The Trip to Langano

So we made it down to Langano midmorning on Monday.  Now Lake Langano is a big lake and a lot of resorts have come along and made nice little places to stay around the edge of it.  SIM has a station about 45 minutes drive off the main road.  It was great being with the team- my future team- and getting a feel for the compound.  They all eat an injera lunch together that this great Ethiopian cook makes and it was fun seeing the Rodgers kids and feeling welcomed by everyone.  Nancy had left alot of stuff that she said I could have so we borrowed her tents and got ourselves set up down by the lake with our tents.  It is so pictureque by the lake- green reeds, glassy smooth water, acachia trees, etc.  The compound surprises me because it is so BIG!- so much bigger than Awanno.  I guess SIM has 100 acres.  So I went to see my new house (see pic) that they are building- it is probably a kilometer away from the lake, seems like a ways up there.  It is nestled into all kinds of greenery and seems like it will be nice.

 

There are lot of other familes down camping at other places around the lake- it was fun being with them, and we even got to waterski with one family who fixes boats up and such. 

 

There are hippos in the lake, no kidding, we saw three or four at a time, they hang out right in front of SIM's compound.  They make these weird noises in the reeds at night and one night I thought I heard breathing outside my tent (!!).  I hear at night they climb up on the land!  One of them opened his mouth really wide and did a little jump/flip in the water by the beach we were standing on, it was great to see!!  We saw the reeds matted down in lots of places where they had been.

 

Seemed like between waterskiing and spending a day across the lake on a different beach and the travel days, that the week went too fast!!  I wanted more time to get out, maybe visit, introduce myself to more people as the nurse that is coming down.  I suppose the time for that will come.

The Scooter Breaks Down

This is between Zoway and Mojo, just before Mojo.  We hitchhiked in a flatbed to get it back to Mojo then another flatbed to get it in to Addis.

My House in Langano!! (under construction)

I am standing in the kitchen.

Guess what I did at Lake Langano??

 

This is what happens to your hair after braids and camping for the week..........WILD!!

 

and again.....

Takes some getting used to!!  This will make for low maintenance hair while I'm camping at Langano next week!  We leave tomorrow morning early to drive down.

The New Me!!

 

....and down country last weekend at a resort in Wolisso with some friends from Bingham Academy

 

Hiking on a language school field trip

 

Me and My Amharic Primer!

I am reading this book and it is getting easier with practice.  Feels like kindergarten again!!

Language School Continues

Now we are getting further into Amharic grammar. We are talking about a language that always puts verbs at the end of the sentence, that inserts direct objects into the MIDDLE of the verb, that is written in a very foreign script, that speaks more in the perfect past that simple past, and that has four forms of "you."

Enough said! The speakers of Amharic are friendly and so warm to language learners. They tell you you are "gobez" (smart or clever) all the time. It is easy to get off the compound and walk around using it anytime. Today I ducked into a little juice shop and sat and had a pineapple/mango smoothie-thing for 60 US cents! The woman who ran it told me not to forget her name, and to come back soon. I told her, "I am your neighbor now."

So next week we have a break from language school. I am hoping to get out of the city, maybe to Langano to see my team and my station- and my house they are building!!

Language School

Language school continues. So far it is not too much for new
information for me, but next week the "short course" (one month
course I took before) ends and the long course begins. The teaching will be all in fidel (Amharic script) and only the serious students are left. That will be a change.

Otherwise I am trying to figure out how to balance my other time. I am going to the Fistula Hospital to tell the girls Bible stories on
Thursday afternoons. I would like to leave town on the weekends. There are people to catch up with- both Ethiopian and foreigners. There are lots of projects in Addis I could get involved with.

Strange to think I have been here only one week! Life begins to assume the routine...

So I am signing off and hope I can get a bus to "Zenebework": that is my stop.

Fistula Hospital

I have been to the Fistula hospital a number of times before, but it doesn't get old. We went a few days ago, and I was impressed again. We also went out to visit Desta Mender ("Village of Joy") where the girls who cannot be cured can live. It is like its own little community. The girls living there cannot be cured and need colostomies and such, so they need to be close to medical care for the stomas and UTI's and such. While they are on this compound they can learn things like literacy and business so they can find a way to support themselves. In this picture (if it loads) I am in front of the new midwivery school they are opening on the Desta Mender compound with a goal to decrease fistula rates with education.

Otherwise life goes on, Amharic language school is good though still a bit boring, I am making connections and in some ways feel like I never left. Now onto getting some groceries shopped for, getting my cell phone turned on, and making some granola.

Adjusting to a new life

All 8 boxes made it without problems. I got some Ethiopian "helpers" to help me in the airport, and we made it through customs without trouble-they weren't too concerned about trying to figure out what was in all those boxes. My ride was there to meet me just as planned, and I got settled into a cute little apartment on the SIM press compound.

Yesterday was the Eid- end of the fast. I took a taxi into town with some other gals from language school (heading into SIM headquarters) but the streets are under so much construction, and there were so many people out, that the taxi was just stopped, so we got out and walked.

So there we were, walking upstream a flood of jubilant Muslims carrying prayer mats and kids on their shoulders, celebrating the end of the fast. I decided that if I hadn't been to Ethiopia before, it would have been an overwhelming cultural experience: new smell everytime you inhale, new walking strategy with every step to avoid the bus in front of you, the kids yelling at you, the unmarked potholes, and lots and lots of people.

But I suppose it isn't too wild or weird for me. The new life of adventure.

Language school was good today. Tomorrow we are going on a "field trip" to the Fistula Hospital and Desta Mender.

I have survived days one and two of Africa!!