a day? And I don’t want to just hear about these people, I want to get to know them and learn how to make a difference.
With the seed already planted in my head about going to the Peace Corps I met David Ives. He probably doesn't know it, but he was the deciding factor in my decision to apply. David is the director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Quinnipiac University. I knew him through the Albert Schweitzer Club which I was a part of and, upon his suggestion, took a philosophy class my senior year of college titled The Thought and Work of Albert Schweitzer. We learned about Schweitzer’s mission in Gabon to repent for the mistreatment done by Europeans in Africa. He gave up fame and fortune to complete medical school and provide medical care in a forgotten corner of the world. I learned about “reverence for life” and how sacred every living thing, plant, insect, animal or person is. Through this class I kept a journal of my experiences volunteering at a Hospice and evaluated it through the lens of Schweitzer. This class, David’s account of his Peace Corps experience in Costa Rica, and his invitation to meet people like Jimmy Carter, Rigoberta Menchu and survivors of the bombings in Hiroshima, the Albert Schweitzer Institute made me realize how much one person really can do.
I realize that I will not build a hospital, I will not “fix” any major problems and I definitely won’t save the world. But what I can, and intend to do is make a difference. As my mentor in graduate school would say, passion and tenacity go a long way. I believe to be a Peace Corps volunteer you need to encompass both attributes. With the knowledge I have gained through my education and life experiences, I aspire to improve the lives of vulnerable populations in my town/village. I listen to the stories of those I work alongside with at the Agape Center (an HIV/AIDS resource center) and realize that it is not necessarily disease that affects their everyday life, it’s the isolation. These people want to be a part of the community and they want to remain productive. In fact, many of the clients also volunteer their time at the food pantry in the building. This is how I want to make a difference. I want to help remove stigmas and help people find their place in the community. If I can make a positive difference in just one person’s life, the 27 month commitment is worth it.

B.
Working in the Peace Corps is going to be very different than going to school in Australia. My work is going to be a partnership, not a solo act. As I read through my invitation packet and the blogs of volunteers already in Ethiopia I begin to imagine myself there. I think the best way to integrate into work is the same as the best way to get into the ocean after laying in the sun on the beach. First, observe everyone else already in the water. I believe that I will have to spend the beginning of my experience learning by observation. What is the organizational culture? What is taboo? Where do I fit in? I would have to learn the work ethic and goals of my host country partners instead of starting work and creating my own agenda. Second you have to ease your way in, take one step, get used to the temperature and then take another step. After observing I need to focus on working with my partners and learning where I need to be and what I need to do. I will need to try something, test it, and then if it doesn’t work in this environment, get out of the water and try again from a different angle. The third step is the plunge, when you’re in the water to your waist and the only way to get in is to jump. After I have found how the organization works and what my role is I need to jump in. I will only have 2 years, and I can’t spend the whole time scared and watching from the wings. I will have to give it everything I’ve got and watch things fall into place. And just like getting into that cold water, being side by side with someone always provides comfort and motivation. I will need my host country colleagues to help me in at first, and then work together.

C.
In my experiences, the way I best adapt to a new culture is to embrace it. I don’t like to retreat to comforts, such as exiling myself to my dwelling or clinging to the closest American. I believe that if I start by allowing myself to have a crutch, I will never fully adapt to the new culture. The easiest way for me to settle in is to make myself feel uncomfortable and awkwardly try to fit in. While the first weeks or months may not be as pleasant as my romantic fantasy of the Peace Corps is, I will learn what is expected of me and how I fit into my new community. I expect to be met with obstacles that I cannot even fathom at this moment, but I accept that challenges that lay ahead of me.
Other than being isolated by language, my biggest fear is losing my own identity. In the US I am quite passionate about certain issues and tend to be outspoken. I learned in Australia that it is not a good idea to get involved in politics in a different country so I go to Ethiopia fully expecting to remain silent on such issues. However, as I immerse myself into the new culture I need to realize what values are important to me, what I am willing to sacrifice and what I need to be firm about to keep being Nikki. As I prepare for departure, and during training, I need to do some soul-searching and decide what sacrifices I need to make and what about my own culture I can preserve. After all, the Peace Corps isn’t just about learning about a new culture, it’s about teaching other people about Americans as well.

D.
I have a number of items I expect to learn during training to prepare me for service. First and foremost I expect to make progress in language. I have already ordered an Amharic phrase book, but I hope that during pre-service training I will be able to at least introduce myself, learn words such as please and thank you and learn the major cultural differences so I do not offend anyone on my first day. I also hope to learn more about the resources I will have at my disposal for my work. I know that resources will be limited, but knowing exactly how limited will allow me to begin brainstorming ideas before I actually begin service.
I also want to gain knowledge about the current state of affairs in Ethiopia. What are the major ambitions and goals of the Ministry of Health? What are the biggest issues that the people of Ethiopia are faced with? What do the people want? What are the goals of the Peace Corps/Ethiopia relationship?

E.
My motivations to join the Peace Corps are primarily to use my training and experience to help a growing community. When my family and friends ask why I want to be in the Peace Corps I reply that because the world has been good to me and I was fortunate enough to be born in an area where I have the world at my fingertips, I feel like it is my duty to share my good fortune with those who do not share it. To me it is atrocious that in a world connected by the media, internet and television that people do not do more to help each other. It is not enough to “feel bad” about the AIDS epidemic, or buy a t-shirt that says “Save Darfur” instead of giving time to call a congressmen ask him or her to put international aid on his or her agenda. I need to give myself to the world, use the education and experience I have to help others.
With that said it is impossible to say that joining the Peace Corps is a complete sacrifice of my life and is without reward. Many people report that they feel they got more from the Peace Corps experience than they gave. I am going to have new experiences and adventure that will remain a part of my identity for the rest of my life. My current goal, though by the end of my 27 months I may have a completely different life plan, is to take advantage of the noncompetitive advantage for government employment. I strongly believe in civic duty, and just like if you disagree with the inequalities in the world you should act, if you do not make an effort to create change then you cannot complain about the status quo.
I believe that I should contribute to the country that has given me great opportunities. With my background in healthcare management, I want to work for the CDC as a Health Analyst. These people travel the world to determine the health needs of different countries are, and work with the host country to meet these needs. I view my experience with the Ministry of Health in Ethiopia the beginning of this career.

Mail

2009-08-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

The post service in Ethiopia is obviously not as fast as the USPS. A letter will take about 4 weeks and packages 4-5 months. Do not send anything valuable in envelopes because one in a while the edges of envelopes will be clipped by postal workers looking for money. Also, do not send anything valuable in packages because they may or may not make it to me. Try to decrease the value of items (like if you are sending clothes take of the tags, wash them and label it "used clothing"). Also, any letter needs to say "air mail" on the front of the envelope.

For the first 10 weeks you can mail me at this address (perhaps a birthday card?):

Nicole Therrien
US Peace Corps/Ethiopia
P.O. Box 7788
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

After training I will be given a new address and will let you all know. I love mail!

Cheers,
Nikki

The Wait is Over

2009-07-21T07:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it came. I have officially been invited to join the Peace Corps and I couldn't be happier with my assignment. My invitation is to be a Health Economic Development Advisor in Ethiopia. Staging is Oct 4-5 and then the evening of Oct. 5 I will board a plane to Ethiopia! I had initially thought that I would be working in the health education sector, but my actual assignment is really more business than health (which makes sense since I am a few weeks away from completing my MBA). I will be working with the Ministry of Health (sounds like Harry Potter!) to identify means of economic stability and income generation for those infected with HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable populations. My interpretation of it is that I am working to break down stigmas and get these people integrated into their communities. By assisting them with business development, people will be able to afford food, medical treatment and a better standard of living.

Since I wil be working with the Ministry, my accommodations will be set up by the Ethiopian government (no rent...one less thing to worry about!). According to my assignment description I will be in a small-medium town or village and living in a compound (whatever that means). Typically, HED volunteers have one-two rooms to themselves in a house. Most, but not all, have running water and electricity. Something I was not banking on, so that's a nice surprise. Additionally, part of my job may be teaching business owners how to use MS Office or use databases to manage their businesses. Sounds like I may have computer access (and possibly internet).

I think the only aspect of this whole ordeal that I'm not excited about is the dress code. For those of you who know me, you know I do not function well in heat. Well, Ethiopians dress conservatively and I will need to wear long skirs and shirts that cover my shoulders and go up to my neck. I need to find some super light weight material!

The next step is to accept my invitation, which I will do later today. Then its a whole bunch of paperwork and a final medical review (if the last one wasn' t enough). I also think I'm going to find a way to start learning Amharic, the language aspect makes me nervous. I love to talk, and if I don't know the language it will be very lonely.

Cheers,
Nikki

An Emotional Beating

2009-06-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

The last time I heard from the Peace Corps was back in March when I was medically cleared. I've been busy with school and moving back to Putnam so the wait hasn't really bothered me. However, now that I am back in Putnam where life moves a bit slower than in Hamden and I'm nearing the end of graduate school the delay is quite noticeable. Last week I received an e-mail requesting an updated resume and stated that my file wouldn't be reviewed for another 6-12 weeks. Twelve weeks puts me into September, which is when I'm done school. The increased competitiveness has gotten me quite nervous and thinking about what I'm going to do if I'm not invited to the Peace Corps. So I began to look at jobs.

There is a job opening as an assistant long term care administrator with a nice salary, benefits and with a reasonable commute from either Putnam or New Haven. The job is entry level and pretty much matches my qualifications perfectly. Imagine the temptation. I had a bit of a life-crisis that day, had lunch with Andrea, spoke with Danshults and Ma. They all said that the job was a good option and that I should at least apply. Of course Danshults was the biggest proponent of sticking with the Peace Corps and Ma said to just go for the job. I took their advice and thought about it pretty much all day and night. By the time I went to bed I decided that I am not ready to give up on the Peace Corps and I wasn't going to sell out for a high paying job. The Peace Corps is what I want to do, it's where I'll make the biggest impact on the world and, if I may be selfish, on my life. Any job I could apply for would never compare and I'd think about it for the rest of my life: what if I actually did join the Peace Corps? Also, if I don't get invited I need to leave CT... I don't think I could take the "I thought you were going to Africa" comments everyday.

And that was my test. The next day I got an e-mail from my PO saying that my file was being reviewed. I'm assuming that doesn't mean I will wait the estimated 6-12 weeks. Maybe I'll hear in July! But now I am nervous as Hell. Everytime I open my e-mail I hold my breath. But at least I'll know soon. I know that I am committed to it, and my decision to accept any invitation has been made. I've done all I can...now it is up to them!

Also, an October invite for Ethiopia has been mailed. I'm almost positive that this is the program they are considering me for. It's funny, even before my sleuthing and trying to find out possible programs leaving in October I had a feeling it would be Ethiopia. Not the most stable of geographic regions, but it's close to the Middle East...which was my first choice. It seems so perfect, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high.

In other news, I FINALLY found a new place to volunteer to get HIV/AIDS experience. I'm spending my Thursday mornings at the Agape Center in RI. So far, so good. The people are incredible and very honest and open. They are so supportive of my going to Africa and are eager to help me learn about the disease, how they live with it, and answer any questions.

That's it for now!
Cheers,
Nikki

The Long Wait

2009-03-06T10:55:00.000-08:00

This is quick post since I will be leaving work in about 4 minutes. But I have been both medically and dentally cleared!!! I won't be hearing anything now until mid-April though. The placement office is currently reviewing the files of people who can leave during the summer and once all of those people have been invited they'll move on to the folks leaving after September. In the mean time I'll just keep building my resume and making myself appear more qualified than the other nominees. At this point I have a 50% chance of getting invited.
Cross you fingers!
Cheers,
Nikki

Look in the Mail for a Letter

2009-02-13T13:11:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday I woke up with an e-mail notifying me that MyToolkit had been updated. Under medical clearance there was a message reading: Complete. A decision has made regarding your medical clearance. Look in the mail for a letter. Today I received said letter. I am medically qualified for each region. I didn't need to follow up on my Iron level or blood counts. All that worrying for nothing. What I am most excited about though is that I don't have any more medical bills!

The next step is with the Office of Placement. They look at my credentials and experience to find a project that I would be best suited for. Once they do that they send an invitation!! I just hope that it is after the cruise mom already booked, one month later than my expected departure date...

Cheers,
Nikki

Medical Hold

2009-01-27T06:59:00.000-08:00

The medical hold officially begins today! I received the e-mail notification that my nomination status had been updated. The PC is just beginning to review my medical information now. The little message says that they do not require any additional information at this time but I'm sure that will change.

Also, I have my last dentist appointment soon so the dental hold will be released soon. Not that that matters all too much as you can still get invited with a dental hold. You just don't get to go if you don't get things figured out by the time staging comes around.

And, as always, I must put in my two cents about Tricare. It's awful. Customer service is awful. The website is awful. The entire system is confusing and nobody knows what is going on. And they gave me a PCM that isn't accepting new patients. Clearly I just got more bad news from them. Even though my father was signed into active duty in September (and Tricare is a benefit for active duty sevice members and their families) I am not covered until Feb 1. This means that the $900 in blood work, $440 physical and $550 dentist bill are all out of pocket. I'll try to call today to see if this is an error and I can file a claim. If not I will need to take out another loan from my wonderful parents who are willing to cover the expenses for now. I hate to ask them for money though. I feel like a child.

Cheers,
Nikki

Medical and Dental Review

2009-01-14T20:24:00.000-08:00

Despite my ongoing battle with TRICARE and trying to find a primary physician, I completed my medical and dental reviews. Unfortunately TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Standard do not have the same doctors in their network and, by surprise, I have to pay for all of my medical expenses. The total was $440 so it definitely could be worse. I spoke to someone today who had to pay over $700 for the same examination.

I am learning that during the application process nothing goes smoothly. My medical and dental reviews are no exception to this rule. The dental hold I was totally expecting. I'm addicted to Diet Coke and therefore have a couple cavaties that need to be filled. No big deal since I do have dental insurance AND my wonderful new dentist is giving me 50% off because its for the Peace Corps. There is one problem though. The dental officer at the Peace Corps office says I need to have a crown on a tooth that I hada root canal on a few years ago. Two dentists have both said that it is too risky to put a crown on. I'm hoping that's a good excuse and I don't have to destroy my tooth to appease them.

The medical results are what I'm really nervous about. My blood work came back and I had my dad interpret the results for me. He told me that there was something wrong and it appeared that I had lost a significant amount of blood and my iron levels are about 60% of what they should be. I've been told that you are medically deferred until you can prove you are no longer anemic. The iron supplements my dad gave me made me horribly ill so that's not going to work. I could eat more red meat...but then my just passable cholesterol will increase. My best reasoning is that since I donate blood every 8 weeks I don't have an opportunity to fully restore my blood counts. Perhaps if I just keep my blood to myself for a while I will regulate. I haven't actually heard back from the medical officer...but this is what I am preparing myself for.

Other than medical and dental stuff I've been looking into ways to prepare myself for service. I had two trips lined up with school, one to Nicaragua and the other to Mexico to work in health facilities. Both trips fell through. Right now I'm thinking I'll do a volunteer project in Ecuador. It's expensive, but I want to know if this is something I'm good at and enjoy before I devote 2 and a half years to it. I've also been in contact with the CT Dept of Public Health trying to get into an AIDS Educator class. They are impossible to reach. Between phone tag and unanswered e-mails I am getting a bit frustrated. I know I can at least count on finding a first aid/cpr course over the summer. Those are offered everywhere.

So now I am back to waiting. I would love to hear some good news, but right now any news would be good.

Cheers,
Nikki

Robot?

2008-11-19T07:44:00.000-08:00

I keep getting told that my account looks like a spam blog. This entry is just so I keep the account active. Unfortunately I have no new Peace Corps news. Still waiting on insurance...

Welcome

2008-11-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

Rather than telling the same stories over and over I decided to start up a blog for my Peace Corps adventure. I've already made it through the application and interview process. Despite being late for the interview (which is a story perhaps you should ask Danshults about haha) everything went very well. I recently received my nomination for Health Extension in Sub-Saharan Africa leaving October 2009. I'm very excited about it, SSA was one of my top three choices, im just a bit concerned about the jungle heat! I'm currently going through the medical and dental packet. Today I spent the entire morning driving around Hamden and New Haven looking for medical records. The ped center where I went for my immunizations as a kid no longer has any records and Yale is so huge they are having difficulty locating any evidence of my appendecomy. I am even more convinced now that we need a completely electronic medical record system. Through my search, I found immunization records and latest physical information and have a few requests in with Yale which I'm hoping will produce results. To complicate matters I am in between insurances and 1. cannot make appointments in a timely fashion (which the Peace Corps is big on) and 2. I need to find all new doctors. However, I did have a positive experience today. The ICD has a program that provides free exams for Peace Corps applicants. I found a relatively local member and the receptionist was wonderful! I was able to schedule a 100% free appointment for this Monday and she is even going to go through the hassle of transferring records for me. After my run around this morning, this really made my day. Unfortunately, the medical portion will have to wait until I have insurance next month.

I've had a few conversations lately with people asking if I am nervous. It is much too soon to be nervous about the work, I mean I don't even know where I am going or what exactly I will be doing. It's hard to be nervous with so many unknowns. However, I have had a few sad moments this past week. It's mostly thinking about the important events I am going to miss. We are all anticipating a proposal soonish, if this is true (trying not to make assumptions) chances are I'll miss the wedding. Not just any wedding though, one of the Dons! I will also miss most of Obama's first term, which I'm actually quite upset about. Similarly, I'm going to miss most of my dad's Air Force term and all of his major successes and trips to Maryland. And those are just the big events. When I came home from Australia I had a hard time readjusting. This is about 2 years longer than that, I'm not going to have much in common with my friends. I was thinking, the majority of the conversations I have are the "remember when we...." and they are usually events within the past couple years. I wont be able to enjoy any of the "remember when" moments. Then of course I'm going to miss the Bob kids growing up, something I've enjoyed so much the past 5 years. It is all a bit overwhelming, but I know it is something I need to do and will be worth the homesickness. Looking at the big picture, 2 years really isn't that long I suppose. All the waiting in between stages is what gets me thinking. Once I hear from them again with more information the surge or excitement will come back and I'll be back on the "I can't leave soon enough" mindset.

I'll try to keep this blog updated as I continue through the process. Once I actually get to Africa this will probably be my main contact with all of you so leave me notes. I'll be able to make letters more personal this way rather than writing the same letter to everyone.

Cheers,
Nikki