Sunday, November 17, 2013

Two Months!!!!


My oh My!!! It has been 2 months of lovely life here, and I could not be more thankful for everything going on! My love for Ethiopia and its people has grown immensely and my work has brought me so much joy. Here is a recap of month 2…

  • -       Rahel’s English has gotten a lot better, and she insists that the women in our office only speak in English. Her Amharic voice is sweet and tiny but her English voice sounds like a Russian-Italian (I know…) combo and almost all of her sentences end in “My Dear.” Her favorite phrases are “Hold on” and “Shut up”; she uses them on almost everyone…including the children. I am encouraging her to stay away from Shut Up :)
  • -       I got very sick, twice. The first was food poisoning, which should be called Satan sickness. It was seriously the worst thing I’ve ever gone through. If you have had it, you can identify with the agony if you haven’t imagine 72 hours of straight puking. Rahel and Zewdu pleaded to take me to the hospital but I am stubborn and hate all things doctor related. The following weekend I was very sick again. I refused all attempts to take me to the hospital, until the 4th day when I could barely see straight. The ride to the hospital felt like an eternity, I spent it imagining that the doctors would think the solution to my sickness was to cut my limbs off….I know, not dramatic at all. Well PTL they didn’t sever any arms or legs and they just sent me home with lots of drizugggs! (Medicine) A funny side effect of Tonsillitis is that your voice changes, so for a week people doubted it was me on the other end of the phone or they would look shocked when I opened my mouth and spoke.
  • -       Rahel turned 25!!!!!! Birthdays are one of my most favorite things in the world so I insisted that we had a party. Rahel had never celebrated her birthday before. We decorated our cute little house, played the music loud, and had a good time! It was an honor and a joy to throw this special girl’s first birthday party!!
  • -       Africa is known for being wild kingdom; our house lives up to this title—except not with cool animals… We have lizards, cats, a dog, giant pigeon weird birds, and the newest addition…I walked into the bathroom, took three steps to the light switch, flicked it on, and I heard a squeal and the patter of a RAT!!!! I screamed, and it ran away. I was convinced it had gone into my room so I had sweet Rahel scour every inch to make sure it was out. I am the biggest baby when it comes to creepy crawlies…I’m sure Rahel is not fond of making sure my room is rat free but she happily does it :) She’s the best!!!!
  • -       My teaching, both of the women and children is wonderful. I especially love my 4-6 graders (I teach every grade from kindergarten up to 12th); they are very smart and so curious. My lessons with the older kids are sometimes a struggle…one girl asked me the difference between ‘who’ and ‘whom’ and I almost passed out. Other than the tricky grammatical questions, teaching is a blast! My time teaching here has only encouraged and grown my desire to someday be an elementary teacher!!!
  • -       The last week it rained everyday. It reminded me of home in the best sort of way. A few things/people I have missed and cannot wait to do/ see: Can’t wait to hug my Mamma, Dad and Matthew, that will be the greatest reunion of all time. Can’t wait wait to squeeeeze my best friend, Malorie sweet Mahler (and her amazing fam!) – another reunion that will be very teary!!! Can’t wait to wear mittens, and scarves, and sweaters. Can’t wait to eat Mexican food. Can’t wait to go to my home church. Can’t wait to sit in starbucks with friends, drinking peppermint mochas. Can’t wait to go downtown and see Christmas lights. Can’t wait to celebrate a NEW YEAR! You all have been so wonderful via facebook and email, encouraging me greatly. Can you believe it is only 26 more days until I see your dear faces!!!?! Eeeek, squealing with joy!!!
  • -       Ways you can continue to pray: For my health, I seem to have the worst luck and keep getting sick. It prevents me from doing my work and I hate being unproductive and miserable:) Pray for the staff of WAR, that they would have abundant strength and joy to do their hard work! Pray for the kids I teach, that their curiosity would only grow! And lastly pray for the women going through WAR’s yearlong program!


I am a quarter way finished with my venture…it has been full of fun and growth, challenges and rewards, success and failure. Through everything I am learning to “consider it all joy” and thank Jesus that he chose me to bring to Ethiopia to do this work.

So much love,
Becca

Some pictures of month two!
Zewdu and a few other workers
built me a wonderful, new purple and yellow
classroom! I love my little room!
Class with my 4-6 graders.
 We have 2 tutoring rooms
and a library, our center has been
blessed with a lot of great recources-
the newest being a computer class room!

Breakfast with Zewdu and Rahel
Any guesses as to what they are eating???

True African...What is your vote: Sean Paul,
Snoop Dogg, or the rabbit from Trix yogurt?
Never doing this again :)

American Breakfast!

The baby is getting big.



Cutie friends at Rahel's party

I love Eden!

Happy Birthday roomie, You are the best!!

this babe is 25!!
Ethiopia played a big soccer
game against Nigeria. Rahel and
I won most spirited...but Ethiopia
still lost. A sad defeat.

1 comment:

  1. Love experiencing Ethiopia vicariously through your words! :)

    ReplyDelete