My shadow lengthens as I try to soak in the fragments of sunlight that penetrate the branches of the trees. I’m perched on a small antique metal chair slightly off-center from the middle of a circular mosaic at the heightened point of a manicured garden surrounding the British-era ivy-clad house that I’ve been living in for the past couple of days. My body is shocked by the quickened transition from southern Indian heat and humidity to northern Indian cold. While I was experiencing the ferocity of the heat in the south, I would complain to friends, acquaintances, and passing strangers...
Please login first to post comments.
My plans (if you could call the thin framework that I started this journey with) have changed. I had heard about Auroville from my guidebook and perhaps passing conversation. It was linked with the word ashram (and the monastic religious connotation often left me disinterested). However, when I arrived in a small town called Pondicherry and talked with my couchsurfing host about it, I found that it was more a community gathered around the objective of human unity and sustainability. As it is the largest and only internationally recognized experiment of this, I thought it would be a shame to...
The monsoon rains are finally hitting Tamil Nadu. The constant cacophony of fireworks from Deepavali (the ‘festival of lights’ held in India) has started to wane. This signals both a divergence and a convergence in my future plans. My devices to go to graduate school will now take a backseat to my vetting out of teaching as a profession. The immediate future will continue as planned and I will travel the beautiful and diverse country of India until around March. What have I done for the past month you might ask? Wake up at 4 or 5am. Turn off AC....
What was it that had me twisting and turning away from wine? I think jumping into wine without giving myself time to reflect on the Peace Corps was a recipe for dissatisfaction. It's hard to summarize my experiences in Ethiopia let alone come away with a distilled version of how it changed me as a person. The one thing I do know is that working in the financial arena no longer holds a sway over me. With that, I have decided to open up my options for the future. I'm taking the GRE and applying for university programs in the...
One of the hardest things I've had to do in 2010 was to leave the Peace Corps early. It was not a decision I took lightly. I leaped forward into this grand idea of becoming a winemaker. I was ecstatic and talked about it to a superfluous amount with my friends and family. In my mind I was set and had found that work in life that I could be passionate about. I was right in so many different ways. I was and am passionate about so many different aspects of the wine making process, but I once again came...
Has it really been since May that I've added to this blog? Well, I've finally felt the need/want to write again. I'd like to thank Sufjan Stevens and his new album for piquing my pen. 5 months after Ethiopia, I've traveled these United States. I've visited with good friends. I've entered photos into a National Geographic contest. I've bottled my homemade coffee stout. I am currently fermenting my second beer (an IPA). I've moved to Yountville in Napa. I've tasted too many wines to list from only a sampling of the wineries that exist in Napa. I've collected a hundred...
Well I've arrived back in the United States. I took the long way around the world to escape the wrath of Eyjafjallajökull. My flight went from Addis Ababa to Beijing to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Las Vegas. It was a dreadfully long flight, but I was the locomotive that did and was unstoppably heading down the other side of the mountain back to the states to see my friends and family. I've been back in the states for a little over 2 weeks. Lacking a car and the same social tendencies that once graced the name Jon Losey,...
Sorry about the lapse in blogging. It was a mixture of uncertainty on my part about how I was to proceed with the Peace Corps. As you might have heard, I have finally decided to leave the Peace Corps. It was an amazing experience, but my high expectations of what I'd accomplish mixed with the small amounts of work that I could procure have finally rang the bell that signals my return to life as an American. So while this does mean the end of my Peace Corps service in Ethiopia, it will not end my blogging on this site....
So there I was. In a conversation with a friend in a cafe. Apparently this cafe didn't get the memo about what semen is in English. The cafe is called the Simen Cafe in Amharic. But of course the vowels are different between English and Amharic. Therefore the signs that are written in English proudly boast their brand. Semen cafe. Our conversation is unusual. To speak about religion openly is often and difficult and/or ostracizing experience in America. Our current conversation refers to a passage in the Bible that in Amharic reads zefan and English reads orgy. Zefan is singers....
After returning from a meeting I had in Bahir Dar, I was ready to relax after about 40 hours of travel by bus in 5 days. I went to the local souk and a friend there told me about a concert that was being held in Dessie. Not one to miss out on live music when it is a rarity (besides local cultural music), I went up to the concert to enjoy myself. I did not expect the long line that they had in front of the concert. I also thought it would be a small concert in a bar...
I’m thirsty. So thirsty. If I stop and take water, I’ll lose my momentum. The backs of my hands are sizzling like bacon. The front of one hand is still burning and numbed from the plant I accidentally touched on the way down. When I touched it, it felt like a bee had stung me 20 times at once. How did I get a sunburn on the backs of my hands? I readjust the scarf that either shades my face or neck. My face and neck are continually in contest as to the winner of protection. The flies coat the...
We set out at 6am in the morning with our scout Nege (his name means tomorrow / eats and drinks once a day / preferred beverage is tella [a locally-brewed beer] / balances his belongings on his head / can kill thieves and charm ladies with the same look). The rest of the group consisted of Libby and Janelle (visitors from a distant land / athletes / cute girls), Kyle and David (fellow volunteers / experienced in the ways of the wilderness / can both skin a bear in 5 minutes flat while playing the harmonica), and Graham (couchsurfer /...
The day starts in silence. The unreality of today’s arrivals, casts a hue on perception. Arriving at the airport at 2am and change, it was like looking at the set of a TV show that has smitten me. I think partially, is this my life? I think partially, these things are familiar and foreign at the same time. The airport is the most modern building I’ve seen in a year. Why am I fidgeting? Why can’t I concentrate on Dostoevsky? Is it because he had the lungs of a champion swimmer and the wind of a hurricane? Well, yes, he...
The distance between blogs has been increasing steadily for me. If my blog were a heart monitor, we would have flat-lined a long time ago. But through continual resuscitation, you will still get updates on my life. A lot of my work, as of present, has died down. Part of the problem is that I have not put a lot of energy into resuscitation of work. The other problem is continued set backs in work. It's been hard to get work that I feel will be helpful, but I think that as time goes on I will be able to...
Sorry about the lapse in blogging. It was a mixture of uncertainty on my part about how I was to proceed with the Peace Corps. As you might have heard, I have finally decided to leave the Peace Corps. It...
So there I was. In a conversation with a friend in a cafe. Apparently this cafe didn't get the memo about what semen is in English. The cafe is called the Simen Cafe in Amharic. But of course the vowels...
After returning from a meeting I had in Bahir Dar, I was ready to relax after about 40 hours of travel by bus in 5 days. I went to the local souk and a friend there told me about a...
I’m thirsty. So thirsty. If I stop and take water, I’ll lose my momentum. The backs of my hands are sizzling like bacon. The front of one hand is still burning and numbed from the plant I accidentally touched on...
We set out at 6am in the morning with our scout Nege (his name means tomorrow / eats and drinks once a day / preferred beverage is tella [a locally-brewed beer] / balances his belongings on his head / can...
The day starts in silence. The unreality of today’s arrivals, casts a hue on perception. Arriving at the airport at 2am and change, it was like looking at the set of a TV show that has smitten me. I think...
The distance between blogs has been increasing steadily for me. If my blog were a heart monitor, we would have flat-lined a long time ago. But through continual resuscitation, you will still get updates on my life. A lot of...
The SUV moves its way up the mountain like a glass on a table during a heavy earthquake. Only the tried and true experience of the driver keeps the glass from breaking into so much matter off the precipice inches...
Someone recently told me, “You seem happier now. Other people seem to think so as well.” This raises some questions in my head. What was I like before? Was I the cat’s drag or the cat’s meow or perhaps its...
In my view of things, when you are separated from the things that dictate your culture and your personality in your familiar homely environment, a layer of your cultural self is removed. Cultural self could be encased in a TV,...
Like many things in life, starting a garden can be both a blessing and a curse. The lessons in life can be a plethora of bitter pills. These bitter pills after being swallowed soon absorb into a subpoena for life...
Endit now bus (How is it bus)? The driver greeted the early-morning bus to Lalibela like a rockstar or a politician. The driver has descriptives to match both. The driver is like a rockstar because of the mass amount of...
Times are changing. The megaphone blast of the morning prayers are now bits of sound overheard from a passing cell phone conversation. The once ignored demands of you and farenji and money can now affect my temperament, whereas before I...
The excitement of aspiring achievement has been mired by a consistent schedule of day-on-day-off power. This power problem will solve itself after the rains begin their torrential down pour (as power in Ethiopia is hydro-generated), but then effectiveness will once...
The temperature rose steadily as the bus slipped forward. Like a frog sitting in slowly fired water, I was too dumb to get out and go back to cooler haunts. So the plague of frogs descended on Sodere, our destination...
Today is the last day before I leave for in-service training. This marks my 6th month in Ethiopia and my 3rd month in Dessie. It's odd how much I have changed in this small window of time. Maybe not outwardly....
Easter calls up in my mind the prisoner I was in childhood. My parents, God bless them, would lock my brother and I in the house as we squirmed in an electric fashion in unbridled anticipation of the search for...
Last night's sleep was restless. I usually fall asleep in minutes, but instead it took hours. I hate those nights. I float uncomfortably on a bed of nails ... scratching at mosquito bites, twisting and turning. My back is sunburnt...
The room was small. The house was the room. What little light that crowded in was standing room only. Illuminated inside the mud and stick house was the silhouette of a man lying on thin mattresses on the floor. His...
As a sheep is sheared, it's long thick curls are peeled back from its skin to reveal a changed being. It is now the orange beneath the rind. Stripped of its protected layer, it now leaks sticky tears of citrus....
I have debated holding off on writing a blog entry on my house until a later point in time due to the slightly untidy nature of my abode. You see my friends, the road construction in my neighborhood took a...
Days are blowing through like the dust that blows through Dessie; thick with personal accomplishments and mixed with a little bit of exhaust. I continually find myself smiling at the smallest achievements or the smallest experiences in life. I have...
Here I am at 6:24 (or 00:24 in Habesha time) in the morning waking from a drugged sleep. After 4 days of “running”, I was given the go ahead to relieve my runner's high. Already this morning I feel like...
I want you to take a visual journey with me. It all starts at the early hours before dawn, everything is quiet and the unpaved streets are empty as we jostle our way in my counterpart's SUV to the bus...
My new address is: Jon Losey P.O. Box 1435 Dessie, Ethiopia Send lots of love if you dare!
The cat has come out of the bag. As you have previously read, the cat is going to Dessie. As I (the cat) readjusted my bearings from being shook around in said bag for about 6 weeks, I was ushered...
Drum roll please! I now have found out where I will be going for the next two years. I will be going to Dessie in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. It is about 2500 metres (about a mile and a...
Ethiopia is possibly the only country that is still on the Julian Calendar. It is currently January 28th, 2001 in Ethiopia. We would call it the 6th of January, 2009 in the states. In the search for the fountain of...
Life in Ambo has been interesting to say the least. From when I wake to when I sleep it feels as if every single detail of my life has been decided by some guiding hand. I am starting to feel...
Sleep in. Sleep in. It's my birthday. My eyes open to my patchwork gray, sky blue, orange, and fuscia blanket clashing in and of itself and then furthermore with my light blue flower-ridden Peace Corps standard sheets. I soon realize...
Written a couple of days ago ... I slept quite well last night at our hotel in Addis Ababa in comparison to other nights. While I did wake up to the call of prayer at 5:30am, I felt rested and...
I woke up in that usual sense when traveling. What bed am I in? As I kneaded my dead cow eyes into a wakened sense of understanding, my body got to its usual morning routine. The morning routine that will...
What's that over there? I'm constantly distracted by meaningless things to do. Let's start playing a video game that consumes ungodly amounts of time (Diablo II - har har). Let's watch some movies (perhaps 5 in a row). Let's hang...
As some of you might know, I have been invited into the Peace Corps to go to Ethiopia starting on December 2nd, 2008 for 27 months. The program I am joining is called HIV/AIDS Services: Hospital and Health Center Capacity...
How many entries are we showing above?
For now, we are showing up to 50 entries on each page. Entries that
are too short are filtered out. For more entries, please use
archives.
|
Connect to Peace Corps Journals
About the Journal
Contact Us
Disclaimer:
| |
| Copyright (c) 2010 |
