I think it is about time that I owe everyone another blog. If only I could think of some things to talk about. Well, let’s see new developments. I got internet at my house so I can now check my email a lot more regularly. In fact it isn’t half bad. The days when I do have power, the majority of the town doesn’t so that frees up a lot of the bandwidth. I get asked a lot if I think I am making a difference and until recently I said I don’t really know. However, the second edition of the [View Full Entry]

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This blog entry is the missing week of Chris’s visit. I thought it would be a fun twist to have a new set of eyes tell you the story of what happened in his week vacation. I just want to warn any Ethiopians that nothing in this is meant to be critical of the culture. This was Chris’s first visit to Africa so anything that isn’t part of normal American Culture stuck out to him. Some parts may be a little harsh but I agree that all these things happen. I hope you guys enjoy. So I really don’t know where [View Full Entry]

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How is everyone doing? I hope everyone had a very safe Fourth of July. I would say there was a fair amount of celebrating here in Ethiopia. Everyone met up at their consolidation points. Bahir Dar, a city about 20 hours on a bus north of me, had a very large group meet up there, as well as, Dessie, which had a few meet there. Hawassa, had the biggest group, consisting of about 16 volunteers. We had hot dogs, hamburgers, beer, Jungle Juice (we called it Freedom Juice instead), a beautiful day with no rain, and a baby monkey. Now from [View Full Entry]

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Let’s see… It is one o’ clock on a Tuesday or Wednesday. I am at my house being completely lost at the fact I have had electricity for some part of the day since Saturday. I had power all day Saturday and Sunday, which never happens. I am just waiting for the power to get cut off for a good three or four days in a row. I am stocked on candles so that won’t be a problem. Chris Woodling or Biker as some people know him came out for a week and we had a great time. I won’t talk [View Full Entry]

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Its 9am, I just finished the free breakfast buffet with the eggs that seemed way too yellow. This is the last day that all of us, PCVs, will be together until Mid-Service Training in nine months. Some left on buses early this morning and our group in the south will most likely leave around noon. I have to say that I am grateful that our group has gel-ed as well as it has. We truly are like a giant family. We know when people are lying, we know everyone’s mannerisms, and we put up with everything. There have been no big [View Full Entry]

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Peace Corps has a very strict policy about traveling within country but without taking vacation days. This is a policy I that I adhere to without reservation. Did you know there are two Mexican restaurants in Ethiopia? One in Debre Zeit and one in Addis. On a side note I want to tell you a story. A Peace Corps Volunteer had a friend come into town the other day. They had a great time and when it was time for her to leave, he decided that it was in her best interest not to let her ride the bus alone. This [View Full Entry]

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Hello Everyone, I am sure you all have forgotten about me since my last post. Let me catch you up-to-date. If you remember, I was volunteering at the HIV/AIDS NGO Forum. The newsletter I put together went to the printer. The coordinator is getting a lot of complements from it. Anyways after all that was finished, I went in to ask about starting a new project. Getnet(coordinator) had an idea for a health service mapping project which sounds pretty extensive. The goal is to survey every health service organization; community based organization, foreign NGO, as well as all faith based o [View Full Entry]

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Hello Everyone, I just wanted to say a little something today. First, I have a new email address, johnnylamoney@gmail.com. I have to get rid of the WKU email address because it fills up too quickly. Luckily, I don’t have too many people in my address book. This weekend was pretty neat. A Peace Corps Volunteer from Tanzania just finished his service so he has been biking north in hopes of reaching the Mediterranean. He stopped in for a day but enjoyed my hospitality so stayed through the weekend. He has been on his bike for a month now and he is [View Full Entry]

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Hey Everyone. I know its been a while but I figured you just got tired of reading about me receiving packages and what I had to eat. Now I have some actual news. The Head Guy from the Aids Resource Council came down to Hawassa the other day to talk with his new Peace Corps volunteer, Rich. Rich is a pretty unique character; 6 years in the military and felt he wasn’t doing anything good for the world. So he joined the Peace Corps. He is doing IT work for the ARC trying to setup a computer lab for them to [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone. Let's play a little bit of catch up. I got sick last week, just a little bit of the flu that is going around. Nothing big just a few headaches, runny nose, and tiredness. So what did I do, I read three books. Franny and Zooey by Salinger, The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night, and Whatever You Do, Don't Run. The latter was the best. I read two on Friday and one on Saturday. Then I worked on a special project I will tell you about later for the rest of the weekend. I am fine now [View Full Entry]

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