She was great a great dog. Loveable, sweet, and still a puppy.

Duck’s life was shaped by tragedy. When she was only 15 day’s old her mother, Jibby, contracted rabies. Jibby killed most of her litter, save Duck and one other dog. Jibby was beaten to death a few days later after biting a few people in town. Duck and her sister pushed on with the help of my friends Mike and Carly.

Sadly Duck’s sister and fellow pup died only a week later, eaten alive by ants. Duck survived and was able to push on.

Peace Corps doesn’t allow volunteers to have animals, and Duck was never “my dog.” Duck belonged to the neighbors but she was loved by us all us. She was trained to sit, to shake, and to be a good dog. Duck would often sit in my door and just wait for a moment to play. Whenever I was home we would run together and be friends.

Duck’s name is peculiar because she was named by a 4 year old American girl who speaks 2 languages. This girl is the daughter of a two wonderful health center workers/volunteers in the middle of the forest; she speaks English in the home and Kafa at school. Duck was only a few days old and the girl was asked “What should we name her?” Quickly she replied “DUCK,” as only a 4 year old could.

Duck was loved and cared for by all on the compound. Duck survived the first month of her life thanks to the efforts of Mike and Carly. I helped take over duties when I moved to Bonga, feeding her powdered milk and rice. Duck and I had a great friendship. She would always run up to me with her ears tucked back, almost like she so happy, that she was embarrassed to see me.

Today Duck died, hit by a car. Dogs run freely around the town, it is nearly impossible to stop them. Mike, Chuck, and I went to dinner and Duck followed. We tried to stop her and even scared her back to the compound, but Duck ran after us anyways. Duck found us at the restaurant and sat at our feet as we ate dinner. We gave her our leftovers when we were done, some meat with bones.

Duck followed us home, running around like usual. Unfortunately fate had other plans for her today. As she played and ran into the road a mini bus ran over her. We tried to stop the bus, but it only slowed and swerved into her path. As the life was escaping Duck’s body we constructed a stretcher and carried her home. Duck took her last breath while being carried by those who loved her.

She was a great dog and will be missed by all who knew her.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

I’ll be brief today. I have been very busy the past couple of weeks hiking around to various caves and waterfalls, but I wanted to share an adventure to the Sheko Waterfall and Cave system I did last weekend.

My friend Ellie, Soloman, and I decided to find a beautiful cave and waterfall near to Mizan Teferi. It is a short 30 minute drive to the town Sheko to the North West. Soloman is a policeman in Mizan and thought it would be best to register with the police and to see if they knew any guides. It turned out that the local tourism office was located right next door, and we were able to hire a local guide to help us find the trail. The local guide was crucial because we had no idea the direction to walk and the first half of the trail we walked through farm land.

Fun fact: The guide was 69 years old, but could jump and run better than me.

The cave/waterfall required several hundred meter decent into a lush forest. The whole area around the cave is a protected/sacred area so there is no threat to deforestation. Unfortunately, because it is a sacred area, we could not enter the cave without a priest. We didn’t find that information out until we reached the mouth of the cave with our guide. It might have been for the best because the cave had spiders on the ceiling the size of fists. At one point Ellie jumped as one ran under her feet.

It was a gorgeous hike and the waterfall had charm. It was not one large waterfall but a cascade followed by a free-falling waterfall followed by a cascade. Down stream a bit there is actually several more cascading waterfalls into small pools. These pools are about 3 meters deep and looked perfect for a quick dip!

Like always, we were caught in a rainstorm while hiking out, but I would definitely recommend this to a friend who is traveling through the area.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Map of our hike through the forest.

What an adventure! Two days hiking through the remote Kafa Forest attempting to find the “Mother Coffee Tree.” The Mother Tree is supposed to be the original coffee tree. This is the first tree that was used to cultivate coffee, the 2nd most traded commodity in the world.

I’ll spare some details, but this was the craziest hike I have ever done. As you can see from the map, the tree is rather close to the road to the North East. We started in the village of Chiri, to see if there was 2nd, more scenic route.

One guy in our party, Andrew, runs a remote hospital in Chiri and had access to a car. We were able to get dropped off a few kilometers from hospital, but we had to walk part of the road. It was too muddy for even a rugged Toyota Land cruiser. We walked down to the only bridge in the area, the Supak’s bridge constructed in 1999. This bridge, make out of concrete, was constructed to improve access to the remote coffee farmers.

From the bridge we hiked up river. We started out walking on the shore but quickly moved to rock hopping as the bank disappeared below our feet. A few hours into the hike the small rocks turned to 15 feet tall boulders and we had to start bouldering and rock climbing. At 5km into our hike, the boulders, the rocks, and the bank disappeared. It was nearly past 4pm and too late to turn around. With steep cliffs on both sides we had to start wading through the water looking for a camping spot for the night. It was a beautiful sight when we saw a small patch of grass and a bank of the side of the river.

We spent that evening dreaming of ice cream and sodas while drying our clothes next to the camp fire.

The next day we woke up early, cooked a simple vegetable soup with bread and we continued walking upstream. We luckily didn’t have to go far because we eventually found a trail that led us out of the treacherous canyon. With pure dumb luck, the trail we found led to the main foot path 3 km from the mother coffee tree. We hiked up to the tree and ate a beautiful lunch of canned tuna and cookies.

The tree is very hard to find, it is in the middle of a coffee forest. With the assistance of a few locals we found the legendary tree. For a coffee tree it is rather large, but not jaw dropping. It probably has a 6” diameter, and about 20 feet tall. Perhaps one day more information can be published about it.

After that, we hike over a sketchy bridge towards the town of Baha. This bridge had a 100 foot drop on both sides, crossing a narrow canyon. The bridge is made of nothing but 8-9 trees that have been fallen on their side and bound together with vines. While the bridge seemed safe that day, I don’t expect it to survive more than a year or two without some help.

From this point it was a walk straight uphill, from about 1500m to 2050m. The last section had an elevation gain of about 300m in 1km. We were all dead when we reached the road and waited for our ride home.

A great hike and I was happy that we could do it. It still makes more sense to access the coffee tree from the NE (there is a beautiful natural bridge up there too), but it’s nice to have other trails mapped. I’ll be using this data to help compile some tourism maps for future travelers. I am working with a local NGO and the government to help the industry develop.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

The Peace Corps used to give motorcycles to every volunteer, but they stopped doing this because most injuries and deaths were associated with crashes. They switched to bicycles, giving nice Treks that could withstand the abuse of the rugged roads and environments that we live in. Unfortunately, I assume because of budget cuts, they now give a bicycle subsidy. They give enough to buy about 2/3 of cheap Chinese made bike, like a Huffy. Today’s blog post is about my bicycle purchase and my 113km (70mi) ride back to Bonga.

My site mate, Chuck, is from Oregon and loves the outdoors and adventure. We have already purchased machetes for our explorations through the jungle, but we wanted bicycles to start venturing further out. We decided to buy a bike in Jima, a larger city 70miles away, and ride them back. We left early on Saturday morning, catching the 5:30am bus and arriving at 10am. This gave us ample time to shop around and get the best bike. We eventually solicited help from a local Ethiopian friend; he could help us get a local price (they tend to charge foreigners more). After a couple hours we decided on the purple Phoenix from Haggis Bike Shop. The Purple Phoenix is the Cadillac of cheap Chinese bicycles, since the other options had plastic pedals and cranks. The bike does not come assembled so we had to get it fully serviced for 50birr ($2.85), this service costs about $80 back home.

On Sunday morning we set out, leaving around 5am. Our goal was to get out of Jima (a crap hole) when everyone was asleep and before there was too much traffic. We got out successfully arriving to the rural outskirts before the sun was fully up. Unfortunately, we got out of town too early because we could see some shapes move in the distance. As we rode closer we realized it was two hyenas. Hyenas are generally scavengers but they often hunt,especially during thefasting season, ending April 15th here.

Hyenas also don’t kill their pray, they start eating them alive.

As we slowed down, one hyena s stopped and looked back at us, eyes glowing in our headlamps. Chuck and I decided to dismount and slowly walk backwards. Running would only entice them to chase and eat us. There was ½ built shack, with no door, 100 meters back that we could take refuge in if necessary. The bikes we bought also came with electronic noise makers, we were “honking” them and keeping our lights pointed towards the beasts as we went back. We decided to not ride on until it was fully light and there was traffic on the road, hopefully scaring them away.

Chuck took advantage of this moment to use the bathroom, while he was behind the building, I looked down the road and there was a third hyena 100 meters the other direction. I could also hear movement in the trees to my front. I was armed only with only a rock, 2 1/2” knife, and my electronic noise maker. Hyenas hunt in packs and I knew I was surrounded, but they are also skittish and it was best to hold my ground showing no fear and making noise. After a tense 45 minutes, the traffic on the road picked up and we were confident that we could ride on. There was no hyena attack and Chuck didn’t get caught with his pants down (although you could say they scared the crap out of him).

After another 15km we finally hit our first section of asphalt. The whole road from Jima to Bonga is under construction, although it is only paved in sections. The asphalt greatly increased our average speed from 8km (5mph) an hour to about 11km (7mph). These are not speeds to brag about, but our bikes weigh as much as a small horse and we were on a steady climb from about 1600m (5250 ft) to 2150m (7050 ft).

When we got to the top of the hill, about 40km (25mi) into our trip, we took a nice long rest. The summit is in the middle of a beautiful forest and a great place to relax. We also knew that we had a mostly down hill ride to the Gojeb River, at 1300m (4275 ft). The next 25km (16mi) was a great ride, getting our purple phoenix up to a max speed of 61.3kmh (38mph). We also discovered a few problems with our bikes at their max speed, such as the brakes. The brakes actually don’t work, with even a slight decline the stopping speed is about 100m (100yards).

So that was fun.

At one point I had a bus driving up the hill on the far left, one passing me immediately on my left, and a steamroller driving up hill on my right. This was a steep hill and I was going about 50km, so I had to shoot the gap avoiding the bus while not getting run over by a steamroller. Avoiding death, we eventually got to the Gojeb River about 65km (40mi) into our ride and started our assent back towards Bonga.

The next section was about a 20km ride up 500m. Not the hardest ride but the exhaustion was starting to creep up on us. We had not ridden a bicycle in a 1 ½ years, and 80km (50mi) into our ride, we were tired. We had to walk a few sections of the hills, but we eventually made to the top and then to a small town called Gimbo.

Gimbo was a great mental boost for us because it is only approximately 20km to Bonga, mostly downhill. Before hitting the road we grabbed some dinner, or first sit down meal all day. We needed our energy because this section of the road was the worst. This area is under heavy construction and is completely torn up. At times we would have to ride on the shoulder, around ditches, and over rocks, but we eventually got to Bonga. As we coasted down the hill into town I could feel nothing but pure bliss.

It was not the longest ride of my life, but it was the most difficult. We did not have nice equipment, I had to ride in pants because I don’t own any shorts (it’s not culturally appropriate to wear them in town), and we were not in great shape. It was also challenging because every 5 meters we would have someone ask us were we were going, why, and where is our car? We finally arrived at my house after 9H 15M of riding time, 4H 45M of stopped time. A moving average of 12.2kmh and an overall average of 8kmh. A great ride that I would love to do again!The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

As mentioned last week, I have hit the ground running with work. I spent a couple nights camping in the forest. I avoided hyenas the first night, camping in the wetlands; the second night was a different environment. This 2nd night was on the edge of the Makira Coffee Forest, the birthplace of coffee. Yes, this is the actual forest where café Arabica was first discovered. Now coffee is the 2nd largest commodity traded, oil is number 1.

Once again I went with my German friend Til; he was researching the birds of the Kaffa Zone. Although this forest is close to Bonga, it is too far to walk from town. We were driven as far as possible, about 10-15 km on a dusty bumpy road. We were dropped off at the edge of a forest where only foot and horse traffic is possible. The path leads to several villages that are in, or surround, the Makira forest.

We hiked for about 6 KM, over rough terrain with constant elevation gain and loss. It was not a long hike, but difficult. We didn’t want to set up camp in the dark but, since we started hiking around 4pm, it was already an hour before dusk. We didn’t want to sleep directly on the main foot path, fearing this would attract unnecessary attention. So we bush whacked our way through the thick forest, to a safe distance from the trail.

Til, having a terrible nights rest the day earlier, collected moss from trees and prepared a rudimentary bed under the tent. I was busy collecting firewood and setting up camp. In our haste we didn’t even realize, until the next morning, we actually set up the tent directly under a wild coffee tree. It was a quiet night, some animal noises but nothing that alarmed us too much. Lions, leopards, and hyenas do live in the forest but they were not near our camp site. Although, the next morning we had a group of teenagers tell us we were crazy. They said “there are lions and leopards that eat people, why sleep in the forest?”

We met these kids while looking for birds. I unfortunately do not have all the species that we saw, but we did see a unique green pigeon and a rare woodpecker. Til is writing a paper about the birds and hopefully I can publish some of his work soon.

The previous day, during our hike, we had to cross a river and a local child told us there was a small waterfall just down stream and we decided to find the waterfall. The river banks were covered with vegetation so we hopped from rock to rock. We went down river until we came across a group of local fisherman. They were all using poles made out of bamboo, catching fish to feed their families. They had a few fish with them, some extremely small but others had a bit of meat on them.

Near the group of fisherman we found a cave, or I should put, they showed us the cave (N7 10.805 E36 16.097). While we were rock hopping they seamlessly followed us downstream, using the cave to bypass the vegetation. It was a great a shortcut down stream. The fishermen followed us to the waterfall (N7 10.618 E36 16.193), it was just a couple meters high (5-6 feet), not the most amazing falls but beautiful in its own way. Our fishing comrades stayed at a fishing pool near the base of the falls. Til and I headed back upstream to find the well known natural bridge.

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I had heard about the natural bridge for over a year now. I never understood why it would be impressive, but I soon discovered its attraction (N7 11.021 E36 16.009). It is very large, stretching 40 meters across the river with a passage 10 meters tall and 100 meters wide. The river flows beneath it with grace and wonder, but the most interesting is the life in the bridge. On the south end there is a cave that stretches back from the river. We could not enter because hundreds (maybe more) of bats live inside and the smell is unbearable. I could smell the bats from 30 meters back, but close to the entrance of the cave the smell dominates the senses.

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I also know that some hemorrhagic fevers originate with bats in African caves so we decided to back off. We also noticed that there is a large set of bird dropping at the south end of the natural bridge. It appeared that some birds nest in the ceiling, unfortunately this would need to be observed at night and we had to hike back to the car by noon.

The trip was a great success. Til was able to get some good bird watching in and I was able to get the data points for ecotourism. It might be a while until I can go camping again but I want to return to the natural bridge. I have a feeling it is a beautiful sight around dusk, watching the birds come home and the bats go out.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

I have hit the ground running with my new job; I spent two days last week camping in the forest. The first day I was exploring the Gojeb Wetlands, the heart of the Kafa Forest, and the 2nd day in the Makera Forest, the birthplace of Coffee.

The Gojeb Wetlands are N NW of Bonga, towards my old town of Deka. The wetland is 10,000 Hectares (24,700 Acres), a giant area that supports buffaloes, hyenas, and scores of birds. It is one of the main sources of the Gojeb River, a geographically significant river for the Kaffa Zone. The Gojeb eventually flows into the Gibe becoming the Omo, going all the way south to Kenya.

I went there with a German researcher, Tillbert, who works for my counterpart organization. He was researching the various birds of the Kafa Zone. There is 262 different species that live here, but in his time here there was at least 20 more identified. On the drive out to the wetland we stopped at a small marsh, N7 30.296 E36 06.360, there we searched for a rare endemic Kingfisher. Unfortunately we did find the bird but just a couple different monkey species and we were told it was a popular spot for lions.

We arrived at the wetlands a bit latter than we had planned so we grabbed dinner in the town nearby, Kondar. After, we were dropped off in the wetlands and hiked for about an hour. Most of the hike was a struggle, with the grass reaching to our necks in several parts. We eventually stopped at a small “forest island” and set up camp, N7 33.455 E36 02.880.

That night was interesting, because as we were sitting around the fire cooking dinner we heard a strange noise in the background, a low “Whough Whough Whough Whough.” I had heard something similar before, 1 ½ years ago, a lion at Awash National Park. It was just Tilbert and me, so we made the fire a little bigger, paid closer attention, and had a small discussion on mortality.

No lion or beast attacked and we slept well, awaking to a morning of birding. But I did notice a few things were missing. I could not find my sunglasses or rice; the only time they were out of the tent was the evening prior. There were monkeys in the trees above us, and no other humans, so I think a monkey stole them! They were an old pair of glasses, luckily not my Shwoods.

After a morning of birding we headed back to the car. Tilbert was very patient with me the whole time. I had only birded once or twice in my life, while he had spent the previous 5 months exploring the Kafa Zone. He was able to find 24 different species that morning. It was a successful trip, but we had to get back to the car because that night we were going to camp next to the Makera Coffee Forest, a 3 hour drive away.

As for the lion we heard the previous night, the locals haven’t seen a lion in years. They did say hyenas make a similar sound and there are many of them around. So good news, there was probably not a lion just a blood thirsty hyena.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

I have been in the Peace Corps 511 days, yet it seems like only yesterday I was saying goodbye to friends and family. This blog is not about the past 500 days, but about the remaining 200 or so. There has been some big changes in my life recently because I no longer live my rural village of Gesha (A.K.A. Deka).

After 14 months of living in the sticks, Peace Corps wanted me to move to Bonga, the zonal capital of the Kaffa region. It was a welcome move for me, because I was tired of riding the bus 6-10 hours to Bonga just to check my mail. Also, come the rainy season the trip is rather dangerous (see the old video http://youtu.be/fVlvPjo3DGw). In Bonga I will be able to accomplish a lot, partnering with an international NGO, NABU, and the government to help develop the ecotourism for the area. With at least 160 different bird species, lions, leopards, buffalo, hippos, and other animals, the Kaffa Zone is a beautiful destination. There is also scores of waterfalls, caves, hot springs, and other geological features. Traveling here is about exploring, not touring, a fantastic location for the young at heart.

The next 200 days will be very busy, but I am excited to start. I already have a couple mapping/camping trips planned. My new house is pretty nice too! I have concrete floors and a common cold shower (when there is running water, which has only been on about 6 days the past two months). They painted the interior bright green which goes with my decorating style nicely. My latrine has a door and a concrete floor, but the hole is only 3” wide which makes aiming difficult for number 1 and 2.

I just bought a machete and already went on one small outing. We were looking for some hippos; they live only 15 minutes from my house, but sadly they were not there. A couple people told us they mostly live in that spot during the rainy season, so I will probably have to hike further down river or wait 2 months to see them.

511 days may have passed, but I’ll have 1000 days worth of experience in the next 200. I look forward to sharing them all with you.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

One of the most exciting parts of my Peace Corps assignment is working with the Non Timber Forest Products organization. NTFP does work not in the cities, but deep in the forest in remote villages. Up until this month I had not had an opportunity to go with them. I was supporting their mission from the regional base here in Deka, but this week I finally got a chance to visit one of the forestry sites, Gawache.

I thought my village was small and remote, but compared to Gawache it looks like a metropolis. Gawache is 17.5km (11 Mi) northwest of Deka, only accessible by foot or horse. The village consists of a cluster of about 20 grass huts, 3 buildings with tin roofs, and 1 school. During our trip I was shown the difficulties of village life when a young girl, no older than 7, was being taken to Deka on a horse. She had tripped and a piece of wood had caused a terrible gash in her mouth, with severe risk of infection her parents only option was make the journey.

I was carrying several kilograms of seeds so we decided make the excursion by horseback. Leading the way were two of my friends who work for NTFP. It took us about 4 ½ hours, over very rough terrain and we had to ford 3 creeks and one river. We were lucky to have sun for the first half, but then a lightning storm came and dumped buckets of water on us. During the trip we only had to dismount from the horse once, on a steep muddy hill. The mud was so think that with each step it would go up to my shin. The trip was concluded just before dusk and I set up my tent in field next to the school.

As darkness fell we left camp to find some T’ej, a local honey wine. This served two purposes: 1. I could introduce myself to the local government officials and 2. We need some T’ej after that journey! At the T’ej house I was able to meet the local kebele manager (like a mayor) and talk about what we were doing. He was very familiar with NTFP and their programs with the forest, but he was thrilled to know that I brought seeds for their tree nursery. He invited me to dinner and we were able to eat the local bread, K’ocho, and a delicious bean dish, k’ik’ wat.

The next morning I had a nice tour of the village and a section of the forest. I have lived in Ethiopia for a year half but this village still surprised me. The community was tiny, but everyone was extremely hospitable as I was invited to have coffee and milk at a couple different houses. I was also able to train a few locals on seed bed preparation, supplementing the fantastic education NTFP had already provided.

I was supposed to leave early that morning, but the trainings and coffee drinking went a little longer than expected. My counterpart was staying there for a few more days but he didn’t want me to make the journey alone. It was market day in Deka so many farmers were going there to sell their goods, but they had already left. We ended up hiring a guide, a local student who didn’t have school that day.

At 15 years old he was a smart kid. He is currently learning English and his one request was to have me tutor him along the way. We also agreed to pay him 20 birr with a 10 birr tip. This was a great wage since most day laborers make 8-10 birr for a full day of work. After we set out, me on the horse and he on his feet, I found out he was going to be returning that afternoon. While it is common for people to walk the 35km (22mi) round trip in one day, I thought it was cruel and I gave him my horse. I usually go on a 10-15 mile hike once a week so I enjoyed the walk. Also on foot I was able to scout out parts of the trail and I found a small waterfall on the Gone-Gori River. The falls was only about 3 meters (10 feet) tall, but it was still a beautiful site to see until I realized I was standing on an ant colony. I proceeded to have ants in my pants for a good 5 minutes, but my guide found that funny.

We got back to Deka in the afternoon and I took the guide out to lunch. It is special for someone to get a soda or meat, but he had to make the trip back and I didn’t feel right to send him on his way without a full stomach. I also gave him 2 liters of my purified water (he left without a bottle and I did not see him drink anything but the soda and water I gave him). Just after lunch he met up with several farmers from his village to walk back with.

The trip was a great success, but my perspective has changed. I thought I was remote, complaining to my friends who live in big towns and cities, I was wrong. Even though only a couple thousand live in Deka, it is a city compared to Gawache. Their life is difficult but their strength is great. The seeds I brought will provide trees for hundreds of people and will help save the forest. It is tough to measure the benefits directly, but one tree is worth about 600 birr ($35) after 10 years. I am estimating 5,000 seedlings will survive to become full trees. This is worth about 3,000,000 birr ($175,000). In 2010 GDP per capita in Ethiopia was $342 (The United States was $48,010 for perspective), the trees will provide excellent value helping the community and also saving the forest. Perhaps one day the villagers won’t have to go 17 ½ kilometers by horse just to see a doctor.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday; I packed my GPS, knife, binoculars,

camera, and water filter. That day I was hiking to the famous Gesha

Waterfall! The waterfall is known to all the locals, and famous

throughout the Kaffa Region, yet I could not find anyone who had

traveled to the falls.

I first heard of the mysterious waterfall upon my arrival to my site.

Everyone told me there was a towering falls with a mystic cave that

allows you to go behind the water. For one year it was my goal to go

to this falls and see it for myself.

I had asked scores of people, but everyone told me “it is very far,

perhaps another day.” No matter how much I pushed I was told we would

go in the future, a code that we would never go. I was determined to

find the falls the more I learned of the secretive site. After getting

a vague idea of the location I offered to rent horses for the

expedition, since I was told it was about 20km away. I offered to

bring my camping gear and set a camp site up, easing the travel. I

kept pushing, but I could never secure a party.

Finally the day came, a car with 2 other Peace Corps volunteers and

two American NGO workers decided to visit Gesha and help me locate the

falls. My local contacts were out of town at the time, but with a

vague idea of the location we figured we could find the falls. The car

left Bonga at dawn and arrived in Gesha (my site) around 10am.

A few helpful locals told us we could trim a couple hours off of our

walk if we drove down the road 30 minutes to a small village called

Demo (N 7 ̊ 26’ 50.3” E 35 ̊ 25’ 21.4”) ̊ . We were told it would be

about a two hour hike from there. Distances are measured in hours, not

in Kilometers, so we didn’t really know how far away this legendary

falls would be.

Upon arriving in Demo we got word from another local that said “An

hour, maybe two.” This inspired confidence in the party, but I was

still a skeptic; everyone we talked to knew of the falls but no one

had seen it. The party had some food, a local food called kolo, some

bread, and 24 hard-boiled eggs. The American NGO workers also were able

to secure a few candy bars and cookies. Averaging about 2liters+ of

water per person a few bottles were left behind, but I still brought

my water filter and iodine tabs.

The first part seemed like an easy hike, the path was due north and

would pass through a small village called Yofo. It was a market day in

Yofo and so we were not alone on the footpath. Scores of people were

walking with us to sell goods at the market; people were carrying

Kocho (local bread dough), inset, and various other locally produced

goods. It was about 6km (3.75mi) to the town (I haven’t verified the

sub distance, just the total hike) and slightly downhill, losing about

190M (600 feet). As we were walking we kept asking people how far the

waterfall was and we kept getting different answers but none were

lower, 2-3 hours.

We finally arrived to the sleepy village in the forest to find the

market just getting set up. It was a beautiful scene, buildings

surrounding a large dirt patch where the day’s commerce was to

commence. Off to the side there was an interesting concrete structure.

Concrete was an interesting sight because we had just walked down a

footpath, the concrete must have been hauled in on mule (a few people

said 4x4s reach the town in the height of the dry season). The

structure was a water tank that was connected to what appeared to be a

tin shack, but it was a public shower. Perhaps 6 stalls and all were

in use! My town also has a public shower but it connected directly to

a spring, this had a sophisticated water storage system. I also

noticed a large group waiting to use the shower.

Everyone was starring at us, 6 foreigners looked very out of place,

but in true Ethiopian hospitality we were greeted with respect. We

were offered to go and meet the mayor, but we had to decline because

it was already past noon and people were still saying the waterfall

was still 2-3 hours away. So we powered through the town and took our

first break about 30 minutes outside the village. It was a short

break, since we still had no idea on how far we were to walk.

Only after a couple more hours did we discover we were close, we met

an old man who said the waterfall was next to his farm and he could

lead us. We politely declined his help, but he was determined to help

anyways, and we were lucky because after 30 minutes we found ourselves

deep in the jungle. We knew we were close because as we descended a

muddy hill the temperature dropped and the humidity rose, water was

close. Finally we saw a locally made bridge, sticks and rocks bound

together to create a foot path over a river about 60 feet wide.

Just prior to us finding the river the man grabbed a spear and a

machete. He told us the path was through the jungle with no trail. We

hacked and crawled for about 30 minutes, and in the path we were

forging, we found hyena footprints. Finally we arrived above the

waterfalls with a cliff below us. We were able to shimmy down using

vines and trees to arrive at the fall’s base. We finally got our first

full look at the falls. It was 4 columns of water wide, 50 feet high,

with a towering tree on the far right. It looked like a scene from the

jungle book. We could see the cave behind the falls, and it was

accessible by climbing a cliff ledge along the falls and entering by

scrambling through the tree’s root system.

Twenty minutes later we found ourselves looking for footing with a 30

foot drop to our left; it was the only way to access the cave. Behind

the falls was lush with ferns and moss, it was beautiful! The tree’s

roots that we climbed through were about 2 feet wide each and the cave

is collapsing with one section having large part of its roof one the

floor. I would guess the water falls will eventually turn into a

beautiful cascade.

A few photos later, we found ourselves back on top of the falls with a

large hike ahead of us. It was about 3pm, and we still had to hike

out. Everyone was out of water so I treated about 10 liters and we

immediately started hiking, unfortunately there was no time to rest.

It was 13.5 km (8.5 miles) back to the car and we could hear thunder

in the background.

The hike back was long and tiring, the terrain was rolling with a

general incline of about 1000feet back to the car. The forest

village’s market was still going when we walked through and news of

our party had traveled through it. We had a greeting party of about 50

children asking us everything from who we were to if we would give

them money. We made much better time hiking out; with the thunder to

our backs we had constant motivation to move faster.

Unluckily the thunder and rain eventually caught up with us; luckily I

had my rain jacket and was able to protect people’s cameras. I usually

enjoying hiking in the rain, but this was a downpour with several

miles to the car and many miles logged on our tired legs. The final

two miles we were soaking wet, hungry, and tired. The fatigue had

caught up with us; everyone was stumbling with small headaches from

dehydration. But we arrived at the car at last, 26.5 km (16.5 mi) and

8 hours of hiking, I learned that I like to measure distance in KM not

hours.

It was a beautiful hike and I would recommend it to anyone who is

looking for an adventure. I would start hiking earlier and bring more

provisions; it might even make sense to camp at the base of the

waterfall. The bridge is located at N 7 ̊48’ 18.7” E 35 ̊ 37’ 28.0”

the water fall is just down stream to the west. The river is called

Gone-Gori, it meets the Yosano and Boti/Kawlushi just prior to

becoming the Boro and flowing into the White Nile. I am making a map

using the full the GPS points of my hike, but it will be a few weeks

until I get that up.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

As promised a few blogs ago, I would occasionally write a five part series on senses. After sniffing around last time I have decided to look at my surroundings.

Sight

What can I say about the sights of Ethiopia? Everywhere I look there is something different, every time I turn something new. There are subtle differences and major ones compared to America. For example it was my first week in Deka and I was walking through my town introducing myself. We would stop at various tea houses and drink tea and coffee and I would always meet a different government official, our schedule was to go to the various government offices but it seemed we were meeting them at the tea house. Eventually I was alone with my counterpart and able to ask a question, “Where are all these people going?” It seemed like half the town was walking the streets and the other half was drinking tea. To my untrained eye it appeared that they were all walking to a set destination, but my counterpart corrected me telling me “they are just walking.”

This moment was a big introduction to the local culture. In America if we are going, we generally have a destination and a purpose. Here the people were going just to go, but with a purpose of finding others. In a sense everyone had a destination, they just didn't know the end point. Their final destination is always fluid, a different tea house, but they would eventually find who/what they were looking for.

The walking was a very subtle visual difference, but the tea houses are certainly very different! The tea houses serve coffee (plain, with salt, or sugar), Tea (always with sugar), and snack foods including bread, deep fried bread (bisquit), or deep fried lentils covered in a dough (sambusa). The floors are made of dirt, the walls made of a plastic cloth or tin. The furniture is a mixture of benches, chairs, and benches that are used as tables. The tea and coffee is made ahead of time and stored in thermoses, and poured on demand. The glasses are small, coffee being about 1.5oz and tea being and 2.5oz. The glasses are “washed” after each use by dipping them in a bucket of water, sometimes rubbed by hand if there is sugar stuck at the bottom. The food is displayed in a case and behind a plate of glass that presents the day's choices (there is not always the same thing) and usually in the case is a score of flies bouncing from food to food.

The tea houses are a far cry from the coffeehouses in America, but just like most coffee shops in the States have a similarity, the tea houses here all share similar characteristics. Some tea house are cleaner and some have a bigger selection, just like some American shops offer specialty drinks and some compete on brand (IE:Starbucks). But I always know when I have entered a tea house.

There are many other sights that scream at the differences, but I will avoid talking about all of them. Here is a short list:

• Horses everywhere

• Children playing unsupervised with tools, in the dirt, or in the street

• Trash, plastic bags left on the side of everyroad

• Burning trash piles

• No Parking lots

• People carrying heavy things

• Fences made from living plants

• Barefoot individuals

• Cows, goats, and sheep walking the streets alone

• The list could keep going…

There are scores of differences, but the sights are also very similar. There are horses everywhere because they rode them to the market, just like everyone driving their car and parking outside the supermarket. The kids appear to be unsupervised, but in the communal society everyone is watching them. The trash on the side of the road and burning piles reflects the lack of a sanitary system, but everyone's own living area is clean. People are barefoot for many reasons; poverty being the main, but also it is easier to walk in the mud. The livestock though…that is very different.

Everyday looking around is a treat because each sight is finite, I will only live here for a few more months. It won’t be long and I will be home wishing I could trade the sight of snow for sun. Sight is one of the body’s most important senses, taking in the majority of information but eyes can be fooled. Just as I thought people were walking without a destination, it takes all 5 senses to fully understand Ethiopia.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

On a bus! Yes, I am actually writing this while driving from Addis Ababa to Jima. It’s a little peculiar because there is not a enough room to hold the laptop correctly so I actually have to have the screen folded down, , essentially writing blind.

I was in Addis Ababa for two reasons, picking up seeds for tree nurseries at my site and for a meeting about a large tree planting in May. Both projects are super exciting, jump starting my service that seemed to stall during the rainy season.

I am supporting 17 different tree nurseries throughout my region in the Kaffa forest. The tree nurseries are apart of the PFM (participatory forest management) framework. Land ownership is not legal here, but with PFM it gives a village stewardship rights over a section of the forest. Each section of the forest has a board of governors that have been democratically elected. It is a fair way to share the forest resources. Since the board is required to maintain the forest, the forest will be sustainably harvested, replacing any tree that is cut. The forest is the corner stone of the local economy, providing bee nests for honey production, shelter to grow coffee and spices, fuel wood for cooking, and timber for construction. Without utilizing the forest, nearly all economic activity would cease causing untold amounts of poverty. So this PFM framework will protect the long term sustainability of the forest while provided for the local economic needs.

I will be distributing the seeds by horseback and foot over the next few months. Some of the tree nurseries are as far as 20km. The region is a foot/hose path only, I am just lucky that the heavy rains have stopped and now the mud is manageable. I hope to get some GPS points and perhaps make a map, I will post all of the locations.

As I mentioned I also went to Addis to start the planning of a large tree planting event in the Bale Mountains. It will be in the buffer zone of the park and next to a river to help protect the watershed. This project is in it’s infancy, but it looks very promising with some possible support form back home. I will update again as more details develop.

Before I go I want to give a shout out to Trees for the Future and American NGO for giving me seeds. Seeds are very expensive and difficult to procure, but Gabe at the NGO came through. Trees for the Future does work in countries all around the world, helping promotes sustainable agroforestry practices and reforestation. Here is a link to their website to read more about them. http://www.plant-trees.org/The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

When did it become ordinary? Power only a few hours a week, chickens running through my house, the donkey that won’t shut up (such an ass), basically my daily life in Ethiopia. What prompted me to write today was an ordinary story, because it, or something similar had happened many times before. This ordinary adventure is my semimonthly bus trip to Bonga.

The last time I went to visit the Post Office was like any other travel day. I awoke at 3:45am, cooked breakfast, and secured my food from rats and bugs. I departed my house at 4:45am, and with a 30 minute walk, I arrived at the bus station at 5:15. I immediately noticed around 20 people waiting, and it would be another quarter of an hour until the bus station opened, I knew it will be a crowded day.

I have described the bus station before but as a quick refresher, there are no presale tickets for a bus ride. I have to get to the bus station before the gate opens, and then run and push my way onto the bus. This morning was no different except, instead of racing to secure a seat, I was racing to secure even standing room on the bus. The bus was so crowded that if I didn’t get on, I would have to wait 24 hours until the next bus came to town.

This morning I had a particular advantage, waterproof boots. In front of the gate a large puddle had formed from the night’s rain. While not more than an inch deep, I was able to walk through the puddle and get standing room right in front of the gate. Back in the USA, this might be considered a rude gesture of cutting in line, but here it is socially acceptable. In fact, if I stood back to form “a line,” it would be considered weird and 5 people would push me aside and cut in front of me. It is simply ordinary to push to the front. A little later the gate opened and I was able to run onto the bus. I was the third person on and able to secure a comfortable window seat. (Thanks REI for letting me return my old boots for new ones!)

I got on the bus at 5:30, but we didn’t depart until 6:30 or 7am. This was the usual time frame, I am not sure why it takes an hour plus to get out of the gate (it’s only 20 meters away), but it’s ordinary to wait. The trip was the usual bumpy dirty ride though the jungle. There was only one peculiarity, the bus was originally going to Bonga, but half way through the trip decided to go to Jima instead. Why? Understanding, it is a luxury I don’t have here.

When the bus arrived at a fork in the road, 20 kilometers to Bonga and 100 Kilometers to Jima turning left, the driver kicked ¼ of the people off the bus. This intersection is in a town called Gimbo, in Gimbo there are a couple “shy bets,” local houses that sell tea and coffee. I started walking to a shy bet, where I could wait for a bus that will take me the other 20k, but as I started walking, a minibus (12 seater minivan) pulled up. Since I paid for a trip to Bonga, in theory this ride would be “free,” and the other passengers who got off the bus agreed with this.

At that moment the old driver came over and I found myself stuck in the middle of negotiations between ¼ of the old bus, my former driver, and this new driver. The old bus driver decided to give the mini bus 10 birr per person he kicked off. So about 20 of us piled into this minibus, but while this new driver waited to get paid, 15 of these passengers then departed and went to a shy bet. It is very ordinary to get off a bus and drink coffee but I decided to stay on the bus; I didn’t want to get left behind. The new bus driver did eventually get impatient with the passengers drinking coffee and started honking. A small verbal quarrel broke out between the driver and the group. After a moment (and probably 2 coffees later) the group got back on the bus because the driver was anxious to go, but the driver did not go to Bonga. The driver only went 30 meters and parked behind my old bus.

My old bus had not yet paid the new driver and had not departed because he was trying to pick up more passengers who want to go to Jima. My new driver got impatient, demanding the money from us instead of the old bus driver. Since we had paid prior, none of us wanted to pay a second time and the driver kicked us out. The old driver was simultaneously be lectured by a traffic cop for not honoring our original tickets. It was at that instant that the new driver left the ¼ of us that have been kicked out, now twice, in the dust. The old driver was forced to let us back on the old bus and drive us toward Bonga.

Unfortunately, our old driver still did not want to go to Bonga and ½ kilometer away, out of the traffic cops vision, he parked and waited. We sat in the hot stuffy bus; I started to wonder if I will be walking the 20km to Bonga. About 20 minutes later, another minibus showed up and we got kicked off the bus again. We all piled into the new minibus, but I had my doubts that we would be going anywhere. I saw the two drivers arguing over a price, but after 10 more minutes we actually departed. From Gimbo to Bonga it should only take 30-40 minutes, but that day it took nearly 2 hours.

I was explaining this story to Mike, because similar stories have happened before. I explained how ordinary it was and how it was not even a concern anymore. He agreed, and then pointed out that, while it is ordinary for us it would be an extraordinary situation back home. It was that comment that reminded me to write more stories, to explain the daily life.

I am writing this in Deka, I actually have power now! I can’t help but wonder what story I will have when I come to Bonga to post this online. Wait…power just went out. It looks like it will be another ordinary day in Deka.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

I haven't wrote a blog in a while, I don't really know why. I suspect it is because as I fall into a daily routine and it is less interesting. Today I am writing something a little different. I am writing about a terrible story that just happened.

It is difficult living in another culture, Ethiopian and American values are very different. In American we love animals, or at least respect them. Here animals are seen for their utility only. A cat is for rats, a cow is for milk, sheep is for eating, and a dog is for protecting. There are exceptions, but for the majority of people here they don't ever think about having a pet as a friend. To be fair, there are exceptions in America too, Michael Vick is not much of a pet lover.

Today I met a puppy after he came to my house looking lost, confused, and very hungry. I ignored the dog at first but he was too cute, and so I cooked him some lunch. A little rice and lentils with a dollop of peanut butter for protein and taste. The dog loved the food. My neighbor saw me feeding it and was a little confused.

After the puppy ate he was curled into a little ball sleeping behind my house seeking shelter from the rain. I was inside minding my own business when I heard the dog screaming, I thought the rooster might have been attacking it (the rooster was jealous because I didn't feed him). Unfortunately it was not the rooster but another neighbor beating the dog with a stick; he beat the dog so hard that the stick broke. All I could see was the dog on the ground, looking up the the man, crying.

There were 3 people all watching this happen, all laughing. I asked them “why did you do this?” The simple response, “because he is a dog.” I expressed how I did not like what happened and went back inside. It is a tough spot being immersed inside another culture, and unfortunately this was not the the first abuse I have seen or heard. Children, or even wives, are sometimes beaten. Puppies, children, and women do not deserve to be beaten. On that note, it's hard to think of anything that should be beaten too.

How does this problem get solved? That is the tricky part, it is their culture. It is not right to come in and try to change something, and that approach probably wouldn't work anyways. For example, there was an NGO that was here to help dogs. It marketed itself in the US and Europe as going and saving street dogs in Ethiopia. This NGO did do that, but the dogs it saved increased competition, spread disease, and interbred with the Ethiopian Wolf (an endangered species). Now the Ethiopian Wolf is even closer to going extinct. My point is that change isn't easy, and it isn't always right to do. I just hope that I can make a small difference and have my neighbor think think twice before he picks up a stick.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Last time I went back to my site my friend Dave came along. I warned him that going to Gesha is never an easy journey and this timed proved to be no exception. As you will see we got stuck 4 times and had the bus break down once. I make this journey every time I go to the bank, post office, bank, or use the Internet.

Don't worry, I still am accepting visitors.

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Sorry Folks, I had to delete my last post. I received a few emails regarding my video, I decided to remove it. If you would still like to watch it, please contact me personally.

Thanks,

JonThe contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Hello World!

Wow, it has been a while since I wrote anything (oops). I am currently in the capital, Addis Ababa, we made a couple videos for new Peace Corps Volunteers. This is only 1 of 7 movies, but I thought I would share it with people back home. These videos are all centered around Safety and Security, a heavy topic but the videos are light.

Like always, this video doesn't represent the views of Peace Corps or the US Government.

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

After my last post, I have decided to mix up the format of my blogging. Most travel blogs, including mine, tend to focus on what happened. I guess because it is interesting and easy to write about. I will still be writing about the adventures in Ethiopia but, in between my posts about my outings, I will do a 5 part series on the senses of Ethiopia.

Every day I wake up and I am bombarded with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches that are foreign and unfamiliar. Every story that I have told has these in the background affecting the paradigm of my experience. I will do my best to accurately describe some of the similarities and differences that happen in various situations, but it is impossible to accurately document everything. To hedge this problem I will describe some of the more impressive situations.

First I want to start with smell. Why? Because the fragrance of the roses in my front yard can whisk me away to the Rose Test Garden in Portland. The odor of pollution in Addis Ababa makes me gag, while the onions in my kitchen make me cry. Smell is all around me and in every activity, it deserves a blog post and it will have to honor of being the first sense to be documented.

Smell

There I was, hot and sweaty, 5am sitting in front of the gates at the bus station. I had just hiked up the long dark hill in Bonga. Although it was early in the morning there was a moist, yet warm, rain. The area in front of the gates was crowded, with at least 200 people huddled together, waiting for the bus station to open. For most buses, like the one to Jima I am going to board, there is no reservation system. With a lack of a reservation system we all the run to the bus the moment the gates open. As 5:30am approached a man walked towards the gate preparing to unlock it and at this point everyone pushed together, jockeying for a closer position. It was at this point that my nose was directed away from the smell of fresh rain and mud to the smell of 200 people.

The man to my left smelled like the local cheese, ibe. It is a sour smell, like milk that has been left out for a couple days. With every breath the odor took hold since he was breathing only inches from my face. Knowing I could not retreat, because I needed to sprint to my bus to secure a seat, I turned my head to my right. There I smelled, K'ocho, a local bread. The K'ocho is a plant that is loosely related to alovera, yet without the fragrance. K'ocho also smells similar to sour milk, but with more of a rotten stench. Being that it is a staple in the local Kafa diet, the smell was everywhere. Luckily this onslaught of stench would not last because the gates were opening shortly.

As the man wrestled with the lock, the crowd pushed forward. It was like being in the front row of a concert, or the front of the line at wal-mart on black Friday, with the latter being more accurate. When the gates opened if I did not run I would be trampled by the hundred people behind me, it was not the time to think about the smells. It was the time to run.

The gates open and I sprint towards the bus that I think was going to Jima. I was unsure so I asked a driver while running “Jima iya a hedku no, yet no?” Or, “I am going to Jima, where is it?” Pointing with his chin towards the back of the large compound, I ran in that direction. The whole exchange or words took less than a 3 seconds but allowed enough time for 20 people to get ahead of me. We all ran to the bus jumping over mud puddles in the process.

As the crowd of people approached the bus it was like an hour glass, one grain of sand though the opening at a time, while an inefficient queue formed behind. Everyone was funneled through one door, and there was not enough seats; people pushed, grabbed, and screamed trying to get on. There, in the sweaty mess, the raw smell of people came out. I ignored the smell of a salty sweaty man and swung my arm over him and I grabbed a slimy bar on the inside of the door. With my arm inside, I was able to pull myself up and into the bus. I was not too late and I secured a seat in the very back.

The very back row had 5 seats but the driver instructed a 6th man to sit there. With 6 people sitting, where 5 are designed and only 4 would be comfortable, requires a constant jostling for comfort. If part of the body stays sedimentary too long it becomes trapped and numb, which is why I understood when the man to my right held his left arm up. For the whole 4 hour bus ride he was constantly lifting and pointing his elbow towards the sky with his hand on his shoulder. This was giving full exposure to his underarm. Body odor is never pleasant, but can be tolerated. Unfortunately this man, probably because he was traveling, had not had a shower in what smells like weeks. Eventually this encounter ended and I made it safety to Jima, nose intact.

Not all smells are bad, some a pleasant. It was just recently, during the Timkat celebration that my nose was pleasantly surprised.

It was a cool crisp evening as the sun began to set. I was walking with my friend At-Nafu hiking up the hill to the Orthodox church. It was one of the first times out in Deka in the evening and I was unsure what to expect. As At-Nafu and I walked up the hill, I can see a large crowed forming. It appeared that there was a sea of white clothes dancing on the hill. Just as we arrived the priests left the building and the crowd erupted in celebration. Like a flock of birds flying freely, but in complete unison, the crowd of several hundred started singing and dancing in a parade towards the river. Unsure of my role, being one of the few not wearing the traditional white clothes, I stepped to the side and follow the parade.

I watched a group of young men form a circle in the front and do a traditional Kafa dance while a group of girls sang just behind them. At the back they are all followed by the priests chanting in their Ancient tongue, Gez. There was where I first smelled something, and it was dust. The dust was everywhere and made it hard to breath. The traditional Kafa dance consists of a lot of jumping, kicking up large amounts of dust. Fearing that I would become bothered by this I did my best to breath easily, almost as an attempt to shut off the smell sensation.

Of course, it is impossible to do such a thing. While I try to distract myself from the dust I noticed scores of children selling gum. Gum is a luxury item here, costing about 1 birr per stick, and can be bought individually. To translate the real cost, I could by a 5 pack of gum or enough Potatoes to eat for five meals. I inquired why so many people are chewing gum and my friend informs me that it was to relax. I decide “When in Rome” and I purchased a piece, and I was overwhelmed with the flavor of banana. Banana flavored gum turned out to be a real treat! The flavor tasted similar to a runt, a popular candy back in America, but I digress from the smell.

Actually, there was not much smell to the gum but chewing forced me to breathe through my nose again. Only when I started chewing the gum did I smell something that took me back to Hawaii of all places. When I was 13 we visited the island of Maui, and there, the smell of tropical flowers was everywhere. Ever since then, when I smell a certain sent, I am reminded of the island.

In Ethiopia I had not smelled the flowers before but then noticed a large bush was beginning to bloom. The bush had perhaps 30 flowers hanging down giving off a fantastic fragrance. Like a bee, I was drawn to the flower overwhelmed with the sensation. For a brief moment I could not remember if I was in Maui, an exotic flower shop, or in Ethiopia. The smell was that intense.

I was quickly taken back to Ethiopia by the commotion of the parade. Looking around it was the only flower that was blooming, but in the days that followed other flowers bloomed too. A tree had blossoms and, the easiest to access, the roses in my front yard had just opened up. It was then that I realized beautiful smells were around me. Before I seemed to be focused on bad smells, probably because they tend to be more prominent, but this was a wonderful experience that reminded me of that I should stop and smell the roses.

Of course these were not the only two occasions where my sense of smell overtook me. These are just two of hundreds of examples. I would have to write a book to express every smell. One smell that will always remind me of Ethiopia will be the smell of eucalyptus. The tree is not native to Ethiopia, it was introduced in the late 1800s, but it is grown almost everywhere. The tree can regenerate in a matter of years, since the majority of people cook with wood and charcoal, these trees are ideal. It is a pungent smell when they are burned and cut, but it is everywhere.

I don't know where you would find eucalyptus in America? Perhaps at the local Zoo, because the koala bear is eating its leaves. Next time you are at the zoo, grab a leaf, break it up, and smell it. While doing this may not be the same as living in Ethiopia, it will give you one sense of what it is like here.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Quick Intro

Hey everyone, sorry about the delay in updating! It has been a busy few months with limited internet access! This blog update covers a few select topics and does not describe the work I have done recently. I will post again in the next month or so a more complete update. Also my brother just finished a three week tour or Ethiopia with me and he promised me he would write a guest blog.

I recently made a video that is about my site that I uploaded to YouTube, you can find it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGA6bkHBFb4

Rats

I have declared war against all rats, they will die. In the past few months rats have invaded, they have pooped in my bed and in my beer, they wake me up with their midnight shenanigans, they have eaten my medication and food.

Rats.

It all started the first night in Deka. There I was, scared and alone, wondering what I would be doing for the next two years. I found myself staring at the ceiling, knowing I would stare at it every night. The ceiling is composed of a plastic sheet that is constructed from recycled shipping bags. I live in a “fancy” house that has a uniformed plastic, but others are constructed from a grouping of random plastic bags.

That first night there was a million and one thoughts racing through my head, but then I heard something, a pattering of feet. Ignoring it, knowing I would be hearing a lot noises that I would not be accustomed to, I fell asleep. The next morning I remembered the strange noises, and I tried to figure out what they were. A few days later, while visiting my friend, I saw a rat run up a corner into the ceiling of his house. It was then that my fears were realized and I knew it was rats in my ceiling too. I held out hope that it was possibly mice, but I eventually saw one of the rats.

In the morning hours 6-7am, the sun is rising and the rats are usually still awake. If I keep all the doors and windows shut, a little bit of light shins into ceiling area, which creates a silhouette of anything on the other side of the plastic. It was during one of these sun rises, while I sitting in my bed, that I saw it. In my ceiling a giant rat, 5-7 inches in length. I threw a small foam ball at it and it ran away.

I have been lucky thus far, the rats in my house have not come down to ground level of my home. Of course, I can't say the same for the poop. I first realized it when I threw the ball at the rat, hearing “dirt” bounce around in my ceiling. Of course some of this “dirt” fell to the floor, and upon inspecting it, it was 75% rat feces.

I started to pay a little more attention, to the dirt an on my floor and in my house. Now I realize that almost every day a little bit of this rat poop falls into my living area. One time, while talking to my sister in law on the phone (Hi Vel), I even found some of the poop in my bed...good times. While the poop is disgusting, the rats have stayed out of my food, and I don't see any poop in my kitchen. Of course that isn't true at other people's houses.

I was in the capital city, Addis Ababa, having a beer at a local restaurant with my friend, and fellow PCV, Carl. Drinking cold draft beer is a luxury to me, the first one tasted so good that we decided to order a second. We got about half way through the beer when I noticed something float up from the bottom. Thinking it was a bug (bugs don't bother me anymore, if they did, I would not be able to eat ½ my food) I used my knife to fish it out. Placing the bug on the table, I tried to see what it was because it had a strange round shape. Thinking it was a small beetle, I get close and attempt a dissection with my knife, and it was then that I realize it was a rat turd. Yes, a turd (a round ball of feces) had stuck to the bottom of the mug until the beer carbonation had the best of it, and it floated to the top. I did not finish that beer.

Actually later that trip, when I was in Bonga, a rat got into my food. I was sleeping at Mike's house using a mattress on the floor. I had unpacked my backpack that had some specialty food from Addis Ababa. One of these items was powdered tomato soup, an expensive purchase at about 20 birr (a restaurant meal in my town is 5-15 birr) but a nice luxury item to have on a cold rainy day. Deciding to repack later in the day, Mike and I head into town, and I leave my belongings on the mattress When we return I start packing my stuff only to find the tomato soup violently chewed through and spread across his mattress Upset, I start inspecting my other stuff, luckily the rat stopped at the tomato soup. Except the rat did take a parting gift, he stole some of my Mefloquine, the anti-malaria medication.

So, rats are obnoxious and if anyone has some advice, I would love to hear it! I was told that rats despise the smell of moth balls, yes the things that make old people smell like old people. I am having some of them mailed to me from the United States. Of course my house may be rat free, but it will smell like an 85 year old man's house. I have also created a weapon in the chance that I see the rat's silhouette again.

Perhaps the weapon was inspired by the book I am reading, The Three Musketeers. I duct tapped a sewing needle to the end of my broom. Next time I see the little bastard I plan on inflicting a mortal wound! I don't want it to die immediately because I don't want it to die in the ceiling. Another volunteer killed a rat with poison and now it decomposes in the ceiling, dripping strange juices onto the floor below. Heeding her advice, I am avoiding poison and trying the needle method. If my calculations are correct, the wound will scare the rat and it will run somewhere else. Hopefully the wound will cause the rat to meet its maker, or scare it from returning to my ceiling. Last night, I woke up 5 different times because of its loud shenanigans. The rat has to go.

Ants

Rats have been the main pest, but I have also had the pleasure of ants. Back in the United States ants have invaded my kitchen before. Back home they are little cute ones that can be killed with a small gust of wind. I have had “ant wars” against these things with my former roommate (hey Dom!). We always ended victoriously, removing the ants with simple traps.

Here the ants are big, mean, and armored. The thought of them make me shudder with fear. They attack with Spartan military precision. For example, just out my back door I used to dump my waste water. Sometimes this water may have some food scraps from the dishes. After I dumped the water, I walked to the bathroom and returned not 5 minutes later to find thousands of the ants marching on the waste water. They march in a strong line that is guarded with two levels of defense. The inside of the line is the working ants; they are the size of a normal ant back home. Then there is a layer of ants that appear to work and defend, they remind me carpenter ant size. Finally there is the outer most layer, the tanks of the military unit. These ants are larger than carpenter ants and they have fangs that would make a vampire blush.

Luckily there is an industrial spray that kills the ants. As I previously mentioned these ants are armored, if you try to step on them they bounce back and attack. The spray is the only way to effectively kill them, especially in such a large group. When I sprayed the group that attacked the waste water, it eventually looked like a sea of black, with the dead ants spread out in a 3 foot by 5 foot area. The ants have only dared to come into my house twice; both times I caught their trespassing early and prevented them from getting into my food.

Water

Pests are annoying because they come to get your precious resources like food and water. To get anything here is not easy, like the tomato soup the rat ate, it requires effort. Water is no exception to this.

When I first moved to my house I was shown a pump that was about a block away. I went there for the first week, until my landlord showed me a well in the back yard. Happy as a bumble bee in spring, I started fetching my water there. I was not shy with my water usage either, because pulling water up from the ground in the back yard was a lot easier than pumping it from the ground and carrying it a block. I was using probably 10-15 liters a day (on average), liberally applying it to dishes and laundry.

But, the well and the pump have dried up. It is toward the end of the dry season and the water table has dropped too low. Luckily my landlord showed me where I can get water again. Now it is about 1 km round trip hike, down a hill. It would be a lie to say I didn't like doing the hike. I walk past a white stallion grazing in a field, baby goats eating grass, and monkeys playing in the trees. It is rather peaceful, but it is down hill to the spring. So now that I carry my water uphill, I have reduced my water usage to about 7-9 liters of water a day. I don't think my clothes smell too bad, and I don't have to wash every dish every time.

Vomit Blood

At first I didn't think I would include this in my blog. I didn't want to expose too much of my service but I think it would be a dis-serve to my readers not to illustrate most things. The reason I was drinking a cold beer in Addis and buying tomato soup was because I threw up a little blood.

It’s always a little concerning to see fresh blood, especially in vomit. A little worried I did some research, reading the book Where there is no doctor, and I decided to wait it out. I gave it a couple days, but thinking I noticed coffee grounds in my stool I decided to call the PCMO (peace corps medical officer). He summoned me to Addis, for some testing.

While it is fun to go to the capital, the trip itself is not fun. It is 2-3 days by bus, a crowded, hot, dusty ride. After some testing I am all cleared and it is determined that the blood was nothing to be alarmed about. The strange stool is nothing more than a change in my diet, I assume it is from all the roots I eat. It seems like every meal I am eating some sort of root, a potato, a sweet potato, onions, garlic, or if I am lucky, a carrot.

Anyways, I am alive and well. I do my very best to take care of myself. Knowing that I am 2-3 days by bus, I don't want to have a serious medical emergency. I should also say that if there is something major, the PCMO will dispatch a car to come pick me up. I even had to locate a landing strip for a fixed wing aircraft or a landing zone for a helicopter in case there was a serious emergency. So I am not entirely on my own, but I still have to maintain a level of safety. I liken it to hiking in the wilderness back home, there may be help, but it is a long ways away and it is best to play it safe.

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Wow, I can't believe it has almost been two months since I swore in as a volunteer. A lot has happened, but here is a breakdown of what is going on. Like last time, the blog post is long, so I broke it into sections. Eating Raw Beef (Kitfo) Swearing in Moving to Site First week My Job Christmas A Hawk Stealing my Meat New Years Mizan Waterfall Home Life Role of China Ethiopian Holidays Side Notes I want to start by thanking you for reading. It is an honor to have people care about me and what I am doing. Currently what I am doing in life is fun and interesting to write about. It’s great to have my friends follow my adventures. Everyday something worth writing about happens, but I can't express all of my thoughts in such a public forum. If you ever have a question about specific topic it is best to send me an email or a letter. Before we get to the sections I want to talk about what I saw today. I toured the secondary school which is composed of the 9th and 10th grade. There are 973 students for the school but there are only fourteen classrooms. Four of them were built by the local community and still have dirt floors because concrete was too much money. The students only go to school ½ the day because there is not enough room for everyone. The library, which also doubles as a classroom, has only a few hundred books even after a 170 book donation from USAID. None of these books are fiction; these are strictly the school's text books. There is only one science laboratory and it does not have running water, but there is talk of digging an irrigation ditch to it. One problem, even with a ditch, there is no storage system for water for during the dry season. Inside this laboratory there are limited supplies and many of the items are out of date. Of course there is a big positive. The staff is hard working and I get the feeling they care about the school. I have met with several students and they are all upbeat and willing to learn. Together they make a functioning system that still allows for the budding minds of Ethiopia to bloom, but my heart does go out to them. Eating Raw Beef (Kitfo) Well I got lucky. I have been in Bonga for two days but the internet has been down so I was not able to upload my blog, but this also allows me to sneak this section in before it is published. There is a lot of food that is different from food in the USA or other places in the world. To start with, the main staple is injerra a spongy sour flat bread that is eaten with nearly every dish. The injerra is approximately 2 feet wide (60 centimeters for my metric friends) and a “wat” is dumped on top of the bread. I would describe most wats as a stew. Eating utensils are not used, I am just required to rip a peace of injerra and eat the wat with it. A lot of food is spicy here and it balances the sourness of the injerra. It is also customary to eat with only your right hand. Last night I was out with some of our local friends in Bonga. They were drinking St. George beer and I had a Bedele Special, both are tasty beers but I don't know if they are sold outside of Ethiopia. We decided to have a cross cultural exchange by cooking them some food. Mike's grandmother graciously sent all of the ingredients for oatmeal cookies, but this proves rather difficult because we don't have an oven. Luckily our friend here has an oven that we could use to bake the cookies. So it was agreed, we would try a local delicacy, kitfo, and we would prepare for them grandma's homemade oatmeal cookies. They ordered two types of kitfo, one is called leb leb and is it slightly browned on the outisde. The other dish was completely raw, and the name escapes me but I think it is called t're. They prepare kitfo many different ways, but the type we had is cut to the same size as ground beef. You then rip a piece of injerra and eat it with your hands. It reminded me of the first time I ate sushi, a little bit of uneasiness and apprehension. Luckily the beer took a little of the edge off, but I still was concerned for my future well being. I just reminded myself, that everyday thousands of Ethiopians eat this dish, and their civilization dates back to Lucy! I reached, grabbing a very large amount, knowing that it was time to go big or go home. The first dish I tried was the leb leb, I figured it’s like getting in a swimming pool, and before I jumped in head first, I would wade in the browned meat. I have to admit the kitfo is good, the texture is a little different. It had the flavor of beef, but slightly different. I wouldn’t say it tasted like a rare steak, but it was close. I would probably not order it again based on the flavor, because I think there are much better cooked options, but I was happy I tried it! That happiness lasted until about 3:30am... Before I get into that, I better explain the cookies. We went to our friends house and made him the cookies. The recipe called for sugar and brown sugar, which was great. The sugar here is very similar to the “sugar in the raw” that is available at many coffee shops. Mike's grandmother had bakers sugar and brown sugar sent. It made three batches of cookies and we ate ½ of them. We also ate a fair amount of the raw dough, because raw cookie dough is always amazing. The Ethiopians liked them, but like many American sweets that I have introduced, they thought there was too much sugar. Which is good for Mike and I because we were able to take most of them home. We made it home rather late, but feeling good. We decided to continue are indulgence and I opened a care package from my mother. We sampled three types of Lindt Excellence chocolate, these things are to die for. Feeling like true fat kids, we retired to bed around 1am after watching a movie. I was feeling a little off, but I figured it was because I had not stayed up this late for a long time. Also since dinner I had consumed raw beef, a ton of oatmeal cookies, raw cookie dough, a fair share of chocolate, and a couple Bedele Special beers. I felt like I had just had a thanksgiving dinner and I need to go into a turkey coma. For those with a weak stomach, you may want to skip this paragraph. Of course, it was not a turkey coma but a terrible mix of ingredients that was fermenting in my stomach. Around 3:30 in the morning I awoke as nauseous as a new sailor on the high seas. I laid there for about 15 minutes, trying to calm the storm that was brewing in my belly. Burping a strange mix of beef, oats, and chocolate, I could not take it, and I rushed to find my pants in the pitch black. I knocked over my water bottle, which awakened Mike in the process. I was also looking for the key that would let me into the latrine, knowing that it was only a matter of minutes until I lost it. I was not looking forward to throwing up in the latrine (a 2” hole) but it was the best option because Mike lives in a large compound and I would otherwise throw up in the court yard (front yard of the neighbors). Unfortunately like a countdown of a spaceship, we had reached the zero hour and I lost it just outside his door and I did not make it to the latrine. I also awoke 3 of the dogs in his compound who came running to me as the vomit rocket was taking off. Luckily the dogs know me and did not try to attack as they are trained to do! Actually one of them felt bad for me and curled up at my feet, they are still man's best friend. So to wrap up the section, Mike did not get nauseous but we both had craps the next day that can only be described as soft serve ice cream on a hot summer day. So after getting sick, I don't know if I will be eating kitfo again. But to be fair, it might have been the raw eggs or the excessive amount of sugar that I consumed. All things considered, I will avoid the risks associated with raw beef as much as possible, of course the dish is a delicacy and served to guests. So not to be rude, I will probably eat it again, but hopefully I will have a better experience. Swearing in On December 3rd I took an oath to serve as a volunteer (I had to also swear to protect the constitution, so you just better read article III or else!). The ceremony was wonderful! We were at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa and it was attended by the US Ambassador and the President of Ethiopia. The buses picked us up in the morning from our hotel and took us up the hill to the embassy. The embassy is an impressive compound that is around 12 acres. It has a giant wall and a ton of guards. They inspect every car under the hood, and with mirrors underneath, making sure no person or object is sneaking in. Once inside there is a huge parking lot with cars that are property of the US Government. They all carry diplomatic plates, but I only saw 2 Chevrolets and 1 Ford and probably 50 Toyotas. Not passing judgment, just an interesting observation. Like most ceremonies, there were a couple of speakers, and two volunteers gave speeches in Amharic. The President handed us a certificate, and then gave his remarks. As the head of state of Ethiopia, he is a huge advocate for the environment, and he pledged to help us, it was an honor to meet him. I have never been around a top government official, and it was interesting how he was treated. Once we got word he was at the front gate of the embassy, we were all required to sit down. His entourage of vehicles arrived at the ceremony, which was held outside, and everyone stood and the ceremony began, the moment he sat down. Afterwards, the food was fantastic! A local Lebanese restaurant catered it and I had my first hummus in months. I was strategic with the food, first in line and first for seconds, I had thirds, and I might have even had a 4th plate...I was hoping there would be Dr. Pepper so I could be like Forest Gump, but they didn't have it. After swearing in, I went to the Peace Corps office to upload my previous blog, only to find my computer charger to be broken! I uploaded what I could, knowing I was to leave the city at 6am the next morning, that day would be the only hope of finding a charger. I dashed out, taking 3 buses around the city to get to the “modern” shopping district called Bole. I was lucky, and arrived at the computer store just before closing. I found a charger, and it was 1200 Birr, or 66% of my monthly salary, but I was just happy to know I could use my computer. That night was filled with illusion and wonder...wait, we went to a club called Illusion and it’s a wonder we were able to wake up at 6am the next morning. We stayed up until probably 3am dancing, and then I packed after the club. Needless to say I have packed better and I did regret not packing earlier. Moving to Site Rising at such an hour, is not as hard, if you sleep on top of your bed, in your clothes, which is what I might have done. Every volunteer was on the street, and on time, loading SUVs that would drive us to a hub town that was close to our site. It was a strange moment, because I had been around my fellow volunteers continuously for the past 10 weeks. From that moment forward, we would only see each other a handful of times, yet we would share an experience for the next two years. Saying our goodbyes quickly, my car departed for Jima on the way to Bonga. Peace Corps drivers are known to be some of the coolest people; I think it is a requirement for the job. We happened to get the only Peace Corps driver that is angry at life. It was an 6 hour car ride with 7 people in 7 seats with luggage all around us. The driver had the radio on the whole time even when only static was on. At one point he was tired of only static and turned it off, so we decided to watch a movie in the back seat. But that only lasted 20 seconds because when he heard the movie he looked in the mirror and turned the Radio on again. When we arrived in Jima our driver refused to let us unload the car, he was missing a soccer game. So we worked with him and came back later in the day. We arrived in Jima in early afternoon and checked into the hotel. A very nice place, the Central Hotel, it even has a swimming pool! Although the guide book calls it “dirty,” but the guide book also says Jima is a nice town. In reality the pool looked clean and the town is a dusty dirty place. We just stayed the night there and didn't do too much exploring, I did get sick that night though. Something I ate caused me to bow to the porcelain god, it’s a lot nicer, than the latrine that I was used to from training. The next morning we left early for Bonga, with two people departing from Jima. Jessica, Mike, Elly, and I continued on. It was a short drive about 3 hours. We could have made it the day prior but I think the driver didn't want to miss the game. That day Jessica and Elly left for their sites in or around Mizan Tefari and I departed the next day since my bus only leaves at 6am. Mike lives at the bottom of a giant hill, that is probably 1 -2 miles, and 700 feet below the bus station at the top of hill. I had to leave Mike's house at 5am, with all my luggage. Also, my luggage had doubled in size since I first came to country, due to the Peace Corps office, care packages, and supplies that can only be bought in Addis Ababa. I had 1 large back pack, 1 small backpack, 1 giant duffel bag, 2 large duffel bags, and a rolling suitcase. Luckily, my friend Mike and Dave helped me take it up the hill, but even with their help we realized that we would never make it to the bus station on time. So half-way up, Dave sat and guarded my belongings, while Mike and I went to the top, to try and explain that we would need the bus to stop half way down the hill. We arrive at the bus station, just in time for the gate to open. Just prior to the gate opening, everyone crowds and pushes to get to the front, and when the gates open, its like running of the bulls. I run and push my way to my bus and secure a seat. Mike and I try to explain that I have my bags down the hill, and after about 1 minute of unsuccessful communication in Amharic, a stranger on the back of the bus asks in English, if we needed to stop and pick up are bags. This stranger never heard our Amharic conversation, or saw us walking, he just knew that a “Ferengi” (foreigner) had a ton of luggage down the hill. This was a reminder that I live in a fish bowl and the whole town is watching my movements, which, in this case, was to my benefit because the bus stopped and loaded my luggage. First week My first week was interesting and difficult. I arrived in Deka and my counterpart met me at the bus station. With his help, and the help of about 4 kids, we got my luggage across the village to my house. He also informed me he would be in the field for 15 days. Luckily he helped me that day look for a few other supplies that I needed, like a broom. I have dirt floors, but in one room I have a plastic tarp covering the floor. We went to every merchant in Deka looking for a broom only to discover that they don't sell brooms in my town. It makes sense, because 99% of the buildings have dirt floors. I bought a broom the next time I went to Bonga. My counterpart went into the field the next day and I accidentally left my stove in his house. So I was forced to eat out every day for the first week. Eating out would have been fine, except I went to one house, which serves food almost every day. The girl that worked there eventually asked for my number, and after hesitating a day, I gave it out. I figured I should integrate into the community, and refusing a number to someone who I have seen on a daily basis, would look rude, but that was a mistake. That night she called me 6 times and sent me 2 messages. I have since stopped answering and I consider her a slight stalker... Because of this situation, I decided to go to Bonga to get fuel for my backpacking stove. My backpacking stove can burn anything from Diesel to Jet Fuel, and they sell gasoline in Bonga. They sell kerosene in Deka, but I forgot that part of the stove, in the USA. So I went to Bonga, I bought what I thought was Gasoline, a broom, and other supplies. Later, I realized that I bought kerosene. Luckily my stove will burn it, even without the proper parts, and when I got my other stove back, from my counterpart, I realized my MSR backpacking stove was superior, so I have continued to use that. Equipping my house in general has been difficult. It’s a roll of the dice if I can buy something in Deka or if I have to go to Bonga, Jima, or Addis Ababa. I was told that they didn't sell rice in my town so I went to Masha to buy rice, later I found a shop that does sell rice. Luckily about ¾ of the stuff I eat I can buy in Deka, but if I want Tuna, Spaghetti, Wine, Milk, Soy Sauce, Cooking Oil (other than palm), vinegar, peanut butter, most fruit, and most vegetables, then I have to leave my site. Also that first week, my charger for my laptop broke. Yes, the one I had purchased less than a week prior in Addis Ababa, it was very disheartening. I knew it would be months until I could get a new one in Addis or one sent from the USA. My computer was going to be a primary source of entertainment with movies, games, and writing. My Job Luckily I did find out more of what I will be doing, I work with the Non Timber Forest Products office. My counterpart is working on Participatory Forest Management which is a system to help slow and stop deforestation. It is “a formal agreement by the government with a group of villagers to give the villagers management responsibilities over a forest and right to use and sell legal forest products. The group of villagers is required to ensure good forest management to maintain and enhance the forest.” That quote is directly from the PFM book. My job is to walk through the forest and demarcate boundaries with my GPS. These boundaries are for the most part, already set up, and we will ask them what landmark they use to signal the end of their land. For example villager X has been utilizing the land left of the big tree and villager Y uses the land right of the tree. I will demarcate the line, which will eventually be put on a map, and made legal. The villagers will then have stewardship rights over the land. The people will protect their land from people illegally cutting trees since they are responsible for it and can reap some of the benefits from the forest. Also, if the forest is illegally harvested then the government knows who is responsible. I haven't done any work with the NTFP office yet. I did do some work for the Rural Development office with some demarcation of a land that will be used for irrigation. “Work” in general has been slow but daily living is more work than I have done in the states. It has been the Holiday Season and my counterpart as been gone almost the entire time, hopefully he will return soon and I will get to go into the forest. Ethiopia is on a different calendar, and they celebrated Christmas on January 7th. In addition, there are a couple more holidays this month. Hopefully he will return soon, but I fear it might be several months until I get into the field and do some work. Christmas While setting up my life and waiting for my counterpart to return, I have been busy. For Christmas I went to Gore, a large town northwest of Deka. About 15 peace corps volunteers went to this gathering and we had a blast! I am sure Gore was very confused about how many foreigners were in their town. They also had Chinese road workers in the city that week. I will write more on their role in Ethiopia later. We spent two nights in Gore and we had some amazing food. Scott is a great cook and he made Mexican food. He cooked with spices and flavors that are not easily available here in Africa. We wanted wine to go with our dinner, or at least I did, so a group of us went to every store in Gore looking for Ethiopian wine. We went to probably 20 places until we found one bar that had 3 bottles and I bought them all. The bar tender was a little confused because of the to-go order, and made us put a 50 birr deposit down on the bottles, to ensure we would return them. Every bottle is reused in the country and wine bottles are no exception. While I was in Gore I mailed about 7-10 letters home. I have to utilize every opportunity I have when I am at a post office. So on Friday afternoon I mailed the letters and on Saturday afternoon the post office burnt down. We were outside cooking and noticed a huge column of smoke. The whole town was running to the fire and eventually we discovered the post office was burning. Luckily the Chinese road workers were near by and they were able to knock down the surrounding buildings before the fire spread. I don't know if my letters went out Saturday morning or if they were taken by the flames. If you get a letter with “Gore 12-24” written on the back, please send me an email! Alissa, the volunteer who lives in Gore, was probably tired of us at her house, but the next day we almost missed the bus. Actually we did miss the bus so we had to contract a car to drive us down to Masha. About 9 of us had to go through Masha to get home. Luckily contracting was not too expensive about 50 birr a person, vrs 22 birr for the bus, but on a peace corps salary every birr counts. The group stayed in Masha that night with plans of leaving the next day. I have a difficult commute from Masha, that requires me to get to a 10 hut village called Yina that is 19km south of Masha. I then wait for a bus that comes between 10am-1pm. Since I didn't want to get to Yina too early I decided to sleep in and catch a bus around 7:30 am. It was a mistake to wait until 7:30 because the next bus that left didn't leave until after 10:30, I didn't want to risk missing my connection in Yina so I had to stay in Masha one more night. I was happy I did stay because Alex, Nikki, and I had a blast! We made eggnog and had a great time. Also I discovered Nikki had an extra computer charger! She let me have it, which was a pretty sweet Christmas gift, because it is allowing me to type this blog today. I also was able to buy some supplies that are not sold in my town and visit the bank. The next day, I did not chance the bus again, and I got to the station at 6am. We had a late night prior, staying up playing cards, so it was a difficult wake at 5:30 in the morning. Also the bus didn't leave until 8:30am that day so I could have slept in, chiqarlum. The bus dropped me off in Yina around 9am and I sat on the side of the road reading a book. The locals thought I was an interesting sight, a foreigner sitting on the side of the road reading. I drew some attention, which is standard practice. Eventually an older gentleman invited me in for some coffee. We went to his house and drank some coffee and ate some Kocho. Kocho is a Sheka or Kafa word (two local languages) for a bread that is made from the Inset (which might be Amharic for the False Banana) plant. His son was there too, about a 20 year old kid, and I decided to introduce the frisbee. At first they thought I was crazy leading them outside, but then we started playing. Eventually we had about 10 of his friends over throwing the frisbee around and they all loved it! The older gentleman invited me back inside to drink Tej and Arake. Tej is a local honey wine similar to mead and Arake is a very hard, 60-90%, alcohol. Yes it was about 10am, but when in Rome... Eventually the one person I knew in Yina arrived and played frisbee. I explained that I was waiting for the bus but he had a friend that would be driving through. So after about 30 minutes his friend driving a Chinese worker stopped and I was able to get a ride with them! It was nice of them because I didn't have to pay the 35 birr to ride the bus and it was about 10 times quicker. A Hawk Stealing my Meat Both times I was in Masha we had to go to the Siga Bet. The siga bet is the local butcher shop where they have a couple slaughtered animals hanging from the back wall. Its rather simple, you walk up to the butcher and he sells meat in kilograms. From the best of my knowledge, I don't know much about slaughtering animals, they are not the traditional cuts like back in the USA. There is just meat, not a T-Bone's or Tri tip. On the way to Gore we went to the Siga Bet to get some food for the cat that is in the compound. As Peace Corps volunteers, we are not allowed to own animals ourselves in the country because of the risk of rabies, but often times they are on the compound. Many times they will keep cats hungry so they hunt the rats that live in ceilings, but we wanted to feed this one because it was just a kitten. Because there is no petco that sells refrigerated organic cat food we got the next best thing, cow's lungs. Yes, that is what they feed animals here besides leftovers. So Alex and I walk to the siga bet and buy a ¼ kilo of lungs that will feed the cat for a couple days. As we walk back Alex is on my left and she is holding the meat with her right hand. With the natural tendency to swing her arm as she steps the bag of meat just happened to swing forward slightly as a hawk swooped down from behind and tried to steal the cow lungs from her hand. The giant bird flew right between us and only missed the bag of meat because she swung it forward about 3 inches. Taken aback, because it felt like we were attacked, we rushed back home to tell our other friends about the experience. When we returned from Gore at Christmas, we decided to cook a stew. Nicki and I walked to the Siga Bet and got a kilo of beef. She had not heard the story of the hawk attempting to steal the meat from Alex last time, so I decided to explain it to her. Just as I finished the story, Nicki and I turned to walk back towards her house, and the Hawk swooped down and grabbed the bag. This time I was on Nicki's right side, but the bag was on her left side, which left the bag not as well guarded. With its strong talons, the hawk ripped opened the bag and took a small amount of meat leaving Nicki and I speechless. I watched the hawk fly up and look down upon us, as if he wanted to make another pass. I stood in front of Nicki as she ran home and just like the saying goes, “she was watched like a hawk.” The hawk did not get much, but it was still a pretty amazing experience. I have now started paying more attention around every Siga Bet, because there is usually at least one hawk waiting for an opportune moment to strike. So lessoned learned, if you are buying meat, don't let the hawk steal your food. New Years It felt like I had just arrived back in Deka, but I planned on going to Mizan Tefari for New Years. I also had to go there because I needed some supplies that were only sold there or Jima. So a couple days later I left Deka again, oh how I was getting tired of traveling. To get to anyplace but Bonga in one day is difficult for me, but I didn't want to be away from my site any longer than necessary, so I left Friday morning. I caught the bus to Bonga, where I didn't know if there would be a bus to Mizan Tefari. After the 6 hour bus ride I arrived in Bonga at 12:30, I asked when the Mizan bus was leaving and they said a lot of stuff in very fast Amharic but I caught the word “buhalla” which means later. I decided to get lunch, because I was starving after skipping breakfast and waking up at 5am. After lunch, I went back confident that I could find the bus, only to discover the next bus would be tomorrow, January 1st. My two friends that live in Bonga had gone to a small village called Cheri, my back up plan was to go there for New Years, if I had missed the Mizan bus. The bus for Cheri left while I was eating lunch and I would have to wait until tomorrow. Nearly out of options, I was kinda sad. I was going to have to get a hotel in Bonga and spend New Year’s alone. I started asking around if there was any other way to get to Mizan, and I discovered that there would be buses driving through a small town called Sheto, and I might be able to catch one that went to Mizan. So I rode a bus to Sheto where I waited on the side of the road. Luckily after some time I saw a teacher at the local college who was a friend of Dave. After talking about Peace Corps for a while he realized he had a friend that would be driving through that was going to Mizan. It was the person in charge of the radio station in Mizan and I could get a ride with him. I was getting a little nervous, but around 3pm but the car came, and I was able to make it to Mizan, in one day, amazed that I made it. Funny that I had only traveled 240km (150 miles), and it took over 12 hours. I sometimes miss the transportation systems in the western countries. We had a blast on New Years. My friends from Masha, Nikki and Alex, and my friend Elly that lives in Mizan were there. We had a few bottles of wine and when midnight came around we had one party popper. The party popper was 25birr so we could only afford one. After we popped it we managed to use the confetti and throw it in the air like we had 10 poppers, I am sure the wine helped with this. I stayed in Mizan three nights because one of the stores I needed wouldn't open until Monday and then I went back to Bonga. I was happy I had to stay because I had a great time with my friends. Also Ray, the other volunteer in Mizan, arrived the 2nd night. Mizan is a great town with amazing food. If I was placed there, I would have no money, and I would probably never cook for myself. Mizan Waterfall On Sunday afternoon we all decided to go for a hike to a local waterfall. In addition, I took my Frisbee. It was probably a 2-3 mile walk, not too far, and when we got to the turn off from the main road, we thought a guy in an orange shirt was following us. There were hundreds of people around, and the trail was heavily used, so we weren't sure if he is following us. Just to be safe, we stop, and the guy stopped too, to go pee. I decide that he was not following us, and we continued on, only to realize he was right behind us again. So we stopped again, and he stopped, we went and he went. We confronted him asked him what he wanted, he said he is going up to the waterfall to bathe. It’s pretty standard to be followed like this. People are just curious, and often times when walking around, I will have a group of people that will just stare and follow me. This guy seemed a little different though, I could not put a finger on it. We decided to nicely ask him to leave. This didn't work and orange shirt continued to follow us. He then ran ahead of us to a lady selling bananas, he ripped 4 of them off and tried to give them to us. We refused, because we didn't want him around, and I think he upset the lady because he didn't pay for the bananas. As we walked further up the hill to the waterfall, the guy was still on our tail. There were less people around now, probably only 20ish, and we knew there would be even less at the waterfall. We were getting concerned about Orange Shirt. We decided to stop again and of course he stopped again. Almost every time that he stopped he would start to go pee, I figured he had to go, but would stop peeing so he could follow us. We realized at this point he was not peeing, but fondling himself. This is the point where we decided to turn around. I want to point out that not all Ethiopians are like this, it was a strange occurrence, but it is standard to be followed. It was unfortunate that we never made it to the waterfall, but it was better to turn around. The guy was small and posed no physical danger, but still a bad situation that was best to be avoided. Instead we went to a field and played Frisbee with a bunch of kids. The guy sat and watched the whole time. He actually continued to follow us down the hill until we told him that we were going to the police station. Actually playing Frisbee was a blast, but we did feel a little cliche. One volunteer had a tie die shirt, I think one had friendship bracelets, and we all had sandals on. A group of early to mid twenty year olds playing frisbee with children in Africa wearing a tie dye shirt. I think that is a cover for either a Peace Corp brochure or the Green Party's Membership Drive. Home Life Since new years I have been staying in Deka. I have a Community Needs Assessment to complete and I am trying to integrate into the community. Both are rather difficult. Deka is very isolated and there is very little English spoken here. My Amharic is good enough to go to the market and get my basic wants and needs, but it is nowhere near a level to have an intelligent conversation, about the needs of a community. Slowly I am trying to gather information on Deka for the report. The CNA is a document that paints a picture of Deka, it will include everything from health care to population statistics. Truth be told, I have not had a single successful interview. The culture is about relationships and so most of the time I meet with someone, it is about getting to know them. Hopefully I will get some more done in the next month because the report is due in the middle of March. Other than that, I am just trying to learn how to survive. I am eating a ton. I lost about 10% of my body weight during training and I am trying to gain it back. Since I started cooking for myself I have put on probably 5 lbs but I still have a lot more to go. It’s hard to gain weight because there is no snack food here, so every time I eat anything, it requires a lot of time and effort. One reason cooking is difficult, is because I have to boil and peel all my veggies, or soak them in a chlorine solution. This is because the fruit and veggies I buy, may be fertilized with night soil (human waste). My mom did send a care package with a bunch of snacks. I have rationed them and I eat one ever other day, a real treat! Last night I had a fun size skittles, probably the best skittles packet I have ever tasted. I ate each skittle individually, spending probably 2 minutes on each piece of candy. I have learned to savior and enjoy the little things in life. With my next care package, I plan on giving away some of the candy as gifts, I think it will be a good way to share a part of the American experience. Also, I have been given so much support I don't know any better way to repay many people. Of course any extra would be donated to the “Help Jon Gain Weight” cause. Candy or snack food of any type is amazing! Even powdered drinks like hot chocolate or kool aid are a luxury. If anyone would be so generous to send me a package, I would be very appreciative. If I don't get one, I understand, because it’s expensive to ship items over here, so I am not expecting any package, but I do like letters! It cost 98 cents to send a letter from the USA here, but if you did decide to upgrade to a package here are a few hints to items worth eating: l Candy that is easy to share l Hot Chocolate, koolaid, ect.. l Packets of Tuna (In Water) l Nuts l Dried Fruit l Energy Bars l Pretzels l Saltine Crackers l Really, any type of food that I don't have to cook. Role of China As I mentioned earlier China is doing a lot of work here. They are building roads, cell phone towers, and other infrastructure. It’s great work that they are doing, and it is going to help propel Ethiopia to a new level of development. Taking 12 hours to go 150 miles is crazy, but having paved roads will speed up the process. There is a lot of speculation about why the Chinese are doing this. Even The Economist did a story recently on the Chinese’s role here. There is talk of some fertile land that is being given to the Chinese, but I can't confirm that. Truth be told, I think they are doing a good thing. Ethiopia is a great country that can develop this infrastructure alone, but they are certainly doing it faster with the help of the Chinese. Ethiopian Holidays I wrote the previous sections a couple weeks ago, but since then, I have been able to go to two celebrations. The first was Ethiopian Christmas, Gena, and the second being Timkat. Both are religious holidays with the latter being celebrated by the orthodox church. For Gena I was invited to my friend Bekele's house where his wife cooked an amazing Doro Wat (a chicken dish) and I was served Tella, a local drink. Gena here seems like most people stay at home and spend time with the family. It was an honor to be invited to his house. During the holidays a lot of stores actually sell Christmas lights! I bought some to help add a little atmosphere in my house, I am sure the locals will think I am crazy when they see them up in July. I think they only put them up for the holidays, but I can't be certain about that. Another friend in town actually used the Christmas lights, green branches and then used those branches to frame a large Jesus poster, in some ways it reminded me of a Christmas tree back home. Timkat was more of a lively celebration, the Orthodox Church celebrates the baptism of Jesus and there are two large parades, where people dance and sing to the creek. The first parade was on the eve of Timkat, and the priests slept on the bank of the creek all night. We went back to the creek in the morning, where ½ the town was there and a religious sermon was performed. Then the priests splashed everyone with water and then there was a parade and everyone danced and sang back to the town. This day too I ate Doro Wat but was served with Tej, a honey wine, this time. All together these were great celebrations that have helped me integrate into the community. Prior to me attending the celebration people were always skeptical to my role in the community. Since then I have been embraced and asked to attend coffee ceremonies. Leaving my house is a difficult task, but I have realized the best was to integrate is just to leave the house. It is hard, because wherever I go, I have about 50 people watching me, asking me where I am going, and what I am doing. They are just trying to be friendly but in a weird way it wears on me. Side Notes In some ways I have all the time in the world in Deka, and in others I have none. It is a strange feeling to be isolated from the world with nothing and everything to do. At one point my cell service was down for a period of 10 days, it was a painful but liberating experience. I learned a lot about myself and a lot about people, the world can be a ruthless, but beautiful place. Since Getting my computer back I have had a lot of time to watch movies and tv. Burney Falls is briefly shown in an Episode of Its always sunny in Philadelphia. In season three Episode “Sweet Dee is on Fire” around minute 21.

There is an accurate description of the Peace Corps is in Season 3, Episode 6 of Reno 911, as accurate as Reno 911 is towards the Sheriff’s department. The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

12/3/2010

Hey! I just swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer! I am at the Peace Corp office using there internet.

I got good news! I have a new cell phone number. Please just email my mom or me for it.

I have a PO box in Bonga.

PO Box 104

Bonga, Ethiopia

Also, I got wireless interent for my computer, but my laptop charger just died...I will have to cut this short and try to go into town to get a new charger.

So, here is a taste of training. I will try to update more frequently, but without a laptop the closest internet is about 7 hours away in Bonga. I won't be able to get a new laptop charge for at least a month and probably 3 if I don't get one tonight.

Cheers!

Jon

11/14/2010

Hello Everyone,

Wow...it has been way to long. I apologize for not updating the blog earlier but, I have had very limited electricity for the past 8 weeks. Even as I type part of this I am doing so by candle.

I don't know where to start, so I will begin at the end. I just got back to Menagasha, my training site. I have been on the road for two weeks strait, a whirlwind tour. The first week we visited Awash National Park to see a lion and crocodiles, but I won't start there. I will begin at my site, my home for the next two years, Deka.

1. Trip To Deka

I was in Addis Ababa last week, Thursday the 11th of November. I have been in Ethiopia for weeks but it was my first time back to the city since I landed. We went there to meet our counterparts and have the first hot shower in about 7 weeks. I have been bathing using a “bucket bath” system. I am in my room, standing in a plastic tub, dumping cold water on my head. Needless to say, the hot shower was a treat!

We spent two nights in Addis, on Friday we met our counterparts for the first time. My counterpart, Bekele, works with my host organization, Non Timber Forest Products (NTFP). He is an extremely nice guy, disappointed that I am not fluent in Amharic but very happy with my business background. My site speaks very little English, in fact they speak very little of the national language, Amharic. At my site they mainly speak a local language called Kafenya. My counterpart and I spent the day getting to know each other and the next day we were set to depart for Deka.

That Saturday I had to be in the Hotel Lobby at 5am...early since we had a late night out. I did not understand at the time, but the best time to get to a bus station is early as possible! We luckily already had our tickets when we were dropped off at the station. The bus station was the craziest place I have ever seen. Thousands of people running in every direction. Shouting and screaming, fighting for seats, pure pandemonium from my perspective. We loaded the bus and we started to leave, actually every bus started to leave. There was only one entrance and one exit. The buses were all nosed in but started backing up toward each other with people running in between the buses. They would keep backing up until someone slaps the back of the bus signaling they are within a couple inches of hitting another bus. We were all loaded by 6am, but we probably did not get out of the station until near 7 or 7:30. It felt like everyone was leaving a concert at the same time causing a serious traffic jam.

The bus ride was with my friend Mike and we were heading to Bonga for the night. Bonga is where Mike will be living for the next 2 years. The bus ride was about 11-12 hours. The first 6 was a paved road to Jima, a large city in the west of the country, than the rest is a windy dirt road through the highland jungle of Ethiopia. Most of the people on the bus are chewing Chat, a green leafy plant that is a stimulant. Chat is illegal in the US, but legal here in Ethiopia and very popular in the Middle East. I am told that the effect is similar to a very high does of caffeine, but I have not tried it my self because as a volunteer I am not allowed to break any US law.

While winding through the jungle we had many sightings of monkeys and baboons. At one point a couple people threw some bread out the window causing about 12 Baboons to charge toward the bus grabbing the bread, they were amazing and beautiful creatures. We are told they are not dangerous to humans, but sometimes they may attack a child.

We finally arrived in Bonga. It, like Deka, is in the Kafa region. The Kafa region is the birthplace of coffee. Legion has it, monks observed goats acting very giddy after eating a certain red berry. They tried chewing on them and realized it helped with their all night prayers. Eventually the product was exported; Turkey invented the hot drink, and now coffee is the 2nd most heavily traded commodity behind oil (that’s excluding currency exchange).

The area surrounding Bonga reminds me of the highlands of Costa Rica, specifically Manta Zuma. It is lush and green, every morning the town is covered by a blanket of fog that is cooked off by the sun in the early morning. The town is much bigger than Manta Zuma, I would expect the city to have 60,000is people. During this visit to Bonga I didn't get much of an opportunity to explore the city because I had to catch a bus at 5:30am.

We ate dinner with a current Peace Corps Volunteer, Dave, who lives in Bonga. A great guy, he told us all about the city. Bonga has a waterfall, natural bridges, hot springs close by, and caves. By the time dinner was done, I had to go to bed. We stayed at an amazing hotel, The Coffeeland. Its a little expensive for my Peace Corps wages at 150 Birr a night, the exchange rate is 17 birr-1 dollar. As a volunteer I should stay at the 20-30 birr a night places, but they were not near the bus stop, and I really wanted a bed without fleas after that 12 hour bus ride.

Early as hell, 5am, I go with my counterpart to Deka and I am full of excitement and anticipation The bus to Deka is about 6-7 hours off the main road, up to a higher elevation in the jungle. We arrive in Deka, and not having anything at my house, I had to get a hotel which was only 20birr a night. That price rented me a chair and a bed. The floor was covered in dirt, and like most local hotels, I had to provide my own lock. The dirt does not bother me, because I was going to spend very little time in the room. There was no power that day so I did buy a candle and typed part of this blog by candle light.

That Monday I was busy, I had to go to every office in town an introduce myself. Meeting the mayor, the chief of police, the school officials, health officers, and many more. I probably met 200 people that day. Its imperative to introduce myself to everyone in the community for a couple reasons including protection, integration, and understanding. It is a common misconception that a Peace Corps volunteer works for the CIA, its best to meet them and explain that I am here to help the community and not spy on it. Everything up to this point was pretty smooth. Just a few things had gone wrong, but nothing major, Tuesday everything changed.

One main goal of the site visit is to set up a post office box and a bank account. For most volunteers this is a very easy process, but unfortunately I did not have either of these in my town. I decided, after a couple of poor recommendations that I set up my bank account in Masha. It is only 59km away. My town has two buss leave from it everyday, one that goes east to Bonga, and one that goes west to Tepi, toward Masha.

The bus is supposed to arrive in Deka around 11 and leave around noon. Noon came, and Noon went. The bus was no where to be found. It was market day in Deka and the town was busy. It seemed to be a hub town for smaller villages and people were walking in with grain and other goods on their backs. I was sitting on the porch of a restaurant waiting for the bus to come to town and when people would see me they would just stop and stare. Not joking, their mouth would drop open and they would stare for about 5 minutes not moving. I am actually rather happy about this, because other volunteers receive verbal harassment in the form of being called “Ferengi” (foreigner), “You, You, You,” “give me money,” and my personal favorite “China China China.” Although just words, when there is 30 kids following you screaming these, while grabbing at you, it gets kind of annoying. So, I am happy just to have people stare at me in amazement. I am sure they were very confused about why a Ferengi was hanging out in Deka.

We waited for the bus for hours and eventually it came. At about 3:30 the bus arrived and we boarded it. We sat there for about an hour because the driver had to eat lunch and unfortunately we had to wait in the hot sweaty bus so we would secure a seat. As the locals say “chiqaralem” which means no problem. So after an hour, I am getting antsy, but the bus leaves the station. We get halfway through our town when the bus driver realized he was running low on diesel. Since we don't sell diesel in our town, someone had to find someone with a fuel container with diesel After some time, I am watching 3 guys siphoning the fuel into the bus, chiqaralam.

After what seems like forever, we finally depart our town. It is getting kinda late, because we have to travel 40km, then catch a 2nd bus. We go for about 45 minutes when the bus gets a flat tire, chiqaralem. It takes a while to fix but we get back on the road. We arrived at my stop Yini around 6:30 just as the sun was going down, chiqaralam. If we had arrived earlier there would have been buses driving on the highway that we could have caught, but because of our arrival time, the only option we had was to walk the final 19km (12mi), chiqaralam.

As we start walking lighting, thunder and heavy rain starts, chiqaralam. We have to trek on because there is no option to stop. Luckily there are no dangerous animals in the area, so walking at night is not dangerous in that respect. There is always the worry about walking at night, but luckily I was with a respected local Ethiopian. We walk about 10km when the final bus of the night (which must have been late) picked us up! We finally made it to Masha 9:30 at night where we ate dinner and got a Hotel. I do want to note that I was scheduled to arrive around probably 3 or 4 pm, it was due to a circumstance out of my control that I was traveling that late.

That night I did sleep like a brick. I knew we had a busy day ahead I got to the bank as early as possible the next day. I opened my account and immediately headed for the bus station only to find all the buses had left. We had to go 19km (12mi) to the turn off at Yini early or else we would miss the bus that will take us the final 40km (25mi). My Ethiopian friend informs me that we will most likely have to walk the final 40km because we will not make the bus in time, chiqaralam.

Luckily we happen to found a private vehicle that is going past Yini! As we got dropped off we saw the bus start to drive through town. We started to run after the bus, praying that it will stop. The bus saw us and pulled over. They informed us there is no room on the bus (there was less than standing room) but they let us on anyways. We crammed on the bus and I liken it to standing at the front row of a concert. I had one hand up, holding on, and one hand in my right pocket protecting my wallet.

We made it the 40 km, with the bus stopping frequently allowing people to board and exit. With every stop there was someone who had to crawl over me. As I unloaded myself I realize my phone was missing. I was protecting my right pocket where my wallet and camera was, but I was forced to abandon my left pocket. A pick pocketer in the various commotions stole my phone.

I was a little upset about this, but it was only a phone. I pack my bag knowing I had to leave the next day. I proceed to walk into town where I find out the bus that comes from Bonga has crashed. Since it was parked in a ditch, there would be no bus to Bonga the next day. I was going to be stuck in my town. There are no private cars in my town, to my knowledge, but there happened to be a private SUV visiting from Bonga picking up honey. My counterpart helps me negotiate a price and the car gave me a ride to Bonga. Since the bus had crashed the SUV was full of people. I rode the 4 hours into Bonga (it is much faster by SUV than bus) and met my friend Mike.

We spent the next day touring Bonga. We found a stand that sold smoothies that had 100% organic fruit, (everything is organic here since fertilizer costs so much). The smoothly was avocado and papaya, and probably the best thing since sliced bread. Oh, and there only 5bir (about 33cents). Amazing is the only word to describe them. They also change with what ever fruit is in season; soon it will be Banana Mango! The capstone of the day was a hike through the forest, past thatch roof houses, to a 200 foot waterfall, just gorgeous.

We decided to sleep in the next day because we were going to Jima, only about 6 hours away. We woke around 7:30am and then walked the 30 min to the bus station. It was a mistake not to catch the first bus of the day at 6am, because we did not leave town until about 11:30. Forced to sit on our luggage in a bus yard, although we did sneak away and get another smoothie. The bus yard was probably the dirtiest place I have seen in county, as we sat there and looked around we saw two open condoms sitting on the ground...at least they're using protection?

The bus ride to Jima was eventful. Being more of a local route, they would stop every 50 feet and pick up passengers. At one point we picked up two ladies and their kids. Both of the children looked malnourished and extremely ill. One girl was sweating profusely and we offered them my water bottle. The girl, who was only about 5 years old, sees the bottle and immediately threw up in her dress.

We arrived in Jima about 5:00pm, just past closing of the bus station ticket office. This meant that we would have to ride another local, public route, tomorrow because it was unlikely to get a ticket at 5am for the long distance coach.

Long story short, we slept in again, thinking there would be lots of buses to Addis Ababa. Turns out we had to wait until about 11am again. Also the bus we caught was terrible, they tried to make us pay double the rate. Actually, they succeeded, until a police checkpoint discovered their thievery and forced them to give our money back. Mike also had his back pocket unbuttoned with someone trying to steal his wallet. Because of how crowded it was, he was forced to hold his wallet and cell phone the whole time.

We finally got back to Addis Ababa alive and well. The adventure had ended with only a simple bus ride back to Menagasha the next day. The story could go on, with the adventures in Addis, but I will save it for another day.

.

2. Awash National Park

Awash National Park is one of the original modern parks created in Ethiopia. It is due east of Addis Ababa in the rift valley. Going there reminded me of the African planes in the “Lion King.”

We departed for the park on an early Monday morning. The Peace Corps organized 4 Mini Buses (Large Vans) to take us. I, in my infinite wisdom, decided to board “The Red Rocket.” Pretty much all of these buses are blue or white, and they are all over the country, but this one happened to be red. The Red Rocket lived up to its name too, because our driver was insane. He would pass any car any time. If there was a hill, he would pass. If there was a curve, he would pass. If there was a blind curve up a hill, he would pass. Needless to say, after several close calls I did have to change my shorts.

We arrived to Awash in one piece, to find about 20 tents set up, amazing! Camping in Ethiopia is not really done, so the locals thought we were a little crazy. We found out later why.

That night we went to the lodge at Awash that overlooks the Awash River Falls. It seemed to be a stereotypical African lodge, beautiful, open air with natural wood and a thatch roof. There was no power at the lodge but they have a generator that was supposed to be turned on for a power point presentation. The generator broke so instead we lit a fire outside and we ate dinner around it.

I unfortunately got really sick that night, I was not alone because about 6 others were feeling ill too. The next day we were all scheduled for outings in the park, I was supposed to summit the peak that overlooks the valley. In my weakened state I decided that would have been a poor choice, so I opted for a car ride safari. The other choices were to explore the river by foot or to hike to some hot springs.

A safari, cool yes, but not cool when you are sick. Bumpy, dusty, and lots of turns only makes one want to throw up more. They put all the sick people in one bus too...the smells were not pretty.

I went to sleep early in an attempt to get better, but later, I was awoken by a lion. Yes, a lion, but it was in a cage not to far away. He decided to make a few calls which was cool as shit but kind of scary. He was not the only dangerous animal around, there were also crocodiles and some sort of large lizard. The crocodiles are dangerous for obvious reasons, but the large lizards will bite a human and then run away. The lizard kills it prey by infecting the animal with his bite. The bite is not poisonous, but their mouth is so dirty their prey will die from infection, oh how fun.

We never saw the lizards but we did see some Crocodiles earlier in the day. After the safari, we hiked down to the waterfalls. A local guide said the water was pure and clean, safe for swimming. We had an guard with us with an AK47 and he led the way down to the falls. About a half dozen people went in the water at the base of the falls, I saw a cow's skull in the water and I decided it was too dirty for my likening. I walked on the rocks at the base of the falls taking photos. The waterfalls are probably 100 yards across with 5 different waterfalls making up the river. They then flow back together where everyone was swimming.

I noticed the guard walk down river, patrolling for dangerous animals and I followed him. We were hopping rock to rock looking for a crocodile but we never saw one. We make it back to the group that is swimming and I convince my friend to take my waterproof camera across the river to get a photo from the other side. As he is over there my boss comes running down to the river urging everyone to get out of the water because they spotted crocodiles from above. They were not very close, about 30 yards from where I went with the armed guard, but nonetheless close by. My friend, who will name nameless in case his mother is reading, was able to swim with the crocodiles! Bitchen.

The next morning everyone woke up early because monkeys and baboons were throwing stuff at the tents. We had set up camp under a very large fig tree and all of the primates were going crazy eating all the food. They would then proceed to throw any waste down below usually hitting a tent. Luckily the tents had rainflys on because a few got urinated on by the monkeys, good times.

We departed that morning and made it back safely to our sites. I rode in The Red Rocket and yes it lived up to its name again.

3. Washington D.C. United States of America.

This jumps way back to the very beginning about two months ago the very start of my journey. I don't know if theses stories are as interesting, but I want to put them on paper so I will do so in a chronological order from here on out.

I departed from my wonderful family back on September 19th, flying out of Redding, California after much hoopla and celebration. At the airport I met my first fellow Peace Corp Volunteer, Alex. She is also from the Northern California. It was a great thing to see here there, because we had a long flight to Los Angeles, then and even longer flight to D.C.

Knowing that we would be without many great American comforts for the next two years we tried to maximize our time. At LAX we went to a restaurant to order sushi, unfortunately we never received it. They were so swamped that after 90 minutes I got one $9 Corona and she never got her beer. A little frustrating, but looking back I think she came out ahead because she can use her $9 to buy about 18 beers here in Ethiopia.

We got to D.C. in the early evening. Catching a taxi over to Georgetown. It had been many years since I had visited D.C. and I forgot how breathtaking and beautiful the city is. Georgetown is an impressive neighborhood and that night looking for dinner we went to some random pub. We happened to pick the pub where JFK proposed to Jackie and being tourists, we sat at the booth where he popped the question.

We were in Washington D.C. for two nights, signing documents for the Peace Corps and getting some vaccines. My alternate reality, from life back home, had not yet begun but things were starting to change. It was surreal to meet 32 other people for the first time, and ask 2 of them at random to sign as a witness for my life insurance.

4. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Two more very long flights later, with a layover in Frankfurt Germany, I arrived in Addis Ababa. In the national language, Amharic, the city means “New Flower.” We were dropped at the D.C. airport at noon on September 21st, we arrived in Ethiopia around 8pm on the 22nd. With 32 other excited individuals, the Peace Corps met us at the airport and whisked us away to the Kings Hotel. We were all eager and excited to see this New Flower, but we pretty much stayed in the Hotel for 4 nights leaving the compound only three times.

We stayed very busy, we had a lot to cover. We didn't even start language training until day 3. Safety, security, medical, country, and many other briefings. I was able to have my first one on one interview with my boss, Hewit, and get an idea of what I would be doing for the next two years. We also met our PCMOs (Peace Corps Medical Officers) for the first time. We have two and they are both fantastic individuals. We all had an interview with them and received more vaccines.

The PCMO's also prescribed us a Malaria prophylactic. They gave us two options for malaria prevention: 1. Doxycycline (spelling?), or just Doxy, is a once daily pill for the rest of the volunteers service. The the main side effect is sensitivity to sunlight. The 2nd choice is the once weekly Mefloquine, or Meflo Snack. The main side effects are vivid dreams, possible depression, and it might make you go crazy. What did I pick? Being that I am in Africa, next to the equator, at an elevation of probably 8000 feet, working outside as an environment volunteer, I picked not getting skin cancer and going for the once weekly Meflo Snack. After all, I like to dream, Peace Corps can sometimes be depressing anyways, and 10 out of 9 people think I am crazy (and bad at math).

I have not experienced the 2nd two side effects, but I have had some amazing dreams! Because of nature of Meflo I had to take Doxy for the first week. It made a mistake the 2nd night reaching for the daily pill and swallowed the weekly pill and that night I had some crazy dreams. I thought and animal had bit my finger (probably from the rabies discussion early in the day) but it was so vivid that I actually think I felt pain in my dream. For the next couple weeks I also would sometimes wake up thinking I was still in California because my dreams seemed so real. For about a minute or two I could not remember if I was dreaming I was in Ethiopia or in dreaming I was in California. (I was still in Ethiopia).

Anyways, they could not keep us locked in the Kings Hotel forever. With only a short 3 hour language session under our belt, they sent us out the door. We were driving to our future training villages where we would meet our host families. There are 4 training villages, Addis Alem, Holeta, Wolmera, and Menagasha. I had the honor of being placed in Menagasha with 5 of the finest individuals, Chase, Spencer, Ely, Joe, and Brain.

5.Menagasha

We were bussed from Addis Ababa to Menagasha. I remember thinking were were going deep into the heart of Ethiopia, only now do I realize we did not travel very far at all. It is only about an hour drive away, but with the excitement of finally seeing the Ethiopia country side I built up in my head that I had traveled far away (maybe I can blame it on the Meflo).

We were dropped off at a Restaurant where we eagerly waited for our future families to arrive. This is one memory that will stick with me forever because just as we were dropped off, we were given a roll of toilet paper and bug spray. I could not help but think of what my family would think of me, sitting there with a ridiculously large backpack, two suitcases, industrial strength bug spray, and a roll of ass wipe. Oh glories day.

My host mother came and I had lunch with her and one of her friends. She, with here 4 words of English, and I, with my 3 words of Amharic, managed to hold a pretty good conversation. Its amazing how far a lot of pointing, gesturing, and a big smile will take someone. They eventually put on some background music, and we turned it into a dance party. The 12 Ethiopians and 6 Americans put on some pretty good moves. They showed us dance moves from all over Ethiopia, while we tried (and probably failed) to mimic them. Their dancing is all in the shoulders, kinda cool to look at.

All good things must come to an end, and so did the dance party. It was time to go home, my first full immersion into a culture. The Peace Corps dropped me off at my house, and my family helped carry my belongings. Simi lost and extremely confused, I wandered into the house. My host mother wanted to show how powerful my bug spray was. She found a pile of ants, and it was just strong as I expected industrial strength bug killer to be, it killed the ants.

The night went pretty smooth. My family kept telling me to “Tetch out” which means “Talk, or Play.” It is something that does not really translate across cultures. My understanding it means that they want you to feel comfortable, but it kind of feels like a mother law commanding you to have fun...

That night my baby brother did pee all over the floor, good thing it is linoleum, nothing a mop couldn't take care of. As I came to realize, the culture does not care as much about some of the things that we value. For example, privacy around breast feeding or peeing. Which, I have to say, makes sense. Last time I checked everyone pees and probably breast fed.

Menagasha is a small town of just a few thousand people, but because of its proximity to Addis Ababa and having a main paved road go through the town it receives a lot of heavy traffic. The World Heath Organization ranks Ethiopia the worst for traffic fatalities and anecdotally I can see why! If there is a speed limit it is not followed and passing on blind curves is common. Perhaps this is another reason why Ethiopia is a very religious society.

Menagasha is surrounded by gigantic green houses for growing flowers. They were built during the economic boom, but most of them are not producing anything because the flower market has crashed in Europe in the wake of the world economic down turn. The city is famous for its church on top of the Mt. Menagasha. We hiked up there one day, and discovered that the part of the cross that Jesus died on was once stored on the mountain. The cross has since been moved to a different part of Ethiopia, I think it is now in Axim.

The mountain was a great hike. It is still covered in indigenous tress because of it's religious significance. At the top is a cave, a church, and we saw a couple of primates. There were several monks on top of the hill that, with the help of a translator, gave us a history of the mountain. They said at one point there was a different church, but during a Christian purge by a Muslim radical group, the church and all of its followers were taken to heaven leaving nothing behind. That section of the hill is blocked off from anyone walking on it.

6. Language

Language is going well. I have never been great with speaking anything, including “American.” With Amharic I have managed to get by rather well, but so far I have had a lot of help from my LCF (Language and Culture Facilitators). When I was without them I saw some major deficiencies.

Amharic is a rather difficult language. In fact, according to the group, it is the most difficult language anyone has ever learned. The group can speak a multitude of languages including but not limited to Malagasy, French, Spanish, Italian, and German. The root of the difficulty is in the verbs. Each verb can contain about 90% of a sentence. To congregate properly, I have to include respect level, gender, exact time, and other things that I don't think I understand yet.

I will continue to learn the language, but I also found out the majority of my village speaks a completely different language called Kafenia. The word “Kafenia” is Amharic for the Kafenia language, I am not sure what the language is called in English. I don't know how difficult or easy this language is, but I do know they use the Latin alphabet and not the Amharic Script, but I don't think there is a book about the language. I guess I will wait and see what will happen.

7. Lake Wenchi

This place reminds me of an equatorial Crater Lake. Just like Crater Lake in Oregon, Lake Wenchi is from a collapsed volcano.

It was about a 4 hour bus ride from our training sites, luckily paved most of the way. We drove to Ambo, where natural mineral water is bottled, and then took a turn due south. The drive took up off the highland floor to an even higher, more impressive view. At the very top of the mountain was an old abandoned Italian war tank from WWII.

Lake Wenchi is at the very top of these mountains and is a recently new park. In fact, I am not sure if the park is fully established yet. We hiked down to the water which took about 45 minutes and there we at the option of swimming, relaxing, or taking a boat to an island monastery. The boat seemed to be the coolest option for me, so I paid the 20 birr and we rowed across the lake. The island was like a lush jungle with a secluded church in the middle, and after a few minutes hiking we rowed back to the main land.

We could have rode a horse back to the top, but because I wanted a little physical fitness I decided to hike. The horse was only 40birr, but when you make less than a $1 a day (about 16 birr) that gets kinda expensive too. The hike up was dusty and a little annoying because there was a lot of begging from kids.

The begging from kids is always difficult because it appears they have nothing and most of the time they live in poverty. There are many schools of thought on how to deal with begging children but they all boil down to the question on to give, or not to give. I choose not to give.

Why do I not give? Because in some towns foreigners give frequently which then leads parents to pull their kids out of school to help make an income. This might work well when the kids are 7 years old and very cute, but the kids will eventually grow up and have no education. This will lead to a cycle of poverty and I don't want to contribute to it. I am not opposed to giving, but the situation needs to be controlled. Many people in Ethiopia need help and I prefer to transfer skills. I feel that will stay with the society while if I gave a dollar it would be spent in a day.

8.Illness

Weak stomachs may want to skip this section.

A little obnoxious, but I have gotten sick here a few times. It was over a 4 week period of different illnesses. It started out with some serious GI issues lasting several days, at which point I went to a health clinic for a stool sample. Oh boy! For the sample the doctor gave be a small piece of cardboard and a toothpick...I don't think a question relating to this came up during recruitment for the Peace Corps.

The stool sample and a blood test showed I had bacterial dysentery and I had a weak reaction for Typhoid Fever. Not going to lie, it was kind of a badge of honor. We get a vaccine against the Typhoid Fever but it is not entirely effective and can usually weakened the illness. The treatment for both problems is the same antibiotic and afterward I was feeling great in that department.

I managed to also get a head cold that lasted a couple weeks and then the flu while at Awash. I think it is probably due to having limited control over food preparation and hygiene. Training is very busy and living with a host family is a different experience than cooking for ones self. One very nice thing is I always have a doctor on call! I don't think I will ever have a personal doctor I can call 24 hours a day again in my life.

So I just want to end this section by saying, Mom everything is okay! I am feeling great and I will be doing great for my whole service! Don't worry I take my vitamins.

9. Menagasha Supa

This is the oldest park in Africa and it is my training's site back yard. We made up there for some training on park management in Ethiopia and to see some natural beauty. I hiked to a waterfall in the park. While others hiked to the top of a hill. Wildlife includes leopards, hyenas, countless birds and primates.

This is a beautiful park that was originally established to be a wildlife reserved for the royalty of Ethiopia to hunt. There is no longer a king of Ethiopia, but the park remains. Actually one volunteer has been placed here to help increase Eco-Tourism to the area. There are not many national forests left in Ethiopia, I hope this one can remain intact.

10. Here forward

I swear in to be a Peace Corps Volunteer in about one week! I am very excited because training has been hectic and busy. It will be the complete opposite when I go to Deka, my site. I will have nothing to do and everything to do.

My language skills and lack of community knowledge will not allow me to start a project immediately. In fact most people it takes at least one year to integrate into a community before getting anything started! The three goals of the Peace Corps are 1. Transfer skills, 2. Exchange American culture, and 3. Bring Ethiopian culture home. I will be doing a lot more of the 2nd and 3rd goals over the course of my service, but I will transfer some technical skills too.

I will hopefully be able to update this more in the future but, as I mentioned prior, Deka is pretty isolated. There is no post office, bank, or internet cafe in town. I might have access to a wireless internet through my cellphone, but I have not tested it yet. At a minimum I will try to update every few months, I just hope the posts are not painfully long.

I love you all and I hope you are doing well. Please send me letters, emails, or call me! Just email me for my phone number. I will post my mailing address on this page.

As they say in Ethiopia, Danah Hunu!

JonThe contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Wow...it has come.

1 1/2 years ago I submitted my application for this moment. I am nervous, anxious, but mostly excited. I have said my goodbyes and packed my bags. My plane leaves in 8 hours, I should probably be in bed, but I am too excited to sleep.

If I missed a goodbye, I apologize, I have been terribly busy. I will still have by phone for 48 more hours, I would love a last minute phone call. After that please either email me or write me at:

My Name/PCT

US Peace Corps/Ethiopia

P.O. Box 7788

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

I do love hand written letters or postcards!

I wish everyone good luck and I am excited to see them all when I return, or even better, please come visit!

Always,

JonThe contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

In my never ending pursuit to maximize my time in the United States I have been busy...so busy this blog will be obnoxiously long. So I have decided to divide this into 6 sections

! Work

@ Birthday Weekend

# Reno

$ Burning Man

% Destruction Derby

^ The End

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Working is something I did not want to do. I retired from Enterprise to have a summer of sun, relaxation, and local travel, but I had an amazing opportunity. Burney is a relatively isolated community with not a whole lot going on. There is a single screen movie theatre, a bowling alley, and a few other businesses. There is also a Community Center with local resources including job development.

They needed to fill a temporary position while someone was on maternity leave. It was a perfect fit, and I was able to do the job. It has been short days, 6-7 hours (much better then the 12-14 hour days at Enterprise), and I am able to help find employment in the community. Unemployment is the Redding Metropolitan area (Shasta County) is 15.6% according to the B.L.S.

It is very gratifying to help attack that number, and it doesn't hurt to make a few more dollars prior to departure. My coworkers and boss are fantastic and I would not trade this experience for the world.

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It is official, I am now old, I have reached my mid-twenties. I understand my mid twenties are not ancient (or even worse, as old as my mom), but my early youth has dried up. Many milestones of my life have been reached.

-10 riding my bicycle alone (I think my parents imposed this rule, not government)

-16 Driving a car

-18 legally an adult.

-21 buying booze/going to clubs

-25 cheap car insurance (pretty pathetic this is a milestone, not nearly as fun as 18 or 21)

I understand there are other milestones, like marriage or a colonoscopy, but they just don't seem like as much fun.

Anyways, for my birthday I received many wishes (thank you to everyone) and I went out to Jack's Grill Which happens to be the best streak house this side of the world. My brother and his wife came up to celebrate and I went down to Sacramento with them for the weekend.

The Sacramento metropolitan region is a horrible place with nothing but suburbs and strip malls. Billy was able to show me the finer sides. We went to Thunder Vally Casino on Friday night where I donated some money to the Auburn Indian Community. We went to Empire Mine the site of California's oldest, largest, and richest gold mine. The longest tunnel goes 11,000 feet below the surface.

We attended a AAA baseball game, watching the Sacramento River Cat's smoke the Fresno I Don't Remember Their Name. Highlights, 1. Eating a 12” hot dog 2. Fireworks every Saturday night 3.Getting a free glass of wine because it was the end of the last bottle.

Sunday I had a cultural experience. William convinced me to go to a concert in the park, not only a concert, but a festival. As Billy said “there will be 6 bands! TJ is going to go! And it is going to be great.” William failed to mention all the music would be country. I have never been a very big country fan. I can handle a little Taylor Swift because I am not blind, but I am not a huge fan of the twang. I sat through 6 hours of country music in the sun sitting on asphalt, but I must say I had a great time! The music was pretty good and the atmosphere was full of excitement. I am happy I was able to go to a country concert prior to departing for the Peace Corps.

Topping off my evening with a little Sushi, my last meal of raw fish for a long time, I went to bed early for my next leg of the journey.

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Reno is probably my favorite biggest little city in the world. To me Reno screams CLASS!!! I decided to travel there in style in a $100,000+ vehicle, a Greyhound Bus. I took the Sacramento light rail to the station which was a lot of fun. I did not see the Govenator riding it.

The Greyhound is always interesting. There is always one weirdo on every bus...although I sometimes have a hard time finding him. This time it was a 30 year old guy who could not listen to instructions about staying close to the bus when it stops. This guy was forced to chase the bus ½ block in Truckee and nearly get run over.

In Reno I stayed at the fabulous GSR and a momentary lack of mathematical judgment was in my favor, allowing me to do very well on the tables. Unfortunately the rules of probability were true at other casinos in Reno allowing me to give most of it back.

My primary purpose of Reno was not to gamble, but to procure goods for Ethiopia. I did spend a whole day shopping. I managed to buy new shoes and half of the inventory at REI, I love that store.

I left Reno Wednesday morning for the desert. I was to round off the week in Black Rock City attending another cultural experience, Burning Man.

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Burning Man is a unique festival where it is illegal to buy and sell anything. The economy is based on barter and gifts. I consider myself a social scientist and my primary purpose, besides seeing friends for the last time for 3 years, was to analyze the city.

The population of Black Rock City was about 50,000 people, making it slightly smaller then Carson City NV and Nevada's 4th largest city. The city has an airport, several newspapers, a radio station, it's own cell phone service, and it is only around for a week every year. The concept is beautiful.

I can't do the festival justice with pictures, videos, or even words. I recommend experiencing the community and participating. The city is full of art, dancing, night life, classes, protests, gatherings, and much more. I will only explain 1 event of 1,000 that I experienced.

The first night I went to an amazing dance club. There is about 1000+ people dancing to the most amazing beat that I have ever heard. Lights surround the floor, with climbing structures in the rear allowing people to dance in an elevated position. Lasers, visualizations, and other illuminating features move to the beat with a world class D.J. spinning. The dance floor is perfect, everyone is ¾ naked/in costume and wearing glow sticks. The DJ hits a perfect beat sparking 8 torches that ignite an inferno of passion that causes a commotion in the crowd that creates an unmatched experience.

I can't describe the other 3 nights because they were all too amazing and I could not do them justice, but I did attend Thunderdome, watch someone play with 200,000 volts of electricity, and go to a roller disco.

I camped with 17 other people, most of them from Oregon. They were some of the nicest people I have ever lived with, and I am very happy I could share such an experience with such wonderful people.

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I left Burning Man on Sunday at 7am. I drove back to Burney just in time to find the Intermountain fair in full force. My brother and his wife were in town and they were attending the destruction derby. I have not been to the fair in 6 years, which is sacrilegious for this community. I have also never been to a destruction derby.

What is a destruction derby? A lot of people do not know so I will explain. It is an event where a bunch of cars get in a muddy pit and crash into each other while a whole bunch of people cheer them on. The concept is simple, the winner is the last car driving.

The D-derby was amazing! Such a fun event, and it turned out to be another cultural experience. We stood for the national anthem, yet two cars had a confederate flag sitting at the same height as the American flag. Last time I checked the Union won, and Northern California is no where near the confederate south.

The event was a lot of fun, and I was able to reconnect with many people from my childhood. The fair is a gathering place of everyone in the community and I am very happy I was able to go one more time. I hope it won't be another 6 years.

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I finally finished my adventures. For the 10 days I was gone I managed to see many sides of America and have a great time too. I now have a 1 ½ week left in the USA and I need to pack and finish my job at the Community Center. I have many adventures to come, I hope you all can join me. I will try to make at least one more post before I get on the airplane.

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Hey Everyone,

I have my plane ticket! I will be flying out of Redding on the 19th, I hope I will be able to see everyone and say be goodbyes before then. As I mentioned last blog, I will be going to Ethiopia. I thought I would write a few words about the country to give a little background.

I will always be sensitive with my comments. Blogs are a public forum and I never know who will read these. The Peace Corps program was jeopardized in its first year of existence 49 years ago. When a magna cum laude graduate wrote "With all the training we had we really were not prepared for the squalor and absolutely primitive living conditions rampant both in the city and the bush." She put this on a postcard that was intercepted and never made out of the country. Long story short, there was an uproar in the streets of Nigeria where Peace Corps volunteers were called "agents of American imperialism." If you wanted to read more about this, here is an article from Oct 27th 1961 in Time.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,873458,00.html

Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world. It is also the site of some of the oldest humans. Lucy, who has been described as the missing link, was found in the mountains of Ethiopia. She is about 3.2 million years old. Which makes here even older than Betty White! Read more about her at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091001-oldest-human-skeleton-ardi-missing-link-chimps-ardipithecus-ramidus.html

The country is home to about 88 million people. The size is slightly less than twice the size of Texas. It is landlocked after a territorial dispute with Eritrea. The elevation of the country is -410 feet below sea level at the Danakil Depression to Ras Dejen at 14,872 feet. Which is higher than any mountain in the lower 48 states. Finally, their GDP per capita is only $900. The United States is $46,400. More information is available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/et.html

The most important part of Ethiopia is Coffee! Coffee is believed to originated in Ethiopia, I guess Lucy loved her Lattes. I love coffee! When I graduated from college I was dirt poor, in debt, and desperately needing money. But I didn't want to get a job anywhere except a coffee shop. I got 20 hours a week at Starbucks, but that came with a pound of coffee a week and as much coffee as I could drink while on shift (what a good deal, I probably would have volunteered. Don't tell Howard Schultz).

My only experience with the cultivation of Coffee was in Costa Rica. I was able to tour a coffee plantation and watch how they dried and cleaned the bean in Latin America. It was a great tour where I got to see a Toucan (but no fruit loops cereal).

Supposedly in Africa, they dry the bean differently which creates a more robust flavor. They dry them in the sun with the fruit still on the bean. The coffee is almost sweet when you drink it.

Anyways, many ceremonies in Ethiopia revolve around the drinking of Coffee. I will be sure to write many Blogs on the subject and keep all of the readers informed.

Cheers!

Jon

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Wow! How the time flies by. I have been retired from Enterprise Rent-a-Car for almost a month. It is probably time to update both followers what I am up to these days.

I am going to Ethiopia! I am so excited!!!!!!!! I am set to use my business skills as a Conservation and Natural Resource Management Specialist. Currently, that is all I know. I am very excited about the position and the move to Ethiopia!

In the meantime I am have been busy down here in California. I had the opportunity to go to Medicine Lake and car camp with the parents. My mother froze to death, sleeping in the car. Was it cold? Sure it was, and the fish I caught was 40” long!!!!

I went backpacking in Thousand Lakes Wilderness with my dad and dog. We did a shuttle hike parking one car at the Cypress trail head. We entered from the Magee trail head. The hike was short but about 2000 feet up. My dad was wise and did not run up the hill, my dog not so smart. He ran up and down the whole hike up. The dog probably climbed 3000 feet. Needless to say, Ernie was a little sore the next day. As my dad went down to set up camp I skirted over to Crater Peak, so I ended up climbing two mountains that day! It was a good day.

Peak 1

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/154447/crater-peak.html

Peak 2

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/344226/magee-peak.html

We got out of the wilderness just in time for me to pack my other backpack and head to San Francisco! I was able to visit my old childhood friend Eric. He and his lovely wife let me sleep on the couch at their self proclaimed Bed and Breakfast (No bed or breakfast is included). Eric was inspired by the hit TV show ChiPs and joined the force. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075488/

Yes he might be the guy who gives you a ticket for talking on your cell phone while driving, but he also has the ability to use a taser and take my freedom away. I decided to respect the rules of his house. Eric and Jill are doing great, and it was wonderful to see them. I hope they will come visit me in Ethiopia, I plan on opening a Bed and Breakfast too!

I then stayed a couple nights on a houseboat. James and his wonderful girlfriend let me sleep on the couch. They had interesting rules to their house they made me watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU and then take my shoes off. We got to visit Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Park, and I even pretended to be a hippie on Haight and Ashbury. They are two returned Peace Corps Volunteers and were able to give me some great advice for the next two years of my life.

I departed from their house at 5am, and drove to meet my brother at Lassen National Park http://www.nps.gov/lavo/index.htm. For months we had been planning a week long backpacking excursion. We parked one car at one end of the park called Warner Valley. We were supposed to start hiking later that day, but I had just received my invitation to go to Ethiopia and I had to go fill out paperwork for my visa and a new passport. I thought my American Express would be faster!!!! Oh! (that was a joke. I am sorry it wasn't funny.)

My father dropped us of at the north end of the park at Butte Lake the next day. We had nothing but a backpack, two sleeping bags, and the will to survive. (We also had enough freeze dried food to last a small army 2 weeks, cellphones, a hammock, 2 stoves, a kitchen sink, but we did forget playing cards so we were hardcore.)

Day one was a grueling 9.5 miles and a lot of uphill. My backpack weighed 50 lbs, and Billy's came in at 42 lbs. We stayed at Jakey Lake, a nice lake in the back country but full of mosquitoes. Billy also got a leech on his foot and we decided that a 2nd day would not be much fun at this lake. Day 2 we hiked to the top of Crater Butte and then stayed at a lake near by. The hike was one of the best I have ever done, but Billy decided to hurt his knee. We had to call our parents to meet us at Summit lake to drive us out. We stayed at the lake for a 2nd day in hopes his knee would get better but it did not. “He is my close friend and I did not want him to get injured and I fully supported his decision.” That is what I said when Dom hurt is right knee, and that is what I am saying to Billy too. A very strange coincidence that both my friends hurt their knee on our adventures. Either both Dom and Billy have bad knees or I snore too much. When Dom hurt his knee Billy said “tell Susan to keep going,” Billy has since retracted that statement. Billy has a GPS heart rate monitor and tracked our hike. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/44283051

Anyways, life is good! I am excited for the future and what it holds. As I will soon be a Peace Corp Volunteer I will be including this statement on my blogs.

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

I have completed it! The much anticipated cycle from Portland Oregon to Burney California. The adventure was part success part failure.

Day 0.

I slept at my biking partners house, Dominic's, so we can depart first thing in the morning. We planed on riding past Government Camp to Trillium Lake. I invited a few friends over that I may not see for a couple years and we have some Italian sparkling wine.

Day 1.

We departed at the crack of dawn, 10am. I accidentally mailed my long sleeve shirt home so I bought the cheapest item at at Fred Meyer, a thrice discounted/clearance sweater that even Stevie Wonder would call atrocious. We got on the MAX, a light rail commuter train, to get to Gresham where we will start our 45 mile bike ride to the summit.

1 hour in, I declare the ride a success. I began to wonder why we are only going 45 miles, I mention to Dominic what a wonderful idea this was and that we should maybe ride twice as far.

3 hours in, I begin regret my decision to bike to California. The mountain was straight up and my legs started to burn like the inside of an oven.

6 hours in, we are only a few miles from Government Camp. The road was too steep for us to traverse while riding our bikes. We are forced off and we had to walk the rest of the way.

8 hours in, we arrived at Trillium Lake exhausted. Dominic had to drag me to go see the sunset on the mountain, which was the reason we decided to sleep there.

Day 2.

We accidentally camped in a closed area of the lake. As we cross a damn we interrupted a handful of construction workers skipping rocks. They scold us for interfering with their work...I forget to ask for an application but I do inform them of my superior rock skipping abilities.

1 hour in, I felt almost a 100% better from yesterday. I began to wonder why we are only going 75 miles, I mention to Dominic what a wonderful idea this was and that we should go twice a far.

3 hours in, we climbed 2 passes and stopped to have lunch. I was very tired, but I assumed it was all be downhill from there. I was soon reminded why we should not assume.

6 hours in, we arrived in Warm Springs. Perhaps one of the ugliest towns in such a beautiful location. The town is at the bottom of a canyon that the Deschutes river flows through. As Dominic and I coasted down into the canyon a fear overtakes us. We realized what goes down must come up. The canyon walls rose and began to tower above us as we coasted to the bottom. We stopped at the town's grocery store, use their bathroom to fill our water bottles and bought the best 75 cent popcorn ever. The popcorn took us back to our childhood, a happy place, for a moment before we attempted to tackle the 6 mile 1500 foot climb.

The landscape was barren, nothing but sagebrush and rock. We started to climb the hill at 3:30pm, the temperature was somewhere in the 90s. The sun was beating down on us, with no protection save our helmets and the shirts on our back. The shoulder was narrow, nothing but a guard rail and a cliff on the side. We were not be able to stop safely to catch our breath. We climbed and climbed as trucks and cars struggled to get up the hill emitting their hot exhaust in our path. There was no wind not even a slight breeze to help us stay cool, but we finally caught a break. Half way up there was a shoulder and a lone juniper tree that we can seek refuge from the hot sun. As we sat we observed the 2nd half of our climb. It was a daunting task with the only reward to ride on flat ground for another 7 miles to Madras where we could get a cold glass of water.

8 hours in, we arrived in Madras beaten and exhausted. We were sore, tired, and still had a 9 mile ride to our destination. Dominic's knee is bothering him and we got him some ice at McDonalds. We attempted to make it to the State Park campground, be we were not able to go more than 4 miles until we met the limits of our body. We found an RV park where they let us throw a tent up on grass for $18. The grass felt like a Tempurpedic Bed, we both sat for 20 minutes not even unpacking our bikes. We eventually set up camp and I stayed up late trying to redo our route so we will be able to make it to Burney without injury.

Day 3.

We awoke rested and feeling great. Dominic's knee feelt better, and I took enough Advil to power through the day. We made some small adjustments to our bikes to help our knees and we departed.

1 hour in, we made it about 9 miles south of town. Dominic is felt a sharp pain in his knee and determines that he must end his journey. He rode another 5-10 miles to Smith Rock where I leave him to die. Not really die, but he called his parents and they came from Eugene to pick him up. It was a sad ending to our partnership. He is my close friend and I did not want him to get injured and I fully supported his decision. I did not have the time to wait for his parents to arrive because I needed to get to Bend before it got too hot out. It was supposed to be a very hot day with the temperature flirting with 100 degrees.

6 hours in, 7 miles north of Bend I get a flat tire. Alone, low on water, and having little protection from the hot sun. I utilize an instant tire repair, it was like a Fix a Flat but for bicycles, it shot air and liquid goop into the tire repairing the flat. It did fix the tire, but it did not fully inflate. I decided not to max the PSI of the tire because I didn't want this liquid goop to fail. I rode into Bend where I could find some shelter from the sun.

7 hours in, I made it to Bend. It was only 5 more miles to my friends house. My tire seemed stable and I decided to ride the rest of the way without replacing the bike tube and permanently fixing the tire. I was able to refill my water and I attempted to limp by bicycle to his house. All was working well, until I was exactly one mile from his house when my tire goes flat. It was about 4:45pm and extremely hot out. To change the tire I was going to have to unload most of by gear and it would be a difficult task. I am exhausted, thirsty, hungry and ready to get off the bike. I am so fed up, that I ride on the flat tire for the final mile. I arrived at my friends house, Ben's, just after 5pm.

Day 4

I decided that I should let my body heal. I spent a relaxing day in Bend. Ben took me on two hikes and we were able to float down the Deschutes river. After some thought I decided I don't wont to ride the next 7 days alone. My father was able to come up the next day and pick me up.

Day 5

I finally fixed my tire and I rode into town, I ate breakfast at McMenamins Old St. Francis School and relaxed at Drake Park. My dad arrived in town just after 1:30 pm I managed to finish H.G. Wells The Time Machine. Just as I loaded my bike a massive thunder cell covered Bend. Gigantic hail was falling from the sky, chunks of ice 2 CM wide. I was very happy I was not on my bicycle. We drove home and intercepted another thunderstorm south of Klamath falls that forced us to pull over and let the storm pass. We eventually arrived back into Burney, California at 7:30 pm.

Day 6

I am here, home in Burney. The journey did not go as planned, but I am happy to be where I am. It was hard to make the phone call to have my dad come pick me up but It was the right decision. I don't have much time left in United States and I would rather spend it with the people I care about then on the road alone. The journey was a success, I climbed a mountain and crossed a desert on a bicycle. I wish I could have seen Crater Lake and Lava Beds National Monument, but now I have two things to see in the future.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

WOW!

Work is over, I have finally left my job. It's a very strange feeling to be sitting on a couch on a Monday morning. Usually I would have been at work for already 5 hours with 8 more remaining. Enterprise was a good run, I learned a lot about myself and other people. The job was a roller coaster of ups and downs but, in the end, a fun ride with great people.

I hopefully left on a good note. I did send this mass email out to my office prior to leaving. I guess I just could not take my last day.

Hello All,

I am on my lunch break, and angry. I tried to watch Pretty Woman but someone had the audacity NOT to rewind the movie from last time they watched it. We share the break room and the VHS tapes, Enterprise is a fun and friendly place where teamwork rules. Lets start acting that way and not being so selfish with our VHS tapes.

I understand that Pretty Woman is a fantastic movie. I get that it would be hard to remember to rewind after watching Edward leap from the white limousine, and then climb the outside ladder and steps. Yes it is a visual urban metaphor for the knight on white horse rescuing the "princess" from the tower, but it is no excuse for not rewinding the movie.

I did not have a chance to finish the film on my break because I had to rewind the film. The only comfort I have is knowing that I provided a rewind service for the next employee who wants to watch the award winning film, which will help me sleep tonight.

Jonathan Schmierer

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Please print only when necessary

Anyways, work is over. I am about to ride to the Admin office and pick up my final check.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Alright!

Preparation is beginning. Dominic, my good friend from college, and I will be riding to Burney, CA. A quick and easy 500 mile ride. I figure there is not a better way to move then on two wheels. Most of my crap is in Burney already, and if the rest of my stuff doesn't fit on the back of my bike, I probably don't need it.

Being that I am in decent physical shape, I think I won't die from a heart attack, but a little bit of training can't hurt. Today was day 1 of my training. Being that it is the 4th of July, I decided to ride my bike to two different BBQs.

Good idea on paper, bad idea on the road. I manage to make it about 4 miles, when I slice my tire causing a flat. A roadside repair is easy, but annoying. I spend 15 minutes on the side of a busy boulevard, cars screaming past with children laughing at me. I finally replace the tube with the tire is still sliced, but I can limp the bike home. Unfortunately putting the wheel back on, I jumble the chain and twist it onto itself. I spend 15 more minutes untying a knot in the chain, only to have my hands looking like I have worked in a coal mine for 15 years.

I managed to get the bike home. I have to cancel my plans at one BBQ, and I know I have to get my bike to the shop so I will have it for my trip. I get the bike to REI to fix the problems with the chain and to get a tune up while in the shop. I jet down to the 2nd BBQ only to arrive just as everyone left. The bike won't be ready for a week, doesn't seem like a good way to train.

Long story short, no 4th of July hamburger, just cold pizza and greasy hands. At least this happened in Portland 2 weeks prior to departure and not in the middle of the ride.

JonThe contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

This post was written Wednesday June 30th around 3pm.

The purpose of this blog is to document the next few years of my life. I am quitting my job, moving to California for the summer and then departing for the Peace Corps this fall. Great times are planned/happening. I have managed to move my stuff down to Burney, California. I am rather proud of my accomplishment. At one point in my life I had enough junk to fill and entire apartment. Fill is an understatement, I had so much junk, I had to place all of my hats and a fake beard on the wall.I managed to move everything in the back of my dad's Ford Explorer.

Hanging out in Burney was an adventure; complete with my brother's wedding. He is now happily married, with only a few hiccups during the wedding. Needless to say, they both said “I do” and will start a wonderful life together. I would write more about the wedding, but that surely turn into a novella. I am now on a train riding north to Portland. I am heading back to sell my car, place my notice at work, and then start a 500+ mile bike ride home to Burney. More is to come, but I want to keep these enteries short.

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Hello Everyone,

This post is a test. I have never blogged before, and I figure a test run is in order.Perhaps I should write a sentence using every letter in the alphabet.

"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"

Did everything work?

Good.

Let the posts begin.The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.