My Life as a Roller Coaster

I have never in my life been on such a ride before.  Every day, every minute is a new emotion as I discover my new life here in Ethiopia.  This is something I never anticipated or prepared for, but I am trying to accept and process each new and mixed emotion as it comes.  I feel like I am on the edge of a breakdown one minute and completely at home the next.  The smallest gesture or smile will bring a tear to my eye, and most of the time I cannot figure out if I am happy, sad or overwhelmed.
 
All of these emotions have made me question my whole experience, which is also something I did not prepare for.  I have been so certain that Peace Corps is the right choice for me for months now, and so it never crossed my mind that I would question things once I got here.  However, I now find myself questioning who I am, why I am here, what my purpose in life really is, and how I can truly help this world.

 
I have also realized in the past week that I love a grand challenge.  I have experienced more bizarre moments throughout this past week than I have in the whole of my life prior to this week.  I am living with an Ethiopian family, who does not speak English, and whose customs are vastly different from anything I have experienced before. I have bathed from a bucket, dodged cattle on the main road of my town, and survived a pit latrine.  I would say I am adjusting to the culture pretty well.

 

The group of 40 Peace Corps volunteers has been scattered around the town of Ambo, Ethiopia living with host families for the next 10 weeks. Each day we spend hours in class learning the local Amharic language, cultural lessons, and technical job training.  Each night we return home to our host families where just about anything is bound to happen.  The other volunteers are such a great support group; hearing everyone's incredibly different host family stories and bonding through our shared awkward moments thus far is vital.  I value these new friendships and their support through this roller coaster of emotions.

 
Tonight is night three with my host family, the Bokosa Family (although they do not have a family name like at home, but Bokosa is my host father's name).  I am still figuring out how everyone is related as they do not have a word in Amharic for cousin, so each new relative is translated to me as brother or sister.  My main liaison is Almaz, my host family sister, who is in her late twenties and her son Naboni, who will turn five on Christmas (which is January 7th here).   We spend much of the time with her 5 "sisters" who are all around her age and live about a block away.  It is a group of wonderful women and when we visit with them only one thing is guaranteed: plenty of laughing!  I am pretty sure a majority of the laughing is directed towards me and my broken Amharic, but when I step out of the situation I realize how hilarious this whole thing is and I join in the laughter.

 
My family here has seen pictures of all of those wonderful people I love back home.  I showed them the small photo album I brought and explained in broken Amharic/English each picture. They all smiled so big at the end and said "Conjo. Conjo."  It means good; beautiful; the best. They are right.