Cultural Day

December 7, 2012, was the best night, and possibly day ever (well, in Ethiopia at least)...there was cultural dress, lots of food, dancing (I might be getting pretty good at this Wolaitana dancing-haha!), and music, all surrounded by good company.

There were like 16 events (ok, I guess that’s a bit of an exaggeration) that all happened to fall on the same day:

1) We had a group of people staying on our compound for a few days (a total of approx. 12 – most of whom were priests) from the diocese office

2) It was Abba Larcher's birthday (He’s the priest on our compound)

3) The Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Celebrating Virgin Mary being conceived without sin)

4) Ethiopian national cultural day (or something like that…typical - I can never seem to get a clear understanding of just exactly what we are celebrating)

4) Because of the cultural day, we had a drama at the school...all the kids came dressed in their "cultural clothes" = really cool to see!  They performed different skits and dances...REALLY fun music and dance...maybe I was made for Africa after all!

5) Dinner with the religious communities of Soddo, followed by more food, music, and dancing!

Whew!  That’s kind of a lot for one day…Here’s the run-down...

We had a feast of a dinner the night before with our guests:


Our day started at 6:10am with Mass, to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

At approximately 8:00am, students gathered for the assembly at the flag poles.  When our students showed up decked in all their cultural clothes, there were about 4 or 5 of the boys who came wearing a cloth wrapped around their waist (knee length) chest with a few swatches of white dusty paint on, carrying what appeared to be a legitimate African spear (the long kind) ahhahaha! Definitely got some pics of that :)  Then we all walked down to the Youth Center for the talent show.  At one point in the show, they invited us up on stage and we showed off our best attempt at Wolaitana dancing with some of the other teachers!

The audience: Many of our students wore their cultural clothing.

The opening act: A group of students sing a song. I think it is about Ethiopia (as the girl in the middle has the Ethiopian flag around her) and its different regions (students are holding pictures of flags from different regions in Ethiopia). The big flag hanging down in the middle is of the Wolaita region.

A smaller group of students performing a Wolaitana dance.

More cultural dancing

Another group performed a comedic skit. The girl on the far right is preparing the coffee ceremony.

A group of our girls perform walk in a fashion show, displaying various cultural clothes.

Some of our students in their cultural clothes

Some of our students in their cultural clothes

Some students and teachers in their cultural clothes. I think the different outfits might represent the different regions.

Well then, at the end of all that (3 hours later) there was a coffee ceremony (our first one of the day) with some of our students and other teachers...followed by pictures with the teachers in their beautiful cultural dresses (I tried asking where they get them from because I would like to get one, to which they responded "in the stores"...well, that narrows it down!)

Paula and I sporting our attempt at "cultural clothes" (the Wolaita cultural colors are red, yellow, and black).

Me with a couple of our fellow teachers.

 We walked back up the hill, to have lunch (basically a feast!...plus a feast last night because we were eating with our guests) and singing to Abba for his birthday, complete with Paula's accompaniment on guitar:

Looks like lunch today consists of "Soddo" pizza (one of my favorite things we eat here), fried pieces of something (usually promises to be delicious), chicken, wat with hard boiled eggs, pasta al forno (I fondly refer to it as "pasta bake" - another one of my favorites), french fries, and salad

Left to right: Deacon Temesgen, Abba Larcher (birthday boy), Brother Desta, and Paula

After lunch we had a break for a couple of hours, so that was nice.  In the afternoon, I had a little jotanee (foosball) time with my girls (they are super cute, and I think I starting to get pretty good!  It’s definitely getting more competitive and gets a little intense sometimes - hahaha!  Plus, I have been teaching them one of the songs I know in Amharic (The kids at school taught me, so now I am teaching some of our Oratory kids.)

Then eventually once the evening rolled around, we had evening prayer followed by a short car ride over to dinner.  We all went for dinner at the Franciscans house here in Soddo...there was basically our guests + us + a representation from all other catholic religious communities in Soddo = a lot of priests and sisters (I sat on a couch and ate dinner between one of the Daughters of Charity sisters and one of the Missionaries of Charity sisters) they were sooo great, and dinner was delicious :)  *Note: Missionaries of Charity is the order that Blessed Mother Theresa started.  They are soooo cute!

After dinner, we went outside to this large open circular area, in the middle was a HUGE tree, which they have installed outdoor lights onto...there was a bench going around the entire circumference of the circle, on which we all sat...another coffee ceremony...and a lot more Wolaitana music and dancing…and they continued to feed us!

The lighted tree with people sitting on the surrounding bench

Cooking the meat

Coffee ceremony

There were ladies cooking pieces of meat in probably the biggest wok I've ever seen over a fire...and they KEPT offering us more food and drinks (complete with coffee ceremony) - like servers would come around and ask over and over if we wanted more (basically insisting)...then there was the rum!

A couple of the guys stood up in front, and everyone got quite as if there was to be an announcement.  They had a couple of bottles of rum, and they began some sort of announcement…like maybe there is going to be a toast.  Because it was all in Amharic, I couldn’t understand what they were saying, so I just sat there trying to pay attention.  Then suddenly I hear “Colorado!” (suddenly a word I understood)…I looked up, thinking “Hey, wait! I’m from Colorado!” (I get really excited over any little piece of home)…They, sure enough, were talking about/looking at me.  Apparently, they had chosen me to be the guest of honor and wanted me to come up to join them in the front.  So, I walked up there.  They handed me a bottle of rum, and wanted ME to give the toast!  Handing me the microphone, they said, “Just say a few words.”  Uuuuuuuhhhhhh…gulp!  What is one to say in such a situation (addressing a large group of priests and religious sisters, toasting with a bottle of rum, celebrating “Cultural Day”-still unsure of what that exactly even means, they have limited English skills and I have VERY limited Amharic skills)…ummmm, think fast!  So, I just ended up saying that I hoped for healing and transformation of all hearts present and of Soddo.  I guess it worked out ok, because they proceeded to serve me the first drink…more music and dancing...sheesh! Those priests know how to party!

...and I think that's all of my very fun day…I told Paula that we should have "Cultural Day" every day! ahaha :)

Thanksgiving

Dear All,

I thought I would post a few pictures of recent and Thanksgiving times :)

Paula, Becca, and I at a recent pot luck that our friends at the hospital hosted.

Paul sent me an Advent care package...you might say I was a "little" excited to receive it :)

Thanksgiving evening...Paula had been sick all day and was severely dehydrated.  Our nurse friend, Sophie, came over to hook up an IV (notice our sweet make-shift IV bag holder).

After we got Paula hooked up, Sophie and I went to Thanksgiving dinner that our friends at the hospital graciously invited us to.  Chicken instead of turkey - the only turkeys in Ethiopia were apparently imported and sold in Addis Ababa for $100!...Sad that Paula couldn't come :(

Sophie and I at dinner.

After dinner, we came back to our castle to check in with Paula.  Not too long after, we all went to bed - Good night, and thank God for sooo many blessings in my life!

A Day in the Life

I thought it might be advantageous to post "A Day in the Life," but first a couple of other things I have realized:

Things I am consistently thankful for (listed in no particular order):
-the fact that I'm here with Paula
-the food here is delicious
-I am in good health
-getting to celebrate Mass daily
-having such readily available access to the Chapel and Tabernacle to pray = favy! ;)
-Paul (my boyfriend) is sooo wonderful...and so good to me!
-I feel productive most days
-great and loving family and friends back at home
-moments when the kids are extra cute! (*see note below for examples from today)
-my favorite one of the mountains here, which is so gorgeous
-Mary's prayers for us
-for my guardian angel
-for the strength to make it through the day
I should make more of an effort to actually thank God for these things each day (some I do better with than others), but I consistently truly do feel thankful for all of these things (I'm sure it's not an exhaustive list).

Also, I have recently realized that there are a lot of things that I never used to like/appreciate, but now I REALLY enjoy (again, listed in no particular order nor exhaustively):
-the wind
-when the power goes out (well except for when my computer runs out of charge)
-candles (especially when the power goes out, are in my opinion way better than flashlights, which are called “torches” here)
-eating eggplant
-singing
-playing the guitar
-playing foosball (I’ve begun to get pretty competitive about this)
-the rain (I like it even more than I did before)
-Tums
-speaking/listening to Spanish (this is not a regular activity, nor am I much more proficient at it than I was back in the States…but I enjoy it much more than before)
-writing in cursive with a fountain pen
-learning other languages
-eating prunes

Reflecting on this all makes me think, “Who even AM I these days?!”…Hahaha! I guess that’s what going to Africa ‘ill do to you (or maybe it just took that for me to broaden my horizons on some things) :) …Also, I was unable to think of anything that I used to enjoy (before leaving the states), that I no longer like…so I guess that’s a good sign.

Ok, now I present to you… “A Day in the Life”…

6:30AM - I wake up in the morning feelin' like P Diddy...hahaha! (That is a quote from one of our favorite pump up songs - "Tik Tok" by Kesha)

The first thing I see each morning = my princess canopy (AKA mosquito net)

It is really hard to get the eyes open that early in the morning

6:35AM - Good Morning Paula!

6:40AM - Morning prayer and Daily Mass in the chapel (Paula is sitting on my right, even though you can't see her)

7:30AM - Breakfast (usually Paula would sit in the chair to my left and Abba would sit in the empty chair on the back right, but they weren't there at the moment)
*Note: The very large peanut butter jar...We finished it in about two weeks - good thing we know which stores to walk to for buying more!

7:45AM - Walk down to the school for the Morning Assembly.  Students stand in lines based on grade.  During the assembly, Abba leads prayer and makes announcements, then the kids sing the National Anthem as the flags are raised.  Classes are dismissed one-by-one and students walk to their classrooms.

The front of the school

Morning Assembly

 8:00AM-10:15AM - Teach classes:  5th grade Math (Solving linear equations by substitution), 3rd grade English Tutorial (what animals do and where, ie-"A monkey climbs in the tree."), 4th grade Spoken English (finish talking about animals, and began the verb "to have")...I've been temporarily filling in as a math teacher, so I taught three extra classes today that I would not usually have.

One of my 3rd grade classes

3rd grade English Tutorial lesson

10:15AM-10:45AM - Morning break for students, during which they play table tennis, sing songs, foosball, etc.  I usually play/keep order at the girl's foosball table

10:45AM-12:15AM - Teach classes:  one 4th grade Math (Division), 3rd grade Spoken English (administered a verbal test over face and body parts)
12:15AM-1:15AM - Student lunch and recess
1:30PM - Lunch - yesssssss!!! (We all eat lunch at different times depending on when we are teaching classes)  Today I don't teach 6th period, so I spent time with the students during their lunch/recess time before eating lunch myself.  After lunch I have a couple of class periods off, so I catch up on emails and work on lesson plans.

We have spaghetti every day at lunch, and I'm still not tired of it!

I try to get some prayer time (on my own) in at some point during the day.  Today, I have time after I eat lunch.

2:45PM-3:30PM - Teach class: the other 4th grade Math (Division)

One of my 4th grade classes

 

3:30PM - Hop in the car to go teach English at the Daughters of Charity (they send a driver to pick us up)

Since our school just got out, the road is lined with our students - shouting our names and waving.

The goats, chickens, donkeys in the roads crack me up!

The arch on the left is the gate for the Daughters of Charity compound

Some of the flowers we see once we drive in - their compound is like an oasis, just beautiful!

3:45PM-4:35PM - Teach English at the Daughters of Charity (review and practice conversational questions)

The inside of the building where we teach - our classrooms are on the right

Once we finished teaching we had some time to kill, waiting for the driver, so Paula pulled out the guitar and we sang a couple of songs (typical)

 5:00PMish - Drive back to Don Bosco and head down to Rosary with some of the kids from Oratory (on the days we teach at the Daughters of Charity we miss Oratory at Don Bosco...otherwise, we typically attend Oratory, during which I participate in more foosball with my "jotanee girls" as I fondly refer to them as)

Headed down the hill for Rosary

Rosary with the kids (attendance ranges from about 7-25 kids)

6:00PM - 7:00PM - Break time...eat a snack, catch up on emails, shower, lesson plan, etc.
7:00PM - Evening prayer, followed by dinner-yessss!!! (I like to EAT!)

Evening prayer

Left overs after dinner

 8:30PMish - Back in our rooms, this is the typical scene...more email/internet/lesson planning/rec time

Paula set up an internet station in the hallway because the connection is better for her there

At my desk

10:30PM/11:00PMish - Typical bedtime...Tell Paula good night, check for mosquitoes in my room (so far I think there's been three the entire time we've been here), climb back into bed beneath my "princess canopy," and say my prayers...

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen...Thank you, Lord, for the day - to you be the glory...

Prayer of Faith (By: Fr. Ken):
Dearest Jesus,
Help me not to look forward
to what may happen tomorrow
I know you will take care of me
Today
Tomorrow
Every day of my life-
Help me to be at peace-
Trusting in your promise:
"I will be with you always"

*Note about extra cuteness of the day:
1) During the verbal test over the face and body parts today in 3rd grade, I pointed at my toes and asked one of my students what they were...After half saying the word a couple of times and really struggling to think, he guessed "fingers"...I said "no", and after thinking some more (I'm kind of lenient with my tests), he said, "leg fingers?"....hahahaha! Oh geez, how cute is that?!

2) The other day, we were talking about animals and their body parts in my other 3rd grade class.  One student said, "An ant has eight legs."  To which I responded by asking the class, "How many legs does an ant have?"...The answers varied (and brought about quite the commotion, I might add) from I think two to ten and just about anything in between.  In an effort to quell the "storm," and myriad answers, I said (and wrote on the board), "An ant has six legs."  Immediately, I don't even know how many students adamantly begged to differ, saying, "Miss, Miss, it is incorrect!"  One student pulled out the English workbook (picturing an ant), and proceeded to count the legs depicted...and sure enough there were eight!...How can I compete with that-black and white-there it was!  I proceeded to look around the classroom floor, trying to find an actual ant-however unsuccessful...So I just stood my ground saying there were six and moved on.  Today, one of my students from that class came up to me at the end of play time, saying "Miss Jenna!" and looking down at his fingers exclaimed, "ant!"...and there it was, he had found a real ant...I said, in surprise, "Oh yes! And how many legs does it have?"...he said, "six"...I said, with a smile, "ok, good :)"

Random craving update for approx. the last week: Taco Bell burrito with sour cream in it (I love sour cream), key lime pie, french bread with butter and garlic salt lightly toasted in the oven, quiche, Chipotle...currently chicken potpie sounds sooo good!  Then maybe followed by warm brownies from the oven with a cold glass of milk-yummm!

Teaching Teachers, Americans, and Guitar

A few notable things have happened this week…

Monday:

Today a sister from the Daughters of Charity came to tell Paula and I that she spoke with Deacon regarding our schedules and times of availability for teaching English at their school for teachers (this is something that has been talked about since we got here, but we haven’t been sure whether or not it would actually be happening).  She said she would call us tomorrow to let us know when we what our schedules would be for teaching.

Tuesday:

The driver from the Daughters of Charity came to pick up Paula and I (we didn't know this was going to happen 1) today and 2) immediately after I finished teaching classes at Don Bosco). He took us back to their compound so we could meet with some people there regarding teaching English classes. We will be starting tomorrow!...For the remainder of the school year, we will be taken to the Daughters of Charity compound twice a week to teach an English class for 47 young women who are in a training program to become kindergarten teachers.  They are from all over Ethiopia and range in age from 18-30 years old.  Once they finish their training program, they will disperse throughout Ethiopia to begin teaching. 

Also, while in the car on the way to the other compound, there were a whole bunch of our kids walking along the road, waving at us, and shouting our names...I felt like saying, "Princess Jenna greets you this afternoon. Hello! (slight hand wave)" hahahaha!! oh geez :)

We had fried fish today at lunch and dinner, and it was delicious...I like fish :)

Wednesday:

Today, my classes went really well.  I am teaching my 3rd grade classes about the body parts, so we sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes"...I think they liked that :) 

Lunch was delicious!  The type of watt (thick soup) they made today was really good with the injera (thin sour pancake-like bread used to scoop the watt=eaten with hands).

Today was our first day of teaching at the Daughters of Charity.  The girls were really great, and I'm really excited for getting to be involved with that 'mission'...being that we are teaching young women from all over Ethiopia, who will become Kindergarten teachers all over Ethiopia...I think it's kind of cool to think about :)  Because of this, today was the second day in a row of missing Oratory, which meant I didn't get to play with my jotanee girls, and I missed them!

We don’t have school at Don Bosco Thursday and Friday this week, so that’s kind of a nice break.  This means the next time we have school (not including teaching at the Daughters of Charity) will be Monday, November 5!  Can you believe that?!...It will soon be November 5, already!

Thursday:

Today is All Saints Day (and my Baptism Day - well I guess technically, the reunion of said day - and I'm really excited about that fact)!  Our reflection preceding Evening prayer explained more of the reasons WHY/purpose we celebrate All Saints Day. It was so beautiful in the way that it explained the saints as "an army of holy soldiers interceding for us before the throne of grace." In that our asking for intercession from the saints (and the saints themselves) ultimately points toward the grace and greatness of God.

Today something REALLY exciting happened...We met other Americans!!!!!  They are the first we've seen in two months!  We walked over to the Christian Hospital (opened and operated by Americans), seeking to meet them.  They were great!  And it was definitely a God thing because we walked in there and just happened to encounter the field director's wife (exactly the person we needed to talk with).  We told her why we were there, and she was super welcoming.  We had tea with her and her husband, and then she showed us around the missionary community that lives there, introducing us to other missionaries (some of whom are Americans).  We exchanged phone numbers with a couple of the other women there, and they all said we could come back any time (may be a possibility to go there for Thanksgiving, even!).

Additionally, I realized this week that being here is more exhausting than I recognized. Everything is a process…speaking, for example…no matter who I speak to (except Paula), even if they speak English, I have to think really hard about just exactly what I’m saying and how I’m saying it.  When I need to say/ask something, I first think to myself, "Will they understand the concept (culture differences)?  Will they understand the words I use?...brain processes to modify my words and simplify sentence structure...speak...repeat process"…boy, this much energy spent on something that typically would be automatic really takes it out of a person!

Friday:

Today, we got up and went to Mass this morning.  Mass was, as usual, followed by breakfast (I am surprised and glad that I have not yet gotten tired of having the same thing for breakfast every day - we have French bread with cream cheese, bananas, bread with peanut butter and honey, tea, sometimes jam on the bread, sometimes eggs or every once in awhile some kind of meat...I still like this breakfast everyday)...Then I went back to bed, got up, checked my emails, went to lunch (it was nice to get some extra sleep).  Then we went to meet our new American friends (one of the girls invited us over to her house for dinner tomorrow night!), then we taught at the Daughters of Charity (the girls did so well, and I was really proud of them!...We taught greetings and introductions, and then they practiced and "presented").  After that, we made it back for a few minutes at Oratory back at Don Bosco and finished with saying our daily Rosary with the kids.

Also, today I learned from Paula that “Don” means “father” in Italian.  So when we say “Don Bosco” that means “Father Bosco,” which is fitting because he was a Catholic priest.

The night has come to a close, and concluded with my first ever guitar lesson, compliments of Paula – thanks, Paula!

Wow, A LOT of exciting things happened this week!...We began teaching at the Daughters of Charity, we met Americans, and I started learning how to play the guitar!