Happy Fourth of July everyone! Sorry we haven’t been able to update our blog very often! We haven’t been able to get on the internet much…but it’s Africa…you never know. The weekend was relaxing but we also got to do a lot. We made dinner one night, went to watch a soccer game, shopped a little, went to church, ate some good burgers (but not as good as the clubhouse), ran a little, and much more! We wrote the following blog on Friday and haven’t had the chance to post it until now.

7/2/10

Alright, I’m going to try to update you all about what we’ve been doing if I can remember. We’ve kind of gotten behind on our blogging, so we need to catch you up on what has been going on.
On Wednesday morning we woke up around 8, ate breakfast, and went to Destiny School for the first time. It is about a 30 minute drive from our house. Jessica worked there when she was in Ethiopia 3 years ago so we were excited to see it and get to play with the kids. We arrived around 9:30 and took a tour of the school. I was very impressed with the children and teachers. They were all so polite and friendly. Thankfully they can speak some English because we are having major trouble with Amharic! I thought it was funny that one of the first things the girls said to me was what a nice president we have. It is very difficult to pronounce their names, but they are patient with us and just laugh when we say something wrong. We will be teaching an English class staring next week with some of the students. I’m sure that will be interesting! Just like in Guatemala, the kids love having their pictures taken! They like to make poses and funny faces…just like us! They are beautiful kids and we have already had tons of fun with them. We left the school around 3, went home to change, and then went to the Lime Tree. Emma wasn’t feeling the best so she ate soup and the rest of us had pasta. I wasn’t expecting to eat so much Italian food in Africa!! After eating and trying to get online but having no success, we went home and went to bed.
Thursday we went back to Destiny. The kids weren’t there because they are out for summer break so we organized books and graduation gowns. For lunch we went to a restaurant down the street called Esti’s. Once again we ate pasta, but it was delicious! It was spaghetti with meat sauce and vegetables. The bread there was also very good. After working a while longer we headed back to the house to get ready for dinner with Tsegaye. He picked us up at 6 and gave us a tour of the city. We went in several jewelry stores and saw all kinds of crosses and other things. Then we went to Yod Abyssinia, an authentic Ethiopian restaurant, for dinner. What an experience! Tsegaye ordered for us and we ended up with a ton of food…we had no idea what most of it was. The food wasn’t our favorite, but it was fun to try some of it. We sat at little tables and watched people dance while we ate. We had a good time and it was a great experience. We got home around 11, did some exercises, and went to bed very tired after a full day.
This morning we came back to Destiny and the kids were here to practice for their graduation. We had tons of fun trying to talk to the kids and taking more pictures. We are extremely glad that they can speak some English. We would be completely lost if they couldn’t understand some of what we say. Some of the girls decided to play with our hair. It probably looks and feel quite odd to them. There was one little girl named Eyersalem that we talked to for a long time. She taught us some words in Amharic… I hope we can remember them all. She will be coming to the English class we are going to teach the next two weeks so hopefully we can spend more time with her. For lunch we went back to Esti’s, but we just got bread and made peanut butter sandwiches. While we were waiting for the bread, a lady did the coffee ceremony for us. I like it black, but Lori and Emma prefer sugar in their coffee. Lori bought a Miranda (a really good orange soda) at a local store and she wants to keep the bottle, but in Ethiopia you are supposed to return it. She will just have to pay for it I guess. Right now we are sitting in the office at Destiny. Lori is putting grade on the computer and Emma is grading papers. This morning was one of the prettiest so far, but it is raining and cloudy now. Storms almost always come in the afternoon here. Tonight we are probably going to buy some broccoli, rice, and stuff to make chocolate chip cookies. We want to make an American meal because we miss our food. The food here is good, but it’s not the same.
We hope to get some internet access soon so we can post this blog. Chao!
Rachel (and Emma)