Hey Everyone!!!! I have a bunch to tell everyone but first, I have to thank Cheryl for her care package. It was amazing. One of the most beautiful things I have seen here in Ethiopia. It came with Playdoh, a small puzzle, Frisbee, socks, the biggest bag of Sour Patch Kids I have ever seen, 4 bags of Swedish fish and a whole case of assorted M&Ms. Thank you so much Cheryl, it was perfect. So this marks the one month of being at site for me. This means that we are allowed to travel in our region on the weekends. [View Full Entry]

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I am writing this on a friend's computer. A fellow volunteer, Jordan from Franklin, TN, traded his computer and hard drive for my PSP for the week. It was really nice being able to watch movies and TV. So what did I do this week? I found a really great NGO that I am going to start volunteering at. It is actually called the Forum of HIV/AIDS NGOs. They are working on a project to compile all of their members' mission statement, goals, projects, and contact information into a website. This actually works out great because they have gathered a lot [View Full Entry]

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OK ... I know it has only been a day or so since my last installment but I have to tell you one hilarious thing that happened to me yesterday. I was walking home after my "productive" day. I live by the bus station and was just talking with some of the guys who hassle me everyday; just passing conversation. I start to walk home down my dirt road and no sooner than I hit the road do I slip and catch myself just before my butt hits the ground. Everyone was laughing, including me, and I thought to myself what [View Full Entry]

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Ok everyone ... I am sorry it has taken so long. Reason one is because Awasa has decent internet speeds but Ambo has incredibly slow speeds and I couldn't make that jump again. So let's see after site visit to Awasa I was so pumped about what I was going to be doing. Then we went back to Ambo to finish our training. We all shared stories of what our sites are like. My site was called an Ethiopian vacation, which I can't disagree with I am totally spoiled being here in Awasa. Nothing really happened while we were in Ambo. [View Full Entry]

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There are a few things I want to clear up. First, since Ethiopia is so close to the Equator it doesn't get hot and cold seasons so much as wet and dry seasons. I think I am right about that. It stays about mid 80s to mid 90s year round in Awasa. It rained last night and it was amazing. I cannot figure how to load pictures on here. Oh my goodness there are some really awesome things I have to tell you. I can't believe I forgot them yesterday. First, on friday a bomb exploded in Addis while I was [View Full Entry]

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Wow... it has been quite a while since we last talked to each other. So much has changed since then. Let's see, where to start? Ok, site placement. Well, I was aiming for either in the Tigray region by the Simien mountains or Awasa near the Bale Mountains. The day of placement was a huge ordeal. The country director made an appearance, which I didn't think was a big deal because she only has 69 volunteers in-country and 40 were with me. Anyhow, there was this huge map, roughly 10' by 10', of Ethiopia and when our names were called we [View Full Entry]

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We finished our 4th week today. I just want to say that everyone in the Peace Corps gets the same mood swings I was getting. No worries. Next week is going to be a big one for all of us. On Tuesday we have our Language Proficiency Tests, and on Saturday, we will recieve our locations. It is kind of ridiculous about how secretive they are being about our sites. We had a slew of speakers come in this week and explain about their organizations and projects. The only one that spoke about any type of Income Generating Activities was from [View Full Entry]

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Today was the first day since my last post that both the phone lines and the power were working at the same time. Ethiopia has made me realize how much I hate Dial-up. So all of the Volunteers brought gifts for a Dirty Santa game. The limit was 10 Birr or 1 dollar. I bought a chinese power converter that only works in China(it's useless here) and a DVD of The Cowboy Way, a horrible movie with Kiefer S. and Woody Harrelson. All in all a pretty terrible gift, I would say. Of the 40 volunteers, I drew number 33 and [View Full Entry]

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Sorry everyone I spent all my money on some local beer and haven't been able to afford the internet. The Peace Corps Staff took all of us to a place called Lake Wenchi today. It was so beautiful. It is a giant crater lake. I would say about a kilometer across. The best part was the hour and half walk down the mountain side to the lake. I can't wait to be able to load some pictures on here for all of you to see. It has been a weird day though. We have been singing Christmas Carols all day but [View Full Entry]

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I felt really bad for my host father yesterday. He took me and my neighbor(who is also a Peace Corps Volunteer) to a local park and waterfall. It really was amazing just being able to sit and relax, and tune out everything that is on my mind right then and soak up the scenery. Anyways, the trip almost broke my host father's wallet. First off, the bus ride was 2 birr for locals, 5 for foreigns. Next the park entrance fee was 2 birr for locals, 10 for foreigns and an additional 10 to bring in a camera. Then the ride [View Full Entry]

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