Let's talk about mud baby.

In my town there are approximately 5 types of mud and they are as follows:

-the thin top layer: this mud is deceiving and slick. 

-the thin puddle: easily confused with the thin top layer but this has the addition of being a few inches deep.

-what I like to call " make me taller" mud: this mud sticks to anything and everything. Most days my height ranges a few inches due to the build up if this mud on the bottom of my shoes.

-quick mud: also on the thick side but this one has similar effects to quick sand. Sinkage.

- The combo: thin on top thick on bottom.

Why am I telling you about mud? Well living in a town with no paved roads means that the severity of the mud has an impact on almost everything I do. The days when the mud is at it's worst buses are not able to go back and forth to neighboring towns. Or if they try they are bound to get stuck. And trust me walking  5 km first thing in the morning on inches of mud is not my ideal situation. But it happens.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now.

If I would have posted a blog last night it wouldn't have looked like this. It would of been angry and not a fair representation of the situation.

Am I hurt that some one broke into my hotel room and stole my laptop, camera, and my friends camera? Of course I am.

Do I wish any harm to the person who did it? No.

After living in an area of extreme poverty for a little over 6 months now I find myself  trying to look at things from both sides. Here in Ethiopia the punishment for theft is pretty hefty. For someone to be willing to risk that punishment for a laptop means to me that they must be pretty desperate. Life here is very difficult. Last night I felt very angry and hurt. Violated even. Upset that a someone from a country that I have grown to love so much would steal from me. And then today at my physical therapy appointment the ladies who help me figured out that I spoke some Amharic and oromifa. The usual clintal of the clinic are wealthy Ethiopians and foreign diplomats. The diplomats usually take a total of zero minutes to learn the language and so the ladies got very excited. They told me over and over agin how much they appreciate me trying to learn their language.

I'm not going to let little things like material possessions get in the way of why I am here. 

I was gonna clean my room but then I got shay.

I was gonna clean my room but then I got shay.

My room is still messed up and I know why. 

Because I got shay, because I got shay, because I got shay.

For those of you who do not and never have lived in Ethiopia then let me explain the concept of shay buna to you. Shay is the Amharic work for tea and buna the Amharic word for coffee. To say that here in Ethiopia shay buna is taken very seriously is an understatment. I don't think a single day has passed  that I have not been invited for shay buna at least once if not multiple times.  Often  while I am on my way to the office someone will stop me and ask me to join them. I will then get derailed spend an hour discussing nothing and end up going somewhere that is not the office.  In Ethiopia all true business is done over shay buna.  You can spend hours in meetings or simply invite people to join you and have something taken care of in a matter of minutes.  I can probably blame most things that I have not completed or done when I wanted to on the fact that I was pulled away from what I was doing ( sometimes quite literally pulled) and made to drink shay or buna. Now don't get me wrong these are usually great experiences. Yes there are times when I really just want to sit at my desk and work on a training or lesson plans but usually I am always up for free coffee. Really who wouldn't be? Especially if you have ever had Ethiopian coffee made in the traditional jibena.

 

On a side note this is my 4 year old friend Koki. I call him Koki monster.