Today is a Great Day!

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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 and starting work. My networking is paying off and projects are starting to come along but anyway.

I went to the Lewi Hotel at lunchtime to get some free internet. Today was a glorious day. I stopped off at the post office to send a few letters and check my box. I found three invoices for packages in it. Unbelievable. I got one from my Aunt Jean, one from my sister Emily, and one from my place of previous employment, Chuck's Wine and Spirits. All three were incredible so I really have to describe each by themselves because there was some serious thought put into these.

Aunt Jean - The first package I opened was Aunt Jean's. She had White Cheddar Cheese-its, Macadamia Nuts, a Paint-by-Numbers, a glow stick hat, candy, two Wilbur Smith novels, and a really great letter telling of whats going on in the Northeast Kingdom. The letter was one of the best things in the package.

Emily - This package was a complete surprise. I got a bunch of pictures she printed offline for me, a couple magazines, some great toys, and some really excellent candy.

Chuck's- Well, what do I say about Chuck's except that they never disappoint. They even somehow found an Ethiopian Camoflauge Military Jacket they included. I don't know where you guys got that but when I get shot wearing it, you know I will think of you. Of course, they put some things from our snack island and a bit of American booze as well.

I know these descriptions don't justify the effort you guys put in the packages, but let me tell you that I am the envy of the entire Peace Corps Ethiopia Program. The letters were great, and now I have enough candy to last me till June.

As far as work goes, today, finally, Chris(one of the other volunteers in Awasa), got motivated. But he got just as wrapped up in my packages as I did, so the morning was shot. Ethiopia has a three hour lunch period. One hour for lunch and most people just add on the other two because it is so hot it is hard to move around. Anyways I have to stop by an NGO and pick up a bit of paperwork my counterpart gave them to fill out. After that we are going to visit a few other NGOs in the area. It is a little hard trying to find out about what makes some of these NGOs unique because of the language barrier. Some questions don't translate at all into Amharic. That is why we are assigned counterparts, but mine is setting up a lot of projects in the southern region. So I just have to make the best of it. I have no problem with that. Also, this weekend my project was to put up some pictures for everyone to see. I spent 9 hours on Saturday and 6 hours Sunday doing it but I got it up and running. I managed to get about forty pictures up on the site. The website is http://photobucket.com/johnnylamoney . I hope everyone enjoys the pictures. These are just the basics, some friends, some sights, Awasa, Ambo, and my compound. I wrote a little bit about each picture so you know what you are looking at.

Ok well I have to start getting some work done today. I hope everyone is well back in the states. I heard about Western's performance in the tournament. WKU!! Even being 6000 miles away I still can't bring myself to say, "GO TOPS!" Maybe next year. Goodbye everyone.

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Comments

[Jim Gray]

Dude
I'm so proud of you, you are doing some incredible stuffs.

[Caseballs]

Hey buddy
Hey man, I haven't heard from you in awhile. I blame the Peace Corps on that, but I hope all is well. I am an avid reader of your blogs. It sounds like this is going to turn out to be an amazing experience. I plan to send you a package. I know you've posted your mailing address several times, but if you think of it, could you send it to me on facebook or something? If not, I'll cycle through the previous blogs and get it. Take care man, and I'll be thinking of you.

[Cheryl Kirby-Stokes]

Jambo!
Do they say that there? I just got done looking at your pictures. Thank you so much! Love the one of you and Yamamoto. I bet the shaved head feels much better. Are you allowed to drive the Bajajs?