Vacation's Over - Or - Ten Things I've Learned in Ten Days

Tomorrow, we travel out to our Community Based Training (CBT) sites, also known as our Pre-Service Training (PST) sites.  Mine happens to be in a very cold town called Bekoji.  I'll be living with a host family there and doing training (language, safety, medical, technical) in the community.  One of my language and cultural facilitators actually lives in the same compound as me.

My location has no internet access for my laptop, although there is an internet cafe in the town.  So this may very well be my last blog update for a while.  But I promise, I'm still around.  My home at site also has no running water, so bucket baths and sintebets (latrines), yay!  However, all homes have electricity, so that's reassuring.

In the ten days I have been in Ethiopia, I have already faced several different challenges which have made me gulp, squirm, groan, and even ask myself what it is I've actually gotten myself into. :S  To think of living here for two years, in these rural communities, with only one other volunteer seems, now that I'm actually facing it, incredibly more daunting than it did when I was thinking about it a year ago.  In other words, all encouragement is greatly appreciated.

However, I also realize that despite all the challenges I'm already dealing with, that's going to be compounded by a lot when I go to my CBT site for ten weeks.  I am looking forward to being more fully immersed in the language, and even the host family, but I'm also a person who needs my "me time" and will need to figure out a culturally appropriate way of communicating that with my host family.  Also, there's the fact that I'll be living without running water for a long period of time for the first time ever in my life.  Really, these ten days at the hotel in Addis have been nothing.  I ain't seen nothing yet.

But nonetheless, with challenges are also lessons and room for personal growth.  So as promised in the headline of this post, here are ten things I have learned about Peace Corps and Ethiopia in ten days (in no particular order).

1. I am incredibly high maintenance when it comes to my plumbing and water demands, as well as other "first world problems" like internet.  Interestingly, I didn't mind so much when the electricity went out.
2. African houseflies bite.
3. Ethiopians don't say "please" or "thank you."  For them, "please" is what a beggar says, and "thank you" is for sincere gratitude (not just everyday).  I still say "amasiganalohu" anyway.
4. There really is such a thing as too much injera.
5. When an Ethiopian fails his tenth grade exam, he goes to the teacher's college or vocational college.  So teaching has the same regard here as it has in the States, and some really don't want to be there.
6. Skype is "illegal" in Ethiopia.
7. The "legal" age to marry in Ethiopia is 18, but girls are married off at 11 in rural areas.
8. Peace Corps will try their damned hardest to scare the hell out of you in your first ten days.
9. English is the national language of education in Ethiopia.  All schooling at the secondary and tertiary level is in English.
10. Lots of things are scary and you may freak out/break down/be miserable for a minute, but it does get better.  We're in the "mood swing" segment of the Peace Corps Volunteer life cycle, so expect swings between vulnerability and adjustment.

Thanks for reading all.  Hope things are great back in the States!