Morocco Arrival

When, may I ask, do you hear opera music playing when you walk into the baggage claim hall? How often is your bag the first bag you see rolling right towards you on the carousel? When do you have three easyjet agents waiting for you when you walk up without any other customers around? When do you walk out of the airport three minutes before the Gatwick-Heathrow shuttle takes off? How often are the Heathrow International departures security lines short? When are you offerred free cocktails by a duty free shop on the way to the gate???

Only on days like yesterday. Maybe no one else heard the opera music.

After being nervous and praying so much, it was so smooth! I caught the 11:45 shuttle when I had planned on catching the 12. And I had extra time to check my bag, and we did have free cocktails in the airport, great.

Now after sleeping in our canapy beds and taking breakfast, we are off to the Medina.

Blasted Arabic keyboard!! Takes forever:

Toulouse!!!

Amazing that I have been here in Toulouse already for my whole visit! Five days went really fast, it was so fun being with the boys and Lydia and Sam and Rebecca. We went to 'Pic du Midi' yesterday, up in the Pyranees mountains, wow, so beautiful.

Whoa, little nieces are so cute!! Lydia was funny all bundled up. It is amazing to feel how fast the days go with little kids around, seems like you just eat, play with them a little, get them out the door for something, back in the door, eat again, and its bedtime!! They are so cute.

We were busy at church a few days, then up to the snow, then today we went to the museum of natural history here in Toulouse. Seems like it has been good, full days here.

Tomorrow... making it across London from gatwick to heathrow in time, that is the trick. Easyjet in Europe is pretty tight on carry on baggage, and I've got a pretty packed little case, so I might not make it without some checked.... I hope it works out, with time to spare. Now tonight I saw a website that said arrive 3 hours for international flights... I don't think I will at heathrow three hours before my flight to Morocco!!

Will feel good to land in Marrekesh tomorrow night...

A few pictures

Mmmmm. We ate at this "meat house" up in Mekele. Probably ate some of the meat hanging there! We had kitfo and zilzil tibs and all kinds of great Ethiopian meat specialities.



Here is the Langano clinic.



Here we are- Brian and I- at Langano, on the mission station down by the lake. We swam alot in the afternoons, the water felt great, just a little mucky on the bottom.

London

I am in London now, at Jen's place, in her little room at the top of the three story funky house she lives in here in "Eelling" area of London. She is out tonight with a couple English tutoring sessions that she does, so I have the place to myself for the moment until her housemates get in. The view from up here is so cool, looking out on a very London-looking scene (to me) of steep roofs and a church clock tower and crisp afternoon sun. The house kindof reminds me of the funky Institute house in Chelles outside Paris- have to love the old washing machine in the kitchen next to the fridge deal.

At least I didn't sleep through my flight this time! My flight departed at 4:15 am from Addis Abeba. I decided to show up early to the airport to avoid the annoying lines, which actually worked out pretty well. I got there a little after one, checked in, and lay down on the bench to take a nap. Then on the flight I got all three seats to myself, so lay down and had a good sleep until the plane filled up in Amman, Jordan.

The last day in Ethiopia worked out so well. My flight in from Mekele was easy to catch, and then I ran into or found all the people I wanted to. I saw Ken R., that was good to talk to him, he is looking for a nurse to do alot of community health stuff, and I had such a nice talk with Esther Lee, I like her a lot, then Brian and I had dinner at the Carnivore, that was cool.

Tomorrow on to Toulouse. I have a cute little Oyster card now for getting around London- I hope I do ok getting to Gatwick. At least I will just have my little carry on.

Mekele

I just arrived back from my two day trip to Mekele. I suppose one noteworthy part was when I woke up. My flight departed at 6:30 on Monday morning, and I woke up at 6:29. Opened my eyes and wondered, why is it light outside? I'm supposed to be getting up at 4:30, why would it be light out there?? CRAZY!

Now I am back, just the rest of the day to wrap things up here in Ethiopia, flying out to London tonight. My flight is at 4:15 in the
morning, so it will be a long night in the airport tonight!! I hope I survive.

I think I will have time at Jen's in London tomorrow to write more...

I ran out of time to get my hair braided!!

Back in Addis

Let's see…  Wednesday.  Wednesday the plan was to distribute nets, then head back to Addis.   The net distribution always got so wild at the end- actually the whole time- those of use who were off playing soccer or volleyball were having a better time usually than the ones handing out the nets.   The way you do things is to get two "lines" going, and with a list of names for each line.  Then two people, sort of simultaneously, are yelling and repeating people's names, and 4 or 5 others figure they should turn around and yell the same name so everyone hears, so the result is noone can really hear anything.   Not to mention continually yelling "move back" because the crowd just keeps pushing in on you.  It was really wild.   Then, dealing with extra nets, whoa, it was always a mob at the end- the way we would do things, we would just finish the list, pack up and leave, without being talked into giving extras out.   But… not the only way to do it.  Everytime we left, it was like driving out of a mob, with yelling and pushing going on, plus demands for nets and begging hand signals the whole way out.   Wild.

 

I got a little ("little") frustrated that we stopped in a town so somebody (coordinator of some type) could buy himself some fertilizer- that took about half an hour, after we are already late and supposed to already have been in Addis.   I'm glad I got to have some good conversations with him on the way home because otherwise he would have thought I was irritated forever.  I was the only white person in that car, so he said, oh, I wouldn't have stopped that long if there were firenges in the car, but you aren't a firenge anymore, you are an Ethiopian.   Hmmm, I was too irritated to take that as a compliment!

 

So we had a great big dinner with 30 people at Family Restaurant last night, it was so fun.  I could tell the team was really excited to be eating firenge food besides spaghetti and bread, we were all ordering burritos, good steaks, and of all things I was in the mood for a cucumber yogurt salad.   Just sounded so good and fresh.

 

This morning I met up with the team for the last time- breakfast at La Parisienne- I am going to miss them!!  Amazing how well you get to know people in just a few days!  Brian came along to breakfast, that was fun.

 

Denise Ward is back!!  So fun seeing her last night, and tonight we went out to coffee, we do have a lot in common, and I'm glad we'll both be in the country.   After that we went over to Indalsh's house- that is the Oromo family she lived with here in Addis while she was in language school.  She decided we should just drop in because that was they wouldn't go out of their way to prepare for us, and I'll admit I was a little nervous about dropping in and just catching her at a weird time.   I kept asking Denise questions like, "Have you ever dropped in before?"  so she could tell I was nervous about the unannounced visit, and she said I had been out of the country too long!!   Probably true.  It ended up being PERFECT.  They were just sitting down to coffee, all the kids were there, just nice to chat.   (all in Oromo, of course, whoa, little rusty).  Denise made the point that doing a visit like that with two people really helps the flow of conversation- I could see that- the spotlight isn't always on you.   So we had coffee and talked, and I was saying how cool it would be to have more Ethiopian friends in Addis that you could come back and connect with when you were in town.

 

That's that.  Tomorrow I am going to see part of the Addis Kedan Aids project, that should be good.   I could use about another month here….

More Butajira

So, today... Now that the power is back on I can log onto the internet here. The gals at the internet cafe said they were gonig to find me some samosas because I am craving them, I love the way the community works here. I write my blog update, they bring me snacks!!

More scrambled eggs and omelets this morning for breakfast. The bread is really good- I think the team is probably getting tired of so little selection of firenge food at meals, but they are catching on to shiro wot quickly.

We headed out past Enceno (town) to a little bush area, again, we had a group of people sitting waiting for us under a tree. We started a soccer and volleyball game, (I played volleyball for a while), and then they have the mosquito net teaching. We are there with our group of Americans, as well as a lot of the evangelists working in the area. As chaotic as that can be with lots of people to coordinate, it is great that we are working together, and I think it is clear to the community that this service is coming from the local church.

I went on a little visit - a lady asked me over to her house - of course she wanted a picture in front of her house, which was fine. She served me beans and corn mixed, nice, with a little salt.

The rest of the team seems to be doing well. It is so great seeing the team cross culture with sports, playing with the kids, games, and all that. I know a little about both those cultures, it is magic watching them connect.

Dave and Lynn Hunt just arrived down here with us. I think the plan is to distribute the rest of our nets tomorrow, then head to Addis.

I love the fact that the college students had a bake sale to raise money to come out here. They raised the money for the nets- these nets are treated with chemicals that kill mosquitos lasting 4 years or 20 washes. So it is quite a service to the community and the local church to provide the nets themselves. I have been telling Ethiopians, "These are students, they have some money, but not lots and lots. So they made food and sold it to buy these nets for all of you because they wanted to show you God's love."

The samosas should be ready soon.

Another funny story

Yesterday at the house church we were getting ready to pray, I am leaning down with my hand over my eyes, and our translator/"coordinator" dude comes and says to me, "Wake up, sister.  Pray in Amharic."  Which cracked me up, and i am not really fitted to pray in Amharic so after the prayer (which was simple) he said, "that was nice, just like a child."

Butajira

Well, first, the night before leaving with the college group, I was feeling FUNKY.  I went to bed pretty early, feeling achy and sick, wondering if I could have gotten malaria or something out in Sodere.  So then when I got up in the middle of the night and walked to the bathroom, I thought I was going to pass out for sure, and stumbled back to my room seeing black dots and feeling AWFUL!! 

But after that I felt actually pretty good in the morning, and now I feel fine.

We got out here to Butajira late Saturday after quite a while of just sitting around.  At least I got to know the group a bit that way.  They are really cool kids.  We settled into our hotel Saturday night.

 

Sunday we split up and went to a few different churches with Horn of Africa Mission.  We went to a little house church, whoa, I have never been to a house church in Ethiopia, I loved it, it was so organic and real.  One of the college guys gave his testimony, then the translator asks me to help translate, then he translated from my Amharic to the congregation, so funny!  But the people were really connecting with the testimony, it was great.  I loved that.

 

Today we went out with the mosquito nets to distribute.  It worked out well, but was kindof wild with all the people mobbing for the nets.  I think the college kids were a little overwhelmed with how rough Ethiopians can be with each other, I don't blame them.  Now all the kids know what it is like to be pressed with people.  They are troopers, alot of them talk about wanting to come back and be missionaries and all, I think that is great.

 

This little town we are staying in is all right.  It is so fun speaking Amharic again.  I don't want to leave Ethiopia, I don't want to come home.  At least I know I am exactly where God wants me now.

Langano

Langano.  I put two pictures in here, don't know if they will show or not.

 

From the top.  Wow, what a great trip.  We did manage to have Kim and Dan take our bags and jerry cans of water and food and all, and they even said that morning- do you guys want a ride?   We said, "No, we'll just take the bus!"  They thought we were crazy.  I was mostly worried about the 9 mile hike into Langano, but Brian was really excited about it.   We had this discussion on the bus- if we see a taxi, are we going to take it?  My theory was we should use a taxi to as far as we could!!   Brian thought walking sounded cool, and I kept telling him he was overestimating me!

 

Anyways, got on the bus near Stadium in Addis, waited about an hour for it to fill up (with all kinds of hard core bush/Awanno looking people), and then we actually made pretty good time down- about 4-4 ½ hours.   It took an extra half hour because we stopped for lunch in Zoway and as everyone was getting back on the bus, the bus lurched and the bus door slammed onto a girl's finger, and she was crying and crying, so of course the bus driver had to take across the way to the clinic!   So everyone got out and were milling around- actually we got going again in half an hour, so that wasn't so bad, after all.

 

We got out at "the red road"- turnoff to Langano- looks like the middle of the Sahara.  NOTHING.   So we started walking, Brian said he felt like we were in a movie or something.  Actually, we had walked probably 20 minutes when along comes this Land Cruiser, and here is Nancy saying she had to take someone to the hospital and she was on her way home!   We jumped in with her, and the big long hike ended up being a little too easy.

 

Langano- the station- is really spread out.  Takes a while to get from the clinic up to the missionary housing, and from the houses down to the beach.   We went swimming right away, the water felt great.  As it turned out, Brian camped by the beach, and I stayed in the short term house with Joan.   The whole time was really great- I "worked" (mostly observed) in the clinic for two mornings, and in the afternoons we swam and fished and watched the hippo.   (sweet!  We saw the hippo).

 

The clinic was kindof depressing.  I just know clinics.  Similar to Awanno- Nancy is kindof burned out now, so she is continually frustrated with the Ethiopian staff, and what isn't being done right, etc.   I was there for the morning of obstetric prenatal day, and I actually liked that.  My job was fundal height, Doppler heart tones, and leopolds.   I think my leopolds improved in that one day, one baby I felt and said, I think this one is breech, what do you think?  Nancy agreed with me. This is the Langano clinic.  Sure looks like a clinic in the middle of Africa!!

 

So, it was great.  Campfires at night, gorgeous stars, all the guards saying, "whoa, you speak Oromo!!"   I went visiting one day, went into one house, then got served dinner at a funeral.  All by myself, too, it is easy enough to have simple conversations in Oromo.   This is Arsi Oromo, but not too different from Jimma Oromo.

 

I had a good talk with Kim this morning- she likes being in the clinic best, and wants to develop the community health more, so that is where she envisions me.   I can see community more than I can clinic for myself, so I liked hearing that.  She said maybe you can help out in the clinic just on the busy days.  

 

Back in Addis.  Today was sort of long and hard.  I suppose it is the same feeling again- floating around HQ.   At least this time I don't have too much down time- I am leaving tomorrow for Butajira with the Venture College Group.

 

Nebiyu said if I want, they will make a trip to Awanno with me.  If I wasn't here, they wouldn't go, but some of the Awanno staff would make the trip up here.   The weight of that decision seems so hard!  I wish I didn't have to go just me with some Ethiopians.  I wish Brian, or Denise, or Gi-Yeung could go.  Maybe something would work out, but I will probably have to tell him before I know how everything will work out.   When/if I come back next year, the SIM contract will be over in Awanno, might be even harder to go.  I don't know.

 

So, off to bed.  I am all packed and ready for the next trip.

Plans for the week

Yesterday Brian and I had a great time getting out and around town.  We went to the fancy new movie theater here and saw National Treasure 2.  He told me he spends 1-3 hours a day just walking and taking taxis around Addis.  I was surprised, but not that surprised after how many places we got to yesterday!  Too bad the city is spread out like that.  But the minibus system here actually works really well.

 

So today, Beza International Church- this church is in English, but mostly Ethiopians, I guess it is targeting rich Ethiopians.  Brian feels like it is a little too showy and hasn't really cared for it recently.  They did do a great job with the worship and all...  I was sitting there thinking, gee, all these people in this building are here because they want to experience God, at least that's what they would say.  But... here I am looking out the window at the expanse of land after the city ends, and the mountains in the distance.  God is with us, to be experienced, how about experiencing God by obeying Him and following Him into uncomfortable places out in the bush, where the needs are so overwhelming?  I love the bush, but thinking about solar electricity and all the things you give up when you leave Addis is sobering for me.  I think He is calling me to obey Him.... out there somewhere. 

 

So, Langano tomorrow!!  Going to be a little interesting with all the logistics.  Brian and I are taking the bus down and walking in to Langano, which I guess is somewhere between 15 and 18 kilometers- whoa!!  That calculates out to be at least 9 miles.  Brian seems to think we'll be fine, and I know we'll be ok if we're together.  Then I am going to stay in the short-term house down there, and Brian's going to camp.  We bought food for the two of us for 3-4 days, but we didn't count on cooking facilities, so its like, bread and laughing cow cheese and crackers- REALLY boring- with muesli and milk powder for breakfast!  Whoa.  I hope I'm ok without coffee....  I didn't want it to be sketchy for the two of us be together so much but it seems like it will be ok.  I hope our hike in is ok- Joan on the radio today was asking about the walk in, and saying she had talked to Brian about it, and it was really hard to hear what she was saying because there was so much static and all, so it was a little weird.  We'll be fine.  I hope I'm not too tired after walking all that way.

 

I feel scared about how quickly time is going!  I don't know when I'll get to sit down and talk to Kim about Langano- she is the main nurse I would be working with.  After Langano I'm meeting up with the youth group from Venture Christian- I talked to Dave Hunt on the phone last night and I can tell he has got everything really well planned, so I feel good about that.  I'm leaving with them next Saturday from Addis, that is the plan.  Butajira, the town we're going to, is on the Jimma road, so I assume I'll recognize the area since that's the way we always went.

 

Had dinner tonight with the Lees and Claire- I love seeing the kids again.  I just wanted to squeeze them.  Jae Bin is talking with this really cute little south african accent after being they were in South Africa for a year for Ki-Yueng's schooling.  We had a great injera spread, man, I am eating way too much.

 

I had time to pray this morning about all the possibilities and the timing of things during the rest of my visit.  I think God is here with me, that makes me feel good about things.  I hope things fall into place.

And today my blog is letting me log on!  Someone said blogger had issues in Ethiopia.  Claire and I were just trying to get her computer logged in- hard when things don't work right!!

Anyway, saw the Lees this morning, wow, you are so connected to people you worked with in the bush!  They had me into their guest house room for Korean breakfast- like spicy ramen soup.  The kids are so big and cute now.

Brian's coming over soon, and we're going to go play or something.  I had a great talk this morning with Angela Kruse- her and her husband work out at Sherkole Sudanese refuge camp.  She is hard core about getting out into the community, I feel like I have a lot to learn from her.

Well, hope I can write more regularly.  We're thinking of leaving for Langano on Monday, but I don't know what that will look like- Brian and I taking the bus down, then walking in?  15 km?  Carrying all our food and water???  Camping??  Great potential for fun!

In Ethiopia

Addis Ababa... I knew it the second I stepped into the jetway, there's just that funny sulfur stinky smoky smell in the air, I really am here. Its been a week now and I'm coming out of the daze, and actually almost feeling like I never left! I can get myself around town, and say quite a bit to people, I didn't forget.

So nothing too notable about the flights or anything, although when I was standing in the visa line I was scared that Brian hadn't woken up and now I would have to figure something out at 4 in the morning, but sure enough he was there. My box made it fine and all, I stayed at HQ (sharing a room with someone) for the first two nights.

The first day Brian and I rode his motorcycle around town- very cool and fun, that is the way to go! Actually it wasn't really just for fun, he was driving it in the to shop as it is broken again. So we dropped it off and took taxis home. He said he hasn't taken any contract taxis, just the minibuses since he's been back, and I was feeling bad because the minibuses are so much more work, you know, have to catch one, change, catch another one, I am too lazy and I just get a contract taxi. But he's right, the price comparison is like a birr twenty compared to twenty birr! Way cheaper.

So then we left for the Sodere conference- the spiritual life conference they have every other year. The place was like a hotel "resort." (they did call it a resort) which was pretty cool location wise- pretty, with a big huge swimming pool. But the actual accomodations were sketchy- I guess average for Ethiopia. Cockroaches, whoa, I forgot about those. I roomed with Allison, that was cool- at first we decided to kill the cockroaches but then we just started ignoring them. I had to scan the bathroom before actually using the can- little to vulnerable to be sitting there and having one come along.

But anyways, everyone is great sports, nobody really says much about stuff like that. I just forget the difference.... pretty distinct....

They had this ginourmous swimming pool, and they filled it with water from a hot spring, so the first night we got there it was like a really hot spa- almost burned when you first got in. It felt good at night. Then over the next few days it slowly cooled- yesterday it felt just right for a afternoon swim in the sun. All the kids from SIM were out having a great time, plus the parents and the singles, too, it was really fun, you know, diving contests and stuff.

Somehow Brian talked me into swimming in the river, no kidding, this river (the Awash river) is supposed to have crocs in it. That was a little trippy. Actually I told him, it is the stuff in the river that you can't see that really scares me. Like leaches and schisto and all the weird river diseases. I think that is African Health Rule Number One: don't swim in the rivers!! We had a blast.

I got to know alot of cool people better, plus meeting a lot of new ones. It is good to be here and think about coming back- I prayed alot and I feel God leading me, not sure where or how, just yet.

So the plan- probably down to Langano early next week- at the moment Brian and I are planning on taking the bus, so a down country bus trip sounds great. Nancy sounds pretty burned out down there- she had to leave the conference right away to be back and be on call this weekend.

Tonight we are going to Ethiopian dinner with dancing, I guess, that will be fun. I haven't had good shiro yet, or some good "encolal be sigah"- eggs with meat- oh, gosh, sounds good.

The schedule has flowed so naturally, I think everything is going to fall into place. I keep praying God will work all the details out.

I can feel myself relaxing into the African me.... I don't care about dirty feet, or dusty hair, or clean hands, or makeup, or any of that..... Feels good. I think this is the real me.