It Just Got Western

My last post, unfortunately, had not much to bode about my professional life here in Ethiopia. Oh, how the tides have turned!

Last Saturday I attended a teacher meeting that included all of the teachers in my cluster! At the beginning of every school year my cluster heads and teachers come together to discuss the failures and strengths of the previous year and what they can do to move forward. The meetings were in Tigrinya but I was able to introduce myself to every school (at first in Tigrinya then I switched to English due to my lack of skills after what my name is and how old I am) and tell them why I am here in Ethiopia. Most seemed excited at having me here to help and others were even more excited to see Peace Corps in their lives again because they had them as English teachers when they were children. I felt very appreciative for the opportunity to meet all the educators I will hopefully be able to work with at one time or another.

School officially began this week and I turned up bright and early to see about 1500 smiling students welcoming me to their school. The first day was mostly checking that all the students who were registered were actually present and in their proper class. But soon after my arrival some chaos ensued. Apparently some of the teachers thought they were free to leave once they checked their students into their registry so the supervisors were obviously infuriated. A whole day of school wasted. On the bright side the students are registered and ready to begin the school year, albeit a day later than originally scheduled. 

I was able to watch the day unfold and try to understand how the administration of the school works and how the schedule is ran. I also was pleasantly surprised to have seen my new office! It is directly beside the principal and directors' office. I have a very large space and a window with a lovely view of the campus. I can not wait  to put up materials and begin my work from there.

This week and the next coming weeks will be geared towards observation. I will be observing the teachers and faculty so I can be better acquainted with the processes of Ethiopian Education and the processes of my cluster schools. I will be attending the English classes and observing how often the teachers speak English or Tigrinya, how they manage their classrooms, whether or not they have a good grasp of grammar and mechanics and what their teaching methods are and how they effective they are.

The coming weeks will prove to be more challenging and faster paced than the previous two weeks and I am looking forward to all that we will learn.

On to the social side of life.

Last night Scott and I had the good fortune to have dinner with a currently serving VSO volunteer from Great Britain, named Valerie. She works at our Education Zonal Office and has a very pleasant demeanor that I will personally be thrilled to dine with again. Along with Valerie came two world traveling German fellows, Rodney and Felix. They have now been all over Asia and are traveling through Africa. This was the first time we were able to flaunt our knowledge on all things Ethiopia. We felt very much like know-it-all's and it brought home all that we have learned and how Ethiopia seems more than ever to feel like home.

I know we will keep meeting people from all over the world and I know that this will add to our, already expansive and expanding, life altering experience. Its only been four months and we have 23 to go.

Techno Crisis Averted

Alright, I started a new blog because I thought it was just strange for my blog to say Zambia when, in fact, I and my husband are in Ethiopia. So, with regret for not changing it sooner (because in truth, I did not know how), I will leave the other one behind. Hopefully my future endeavors in writing on the internet will allow me to become more computer-literate. Yes, a 25 year old who has grown up in the Information Age is having issues with blog posting.

Onward!

Now to the real stuff. We have been living in Mek'elle for one month now. In the first couple of weeks we enjoyed many visitors and therefore many restaurant trips and sight seeing. We went for two wonderful hikes with a new friend, and experienced our first real holiday here in Ethiopia. After those first glorious weeks I was wishing for some down time, or at least some time where I could just be alone with my husband in our new home getting acquainted with our kitchen and new neighborhood. Not that I didn't love our company, I just like my husband's more.

School was supposed to begin on the 13th according to my counterpart. I think now that she meant that administratively school was starting then. This means registration for students and teachers. I was present on the first day and quickly found that I had little to do besides reacquaint myself with the teachers I had previously been introduced to and sit a try to figure out what the day had in store. After about an hour I was told that I could go home because nothing was planned for the day that I need to be a part of.  I then traveled down the main road to Scott's school and saw where he will be spending the majority of his time here in Ethiopia. His school is very nice but on principle I like mine more. 

We went with his counterpart one of the other schools in his cluster. His counterpart,and mine, introduce him as "Mick" because they think his first name is McAllister and McAllister is too hard for them to pronounce fully. We haven't had the heart to say that his first name is Scott seeing as it's been nearly 2 months that we have known our counterparts. Oh well, it's another little quirk about living here that we have come to secretly enjoy. It was nice seeing where my husband will work and how people receive him and why we are here. I think most people like to see that we are married because Ethiopians consider marriage a very valued part of their culture and various religions.

Today is the 21st of September. On the 18th I had a planned meeting with my Wareda (cluster head office) Supervisor of my school. Our meeting was planned for any time during that day. On that morning around 8:00am I received a visit from my counterpart ( a usual occurrence because she lives around the corner and must pass our house on the way to my school)  and she told me that my meeting would be at 8:30am because my Wareda supervisor would be in the office and that was the only time he had available that day. I said thank you and that I would be there at 8:30 sharp knowing that sometimes, but not every time, Habesha (or locals) say one time and usually mean 5 or 10 minutes after the given time. I think of this as not being lazy but being a part of a culture that does not worry itself over failures or constraints but moves forward no matter the circumstances. Sometimes those circumstances are very grave or important and the other things must be put aside and saved for a later date or time. SO...understanding this about our new culture, I was also ready for the possibility of a cancellation. Which did come only a few minutes after my visit with my counterpart. She called me and told me that my supervisor had an unexpected meeting that he needed to attend but that I would be able to meet with him next week. So hopefully, I can write about that meeting next week.

The first week of school is very busy so I am not worried or disheartened by my lack of progress thus far. I only wish to not be put aside or thought of as unimportant. I also do not wish to be seen as pushy or obstructive. I am wading my way through this obstacle and will come out victorious! Whether that be a small victory (working with one teacher and improving his or her skills as an educator) or being able to influence a whole school.  

In our time of leisure, because that is what we have at the moment, we are doing the best we can to get the information we require and are also enjoying the time to catch up on yet more reading ( I am reading the Lord of the Rings series) and getting to know our fair city more in depth so we can provide more information for Peace Corps. We have made a number of new friends both Habesha and Ferenji and are beginning to feel at home. Things that used to surprise us no longer do and our language skills are coming along albeit slow and muddled at times. 

Life is now feeling more like a life. If you catch my meaning. I no longer feel wound up in processes I can not control and am more accustomed to this, now not so strange, place. I'm not surprised that routine and familiarity have changed the pace of my thoughts and comfort in our, now not so new, life.