DO NOT BECOME COMPLACENT! BE VIGILANT, BE CAUTIOUS!

I'll tell you one thing: Ethiopia is a huge country. During the past four weeks I think I've seen most of it. How is this possible, you may ask? Public transportation is always going to be the answer and it will never be pleasant, but it's worth it. I think. [Did you know that Ethiopia has the highest per capita rate of car fatalities in the world? 190 deaths per 10,000 vehicles. Newsweek teaches you all sorts of things you'd rather not know. This explains the ridiculous number of wrecks I've witnessed lately.]

Travels began by going down south to Oromia region for our two-week training. I learned many valuable lessons such as:

· Do not "violet" the rules (compliments of safety and security officer)

· Safety never takes a holiday (he really has some great one-liners.)

· Do not think to cross the river (unless you and friends find a hidden Huckleberry Finn raft and have always had secret dreams of traveling the Mississippi… then you must "violet" the rules and think to cross the river. Just beware of man with gun on other side.)

· They meant it when they said there are hippos in the river. Apparently that's why you're not supposed to cross it. Hippos are big and kind of intimidating when they aren't in a zoo.

· Always close the balcony door lest the monkeys get in and eat Nehemiah, Psalms, Acts, John, and a large portion of the concordance out of your Bible. They will, however, leave the Ayn Rand book right beside it untouched. That has to mean something, I'm just not sure what. Demon possession?

· When you and your roommate are fed up with sitting through redundant meetings, decide to skip, and get away with it- be aware that your "friends" will be jealous of your freedom. Do not leave room key lying around. You will find all the contents of your room, including bedding, stolen and the beds shoved against the door so that you cannot enter said room. You will then have to climb over your third floor balcony (safety was again taking a holiday) in order to find a note written in Amharic denoting the whereabouts of your belongings. This will, naturally, set off a week of pranking in which the honey in the shampoo bottles may make an appearance once again. People love that one.

Umm… so training was lame. But Sodere, the resort it was at, was awesome. It has natural hot springs and much swimming was had by all. Seeing everyone again was a lot of fun. Community is just great. A few of us had a girl's only weekend that involved guacamole and was really refreshing. Another good thing that came out of training is that I was elected as an advisory committee member for my zone. This means Peace Corps will pay for me to come into Addis every three months. Knowing that I can eat Mexican food and ice cream every three months might just be enough to keep me sane.

After training seven of us left the hot, dry south for a five day hike through the Simien Mountains in the north. One may assume that because it is dry season and you live close to the equator that it will not be wet and cold in the mountains. Do not think to accept this assumption. Always pack socks. The Indiana sweatshirt saved my life and now has a funky smell that may never go away. Sorry about that Patty. It was an incredible experience though and absolutely beautiful. We had a great little scout whom we affectionately refer to as 'Scouty.' We carried walking sticks. Scouty carried a gun. We stopped approx every 30 minutes for water and snacks. Scouty was fasting most of the week before Ethiopian Easter and thus was hiking 7 hours a day at an altitude of 4400 meters on an empty stomach. Scouty also had a working knowledge of the English language. His favorite phrases were "upupup,' 'downdowndown,' and 'no problem!' Interesting thing to note about the way Ethiopians hike: they don't believe in switchbacks. It's either straight up or straight down. I mean, why waste time meandering your way up the mountain? We suspect that Scouty may have been trying to kill us. About two hours into our hike the first day we realized that Scouty wasn't really taking us on a defined trail but rather through people's backyards. We think Scouty was using the opportunity to catch up with all his old buddies before the holidays. Scouty was also a pro at the 'hollerback conversation'. We'd be half a mile away from whoever he was talking to last and he'd still be yelling back at them. We believe that Scouty has the gift of communication. No problem!

This trip was the first time that we've done something fun just as friends. Not peace corps related… not a training… just fun. It was so necessary. I'm convinced that if you ever need to be reminded of the bigger picture, that things will work out, that it's ok not to have enough strength to go on alone… the Simien Mountains is the place to go. Plus there are Gelada Baboons and Walia Ibex. They're just cool.

So I made it back to the Finote and it's apparent that it's been awhile. It's been good to see everyone though. Spirits are high since the two months of fasting before Easter are over and everyone is eating meat again. It has been one non-stop holiday (Worker's Day, Patriot's Day, I-ate-too-much-injera-so-I'm-not-going-to-work Day) since last Sunday so there's not much work going on. I have, however, consumed more goat than I had ever hoped to in an entire lifetime. It's also started raining. A ton. With hail. I live under a tin roof. This will wake you up in the middle of the night. The compound I live on has turned into a swamp. When I walk to town I sink three feet into mud. I was excited about rainy season and getting rid of some of the dust… now I'm realizing how wet, cold, and muddy the next few months are going to be. It's really nice to watch everything turn green overnight however… you don't realize how dry and dead everything was until it's bright green and very alive!

Umm… If you guys could pray for my landlord, I'd really appreciate it - he's been sick for about a month and has been at the Addis Ababa hospital for about three weeks now. He's pretty miserable and hasn't been able to work for most of the month. With the rising price of food, it's been rough on the family. It's weird seeing global economics affecting real people. I don't know that I've ever been so aware of it. Also… Ato Asmamo, the leader of our PLWHA/ one of my favorite people in the Finote, is very sick and in the Bahir Dar hospital. On top of that, my nearest peace corps neighbor/good friend has decided to go back home and is heading out this week. And my house has become home to rats again. It seems that re-entering reality after a month of ignoring it can cause what some refer to as a downdowndown.

In conclusion, I checked my mailbox for the first time in a month today. Dang. You guys are awesome. Much love.