Life in Hossana - an Update

The power went out across town yesterday.  This, in and of itself, is not so unusual for Ethiopia.  However, the power went out for eight hours, came back on briefly for an hour, then went out again until about midnight (I know this because I'd accidentally left my light switched "on" and it woke me up).  This is unusual for Hossana, a big and bustling town that's spoiled as far as power and (as of last year) water are concerned.

I was supposed to be working on session plans and powerpoints for the trainings I'm doing during PST up in Butajira this week.  I was supposed to email those to our PCVL.  But the power was out and my computer died, so what can you do?  The good news is, I got all of that done today.  I'm uploading attachments to my email to our PCVL even as I type this.

It's unusual for me to not have power for any long stretch of time.  As such, I've never really had to entertain myself when I can't do work and/or use my laptop for fun things like watching TV or computer games.  I puttered around a bit.  Rearranged some stuff, cleaned my house.  And I saw how beautiful it was outside.  When my site mate, Christina, COSed, she sold me some of her furniture.  Because I was out of the country when she flew home, I had my landlord let her in and bring the furniture.  It's nice because I didn't actually have to move anything myself.  Also, Christina's couch and matching arm chair that she left me are super comfy.  I'd been using the chair as a dumping ground for all my things when I get in the door.  My purse, jacket, grocery bags of toilet paper, and other odds and ends were piled in the seat.  I cleaned them all off, and took the arm chair out onto my porch with a book I was in the middle of reading (The Mysterious Benedict Society, for those of you who are interested).  I also brought out some dried mangos and some apple juice I'd bought at my ferenge suk to snack on while I read in the sun.

I wasn't the only one enjoying the sun that day.  Hossana is home to a particular breed of small lizard that I have yet to identify.  I've always wanted to snap a photo of one of these lizards, but the problem is they dart away so fast it's impossible.  And, unlike geckos, they mostly keep out of sight and don't come into my house, so I only see them when they're racing from point A to point B across my path.  But not today.  Probably because it's in the middle of rainy season, these lizards need all the heat they can get.  So there was one on my porch, just chilling in a patch of sunlight as he soaked in the rays.  He was enjoying it so much, he allowed me to get stupid close to him and snap a photo on my old Palm Pre Plus - a two-year-old now defunct Smart Phone that I use to listen to podcasts and reread old text messages.  My phone has no zoom on it, so you can imagine how close I had to get to get the image you see here.

But that wasn't all my lizard action today (boy does that sound weird out of context).  My friend zoomed off, as lizards here do, onto what I refer to as the "patio area" of my yard.  It's really the old concrete foundation of a shed that my landlord knocked down not long after I arrived here last year.  Now, he's erected some sort of lattice work above the concrete to support a growing grape vine.  Anyways, as I followed my little friend out onto the patio, I saw him meet up with another, smaller lizard.  I don't know if the lizards were mates or not, but they didn't seem particularly perturbed by each other.  I watched them dine on a line of ants that were marching across the patio before they both scattered in other directions.  I took a short video of these two on my old phone, too.

Above is a photo of the view of my garden from my perch on my porch as I read my book.  It was so enjoyable just sitting out there and reading that I finished my book and began a new one on my refurbished Nook.  (Side note: I'm a little concerned about B&N's product.  This is my third one under an extended warranty, and though the first two had two completely different problems, they have the fact that it was caused by factors beyond my control in common - glitches hidden somewhere in the factory-installed software that messed up the programming, and I had only put legitimately purchased B&N Nook books on there, so I can't be accused of giving it viruses or anything.  At any rate, I hope third time's the charm and my Nook Simple Touch lasts, but if it doesn't, I'm writing a strongly worded review about this useful but entirely buggy product).  The new book I'm reading now - and halfway through already thanks to the blackout - is Ender's Game, which, yes, I've already read, but that was ten years ago now, and with the movie coming out, I need to refresh my memory.

In short, yesterday was the perfect way to mark my Peace Corps-versary.  Yes, that's right. On August 17, 2012, I was officially sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia.  So what better way to celebrate than by going with the flow of no power and spending the day reading on my porch, smelling the flowers, watching the wildlife, instead of cursing the gods and complaining about how I can't get work done or watch my stories?  I must be growing up.

Carlin, August 17, 2012, Addis Ababa

Carlin, August 10, 2013, Ziway

Look how far I've come.  And when I say that, what I really mean is, look how long my hair has gotten!

I've also been making soups from scratch.  It's easy and delicious, and filling if you add enough thickener, rice and/or noodles to it.  Every time, the soup tastes different, because I'm always adding to it, but it's always delicious.  It's perfect for the rainy days that this season brings, and nice to curl up with and eat while I read my book on my new couch, or maybe watch an episode of Community on my laptop (if there's power).  I've included the recipe, with common substitutions below, just in case any of my friends want to know what the new staple of my diet tastes like.  It's a variation on the egg drop soup of the PCV Ethiopia Cookbook.  Which, by the way, if you want a creative cookbook with fun recipes and explanations on how to easily make Ethiopian and American food, shoot me an email and I'll be happy to forward you the PDF.  But there are two version of the egg drop soup in the cookbook.  Mine sort of combines both the recipes.  Here it is.

Ingredients 

4 cups of broth or stock (chicken, beef, or vegetable - dealer's choice)
2-3 skinned and sliced carrots
2-3 small onions, diced (in America, just use one big whole onion)
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp Ginger powder, or grated ginger root
1 tbsp of honey
1/4 cup of cold water
1 spoonful of corn flour
2 eggs
Black Cajun Seasoning (to taste)
Curry powder (to taste)
OPTIONAL: Noodles or rice

Substitution note: If you don't have stock cubes for broth, you can use seasoning from Ramen packs.  Perfect, if you're also using Ramen noodles.

Put the broth on to boil.  While that's heating up, dice your onions and garlic and slice your carrots and add to the soup.  Add ginger and honey, and seasonings to taste.  Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine the 1/4 cold water with corn flour and mix thoroughly until it is a milky liquid.  In another bowl, beat your two eggs.  Bring broth to a boil.  Add noodles and boil with broth for as long as noodle packet advices (note: if adding Ramen noodles, only boil 2 minutes, but spaghetti is normally about 8 minutes).  If not adding noodles, just consider how well cooked you want the carrots to be, although I've boiled for 8 minutes with carrots and noodles and it seems to turn out OK.  Slowly add corn flour mixture.  Be careful, as the flour will settle so mix it again if it does.  Remove from heat.  Add beaten eggs and mix them into the soup.  Soup should change color and texture with the eggs.  Serve while piping hot.

So that's been my hearty and tasty meal of the month, and as mentioned, it's perfect for the weather here right now.  And with autumn right around the corner for you fine folks in the States, I'll bet it'll be great for those chilly nights.  I've been thinking of trying to explore and create a Hossana spin-off of the recipes in the cook book every month.  My goal is to include a new "Peace Corps Carlin" recipe in this blog each month, to give you guys a little "taste" (haha) of my life here.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy my personal version of the egg drop soup.  Don't let the onions get to you too much (I am terrible at chopping onions, and have to take frequent breaks, but they're so delicious in the soup!)

Signing off for now (photos - and maybe even video of the lizards - to come in an update later this week, so watch this space!)

Carlin

Camp G-GLOW Sodo 2013 Now Completed!

As much as I would love to rehash all the awesomeness that occurred during the week of July 28th-August 3rd, I believe it would be much easier to show you.

The above video can also be found at our awesome Camp G-GLOW blog, where I am a one of three bloggers that keep the thing updated and looking pretty.  The other two working on the blog are Jackie, and Adi, our Ethiopian counterpart who occasionally does a post in Amharic for Ethiopian readers not too familiar with English.  You can find all the nitty gritty details of what we did at Camp G-GLOW at this convenient location, but first, another video!

(Because I know how much you all love videos).  This one above is actually a slideshow of OhnSoon's excellent photographic documentation of our week-long camp.  It's worth more photos than I could ever simply embed in this post.  That being said...

Oh, look!  It's me, with my campers, and fellow Yellow Team Leaders, Kat, Yeshi and Samantha (black shirts from left to right that are not me).

So as I said, you can get the details right here at our official blog, but where else but here will you get a more personal reaction of my experience at camp?  Being the official blogger is great, but I do have to keep things in perspective, talk about activities, be sure to remember which camper did which adorable thing, and which counselor led which activity, and make sure everyone's names get a mention.  Here, I can just talk about it, from my perspective, without worrying about all that.

So I'm going to lay all my cards on the table and be super honest: I did not want to do Camp G-GLOW this year.  Nope.  I didn't want the stress, and I was worried about bringing students that I had no personal relationship with to camp with me.  My site mate, Christina, is the one that works at the primary schools and she basically went through the camper selection process for me.  Though I had (enthusiastically) participated in Christina's mini Camp GLOW in Hossana, I was more wary about the one in Sodo.  The Hossana camp was easy to say yes to.  For one thing, no travel was involved, and at 6:00 the kids could go home and so could I.  On top of that, we didn't have to feed them as students just went home for lunch, too.  So all I needed to focus on was the actual camp things, like lessons, activities and management.  Sodo added a whole new barrel of fish.  It was bigger, involved travel with kids I didn't know (I hate traveling in this country) and you are on practically 24/7 and always have to be a role model.

Despite all that, I said yes.  I said yes primarily because Christina made me say yes.  She pointed out that, because she was COSing, she couldn't take the kids herself and I needed to take them or they wouldn't be able to attend.  If you want to get me to do anything, tell me I'm taking a once in a lifetime opportunity away from kids.  Gets me every time.  So I acquiesced and started my prep.

Prepping for Camp G-GLOW is probably the easiest thing I have ever done as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  I know for a fact that it was far more difficult for other PCVs, who took on bigger roles in the camp organization, especially Emily, our Camp Director, and Dan the logistics coordinator who actually lives in Sodo.  But thanks to these other wonderful and responsible people, my preparation was a breeze.  I had one lesson I really wanted to do - making All About Books - a genius notion (if I do say so myself) that combines American-style literacy education ala the Writer's Workshop Model with a fun and informal assessment of what students had learned at camp so far.  Students would write and illustrate a book about the topics we were learning about at camp to show what they had retained.  Boom, one lesson done.  And the second lesson on leadership was literally handed to me by Emily, and all I had to do was execute the lesson plan (with a few personal touches).  So that was easy.  Then there was camper selection.  Christina agreed to do it for me, because she knows all the kids and the teachers in the primary schools and picked four gobez (smart) campers for me to bring.  So that was easy, too.  Then I was concerned about transportation.  No need!  Because Hossana is a hub town close to Sodo, Emily managed to contract a bus for us that would pick us up right here, along with campers who met up here from Gunchire and Durame.  So that was super easy and required minimal effort on my part.

And then, there was camp proper.  Camp itself was not as easy.  It was a lot of hard work, and very high stress.  But it was rewarding, too.  I realized on my way down that it was OK that I didn't know my Hossana campers.  I'd get to know them, and I did, quite well.  All of us are meeting again next week for a mini reunion and shay/buna (tea/coffee) so I can give them all CDs of photos and the two videos I linked to earlier in this post.  Anyways, at camp, I got to know a lot of the campers, not just the ones from my site.  I grew very fond of my Yellow Team, even though they all had their flaws, too.  I hate to pick favorites - actually, not really - but my favorite was definitely Yohannes.  He was super gobez and adorable.  I was also fond of Mihret, a junior counselor I brought from Hossana who asked me for more responsibility when she realized she wasn't being utilized.  And when we gave her more responsibility as a helper in the classroom, she really stepped up.  I was super proud.  I also have a soft spot for Getachew, just because he was so little and had an angry face.  He was like my own little grumpy cat.  I remember, I was handing out rings of pride (rewards for good behavior, but everyone starts each day with one) in the morning and asked if someone didn't get one.  Getachew raised his hand, even though I could see one clearly around his nametag.  I said he already had one, and he said, "So?  Give me another," in this adorable grumpy-cat way.  I laughed, then he smiled, and we both laughed.  Was it a bit petulant and irreverent?  Perhaps.  But he's so little, it made me laugh.

I'm being kicked out of my usual cafe so that they can clean, so I'll just sum up here - Camp preparation was easy.  Camp itself was hard.  But worth it.  I'm glad I went, I had an exhausting, stressful, and fantastic time, and I know it's something that the campers who attended will carry with them for the rest of their lives.  How do I know this with such certainty?  When I first met my host brother, Foad, last year in Bekoji, the first thing he did was show me photos and the certificate he received for attending one of these Peace Corps Camps a few years previously.  He beamed from ear to ear, a teenager now applying to college (at the time), still proud of the certificate he earned for attending "an American-style summer camp."

So yes.  I have a feeling that, should these campers encounter Peace Corps Volunteers in the future, next year, in five years, or in ten years, they'll beam and react in much the same way as Foad - by wanting to enthuse about their experiences at Camp G-GLOW, Sodo, 2013.