Thought I would shoot out a quick update on my life.
Brought in the 2012 New Year in a town called Alamata with 4 other PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) eating Oreos and playing Texas Holdem. Really couldn’t have asked for anything better… Except got my phone stolen in the market area. 3 hours later, 2 police stations and one government l office later I got my police report. I did however neglect to tell you the police report was on a half ripped sheet of paper it was in Amharic the national language, it did however have a stamp and signature on it, which in Ethiopia is a legitimate document. Got sick on the bus ride back to my town. I was about 4 hours south of Adugudom and I have to go through some killer switch backs…Not a fun ride. Made it back to site just in time to have a bacterial infection (diarrhea) which I quickly got on some meds that did cure up the problem before I had to travel into Mekele to fly out to Addis for IST (Inservice Training).
I did spend a couple wonderful nights in Mekele with 3 of my most favorite Tigray people. It was nice to not have any set plans in Mekele. Met up with a couple VSO in the town and had something called a fruit punch which is similar to a fruit salad except at the base of the fruit salad is an avocado smoothy thing and on top is grenadine. It’s a wonderful concoction that I will truly miss when I have to go back to the states.
After much debate in the Mekele bus station as to how much we were going to pay to put bags on top of the bus I made it to Mekele Airport and on my way to Addis. Due to the fact that I flew into Addis I was one of the first to arrive and it was fun seeing everyone as they arrived at Kings Hotel. Another day later I ended up getting diarrhea again… This time it did not hit me like the other 2 times, so I’ve been in denial for the last week or so saying it’s just a diet issue. Because reality is that I am not cooking my own food and I’m also eating food that is not usually in my diet back at site. Just recently got tested and am still waiting on results. Hope I can start taking some medication soon.
Overall IST has been rather enlightening and also a big boost in the motivation department. I’m ready to get back to site and start on some project proposal writing. I have also decided that I’m ready to change the organization I’ve been working with to another. I think this will really help me get stuff accomplished during my two years of service. Started language tutoring a couple weeks before I left for Addis and am ready to get back to studying Tigrinya the language I learned for my area. It really has been helpful!
Anyway hope all is well with everyone. I also hope that you all get a little more snow while it’s still winter as I heard that the mountain just recently opened for skiers.
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Sham
"Life is tough wear a helmet
