I live in a fenced-in compound on the edge of my town. The compound family (the landlord, his wife & two sons) lives in the main house and they rent out three rooms on either side of their house. The compound family is really great, the landlord knows how to take care of business and the landlady is super sweet - she invites me over or brings me buna and food everyday. Sometimes it's a little much if I've already eaten and then I have to eat more, but it's very kind of course. The 12yo son is helpful and nice, the 5yo son couldn't care less about me. He's super busy doing 5yo boy stuff. When he does talk to me I can't understand a word he is saying, I swear he's speaking Italian (he's not really). The two other neighbors in the compound work at the health center. One of them has two kids, a 9yo daughter and 7yo son. It's fun to have kids around. The first day I moved in they were really curious and all up in my room. But since then they have been respectful of my privacy and my space. The compound family has animals - oxen, cows, a horse, donkeys, chickens and a couple of cats. There was previously only one chicken; they recently acquired 3 hens and 2 roosters. I was thinking it would be great if that meant the possibility of buying eggs from the landlord in the future but with Fasika (Easter) just around the corner it's more likely that the chickens will be made into Doro Wat (traditional chicken stew) for the occasion. And the other day I woke up to a brand new baby donkey in the yard! My heart skipped a beat. Baby donkeys are my favorite and I didn't know we had a donkey that was expecting. Whenever I see a baby donkey I have to resist the urge to hug it. (I would never really try to hug a donkey but dang they're cute.)
On the subject of animals - I have woken up a few nights to the calls of a hyena roaming the street outside. They make some very distinct sounds and when it's close by it is quite loud. I could tell when he was right outside and when he was further down the road. I am safe inside my home, inside our fenced in compound but it's still freaky!
I bought an electric stove for cooking, rather than the traditional charcoal stove that most people use. There is also the possibility of buying a propane or kerosene stove but I've had pretty consistent electricity at my home and electric is so easy. I had been using the stove without any trouble for a week but then I decided to tempt fate. It's actually a double burner electric stove - I had previously only ever used one burner at a time but this particular day I decided to use both at the same time. It started out ok. Then out of nowhere I hear sizzling and crackling and see sparks (imagine fireworks) and smoke as the wire to the outlet is on fire. The wire is hanging from the ceiling and then comes down alongside the wall (standard procedure). I'm completely taken off guard and then panicking as I don't know what to do except call for the neighbor while seeing the wire burn all the way up out of my reach. I manage to yell for her to come quickly in Oromifa - by the time she arrives the wire is still on fire but has stopped at the plastic woven tarp that makes up my ceiling, burning a hole in it. My room is right next the landlord's main living area so I imagined something more catching fire and then being responsible for burning the entire house down. I was a basket case! Luckily the landlord was home and he quickly turned off the electricity so the wire that was on fire went out. Everyone was remarkably calm about it (except me of course). The landlord just steps right in and starts replacing and upgrading the wiring. My lunch hadn't finished cooking so the neighbor kindly invited me over to eat with them. We had a good laugh about the day's excitement. And then later when we went to the health center we recounted the story and had another good laugh. I think the landlady felt sorry for me because that night she brought me more snacks than she usually does. And now there is a permanent singe mark on the wall and hole in the tarp ceiling, so am always reminded of the day I almost burned the house down.
Love from Ethiopia!
That's too much excitement for me!! Glad it all worked out. All the cows are calving here so I see lots of cute babies on my commute.
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