Home Delicious Home

As I mentally scanned my adventures over the past week, nothing seemed bizarrely appropriate to write about at first. The last week has flown by so fast that things here are beginning to feel normal in a way.  The last few nights though the Trainees have been getting together to continue a mini-celebration of Christmas by watching Holiday movies, which has brought me back to the reality of my situation.  Christmas sans cold weather, colorful lights and the smell of an Evergreen in your living room just feels like pretending it is Christmas in July.

Before I get all nostalgic about American Christmas, I will get back to telling you about life in Ethiopia!  Last week I remembered a dream for the first time since leaving home in which I had this incredible shower.  Since then I have also dreamed I had a chance to go home and pack another suitcase, and another wonderful dream just about getting to wear jeans.  Simple pleasures in the States are now boosted to luxury status.

The hardest word yet. Trying repeating that one!

The Amharic lessons are coming along, and each day I feel slightly more prepared to live here for two years.  Don't get me wrong, it is also one of the hardest and most frustrating things I have ever had to endure, but sharing that pain with 39 other volunteers helps ease the stress.  Walking home the other day with a fellow trainee we realized that we knew the word for "home" and the word for "sweet," and we came up with "Bit Yetafetal Bit," Home Sweet Home.  After some deliberation, we realized that it actually translated "Home Delicious Home," which funny enough is the opposite of reality.  While injera (the sour-pancake eaten at every meal) is growing on me, so is my longing for Taco Bell and Chick-Fil-A.  In fact, that is now a common leisure activity between classes, naming the food you miss the most.
 

In other news, last Sunday (our only full day off the whole week), a group of around 30 of us decided to climb to the top of the mountain just outside of town.  For those of you who know Greenville, this is no Paris Mountain.  The Tulle Mountains run a few Kilometers away from Ambo, which allow for gorgeous picturesque views from anywhere in town.  We headed out at 7:30am following a local guide carrying an AK-47.  Four grueling hours later, we reached the top to the mountain.  The already-high altitude of Ambo combined with a lack of exercise for weeks now led to one of the hardest hikes of my life!  Let's just say I will never look at those mountains the same way ever again.  The view was breathtaking though, and if internet ever seems to move faster than that seven-hour hike, I will be sure to upload a picture or two.

Life here is definitely different, and never less than a grand adventure.  I am constantly discovering new things about life here in Ethiopia and the culture never ceases to amaze me.  I just found out today that the shed in the back of my compound houses a massive cow, which my mom milks to get the butter that has been in most of my meals since arriving here!  "Endaaaay??" I asked ("Ohhhhh?").  I had no idea!  The work that goes into each meal is immeasurable.  I am loving these new discoveries and I am enjoying being further accepted into this society each and every day.