Written on the 17th of July
Trying to find guidance on how to start my first blog from Butajira, I looked in my journal for some help. The entries start: 12 July: Oh what a crazy day! 13 July: Pitter Pitter Pitter patter. The soft rain collides with the metal roof above my head. 14 July: Wow! I collapse into my bed on my extra plump pillow thoroughly exhausted. 15 July: Okay, we got to talk about pack animals. Four days?!?! That's it!?!?! Yes, my life is racing with so many thoughts, memories and experiences, it makes for a very full four days. Here's the short (for me) version of my Butajira experience so far. My host family is fantastic! Aster, my mom, works at a health clinic and has pretty good English. She is also a fantastic teacher whenever I have questions (which is often). She no longer waits for me to ask for the Amharic word for something, but tells it to me making sure I have it correct before jotting it down. Samson, or Sammy, is my host father who actually lives in another city being a driver. That's all I know and I am not going to pry. Hellen is Aster's 19 year old sister who is living with us. She is going to university to be an engineer, but is home with us as this is summer vacation. I love her so much! She is always ready with a smile and something fun. So far she has taught me how to dance (it's more of a work in progress) and lots of Amharic. Her English is really good. Baba is my two year old little brother who has gotten over his fear of me and finally called me by name today! He is adorable! It's great fun trying to speak all Amharic to him. Mulu is our house girl who is just like another family member. She eats meals with us, teaches me as she can, and just makes life so great. She doesn't know any English so I make it my daily goal to speak more and more with her. There is a four year old neighbor girl named Massy who is often at our house. She is the best! We play house (includes feeding stuffed animals imaginary injera) and doing lots of games to work on my Amharic and her English. These people are absolutely the best and making me feel welcomed and part of their community. If you have read my previous posts, you might me confused at why I keep speaking about learning Amharic when I'm going to Tigray and should be learning Tigrigney. Reality: I am learning both. Today I had four hours of Tigrigney and then go out on the streets and back home where I need Amharic to communicate. This has been the most exhausting thing of this trip so far. It is physically gruesome on my throat as there are sounds in Tigrigney I have never made before and now have to practice to communicate. It is emotionally a roller coaster as I just want to communicate so badly with people (especially the kids I run into) and can't do it. I love words and getting to know people, and I'm being prevented from doing so until I can learn more (which isn't happening as fast as I want it to be). It is mentally exhausting to switch back and forth between the two in a matter of settings. Both are very important and I want to build relationships with the people here so I have to do this. I could only speak Tigrigney, but the sacrifice would be too great. I am not going to be the exchange like student in this community and just stay in my room speaking one language without building relationships. Plus side: I am no longer trying to speak Swahili. It occasionally pops up, but there are too many differences for me to get confused too often. Besides language our focus is shifting to teaching. The preparatory school (grades 11-12) is in my neighborhood, so it isn't a long walk for me. Interesting thing about schools: there are information murals painted on the outside of the buildings to promote learning. For example: periodic table, skeleton system, map of Africa and governmental terms. These are in English and Amharic. As to the classes, it has been really good to see different ways or organizing lesson plans, designing learning objectives and more through the Peace Corps eyes as they train a majority of non-teachers to be teachers. This makes me evaluate why I do certain things in lesson planning and teaching. I love reflecting! It's also a relief from struggling in languages to be in something that is comfortable and familiar. Addis was cold. Butajira is hot with tsunami like downpours. Two mornings ago I woke up to rain beating against the roof and window of my room. Yesterday we had to pause class because we couldn't hear each other with so much rain hitting our tin roof. But when the sun comes out, it is gloriously hot! Puddles don't last very long here! Which is a good thing because they are hard to avoid especially when you are dodging horse or donkey pulled carts that will splash you like no other if you get caught at the wrong place. It is really cool to hear the twinkle of bells on these carts to see small horses going past. There are definitely more of them than motorized vehicles in my community. I haven't needed to ride in one yet, but I am sure the experience will be needed sometime and can't wait to experience it.
Trying to find guidance on how to start my first blog from Butajira, I looked in my journal for some help. The entries start: 12 July: Oh what a crazy day! 13 July: Pitter Pitter Pitter patter. The soft rain collides with the metal roof above my head. 14 July: Wow! I collapse into my bed on my extra plump pillow thoroughly exhausted. 15 July: Okay, we got to talk about pack animals. Four days?!?! That's it!?!?! Yes, my life is racing with so many thoughts, memories and experiences, it makes for a very full four days. Here's the short (for me) version of my Butajira experience so far. My host family is fantastic! Aster, my mom, works at a health clinic and has pretty good English. She is also a fantastic teacher whenever I have questions (which is often). She no longer waits for me to ask for the Amharic word for something, but tells it to me making sure I have it correct before jotting it down. Samson, or Sammy, is my host father who actually lives in another city being a driver. That's all I know and I am not going to pry. Hellen is Aster's 19 year old sister who is living with us. She is going to university to be an engineer, but is home with us as this is summer vacation. I love her so much! She is always ready with a smile and something fun. So far she has taught me how to dance (it's more of a work in progress) and lots of Amharic. Her English is really good. Baba is my two year old little brother who has gotten over his fear of me and finally called me by name today! He is adorable! It's great fun trying to speak all Amharic to him. Mulu is our house girl who is just like another family member. She eats meals with us, teaches me as she can, and just makes life so great. She doesn't know any English so I make it my daily goal to speak more and more with her. There is a four year old neighbor girl named Massy who is often at our house. She is the best! We play house (includes feeding stuffed animals imaginary injera) and doing lots of games to work on my Amharic and her English. These people are absolutely the best and making me feel welcomed and part of their community. If you have read my previous posts, you might me confused at why I keep speaking about learning Amharic when I'm going to Tigray and should be learning Tigrigney. Reality: I am learning both. Today I had four hours of Tigrigney and then go out on the streets and back home where I need Amharic to communicate. This has been the most exhausting thing of this trip so far. It is physically gruesome on my throat as there are sounds in Tigrigney I have never made before and now have to practice to communicate. It is emotionally a roller coaster as I just want to communicate so badly with people (especially the kids I run into) and can't do it. I love words and getting to know people, and I'm being prevented from doing so until I can learn more (which isn't happening as fast as I want it to be). It is mentally exhausting to switch back and forth between the two in a matter of settings. Both are very important and I want to build relationships with the people here so I have to do this. I could only speak Tigrigney, but the sacrifice would be too great. I am not going to be the exchange like student in this community and just stay in my room speaking one language without building relationships. Plus side: I am no longer trying to speak Swahili. It occasionally pops up, but there are too many differences for me to get confused too often. Besides language our focus is shifting to teaching. The preparatory school (grades 11-12) is in my neighborhood, so it isn't a long walk for me. Interesting thing about schools: there are information murals painted on the outside of the buildings to promote learning. For example: periodic table, skeleton system, map of Africa and governmental terms. These are in English and Amharic. As to the classes, it has been really good to see different ways or organizing lesson plans, designing learning objectives and more through the Peace Corps eyes as they train a majority of non-teachers to be teachers. This makes me evaluate why I do certain things in lesson planning and teaching. I love reflecting! It's also a relief from struggling in languages to be in something that is comfortable and familiar. Addis was cold. Butajira is hot with tsunami like downpours. Two mornings ago I woke up to rain beating against the roof and window of my room. Yesterday we had to pause class because we couldn't hear each other with so much rain hitting our tin roof. But when the sun comes out, it is gloriously hot! Puddles don't last very long here! Which is a good thing because they are hard to avoid especially when you are dodging horse or donkey pulled carts that will splash you like no other if you get caught at the wrong place. It is really cool to hear the twinkle of bells on these carts to see small horses going past. There are definitely more of them than motorized vehicles in my community. I haven't needed to ride in one yet, but I am sure the experience will be needed sometime and can't wait to experience it.
