Saturday, January 30, 2016

Home on the range

I am in a very beautiful, rural area in Ethiopia. I said I was looking forward to getting out of the city and now here I am in the sticks. The landscape is beautiful and I am getting used to this new way of life for now. My host family is wonderful! They are joyful and so kind, and they started teaching me the language right away.  The father usually holds a serious face but whenever we try to talk together in Oromifa his face brightens and he throws his head back with laughter - it makes me proud to have this effect on him. I have a 17yo sister - she's my girl! She's got the best English in the house so she has been super helpful. And she's sweet and adorable and seems fearless. The father is away most of the day working while the women and girls take care of the home. I have a 20yo sister and two 16yo female cousins who live here too. I can tell the 17yo sister was assigned to be my keeper so the others were not as quick to warm up to me but now we're all good - lots of laughing and joking, mostly laughing at me as I struggle with the language but I don't mind, it's all in good fun!  They all call me gobez (smart) but I think they're just humoring me. I am very well fed, I have not felt hungry since I got here, they always want me to eat more and more. While in Addis there are a lot of different types of food available, I actually ate a lot of pizza - because it was convenient and I knew that once we got out to the countryside it would be injera, injera, injera (bidena in Oromifa). And I have definitely been eating a lot of it. Meals are mostly traditional Ethiopian fare - injera with shiro (a smooth lentil stew) gomen (cooked greens - one of my favorites and the greens have so much flavor here!) alicha (potatoes, cabbage, and carrot) for example, but I've also had pasta with sauce, and eggs, bread and tea for breakfast.

My family has lots of animals - oxen, cows (2 babies), sheep (a baby should arrive while I'm here), horses, mules, donkeys, chickens, a cat, and a guard dog who is ferocious - he takes his job of protecting the other animals very seriously. To get to the latrine/squat toilet (mana fincanii in Oromifa, shint bet in Amharic) you hang a right where one of the cows and her calf are tied up, head to the back of the compound and you'll find it essentially inside of the hay barn. Of course at first I was a little uneasy but now I feel like a pro! And I now know it's actually quite nice as far as mana fincaniis go. Perspective. 

We are super busy with language and health training and there's not been time for much else. The days feel long and the nights feel short even though I go to bed by 9. It's getting dark by 6:30 so we're all inside by then because there are no outdoor lights. The stars are amazing - the sky is so full! 

In some parts of the area they are rationing water. The electricity, water, and telephone network are in and out. Internet is not available out here. When the 3G is working I can pay to use data for email, fb, and Viber etc. it just doesn't work consistently. This is my life for the next few years! I'll try to post some pics when I have time and the network is cooperating. 

Ciao for now! 

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