800 Days in Ethiopia

From Daniel:

We just got back from a weekend in Debre Berhan. It's about a two-hour bus ride northeast of Addis and is home to maybe 70,000 people. Peace Corps sent all four of the married couples in our incoming group of 71 there with Chelsea, a volunteer who is about one year into her service. Tony and Erin, a young couple who are also a year into service, are stationed in Debre Berhan and were able to show us around the city and introduce us to the people we might be working with, if we're stationed up there.

The word on the ground is that there's about a 1-in-4 chance that we're going to serve in Debre Berhan. And if we aren't there, we'll probably be placed in a similar type of city. The city center that goes along the two main streets is pretty big: with tall buildings, a university, and a fleet of Bajaj taxis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_rickshaw). But the main roads turn to cobble stone roads, the cobble stones turn into dirt and rock (Debre Berhan had the rockiest soil I'd ever seen), and before you can say sega-watt you're out in the country with huts and donkeys and the whole works.

The Ethiopians we met were great, happy to see us, eager to talk to us or to at least follow us around for a while. The kids we saw at the primary school were incredibly cute and kind. They wore orange and blue uniforms and loved testing their English on us.

My longest conversation I had with an Ethiopian, though, was with a gray bearded gentleman in the market who wore a threadbare, mechanic-type jumpsuit and who spoke very good, though very rapid and quiet, English.

“How are you?” he asked.

“I’m well.”

“You like this country? It is Sunday, but it is market day, so…” He made a sweeping gesture with his hand. I stood quietly. He went on, “Yes. It is Sunday, but it is market day. I am a TESOL volunteer. No salary.”

“Yes, I’m a Peace Corps volunteer. I’m going to teach English for no salary.”

“No,” he said, “I teach English,” a pause, “for no salary. I also teach Mathematics. And I teach Bible to the Baptists,” another pause, “and to the Catholics.” He looks at me. “Would you like to collaborate, maybe?”

“What’s that?”

“Give me some money?”

I gave him the change I was carrying, and said, “Have a nice day.”

“Yes. It is Sunday, but it is market day, so…”

This kicked off what I’m calling—The Luttrull Grant for English, Mathematics, and Ecumenical Biblical Instruction—a fellowship of 0.50 Ethiopian Birr (≈$0.028 US) that will go annually to a deserving scholar. Applicants can apply wherever they find me.

After we went to the market, we went to a little store that sold mango and avocado spritzes. Essentially, this is pureed and sweetened avocado under pureed mango, but it tastes like sweet, fresh heaven (and cost about 56 cents US). Next to the spritzes, the best part of the trip, for me, was seeing the type of place I, as an “English Teacher Trainer,” will probably work in. We went to Debre Berhan’s university and teacher college and saw their English Language Improvement Centers. Both were run by volunteers from Peace Corps-ish organizations and both reminded me of the writing centers that I worked at in college. Basically, it seems like my job will be to help future and current English teachers improve their English and teaching skills through workshops, reading and speaking clubs, etc. I’m looking forward to the work much more, now that I realize what it is and know that it’s something I’ve been prepared for.

Other things:

1. Driving through Addis is like the scariest and most exciting carnival ride you could imagine.

2. We ate pizza three times this week. Apparently, the bigger cities have it, and Danielle is already getting tired of injera. I’m learning that I could eat shuro indefinitely.

3. Danielle loves the milked-down coffee.

4. We saw the Southern Cross last night.

5. We walked about a million miles over the weekend, which was good because we had been sitting around in the hotel for so long, but which was also difficult because we were over 9,000 feet above sea level. 

6. The weather is consistently perfect.

7. I wanted to post photos but, the internet here is not complying.