We Know What We Did This Summer

Where did the time go? We heard we’d be bored and dreading the long hours of rainy season away. Instead, our must-dos for this summer were pushed to the corners for later as “summer” simply slipped through our busy fingers. (The must-dos were to explore Adwa with weekly Sunday walks, and record the four or five murder ballads we wrote together. We’ll have to address these goals sometime this year.)

But, looking back, we do know what we did this summer. And we loved it.

 

We Went Home for Re-fueling

Ohio with the Steadmans!

Indiana with the Luttrulls!

…where Ethiopia seemed to follow us, nonetheless:

One of seven or so gorgeous Ethiopian photos on the walls of the Starbucks in Willoughby, OH. I may have shrieked, then taken photos of all of them. So what.

We Held an Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony in America

 

The handsome baristas in Marion. This is a strict gender-roles breakthrough for Ethiopian culture right here: the men ceremonying the coffee.

We Held an American Donut Ceremony in Ethiopia

We invited the neighbors over for French Press coffee and homemade donuts (cinnamon & sugar, powdered sugar, and a nutmeg glaze). Four and a half hours of prep, thirty-some donuts, and Daniel and I ate three collectively; they were a hit.

While her teenage aunt shook most the sugar off the donuts under the table, one-year-old Rhodas enjoyed.

 I explained to our neighbors, “Nigoho nigoho ab America, nay police sab bambalino baliu, bunna satiyu.” Translation: Every morning in America, police officers eat donuts and drink coffee. Just another lesson in American culture.

We Designed & Manned An Amazing Camp for Girls

Extra! Extra! RETURN NEXT WEEK for a 4-minute highlights video from this incredible week at Camp GLOW. Our Ethiopian internet cannot handle the upload, so we'll do this from an undisclosed location by the end of this month! Come back and check it out.

We Remembered Meles Zenawi

The late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi died a year ago on August 20, or Nehesay 14, Ethiopian Calendar. He was born and raised in our town, Adwa. The people of our community gathered together by the thousands this August 20th to remember him with a candlelight ceremony, a parade (with floats!), music, and poetry.

  That's our Tigray flag! Raise it high!

We Planted A Garden…Again

Ethiopian Gothic

 In the first row we planted dill and cucumer; in the second, radishes and snow peas; in the third, zucchini and green beans. In separate pots, mint, cilantro, and oregano to join our basil. Bring on the much-missed vegetables! (That’s compost and ash strewed along the top. We did this puppy permagarden style.) Just this week Daniel refashioned several janky handmade metal hangers into trellises for our snowpeas (the current MVP, along with zucchini, thank God).

We Read Even More Mysteries Aloud to Each Other

One of the highlights of our Peace Corps service is this beloved new hobby for the two of us. Combining some of our favorite things: literature and each other.

In addition to the books we've read solo, since we joined Peace Corps, we've read 44 together. We're in the middle of #45.

We Bought A Goat for Ethiopian New Year (September 11)…To Kill And Eat And Share with Neighbors

BEFORE

AFTER

Daniel woke up early to witness the whole process, while I hibernated in the house, hoping to escape all evidence of the event. (I not once spoke to the goat, an animal-relationship-first for me, and avoided eye contact as much as possible in the two weeks preceding.) Scurrying from the window to get out of earshot at the crucial moment, palms on ears and eyes tight to keep tears away, I accidentally caught the sounds:

Daniel: “No, you do it.”

Girimkil: “Happy New Year!”

Goat: (yell, gurgle, yell, gurgle)

Happy 2006, everyone!

And We Planned a trip to Tauberbischofsheim, Germany!

Danielle’s Great Grandma Molly grew up in this town of now-13,000 people before she transplanted the familial roots to America in the 1920s as a teenager. We will spend time in Tauberbischofsheim, Berlin (where our good friend Josh [RPCV!] is living this semester), and Frankfurt. We leave here Monday the 23^rd, and will stay for 12 days. We feel so lucky and blessed that we’ve been able to live the sort of way we envisioned for our pre-child years. First Peace Corps. Now Europe on a week’s notice. It doesn’t get much better than dreams and lofty plans realized; and we are thankful. (Should we mention this is partly a scientific experiment—to see if, once we breathe the Tauber air, we will live to 103 also? Let us hope.)

We did other things too, of course. But these are the ones we thought you’d find interesting. More to come, like The Luttrulls’ and Meron’s trip to the Dentist!