Care packages part two? I guess.

Care packages. Little boxes of love that bring immense joy into my life whenever they arrive. I have been asked again to post some things I enjoy receiving in packages.

Sport Equipment:

                - Currently I have 3 soccer balls, a frisbee, and a jump rope. Other equipment to as we say "make sport" is great. I spend a good amount of time exercising and playing with children outdoors.  Here we have access to plenty of space, a soccer field, and a volleyball court. 

Games:

                -Games are a great thing to have laying around when other vols come to visit. I do have one deck of cards but besides that I have nothing. I also enjoy doing crossword puzzles and mind games.  Since there is a lot of time when the power is out it would be nice to have small activities to work on.

Art supplies:

                -I brought zero, zilch, notta in the way of art supplies.  It would be nice to have some for when the power is out. Which is out. All of the time.

Food:

                -Any PCV will tell you that getting food in care packages is pretty much the most amazing thing ever. Really any food is great. Spices, spice packages, and package mixes (like gravy ect) are awesome.  Dried fruit and nuts are nice to have laying around. Shakable parmesan cheese is great. It does not need to be put in a fridge and is a tasty treat. Anything that requires you to only add water is also nice. I do have powdered milk so if it requires milk no matter.  I am starting to train for a half marathon as soon as the rainy season is over. Here finding sources of protein is something I struggle with.  A decent tasting protein powder would be amazing.  Really any protein powder would be great. Maybe a shaker bottle to make it in?

Smelly good things:

                -Lets be honest. I feel dirty all the time. Even after showering I do not feel clean. To combat this I like things that at least smell clean. Scented candles, body spray, and maybe even fabric softener/ drier sheets just to put places would be nice.  It is also nice to have hair products. Since I am not able to wash my hair nearly enough I try to at least put a all in one product/ hair oil into it when I do.

As far as whimsical goes ummm I guess themed packages sound fun! Either themed for a holiday that I am missing or a different place.

  It is also nice to get pictures of things I am missing back home. Although they make me sad that I missed them I get to feel like I was a part of it. And it is nice to have things to decorate my walls with.

To be honest this post took be entirely too long to write this post. I feel really weird about asking for things.  I want you to know that anything and everything that is sent is really appreciated by me and the vols around me that I share with. 

Roll With the Punches.

One of the things that Peace Corps has really reiterated in my life is that you really just have to roll with the punches. When you let Ethiopia take you for ride you never know what will happen. Thursday of this week was one of the strangest and best days that I have had so far while being here.  I warn you now this post is a little wordy. It's a day that I feel for me is good to look back and reflect upon.  One thing to know about Peace Corps is that the saying "what goes up must come down" is very much applicable. For every good day I have here I may have one or two or a week of bad days.

I went to the office in the morning just like every other weekday morning. Shortly after being there my community liaison told me that today the office would be mostly gone due to a training in a rural kebele and that I could go home if I wanted to.   So of course I jumped up and said see ya monday.  I had almost reached my house when I stopped to say hello to a woman who was leaving the cooperative office.  She was instantly impressed that I could speak Oromifa and invited me to buna at what I thought was her house. ( Mind you this entire conversation and the rest with her were in Oromifa).  I dont always say yes when people invite me to their homes but she seemed very genuine in wanting to talk to me. I followed her for about 10 minutes until we reached a rather large compound. She knocked on the large metal gate and lead me inside. I realized as soon as we got inside the gate that this was not an average compound. She is the head of a orphanage here in Chitu. An orphanage that I didnt know existed until I was there. We sat down and she feed me 5 cups of buna while I played with two absolutely adorable babies who were recent orphans.  She explained to me that most of the children are adopted to parents in America though multiple organizations.  After leaving here I was almost home again when I ran into my friend Deebi who was concerned that he had not seen me in one day. This is very common in Ethiopia. If your friends or coworkers  do not see you for one day they all tell you that you have disappeared. I then followed him to his house where I got feed lunch and 3 more cups of  buna.

When it was time to leave I received a text  saying that PC might be here the following day. That means there is a good chance that I am getting a G11!  ( Another vol in my site). I returned home to clean up my house when my landlords called me, for ya you guessed it more buna. And of course in Ethiopia you cant have buna without eating first. My landlady turns a corner and is holding a bowl of melted butter with have a sheeps rip cage floating in it, a plate with two rolls of injera, and a glass full of farso. Farso is local beer that literally looks like the most disgusting thing ever.  I began to eat this bowl of butter and meat but after a few bites it was just too much. They handed me a spoon and told me to drink it. That it was good for my health. I drank about 3 spoonfuls of butter meat juice and just couldn't handle anymore.  The farso, besides looking utterly disgusting, actually isn't too bad. They began by telling me it was only 3% alcohol a claim they have no way of knowing since it is home made. After a cup or two my landlady told me she was to intoxicated to go to the market and that it was stronger than she thought.

After a few glasses I went home to make dinner. It started raining really hard, to the point my roof sounded like it might break, so I peaked outside.  Holy hail, it was hailing.

I will say it again. I really do love my community and this crazy adventure I am on. That is not to say that there aren't day when I hate the world. Those often happen too.

So it goes.