Hello people, I'm back in the ville for a couple weeks for Scott and Katie's wedding. Hope to see all of you.

Hello everybody! Writing live from somewhere......

I don't know if there is anybody who actually still reads or checks this thing, because I certainly haven't in awhile. Howebver, I had a bunch of new pictures that I wanted to post on here (or on flickr that is) and so will do that. Oh, and I'll be home visitng for most of September. Anyway, enjoy the pictures and videos (if I can get them to upload)!!!

www.flickr.com/bdid66

Brad

Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long since I've written on here. I've been pretty busy and, to be honest, haven't been on the internet in quite awhile. But I'm still here, everything's still good. I'm in Addis right now to pick up a grant check for a project I'm doing. Other than that, I'm starting work to open up a youth center in town, something that I think is really needed there. Everything is going great here though, and I honestly can't think of much to write about at the moment. Sorry for these short and somewhat wack posts on here. I'm far better at writing individual letters than these mass ones known as blogs (hint, hint). So go grab a pen and paper and write some letters fools.

Alright, bye bye.

Brad

I know it's lame that I haven't taken the time to write an actual blog entry in awhile, but here are some more pictures anyway. Sorry, I'll try to get on that sometime. I've been really busy lately. These are mostly pictures from when Jeff (my brother) came to visit.

ENJOY!!!

Brad

www.flickr.com/bdid66

Alright, so I'm back in the Peace Corps office for the day and am trying to upload a few pictures from work recently. The first ones are of the business I helped my HIV-positive association open, and the next are the theater competition. Hopefully you guys will enjoy these.

Peace,

Brad

P.S. Last week was my one year anniversary of being in Ethiopia, which was exciting. Forgot to mention that earlier. Alright, carry on.

Don't worry peoples, I'm still alive in the Ethiope. Sorry it's been so long since my last blog entry, and sorry in advance if this one is kind of lame. I'm in Addis right now closing out the grant for the business I helped my HIV-positive association start. Tomorrow morning I'm heading to the new volunteers training town to help out with that. Work has been really busy lately, so that's good I suppose. My World AIDS Day theater competition went amazingly. People in my town estimated the crowd at 6000-7000 people, which was awesome. The kids in my town put on some great dramas, and the circus/music group that I brought in from my regional capital (Awassa) was amazing.

So what else has been going on? Not much I guess. My bro's almost ready to buy his ticket for a visit in January, which is awesome. If you're reading this Jeff, get going on that. Honestly, I really don't know what else to write at the moment. I guess that's why the title of this blog includes the descriptor I've given it.

Well, keep in touch everyone and write some letters. Seriously, write letters.

Bye bye.

Alright kids, I've added some pictures to the flickr page to the right. Enjoy!!

Also, thanks to the blazing fast Italian internet, I've managed to add a video that I took while moving my furniture and stuff to my new house. If your computer is having trouble playing the video, download VLC media player and it will work. The kids in the video are my neighbors from the old house. The video also shows you how I was able to move all my stuff to the new house, through the magic of a donkey cart.

Enjoy guys!!

Brad

www.flickr.com/bdid66

Greetings everyone!

So I'm in Italy right now, and wanted to take advantage of some fast internet by at least putting something up here. I'll be heading back to Ethiopia soon, so I figured I needed to take the time now to put something up. Rome was fun, and it was great to be able to meet my mom there (she wasn't willing to come to Ethiopia, so we met half way). Now I'm in Venice, which is really amazing. I really don't have too much to write about right now, though I can honestly say I am looking forward to getting back to Ethiopia. Work is really exciting right now and busy, which is exciting. Maybe I'll try to put a few pictures up tomorrow if I have the time. Those are worth 1000 words; and although I'm not sure exactly how many pictures are equivelant to 1000 words, that means I can stop writing now.

Ciao!

Greetings everyone! Just got home from the big Meskel celebration that was at the market area this afternoon. More on that later though. Since my last entry, a lot has been going on here. I picked up my grant money from Addis, and have already bought most of the equipment for the HIV positive association’s business and transported it to my town from Addis. I’ve also found my new house and am in the process of moving all my stuff there. It’s a nice place; 2 little rooms on a nice compound with coffee and fruit trees. Most importantly, it’s a lot closer to town and has a good amount of people living on the compound. It should be a good move I think.

So Meskel (Finding of the True Cross) is today and tomorrow, which is the biggest holiday of the year in my part of Ethiopia. I’ve been told that it is a particularly huge holiday for people in Hadiya (my area), Gurage, and Wolayta areas. The event in the market area this afternoon was definitely one of the coolest I’ve been to since coming here. There was a huge bonfire (demera) and lots of drumming, singing, dancing, etc. before the bonfire was lit. I took some videos on my camera of all of that; hopefully they turned out well. They were even shooting off roman candles out of the top of a huge cross. Then they lit the bonfire, which was topped with lots of flowers and stuff. The pile was doused with kerosene, so it went up like a snap, and then the really wild dancing began. It was a lot of fun. After that we went out for dinner, and then walked home. The day and night before Meskel is apparently the big celebration around here, and the night (right now) is full of kids running around to shops and restaurants singing and dancing. There’re also smaller bonfires at people’s houses everywhere, so the night is pretty lit up compared to the usual pitch-blackness around here. I’m exhausted right now, but just wanted to take a few minutes to write a blog entry about the holiday and the celebration.

Alright everyone, I need to get to bed.

As always, get out those pens and write those letters. Bye bye.

I'm in Addis, and so finally have the chance to put a bunch of pictures up. Click on the flickr link over to the right to check them out. Enjoy!

Brad

P.S. That last blog, where I was talking about thinking about life in the US, was in no way meant as derogitory. I was just talking about how huge the culture shock is going to be when I go to Italy and then back to the US in a year and a half. Just wanted to clear that up, apparently there was some confusion about that.

www.flickr.com/bdid66

Well ladies and gents, how is everyone? As of today (or tomorrow maybe, I’m not sure), I’ve been in Ethiopia for 9 months. It’s hard to believe it’s really been that long, time has really flown by. If I would have gotten pregnant the day I got here, I’d be delivering any day now (thankfully I’m not pregnant though, like Arnold in that movie “Junior”). Was Danny DeVito in that? He was in “Twins” with Arnold, but I think “Junior” also. I’m not sure. I could use IMDB right now. Anyway, that’s not related to the point. Life is going really well here these days. My vegetables have actually made a bit of a comeback, though I will be moving houses in about a month or so. My house right now is a long way from town, and it’s a bit creepy walking home at night to what my friends in town refer to as “the countryside”. Also, someone was eaten by a hyena about a minute walk from my house a couple weeks ago (she went out to fetch water in the middle of the night and all they found was her hair and blood). That’s no cause for worry though, that’s extremely rare. I’ve seen them on my way home quite a few times, and they never even come close. When I shine my flashlight at them, they just kind of slink away. Right now I’m the only one really living on this compound, so it’ll be nice to get some people on the same compound as me as well. Work is going well. My grant money for the HIV positive association business should be arriving in the next few weeks, I’m heading to Awassa again to take the next step in getting money for a World AIDS Day theater competition (knock on wood), and I’m starting to do a little preliminary info gathering on a little sanitation/water project. Ethiopian New Year is coming up in about a week, so that should be fun. If you all didn’t know, Ethiopia never switched to the Gregorian calendar. Because of that, the year begins on September 11 (which is Meskerem 1st in the Ethiopian calendar) and the new year will be 2002. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do for New Years yet, but it should certainly be fun (and full of dancing, as every event in Ethiopia usually is). I’m also looking forward to the Italy trip I’m going on toward the end of next month (Mom, Vicki, and Kathy better be excited as well). Thinking of life outside Ethiopia is so bizarre for me now. Everything here seems so normal, and things that I remember from the US seem so abnormal and ridiculous. Even going to Addis or Awassa blows my mind when I haven’t been out of my town for awhile. I stare up at the buildings like a kid from rural Oklahoma who’s just been teleported into New York City (movie idea?). That’s why I’m so excited for Jeff (my brother if you don’t know him) to maybe be coming to visit this winter (dry season here). It’ll be great to get a fresh pair of eyes on my life here and what it is like to live in Ethiopia. I think it’ll probably help you guys at home understand also. I hope that makes at least a little bit of sense; I don’t feel like I’m at my most eloquent right now with regard to writing. OK, I guess I need to get going. Thanks to everybody for your support through this first 9 months, and thanks in advance for the support for the next 18 months. I really appreciate it, and I miss you all. Write those letters! Until next time……."

Cooking Orange Ginger Cider

Sunset over Lake Awassa

Monkey with a colorful display

4th of July Ethiopian Style

Everybody's favorite superhero, "Onion Man!"

On Tour with the Circus

Hello everybody. I decided today would be a good day to sit down and try to hammer out a good blog entry. So, what's bee going on here lately? I went Awassa, my regional capital, at the end of last week to drop off a little proposal to my regional health office in hopes of getting some funds for theater competition for world Aids Day. The guy there seemed to think it was a good idea and that it wouldn't take long to be approved, so hopefully that will happen (cross your fingers for that). The bus ride back was a rough one. There wasn't a direct bus back to my town, so I hopped from town to town (4 buses in all for the 140 kilometers). The trip usually takes about 3 hours, but with all those buses and the effects of the rainy season on the dirt road made this trip take about 5 1/2 hours or so. When I got back to town, the children on one of the streets near my house were certainly excited to see me. As I approached the kids, I heard the start saying "Brad meta! Brad meta!!" ("Brad came back!"). Then about 20 of them surrounded me, skipping and chanting "Brad! Brad! Brad!" It was half hilarious and half scary, but I enjoyed it.

Today I went to the post office and I had some wonderful letters and what not from people ( Vegas Didiers, Scotty, Torey, Sean). I even got a little envelope of stuff from one of the other volunteers who went home for a wedding a few weeks ago. In some sad news, my poor vegetables have all but bit the dust. Apparently there was a huge and violent storm in my town while I was in Awassa, and it pretty much killed all of my vegetables. Poor guys. Hopefully the storm wasn't as devastating to all of the farmers' crops around here as it was to mine. My area is pretty much 100% agricultural outside of the boundaries of the town, so that would not be good if it did the same to their crops (especially in a country already facing a major drought and food shortage right now).

Alright everybody, stay in touch,

Talk to you soon,

Brad

So, what have I been up to since my last entry on here? Well, I was touring with a circus/theater group for a few days (really only to one town besides my own). That was pretty fun, and they put on an absolutely unbelievable show. It’s hard to describe in words, but I took some pictures and stuff that I’ll try to put up some day. They mix live music, circus, theater, dance, etc. with health and HIV messages and tour around Ethiopia. One of the guys who runs it is an ex-Peace Corps guy that I know from Awassa. So that was pretty fun. If I end up being able to get this theater competition I’m trying to organize off the ground for World AIDS Day, I’m going to try to raise enough money to bring them up again for that show.

In other news, I just received approval of my grant application for my first big project, a little business for my HIV positive association. So that’s exciting, and I’m busy with the preparations for that at the moment. What else has been going on here? Nothing major that I can think of, but it has been a hectic past couple of weeks. I’m on the lookout for the new Harry Potter flick at my local video beyt; I’m sure it’ll be showing up soon. From what you guys have been telling me in e-mails and stuff, it’s pretty good. Damn, I can’t really think of anything else to write about here. I guess I’ll just wrap it up then.

Talk to you guys later. Write letters you mules.

So, what have I been up to since my last entry on here? Well, I was touring with a circus/theater group for a few days (really only to one town besides my own). That was pretty fun, and they put on an absolutely unbelievable show. It’s hard to describe in words, but I took some pictures and stuff that I’ll try to put up some day. They mix live music, circus, theater, dance, etc. with health and HIV messages and tour around Ethiopia. One of the guys who runs it is an ex-Peace Corps guy that I know from Awassa. So that was pretty fun. If I end up being able to get this theater competition I’m trying to organize off the ground for World AIDS Day, I’m going to try to raise enough money to bring them up again for that show.

In other news, I just received approval of my grant application for my first big project, a little business for my HIV positive association. So that’s exciting, and I’m busy with the preparations for that at the moment. What else has been going on here? Nothing major that I can think of, but it has been a hectic past couple of weeks. I’m on the lookout for the new Harry Potter flick at my local video beyt; I’m sure it’ll be showing up soon. From what you guys have been telling me in e-mails and stuff, it’s pretty good. Damn, I can’t really think of anything else to write about here. I guess I’ll just wrap it up then. Oh, I also just got done helping do site development with some PC staff for the new volunteers that are coming in a couple months. We're all excited to meet the new crew, and I was going around and checking out the possible towns near me where there will be new volunteers.

Talk to you guys later. Write letters you mules.

So, what have I been up to since my last entry on here? Well, I was touring with a circus/theater group for a few days (really only to one town besides my own). That was pretty fun, and they put on an absolutely unbelievable show. It’s hard to describe in words, but I took some pictures and stuff that I’ll try to put up some day. They mix live music, circus, theater, dance, etc. with health and HIV messages and tour around Ethiopia. One of the guys who runs it is an ex-Peace Corps guy that I know from Awassa. So that was pretty fun. If I end up being able to get this theater competition I’m trying to organize off the ground for World AIDS Day, I’m going to try to raise enough money to bring them up again for that show.

In other news, I just received approval of my grant application for my first big project, a little business for my HIV positive association. So that’s exciting, and I’m busy with the preparations for that at the moment. What else has been going on here? Nothing major that I can think of, but it has been a hectic past couple of weeks. I’m on the lookout for the new Harry Potter flick at my local video beyt; I’m sure it’ll be showing up soon. From what you guys have been telling me in e-mails and stuff, it’s pretty good. Damn, I can’t really think of anything else to write about here. I guess I’ll just wrap it up then.

Talk to you guys later. Write letters you mules.

I bought a shortwave radio yesterday evening, so now I get to listen to news in English from BBC, Voice of America, and a bunch of other strange finds. This morning I heard Ugandan agricultural news from some Ugandan Catholic news show, 3 Irish guys arguing about movies (mostly Bruno), BBC African Sunrise, and now VOA News. I feel more up to date about world news now than I have in months, so I think this’ll unquestionably be a good investment.

The rain here has been pretty heavy lately. The reaction of people on the street when it starts coming down is one of pure horror, and pandemonium soon ensues. A couple of big drops come down, and then people just start running to the nearest cover. About 5 seconds after those first drops hit, it was dumping rain and you are usually soaked by the time you have run to cover. Last night that happened to me and a couple people, so we ran for a little while and hung out in this little place for about a half hour. As quickly as it comes, it leaves, and then you go on your way and try not to walk through a newly formed lake-sized puddle in the dark. Alright, I need to get going. I hope everyone is doing well. I sent a bunch of letters the last couple days to try to get all you bums re-motivated to send letters to me over here.

4th of July here was amazing, complete with fireworks and a barbecue. One of the other volunteers nearby found a grate that fit the top of their charcoal stove, and so converted it into a little grill. Then we found canned hot dogs (somewhat amazingly, and they actually weren’t bad after putting them on the grill) and made hamburgers, and some amazing jungle juice (sorry guys, I meant freedom juice). The food was really amazing and it was a lot of fun. Then once night hit, we lit the roman candles and sparklers. People shoot them off for weddings here, so they actually weren’t that hard to find. So all in all, it was an amazing 4th of July here in Ethiopia.

In other marvelous news, my vegetables are shooting up all over the place. The green beans are doing the best, along with the cucumber, zucchini, watermelon, and cantaloupe. The peppers, broccoli, and papaya take a little longer to get started, but they’re coming along nicely as well. So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice. Alright peoples, I need to get off of here.

P.S. I just learned that my digital camera is capable of shooting short videos, so I’m thinking I could start taking little videos from time to time. So let me know what types of things you want me to take videos of, and I might give it a try.

Hello everyone. I don't have anything to do at the moment, so I figured I 'd write on here and wish everyone a happy 4th of July. Don't blow your faces off with any fireworks this weekend. I'm heading to my regional capital this weekend to celebrate the 4th with the other PCVs in the area, so that should be fun. In agricultural news, my vegetables are starting to sprout (exciting news for me, as I gave none of them any chance of even doing that even when I planted the seeds). Not a whole lot else going on, just working with the HIV positive association in my town to try to open up a little business. Hopefully it will be a success.

Well that's all for now ladies and gents, have a wonderful 4th of July!

Sorry it's been so long since my last update on here. I was gone for a couple of weeks for a Peace Corps conference (IST - in-service training) in a place without internet, and since I've been back I've been busy trying to get the ground in my compound ready to plant my garden. I should have it all finished and ready for planting tomorrow though, so wish my seeds luck in becoming plants. Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes and e-mails. My birthday happened to fall in the middle of our Peace Corps thing, so it was great to have everybody together for that.

I don't have much else to write about at the moment. As today is another day without power in my town, I also don't have a whole lot of charge left on my computer. Ethiopia is really struggling at the moment after to the failure of another short rainy season (belg). Not only does that mean the loss of a harvest for farmers (and spiking food prices) and a shortage of water, but also a shortage of electricity, as all power here is hydro-electric.

The kickball game at IST was a great success, though the Southside unfortunately lost. With those bushy mustaches the South team was sportin, though, I think we can call it a moral victory. Also, I meant to post some pictures when I was in Addis before IST, but I didn't end up going to the PC office. Sorry, I'll try to some up next time I'm there. Peace.

I know you've all been on the edge of your seat for an update like this. I haven't shaved in 3 months now, and have a pretty solid beard going. For one day next week, it's going to be shaved down to a mustache, followed by a clean shave. Below is a picture of this amazing feat in facial hair. That's all. Over and out.

Saturday was the first event I had planned for the high school students in town. I went to Addis on Wednesday to pick up some posters, periodicals, CDs, tapes, videos, etc. that the AIDS Resource Center there (funded by Johns Hopkins I think, though I could be wrong) had compiled for me, some of which I wanted to use and give to the students. It turned out to be a giant box, and though it was a little heavy, there was a lot of awesome stuff. Then I headed back to town Wednesday afternoon (roundtrip that was about 11 ½ hours on a bus that day). So I headed toward my house with my backpack full of stuff on my back and the heavy box on my head (I got a lot of laughs and people saying I looked like a woman going to market), and by this time I was exhausted. Luckily the kids at the butcher shop near my house that I see pretty much everyday came out with their little rolling cargo carrier thing and helped me take the box home.

Then Thursday afternoon came around, and I came down with a fever and some GI abnormalities (I couldn’t think of a better euphemism). Luckily the fever broke the next day, right in the middle of what was the first rain I’ve seen here in about a month and a half probably. However, I still felt weak and kind of run down. I also hadn’t prepared too much for the HIV event for the high school students, but I had somewhere I needed to go Friday afternoon. I had been invited to a coffee ceremony, so I went there, then to eat dinner, and then back home to sleep. I woke up early Saturday morning to prepare some things before heading to the high school. I was still feeling a little sick and run down, and it had been raining for 2 days straight. With me having been ill and the rain, I was kind of worried that the lady from the PLWHA (People Living With HIV/AIDS) Association that had agreed to come speak might not show. More than that I was worried that with it being a rainy Saturday morning, there was no way any students were going to show up to this. So I set out with my backpack full of stuff, a little worried that this was going to be a big flop. But to my surprise, I arrived to find the lady from the PLWHA association waiting for me and plenty of students wandering around. It went really well in the end, and everybody seemed to agree that it had been a success. Still pretty sluggish from being sick, I got through it pretty much on force of will (with a little help from the Peace Corps medical kit). In my opinion, it was all because of this amazing lady from the PLWHA association. She had these students hanging on every word while she spoke, and even made them get into groups and talk about ways to talk about HIV with their families, which is a really tough thing for kids to bring up here with their families. They came up with some great ideas and presented them to the rest. Of course I only understood some of this as my Amharic’s about on par with a 9 year old, though I am becoming decent at reading Amharic script (which has around 230 “letters” and I’ve been learning on my own). My first event had gone amazingly.

So now it’s on to trying to get a budget finished for this project that I’m starting work on with some PLWHAs before I head off to our in-service conference in about a week (I’ll be gone for almost 2 weeks). Sorry for the acronyms by the way, I’m kind of used to them now and it’s much shorter to type. I’ve tried to write what they mean at least once, but let me know if you can’t figure out what some of them are. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to seeing the rest of our Peace Corps group for that. We’re having it at in a little hot springs resort town with hot showers in the rooms (and toilets and indoor plumbing), so that should be amazing. I also hear that the monkeys in that town are exceptionally aggressive and try to steal your food.

Let’s see, what else has been going on? Nothing much I guess. Oh, happy graduation Adam Legel! Your graduation present will be in the mail with Kurt’s jebena in about a week. Sorry it’ll be a little late, but I think I have a decent excuse. Alright everybody, I look forward to all of your lovely e-mails, letters, etc. I’m sure they’re flying through the postal system as I write this (my b-day’s only 10 days away). OH, AND HOW ABOUT THOSE ORLANDO MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was a great day, and not only because I got to listen to 3 Celine Dion songs all in one hour. I went with my landlord today to visit his relatives that live in a rural part of Kembata zone, about 25 km south of Hossana. And when I say rural, I mean that it’s less densely populated than a village. We had some breakfast in Hossana before we left, and I got my first taste of dulet, which is basically finely chopped intestines (with a little of that special lower intestine taste if you catch my drift). Then we headed out for the bus station and started on our way south. We arrived in a small town of about 1000 an hour later, from where we would have to go on foot for about an hour up the mountain to where his relatives live. We basically just hopped from thatch hut to thatch hut when we arrived and had about 7 coffee ceremonies in all and ate a lot of enset (false banana) products. It was my first time inside one of the huts, and I found out that they are amazingly built and very intricately weaved together (and the livestock lives inside as well). So I drank at least 12 cups of coffee (with butter of course, a very common thing among the Kembata and Hadiya people apparently) and ate a lot of enset. So that was pretty much my day, hopping from relative to relative’s house and drinking coffee and eating… and getting a lot of kisses on the cheek and hand, as it is the customary greeting there. They live in an amazingly beautiful mountain area overlooking a huge gorge and waterfall, which the pictures I took don’t do justice. Pretty much everyone begged us to stay the night with them in their home, but we both needed to get back for work tomorrow morning. I wish I could have gotten some pictures of the inside of the huts, but I thought it might be a little rude to go snapping a bunch of pictures after they invited me inside for coffee and food. But I did get some good ones of the enset fields, outsides of the houses, and the area in general. Then we made the up and down trek back to the town, where we sat outside next to the road waiting to catch a ride back to Hossana. About an hour later we caught a bus, and now here I sit writing this. I think I might go back again in September for the Meskel holiday, but we’ll see. Overall I had a lot of fun. The pictures aren’t all that great, but hopefully it will give you a little idea of the area. I’ll try to get those up in the next month or so.

OK ladies and gentlefolk, I have a story to tell. I didn’t have electricity yesterday or last night, so I’ll copy this straight from what I wrote down last night. Here we go. I went for my first run since coming here today as the sun was starting to set. I decided that I would run in the direction away from town down the big dirt road heading east so that I could avoid running through town and all of that hassle. I decided to start off in a roundabout and winding way on smaller paths before I made my way to the wider and longer dirt road. This way I’d be able to get a little confidence before emerging to my many adoring fans inevitably waiting on the larger road. It started off great, and I made my way down the road to the sight of clapping teenagers, cheering toddlers, and smiling adults. Some even gave me a hearty “Ayzoh”, which roughly means “Be strong!”. The clapping and cheering reaction really amazed me; it was totally unexpected. As I continued and passed over the makeshift wooden bridge that spans the small creek full of women doing their laundry, they all clapped, smiled, and cheered as well. As I made my way up the hill past the creek, I passed rows and rows of round thatch huts and enset (false banana) plants. Around this area, I passed a group of smiling and cheering kids once again. About 30 seconds later, I hear the cheers of the kids following behind me over the sound of my iPod. The kids had no doubt run inside to ask their mothers’ permission and gather their siblings, and were now jogging along beside me. I then took a right down a narrow lane lined with more huts in order to loop around and head back toward my house. The pack of kids had grown to approximately 15 by this time, half in flip-flops and half barefoot. Because I haven’t run since coming to Ethiopia, I was naturally starting to be rather winded. The altitude here can be brutal if you’re not used to it (I’m well over a mile above sea level here), and while I’m certainly used to it by now, I’m not accustomed to running long distances here. So there I was, running and becoming tired, accompanied by my 15 little training buddies. Naturally, I had to slow down and walk for a spell. I talked to my training buddies for a bit, was invited to drink coffee by a man (which I politely declined), and was greeted by and talked to some older men having a meeting outside their compounds. Then I started running again. Of course, the kids did as well and let me tell you, they are fast. There’s a reason Ethiopia is always 1st or 2nd in the world at long-distance running (word has it Kenya is always sneaking over to try to steal Ethiopian training secrets). They are fast and seemingly don’t get tired. I could run hard and outrun them for a little while, but it seems like the older kids could run at a full sprint for hours if they wanted. As we wound our way back down the hill toward my house, of course to crowds of cheering fans, I told them that my house was near. Without any problem, they said goodbye and walked back toward their houses. They were undoubtedly still in shock, as some white guy had just come running past their house, and he was even speaking Amharic to them. A couple minutes later, I entered my compound. My 1st running experience had been a success, though it was definitely nothing like I thought it would be. I never expected to have hundreds of fans and 15 training partners. Now I need to start dinner by candlelight. All in all, I look forward to my next running outing… I’m sure all of my fans do as well. Bye for now.

P.S. Apparently the Ethiopian ban on blogspot has been lifted, so I can now post and read this from here. So I guess that's good news.

So it’s Derby day back in Louisville, eh? Well believe it or not, I saw signs of Derby fever taking hold in my town today. Saturday is our big market day in town, so thousands of people from the rural areas around the town bring their goods into town on Saturday to sell in the market area. As I was walking to the market area today to buy a few things, I saw an amazing and wonderful sight. A woman was walking along toward the market as well, all her things to sell at market strapped to her back and heaped onto her shoulders. However, there was a reason that my eyes focused solely on her rather than the many other women on the street doing the exact same thing. It was because of the shirt she was wearing, a dark blue Kentucky Derby t-shirt. I see people every day with t-shirts that have slogans or team/school logos that the wearer clearly has no affiliation with, but until today I hadn’t yet seen a shirt that had anything to do with Louisville or Kentucky. The only reasonable answer, then, is that she is a huge fan of horseracing and the Kentucky Derby. It’s clearly the only logical reasoning. Well, I just thought that would be a funny story to share with everybody. I thought it was pretty great that I should, by chance, see that shirt today. I hope everybody has a great Derby today and wins some money. Good luck!

Alright, where to begin? I guess I’ll just try to tell about today chronologically and try my best not to leave anything out. I will give a quick disclaimer here for the squeamish: you may want to proceed with a bit of caution. The doro wot experience started at about 1 o’clock this afternoon and just ended about 5 minutes ago (about 10 pm). When my landlord came home this afternoon, I started heating some water to aid in the de-feathering of the chicken. Then we sat on the mat in my house chopping onions (usually pretty much unheard of for 2 males in Ethiopia). We put the 20 eggs into a pot to hard-boil then as well. We chopped up all 1 kilo (2.2 pounds) of onions, and then proceeded to the yard with my laundry bucket and the chicken, a tall rooster that looked startlingly like Foghorn Leghorn. I tried my best to put the Foghorn Leghorn resemblance out of my mind as I proceeded to the next step, which I choose not to describe too vividly. Suffice it to say that the old “chicken with its head cut off” saying has its origins in truth. By covering the poor guy up with my laundry bucket during that part, it was less traumatic than I presumed it would be. Once the big pot of water was heated, we de-feathered the bird and cleaned it up. I always thought those rubber chickens people have as jokes were pretty goofy looking, but it turns out they’re surprisingly accurate. The rest was pretty easy as far as cleaning the bird and separating the pieces, though Ethiopians use a lot of parts that I wouldn’t have thought to use (including, but not limited to, the liver, heart, stomach, and neck). Once the chicken pieces were all cleaned, we sat outside on my porch for about an hour eating mango and listening to Ethiopian music while the chicken boiled in a pot. After the meat was cooked, we emptied the pot (keeping the grease for later) and started mixing the onions and berbere together. We ended up using about ½ kilo of berbere (1.1 lbs.), which you can probably imagine is quite a bit of powdered peppers. Then we continued to cook the onions and berbere, periodically adding oil, the grease-water the meat was cooked in, and more berbere. Then we added the cooked chicken parts and the boiled eggs. With just a little bit more berbere and about 15 more minutes of simmering, the huge pot of doro wot was complete at about 6:30 pm. So we filled up a sauce pot full of doro wot and headed out to my landlord’s father’s house to eat. After an hour or so, we started eating. It was quite a feast, and everybody seemed to enjoy the doro wot very much (occasionally stopping to breathe). After dinner we even had another Ethiopian delicacy, coffee with butter. I know what you’re thinking, but it really isn’t as bad as you would think (though I suppose that depends on how bad you think it would be). After dinner, I got an invite from my landlord’s uncle to come visit his house in the rural area near town. So I think I’m going to go visit next Sunday, which should be a lot of fun. It’s about 18 km outside of town I am told and we’ll have to walk for at least part of the way, but I’m really looking forward to it. On the way home, we came across a big bus (the kind you take from town to town here) stuck in a rut on the dirt road leading back to my house. After a few other passing people had gathered, we all joined up to push the bus out of the rut. It was pretty fun actually (because when I say rut, I mean a hole in the ground that is about 12 feet wide and 4 feet deep). Now I’m back at home, getting ready for bed. I still have plenty of doro wot at my house, so I guess that’ll be my lunch and dinner for tomorrow. All in all it was quite a day. Alright, that’s all I have for now. I took some pretty good pictures of the process, so look forward to those when I finally get a chance to put them up. Bye for now.

I’m listening to the caw-caw of what is soon to be my first chicken kill in Ethiopia. My landlord is teaching me how to kill a chicken and make doro wot this afternoon. It should be interesting at the very least. I have no idea how to kill a chicken, but I guess I’ll find out soon. He told me to wear old clothes because it’ll be a little bloody. He also gave me a shopping list which consisted of 1 kilo onions, 1 kilo berbere (red chili peppers), a few limes, 20 eggs (to be boiled and put in whole), and a chicken. I’ve got it all now and am just waiting for him to come home this afternoon to get started. Chicken is the most expensive meat here and is usually only eaten on special occasions. I’ve only had it twice sice coming to Ethiopia: the day I came back to my host family from site visit and Easter; but I suppose a fareng learning to cook doro wet is as big a holiday as any. A couple of my landlord’s relatives from the nearby rural areas are in town and coming to the big feast tonight as well. I’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes in a day or two.

Hey everybody! So I decided it was about time I sat down and tried to hammer out a decent blog update, instead of just whipping up a few sentences in a hurry like I’ve been doing. I just finished watching the first 5 episodes of the Flight of the Conchords season, which one of the other PCVs got in the mail a few weeks ago. I was a little disappointed with some of the stuff, but the 5th episode (with the Australian) totally made up for the so-so episodes before it. In-service training is rapidly approach, which will mean all of this year’s group heading to Sodore (where the monkeys are apparently really aggressive and steal your food) for about 10 days for some presentations, etc. It just so happens that the Peace Corps staff extended the training, and it now includes my birthday. I’m really excited about that. It’ll be great to be able to celebrate with everybody, especially as we will have been separated for over 3 months by that time. So like I said, my birthday’s coming up soon (*cough* May 28 *cough* you fools better send letters at least *cough*). With in-service training also comes the end of our travel restrictions, so I’ve been trying to narrow down the places I want to visit while I’m here. I think Egypt is definitely going to be one of them, as a few other PCVs are interested in going as well. Additionally, I’m trying to get my Mom and Dad to come meet me in Greece or Italy. So if you see them, try to prod them into action. If you need to, tell them I’m threatening to join a Somali pirate ship if they don’t come. I’m also trying to decide between a Tanzania/Kenya trip (Kilamanjaro anyone?) and somewhere beach-y (maybe Zanzibar or Seychelles). Of course a lot of the decision lies in the prices of these trips (which is pretty tough to check on with the internet here), but we get some money every month for travel allowance. I could also do some of them before coming back home after close of service. So that’s where I’m at in the decision-making so far (obviously not very far at all). I also want to encourage any of you guys to come visit me. A couple of the PCV’s friends are already planning trips to visit, and I would be so excited to be able to share the experience. It’s hard to describe life here sometimes, and I would love to show you instead. And I promise you would have a lot of fun when you came. It would definitely be a trip you’d never forget. I’ve also been looking into hiking the Appalachian Trail when I get back, most likely after I’m through with grad school. I’ll have to try to get some practice in the Bale and Simiens in Ethiopia while I’m here. The cooking is coming along pretty well here, and I’ve baked a few delicious items. For breakfast and lunch I eat a lot of plain oatmeal (though I go eat breakfast a lot at a café sometimes too), and I pretty much alternate spaghetti and vegetable fried rice for dinner most nights (tonight was spaghetti). I’m going to start venturing into cooking local foods soon, but I have been a bit lazy about getting started on that. I just go out to a restaurant to eat local food at the moment. None of them are too complicated, but I also need to find a shop to buy injera (I think I know a few that do though). The best things I’ve baked so far are probably big pretzels, chocolate cake, and no-bake cookies (though I suppose you obviously don’t bake no-bake cookies). The banana bread recipe I tried needs to be altered a bit next time I try it. Dutch ovens are a bit tricky to get the hang of at first. I have some homemade Grand Marnier steeping right now (it needs to sit for 10 days), so we’ll see how that turns out. I’m also going to try to venture into making chocolate-covered coffee beans. As you probably know, coffee was first found in Ethiopia and they are well-known for having really great coffee (and drinking a lot of it). If anybody has any tips for me on making chocolate-covered things, please send them my way. As it stands, I’m pretty much going to wing it and see how it turns out. I received my first haircut since I’ve been in Ethiopia on Saturday. I met a lady from Finland at the post office a few days prior, and it turns out she teaches hair-cutting at the deaf school in Hossana. That’s right, there’s a deaf school in town. She said it’s one of only about 3 in Ethiopia (but more are being built currently), and the students are from all over Ethiopia. Then she invited me out to the school on Saturday for a haircut and a game of soccer with the kids. So I went out to the school on Saturday morning and got a haircut from a deaf Ethiopian 10th grader. He did a really good job too! While I was there, I learned a couple of signs in Ethiopian Sign Language. That’s right, apparently that exists. Presumably that’s where I’ll be getting my hair cut for the next 2 years. I guess Sean and Brittany’s wedding is fast-approaching. I’ll be there in spirit guys! Make sure Bobby Knipp does his signature dance all night (preferably to James Brown). And Andrea will be having her baby soon, which is so exciting (just remember what I said about keeping someone with the initials ALT away from the child). I think that’s about all I can think of to say at the moment. Wow, I can’t believe this is the 5th month already. Time has really been flying by. I look forward to hearing from everybody soon, and I really miss everybody. Send those letters, e-mails, and owls (sorry, I’ve been reading Harry Potter). Even the most mundane details about life in the States are great to read in letters. In addition to letting me know what parts of life in Ethiopia you want to hear about, let me know what kinds of things you’d like to see pictures of (I took a picture of the huge praying mantis (about 10 inches) on my window yesterday). As everything becomes more normal to me, it gets more difficult to imagine what people back home want to know about and see pictures of. So help me out a little bit and let me know and I’m sure I can oblige. See ya, Brad

Hey everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written, but I’ve been pretty busy of late. Work has progressed considerably over the past couple of weeks. Hopefully that continues. The intense heat that had been hitting my area for the past couple months has subsided over the last couple days, and been replaced by some hard rains. It kind of reminds me of the Vietnam rain scene in Forrest Gump. It really comes down hard (and this is just the small rainy season). Other than that, not a lot has been going on here. I guess Easter is coming up this weekend, so Happy Easter to everyone! Ethiopian Easter isn’t until the following weekend, but hopefully that’ll be a good time here. Well, I look forward to hearing from everyone. Send those letters and e-mails, and let me know of any topics you’d like to hear about on the blog. Bye.

Hello everyone. Sorry that it's been so long since I've written anything. I don't really have a whole lot that I can think of to write right now. Our "swearing in" ceremony was a little over 3 weeks ago at the US Ambassador's house. It was a pretty cool event, and we were on ETV (Ethiopia's only television station) that night for that. A lot of the Ethiopians I know said they saw me on TV. I mailed out a few letters today, so those should be arriving in a couple weeks. I'm doing well so far. The speed of weight loss is starting to slow down a little bit, though I don't really know for sure since I haven't weighed myself since before swearing in. Fear not everyone, I won't let myself waste away. I had my first experience with a lovely stomach illness this weekend, but it left after about a day and a half. That was pretty fun, especially with a latrine. I guess I'm officially a Peace Corps Volunteer after that. Anyway, I should get going now. As always, send those letters and e-mails. Peace.

Ok everybody, get ready for some awesome pictures. Everything's going pretty well here. We swear in tomorrow morning, so that should be fun I guess. Then Saturday, it's off to Hossana. Enjoy the pictures, and e-mail or write me. Now chumps!

Follow the link below to see the pictures:

www.flickr.com/bdid66

Ok, I guess that's all for now. Check out those qonjo photos.

Greetings from Hossana everyone. I got my new address in town. It is: Brad Didier P.O. Box 178 Hossana, Ethiopia So, send those letters friends and countrymen. I'll try to give more info on Hossana and everything later, I'm in a bit of a hurry right now. I'll try to get some pictures up soon, I just haven't figured out the best way to go about it. Anyway, I need to go haggle for a couch. Bye bye.

Site announcements took place this morning. It was a lot of fun actually. They put up a big map, and then made us come up randomly one by one and put our picture on the town we'll be living in. The first person out of the hat: Brad. I'll be living in a town called Hossaina in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNP). Those of us going to SNNP are the first Peace Corps Volunteers going back to the region. I am Hossaina's first PCV according to my site info sheet. I'm really happy with my site and I'm excited to visit it in a week. I don't know a tremendous amount about Hossaina, but I'll give you what I know. The population is about 60,000 and it's at an elevation of about 2,300 meters (about 6,800 ft.?). There are some national parks and wildlife sanctuaries a couple hours south that have zebras, lions, crocodiles, hippos, etc. in the wild. That should be really cool to visit. I'm also right on the edge of the Great Rift Valley, which runs across East Africa. According to the people who've been there, it takes 1.5 or 2 hours to get to Awasa (that was probably in PC Land Cruisers though, not public buses). So, we go to Addis from Tuesday to Friday this week. We're all really excited to eat some farengi food in Addis (I'm going with Thai the first night I think). Then it's off to Hossaina with my counterpart. I'm really excited for it. That's about all I know. More soon from a mountain town in SNNPR.

Brief Update: New Year's was a lot of fun here. We rented out a little conference room at a hotel and had a really fun party, complete with a ball dropping made from water bottles. I find out what city I'll be going to on Saturday. In 2 weeks I'll be visiting the city for a week, and I'll make sure and get my PO Box in the city then. Then you can all start sending me wonderful packages and letters to my new home. Thanks to everyone who has sent letters so far. For those of you who haven't yet, get started. I put a few in the post yesterday for the first time, so they should get there in a couple weeks. More next week when I find out my site location. P.S. I can't actually see the blog on the Ethiopian internet network (blogspot is blocked), so anyone who wants to comment can always e-mail me or write to me via regular mail. Ciao.

"It's going pretty good here. I'm pretty busy all the time with language classes and stuff. We went to a village called Darian (about 40km from Ambo) today to talk to some people at a local health center and some kids at a high school's HIV/AIDS club. It was a lot of fun touring the village and checking things out. I played a thrilling ping pong game with some kids on the side of the road. Ping pong and foosball seem to be surprising popular here. I took a lot of good pictures too. It was actually the first time I've taken the camera out since we left Addis. A baboon stole a banana from one of the other PC'ers on the way to class yesterday, which was hilarious. More to come later, though updates will likely be sparse while in Ambo for training. Letters and packages of goodies are always appreciated of course (hint hint). Dehena hunu"

Greetings to all, I suppose now is as good a time as any to kick off the blog. As most that will come across this already know, I leave for Peace Corps duty on Tuesday morning (only 1 day to go!). I'll have a brief stay in Washington D.C., before leaving for Ethiopia on Wednesday night. And no, I still haven't started packing. Tomorrow, tomorrow.

I'll try to keep up with this blog and post something at least every couple weeks, but that doesn't mean anyone should go light on the letters. Anyway, I'm really getting anxious to leave. By the way, I want to say thanks to everybody who came out to the going away party last night. I had a lot of fun.

Apparently we'll be spending three days in Addis Ababa upon arrival (including a welcome party at the US Ambassador's house on Friday night), before moving on to our training site in Ambo. Once in Ambo I'll meet my host family (which should be interesting since they'll likely be quite a language barrier), who I'll be living with for the 10 week training period. I'm expecting it to be a pretty intense period as I learn languages (Amharic, Oromiffa, and Tigrigna), cultural things, and technical skills, all the while living in a new place with new people and being immersed in a vastly different culture. With that said, I look forward to it all with open eyes and mind and can't wait to get started.

My address is over on the right, so I expect some wonderful letters and the like from you guys.

More to come from beautiful Ethiopia, the land of 13 months of sunshine. Here's to an adventure.