Friday, December 18, 2009

Why!

So thanks Alex for logging into my blog and keeping everyone up to date. The reason I am not updating my blog is... because it (blogspot) is currently blocked by the government and in further detail: I live in a mud hut with a leaky tin roof, I poop in a hole, and I have to travel 50 min down a mountain road by car to get to the nearest place with interenet. When that computer is not in use it costs 40 cents a minuet to use it and did I mention it's 56k. Now, things I have been doing: sending everyone an e-mail nearly once a week, writting you letters, thinking about you, wishing you good health, and now, thinking of a new password you don't know. Love, Jaret.

Things I love about Ethiopia…The people are so beautiful. Most people say things like this about countries they visit, but really it’s actually true about Ethiopia. I seriously think anyone here could be a super model, men and women. It’s truly amazing. I’ve been from north to south and a little east to west and despite innumerous and varied nationality differences everyone here is gorgeous.

The children here also find themselves firmly in the cute category and have such amazing energy. Sure they are covered in snot, and sometimes helping mom pack manure for use as bricks in houses (yeah you read that right), but they are adorable. They are so patient and willing to spend the entire day following me around providing me endless vocabulary for everything I see. It’s also a lot of fun to have around three dozen children following me around. Sometimes it gets to be a bit much, but feeling like a rock star hasn’t worn off.

Ethiopian hospitality is off the hook. I get invited to a million houses a day and sure that might be because I am a little different looking, but I see it in all the interactions. They are constantly inviting each other in every greeting (which each last approximately 7 hours). It’s amazing that after living with my host family for three months, they still haven’t stopped inviting me to eat. They lavish me with food that is sometimes beyond their means to provide. Meat is really expensive here and still despite my protests they try to feed it to me nearly every night for dinner. Sometimes, I get really annoyed when I am told to “Eat, eat, eat” while I am in mid chew, but when I think about it, it’s just another sign of their unwavering affection and utter hospitality. My family dog, Bo-Bee has become my traveling companion. He rocks beyond reason. He recently started following me as I walk around town. This has several benefits, most notably I look cool. He also gets in-between me and anyone who wants to pester me. He follows along and I get exclamations of look at that dog. Sometimes people even try to chase him away for me, thinking he must be pestering me. It’s probably my greatest pleasure to tell them he’s my friend. He is also a sweet dog, because he will eat bread which is relatively inexpensive, but also strange. Strange, but in a country where food, of any kind, is scarce it makes more sense.

The landscape is by far the most beautiful I have ever seen. I know I am not really an expert and I am sure all of you know that visiting the Tri-state area, doesn’t give you a lot of variety, but here I’ve seen mountains, deserts, jungles, rivers, lakes, and plains. It’s all here. I’ve been told by other volunteers that it reminds them of Oregon, if Oregon had deserts and jungles in-between its rolling landscapes. I am ever impressed by the variety and beauty I find here just by looking. In my site town of Atsbi I am 40 kms from one of Ethiopia’s remaining forests, I live on a mountain, I’m less than 20 kms from the sulfurous deserts of the Afar (doesn’t that name just sound “deserty”) region.

For now, that’s the end of what I love about Ethiopia, … I’ll be sure to update you as I am able to lift my jaw from the floor and compose a thought.

Much Love, Jaret