http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Ethiopia , Southern Nations Region , Awasa en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:24:27 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:24:27 +0000 I think it is about time that I owe everyone another blog. If only I could think of some things to talk about. Well letrsquos see new developments. I got internet at my house so I can now check my email a lot more regularly. In fact it isnrsquot half bad. The days when I do have power the majority of the town doesnrsquot so that frees up a lot of the bandwidth. I get asked a lot if I http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-425341.html Letrsquos seehellip It is one orsquo 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 wonrsquot be a problem http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-412232.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-397025.html Hello EveryoneI am sure you all have forgotten about me since my last post. Let me catch you uptodate. If you remember I was volunteering at the HIVAIDS 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. Getnetcoordinator had an idea f http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-395780.html 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 wasnrsquot doing anything good for http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-390196.html 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. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-383936.html 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 MMs. Thank you so much Cheryl it was perfect. So t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-382192.html 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 HIVAIDS NGOs. They are working on a project to compile all http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-379916.html Who is this Teddy Afro and what does he have to do with me you may very well ask. Well he plays reggae and I love reggae he is an Ethiopian musician and some kind of hero in his country check the Net if you are interested and I was in Ethiopia and got to know his music AND I went to a disco in Awasa with ldquothe boysrdquo thank you for taking me where they had live music and also http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-377342.html 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 c http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-376401.html 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 Ethiop http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-375280.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-365010.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-364628.html I had the pleasure of attending a local HIV AIDS forum in the resort town of Awassa 5 hours drive from Addis Ababa. The forum was for VSO volunteers working in the HIVAIDS sector. We shared status of our work at our individual employers and discussed ideas for improvement. We learned latest facts of international aid money coming into Ethiopia. We learned that Ethiopia has a good track record of http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-351734.html It was a real ldquoIrsquom in Africardquo moment seeing hippos on Lake Awasa again. Hannah and I had travelled down to Awasa on Friday with the thought of pizza sustaining us on the bus journey to Shashemene. We met up with Anita from Adama Nick and Paul from Awasa.On Saturday we did those chores that cannot be done in Robe getting photos printed keys copied and buying essential http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Southern-Nations-Region/Awasa/blog-217064.html