Random Stories and Bike Ride Pics

Hi All,

We survived first semester!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This week is our break, and we will start second semester on Monday.  So, I wanted to get caught up on a bunch of blog posts.  This is the first post, and there are three others below (Including Ethiopian Christmas, Foreignee Christmas, and Cultural Day).

Also, below is a link to one of my friend's blog. She is also in Soddo, and made a video (on her blog) of what it's like driving around town here. Thought you might like to check it out! www.girlsjourneyinafrica.blogspot.com

For this post, I thought I would share some of the random things my kids (and/or I) have done and said.  Also, Paula, Sophie, Stephanie, and I took the motorcycles out to the country to visit a beautiful family, so I included pictures from that trip.  So let's get started...

Random Stories
In one of my 3rd grade classes, I was teaching about conversation questions. I had the question, "What do you like to do for fun?" and then one student brought up the question, "What do you dislike?"  To which the shortest girl in the class (She is sooo cute.  When I look at her, her eyes just sparkle and a huge smile comes across her face.  And when I have everyone stand up to pray at the beginning of class, I am always tempted to ask her to stand with the rest of the class, but then I realize she IS standing-she's just so short…so precious!)…anyway, her hand shot up, eager to answer the question, "What do you dislike?"  I called on her, and she stood up (as they always do to answer), and she said with her smile and big twinkling eyes, "I dislike carrots!"....Aaaaahaahaha! What?! Who would think of that? It was great :)

Today I had my first ever cappuccino, and it was delicious...it tasted like coffee ice cream, but warm - yummy :) 

One of my CUTEST little girls (not even technically one of my students because she is in 2nd grade) told me she loves me...except they are not very good at pronouncing the letter "v", so it was more like she came over and whispered to me at the end of break time, "I lub you!"...Too cute :)
One of my little 3rd grade boys (who knows a good amount of English – he says it’s from watching “films”) came up to me, walking around with his chest poofed out and his arms at his side, elbows slightly bent…with fists clenched.  When I looked at him like, “What are you doing?”…He responded, “I am being a strong man!”

"Today, I made an iphone speaker out of a toilet paper roll...what are you doing with YOUR toilet paper rolls?" - said I during dinner conversation the other night…Because everything is a commodity here, we don’t throw much away.  As a result, I have accumulated quite the collection of toilet paper rolls.  On Pintrist I found this cool idea to make an iphone speaker with one.  So I tried it out, thinking it could help in my classes when I want to play a song but the highest volume is barely loud enough for everyone to hear.  At one of our American dinners, the topic of toilet paper rolls and collecting them came up.

Random food craving: pigs in a blanket with ketchup...also, cottage cheese on the side - yummm :)...I don't even like hot dogs that much!

During Rosary (many times I reflect on how much help I need in order to learn how to love properly), I had this thought of maybe “it’s not about ‘how many’ you love, it’s about ‘how much’ you love.”  I just thought that was a good thing to ponder.

We went for dinner and Christmas cooking decorating with our American friends…I am so thankful that we found those people, they are great!  And when we hang out with them, it’s like a little piece of home.  This time things got a little complicated, though.  It started to rain, so we left the house with Sophie (she was going to drive us home), but the rain SUDDENLY got really heavy…to the point where her car wasn’t going to make it up/down our hill (not paved = dirt + lots of immediate rain = slick mud), so she was going to drop us off at the bottom of our hill so we could walk the rest of the way.  However, as we were driving the power went out…you want to talk about DARK when the power goes out here!  Well, we didn’t think it a very wise idea to walk in the dark, so after a bit of an adventure, we ended up staying at her house for the night.  I guess this was just another lesson in the book of “Teaching Jenna how to be more flexible with things.” Haha!

Random cravings: egg salad sandwich on croissant…and grilled cheese (the grilled cheese has been nearly daily, recently)

The other day, I scored THREE goals from the defense position in foosball.  I usually always play offense because that’s what I have gotten good at, and the girls have learned that we loose when I play defense.  My skills on the defense have definitely been improving.

I am just so full of love, I just don’t even know what to do with myself!  This week, I have been playing handclapping games with my little girls at school – they are so precious, and they hold my hand wherever we go (to read in the library, or across the school yard to sit down, or walking back to their class after break is over) and look up at me with their big sparkly eyes – oh, I just love them!...Then during Rosary with the kids yesterday, I ended up sitting between two little girls (probably approx. ages 7 and 4) and walked up the hill with them after, each holding one of my hands.  The 7-yr old got close, and looking up at me and whispered like a secret, “I lub you” hehe :) Oh geez, how precious are they?!  I sang them the song I know in Amharic, and once we reached the top of our hill, I pointed out our monkey (we have a monkey on our compound that the guards have been taking care of) to them and they just did this giggly dance (you know like when kids see something they think is funny and surprising).  They are just too precious, in my heart!

I did a lesson involving playing the game "Go Fish", which went over surprisingly well.  So, I'm thankful for that!  Also, pretty sure I discovered why I was having a slight ant infestation in my bathroom sink (because I was leaning over the sink to eat my cookies, as to not get crumbs on the floor).  Now that I have decided to not do that anymore, the ants are gone.  Thankful for that!  Also, I think I've found the trick to making my shower not leak anymore (I just don’t turn the knobs so tightly when I turn the water off), so thankful for that!  Thankful for my hair finally getting longer since I cut it (now that it's been 2 years!).  Thankful for the delicious mango juice of Ethiopia!
The other day, some of my girl students told me they like my toenails! Hahaha! It's not even like they are painted or anything, they just are what they are = probably not even well-maintained, haha! oh geez!

I have discovered this most DELICIOUS hamburger!  It is sooo good...probably on the list of top 5 in my life!...It was as follows: bottom bun (bun resembled challah bread), mayo, onion, pepper, large tomato slices, thin burger patty, fried egg, ketchup, top bun...plus, probably the best fries I've had in all of Ethiopia!  When we eat out, an entire meal for three people ends up costing a total of approximately $7.00.

Been craving cheese, crackers, and summer sausage...and warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream.
Some of my students found me during Oratory because they had stayed after school for a soccer game.  They wanted me to sit with them, so I did for a few minutes.  One of my boys was, I think, trying to tell me that I am a “black man.”  All of the other students were like, “No, no, white!”  And I was like, “And actually, I am a woman!”  He responded, “You white woman.”  I said, “Yes.”  Then he said something along the lines of, “I chocolate man!”…Aaaahahaha! I just laughed!

We have been making juice recently.  Ethiopian juice is the absolute best!  It is sooo delicious.  Basically they just put fruit and water in a blender.  It’s super thick (almost like a not frozen smoothie) like Naked juice, except for here it is really inexpensive because the fruit is so abundant.  This time we made plumb/banana/mango juice.  Yummmm!

Paula and my new favorite phrase to use is "why not?!"...because many times when we ask people here a question, the answer is never really clear...for example, "How are you today? A: fine, and you?...Do you think it's going to rain? A: Ok...Do we need to make tests for our classes and give our students grades? A: sure...Do we need to be at Oratory tomorrow to help with the kids? A: sure, why not?...Do you think we could get some ketchup to go with our french fries (called 'chips' here)? A: sure, why not?....aaaahahaha! It seems like everything just ends up being "sure, why not?"...and we're like "ok, so does that mean 'yes' or 'no' then?????"

I was teaching one of my 3rd grade classes, and many of my students suddenly became distracted at something outside the windows, which were open.  At the same a large gust of cool air rushed in.  It was so forceful that it blew the map off the wall.  When I looked out the window to see what was going on, and in response to the kids frantically trying to get my attention saying, “Miss Miss!” and pointing out the window.  I saw what appeared to be a really skinny, really tall brown tornado.  It was looked like it was just behind one of the other buildings on our compound.  I freaked out just a little bit and turning to one of my students, who speaks quite a bit of English, said, “Um, is that okay?!  I mean, do we need to leave or something?!”…In my moment of panic, I was trying to think of a potential evacuation plan, or if everyone just needed to immediately get on the floor and take cover.  Thankfully my student responded, “No, no, it is okay…That is normal…It is just the dust.”  Sure enough, after a couple of minutes it dissipated.  After taking a couple of deep breaths to calm myself and a couple of chuckles from everyone, I explained to the kids that we don’t really have that where I am from in America.  The only kind of swirly wind I am used to is really dangerous – like it is so strong that it destroys buildings and picks up cars and cows (as I tried to illustrate on the board), telling them it is called a tornado.

Bike Ride
Sophie and Stephanie drove us to a family’s house in the country on their motorcycles – it was great!  They are friends with this family because they basically saved the son’s life when he was born, since they are nurses, and have just kept in touch.  This family was BEAUTIFUL!!!  This is now the second for-real Ethiopian mud house I’ve been in – that alone is always an experience.  Their daughters, and even the mom, grandmother and aunt were just gorgeous.  There is something, I realized today, very captivating about these women who are so full of life, so natural (no makeup, but also not jaded by ‘modernness’), so loving, so feminine, but at the same time you get the impression they have probably worked harder in their life time than most people probably would have in 50 lifetimes.  It was just all around a wonderful trip :)

Paula rode on the back of Stephanie's bike.

I rode on the back of Sophie's bike.

The kids chased after us as we were leaving.

The countryside was so beautiful!

Houses and town-like area we went through.

Ethiopian Christmas

Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve (January 6), we were invited to have dinner with the Bishop and other diocesan priests.  On our way, we stopped by each of the other Catholic orders to sing a Christmas carol for them and deliver a fruit cake.  This was the procedure each time we arrived somewhere new:

 

1) Drive to religious community

2) Deacon Temesgen and Abba Larcher get out of the front of the truck
3) Brother Desta, Paula, and I hop out of the back of the truck (including Paula’s guitar = added challenge)
4) Abba and Deacon knock/shout for the sisters or priests to come to the door
5) Wait for attendance at the door
6) Sing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” 2-3 times, accompanied by Paula’s guitar skills
7) Present sisters or priests with an Italian fruitcake and Christmas card from us
8) Expediently greet and shake hands
9) Run back to the truck and climb in the back, as not to get left behind
* (If this were an Olympic sport, I’m pretty sure our team would have won gold!)

 

We caroled for the Franciscan priest/sisters/volunteers (each group individually), then drove to the Daughters of Charity and sang for them, then drove to the Missionaries of Charity and sang for the sisters there. We finally arrived at the Bishop’s for dinner, and we talked for some time while waiting for dinner to be ready.  Upon the arrival of each new guest, we immediately stood and re-performed our Christmas carol.  Sheeesh! That was a lot of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"!  Eventually, we all sat down for dinner.  My favorite part was this most DELICIOUS potato soup.  We had all eaten, so the Bishop opened the wine.  I was talking to Paula, but out of the corner or my eye I watched him unwrap the top.  Then he popped the cork and it was REALLY loud and spewed everywhere! (aren't you supposed to do that sort of thing outside?) hahaha!  I’m pretty sure Paula and I both screamed because it was so unexpected!  And so, we concluded the meal with the Italian sparkling wine with panettone (basically Italian fruit cake).  We dipped the cake in the wine - that's apparently how you're supposed to eat it.

 

Christmas Day

The next day, Christmas Day (January 7), began at the prison where we celebrated Mass.  Due to the coffee ceremony following Mass, we ended up being there for a lot longer than we had anticipated.  There was a choir that came from the cathedral to sing, so that was nice.  They handed out coffee, sodas, and multiple rounds of snacks.  Paula and I successfully eluded drinking the salty coffee.  (I guess on special occasions or when people are hosting special guests, they put salt in the coffee.  I tried it exactly once and was not able to finish.  To me it tastes like salt water with coffee flavoring.)  Also, even with my lack of language skills, I successfully traded sodas with one of the choir members because each of us had wanted the other flavor!

 

In the afternoon, we hosted Oratory for the kids and we handed out biscuits.  We usually only hand out biscuits at Oratory on Sundays, but Christmas was an exception.

 

Day After Christmas

On the day after Christmas (January 8), we hosted a program for our school students.  Paula worked really hard to prepare students for performing many Christmas songs.  They did really well, and everyone was highly impressed!  I was so proud :) Also students performed a Nativity skit, which included live sheep.  At the end of the program, we distributed wooden toy cars that my great aunts and uncles had sent from an organization called Toys for God’s Kids(http://www.toysforgodskids.com/).

I wrapped the cars in the FedEx box they were shipped in, like a big present.

Two of the high school boys carried the box down the hill to the Christmas program, where we placed the box on the stage next to the Christmas tree.  Along the way, students (dressed in their Christmas best, and some “cultural clothes” for the occasion) approached me asking, “Miss Jenna, what is it?”  To which I responded, “Telik sitota – It’s a big gift” (Telik sitota means “big gift” in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia).

 

Our students at the Christmas program.

Paula and one of the other teachers directing a performance.

The shepards, plus real sheep, in the Nativity skit.

The wise men, in the Nativity skit.

The wise men visiting Mary and Joseph, in the Nativity skit. *Notice "The big gift" in the lower right corner.

 

At the end of the Christmas program, after explaining that we had a gift that came all the way from America for each child, we invited one student from each grade (1st-6th) up to the stage to unwrap the gift.

Once unwrapped and opened, I tipped the box toward the audience so all the students could see.  After lots of “ooooohhhhs!”, “awwwwwws”, and very excited faces (complete with one 3rd grade student in the front row showing me his approval by a very expressive thumbs up)

Students came up to the stage, lined up by class.  One-by-one, Paula and I handed each student a car.  They responded, “Thank you! Thank you!” with big smiles.

 

They all sat back down, admiring their new treasure, trying out the wheels on the floor, or holding them up for a picture.

Thanks Toys for God's Kids, Uncle Norm, Aunt MaryLou, Uncle Paul, Aunt Loretta, and FedEx!





Foreigngee Christmas

Even though Ethiopian Christmas wasn’t until January 7, we had a weekend retreat to celebrate Christmas on Dec 24/25.  Abba Aristide organized the retreat to include a bunch of the foreign volunteers who are working with Salesians.  Besides Paula and I, the other volunteers are from Italy and Austria.  It was quite the whirlwind trip!

We left our compound at 5am, Sunday morning.  Deacon Temesgen drove us:

 We stopped for breakfast.  We had cappuccinos and "eggs and tibs," which is like scrabbled eggs mixed with small pieces of meat, served with french bread on the side.  To eat it, you tear off a bit-sized piece of bread and use it to scoop up the eggs.  It was REALLY good!

We arrived in Zway at about 9:30am, met up with the other volunteers, and began our retreat.  We had a couple of different talks, time for prayer, and Mass in the evening.

The church where we had Mass.

Some of the other volunteers, just relaxing.

 Monday morning, we visited a Don Bosco women's project.  Women who are

underprivileged can apply for the project.  They are taught a trade (i.e. weaving, chicken keeping, sewing, etc.), then are supported in starting their own businesses.

There were women sitting in groups weaving basket ware.

These women were weaving materials with looms.

There were also women embroidering.

 

We visited the on-site store to buy some of their handiwork.

 Then, we hopped in the car and drove to Debre Zeit (a couple-hour drive)....

 

We had lunch with the Salesian community in Debre Zeit and toured the compound there.  After that, we hopped back in the car, and drove the rest of the way to Addis Ababa (approx. 1.5 hours).  Upon our arrival at the Salesian community compound in Addis, we had a couple hours to rest and get ready for our Christmas Eve celebration.  We went to Mass, which included a baptism in Italian.  We had earlier prepared to sing "Silent Night" in German, as our group of volunteers was responsible for being the "choir", so that was pretty exciting.  Easily the most international Christmas I've ever had!

The church where we had Christmas Eve Mass.

 After Mass, they had prepared a feast for everyone in the reception hall.  Dinner was followed by music, provided by our accordion-playing priest, and dancing.

After dinner, we went back to the compound where we were staying and exchanged gifts with just our group of volunteers.

Before too long, we all headed off to bed as we were pretty tired from all the day's events.  In the morning (Dec 25), we had breakfast and goodbyes.

We rode about half way back to Soddo with one of the priests who was driving a van in that direction.  After that, he helped us get on a bus that took us the rest of the way.  The bus was cracking me up!  The entire front of the bus, inside, was covered in tapestry, tassels, and bright red fake fur.  They insisted that we sit in the very front, so Paula sat in the first chair and I in the second.  As we were driving, I noticed that even the steering column and gear shifter were covered in multicolored fur.  The decor was complete with a legless toy pterodactyl hanging between the sun visors.  As the camel herds and mud huts passed by outside our windows, we sped on by listening to "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen playing through the sound system...that song is EVERYWHERE!  I was too nervous to ask the driver if I could take a picture of the view from my seat, so I drew one instead:

After a total of approximately 7 hours of travel, we made it back to Soddo safe and sound. 

Paula and I had our own small Christmas celebration and opened our presents :) I made a Christmas tree out of Paula's packing peanuts and the pink bubble wrap.

Paula's parents sent her a small Nativity set, complete with llamas - Bolivian :)

መልካም ገና  ! ("Melkam Gena" = Merry Christmas!)

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 :)