Many people have wondered and have asked me what my
experience has been like so far, what it is like to be living in Ethiopia, and
what my regular/daily routine is like.
Honestly, every day is different.
Every day varies based on the amount of harassment I receive, the amount
of work I have to work on, errands I have around town, the amount I struggle
with the language barrier, as well as which of the various moods I may be
dealing with. Some days are easier
than others. Some days I don’t
feel like leaving my room. But I
try to make the most of every day, even if that means leaving my compound once
and interacting with a few kids for a couple of minutes.
I have been asked what a normal day looks like for me. During the first three months in
country when I was going through pre service training, most of my days would
look like this:
·
Wake up around 7am
·
Eat breakfast with my host family
·
Arrive for a technical training or language
session at 8am
·
Shay/Buna (Tea/Coffee) Break at 10am
·
Sit through another technical training or
language session starting at 10:30
·
Finish up the session for lunch (usually with
the host family) at 12:30
·
Another technical training or language session
begins at 1:30 pm
·
Shay/Buna break at 3:30 pm
·
Session #4 starts at 4pm
·
The fourth and final session of the day finishes
up by 6pm
·
If the last session of the day finishes early
enough, I would often go to the hotel and use the internet or hang out at one
of my friends houses
·
I usually arrive home by 6:30 and eat dinner
with my host family
·
I will spend some time with my host family after
dinner
·
I head to my room by 8:30pm and study and/or
work on any assignments
·
I am usually in bed by 10pm at the latest
·
Wake up around 7am and repeat my day
My first three months in Ethiopia were very structured. Generally, I was either in a session,
spending time with my host family, or studying and working on assignments with
other trainees. Every once in a
while, we would have enough free time to go watch a soccer game or hang
out. This schedule was basically
the same for every volunteer during their first three months in country prior
to becoming an official volunteer and moving to site. To tell you the truth,
the structure was kind of nice. At
first, it was a little bit of a shock to the system moving to site because that
structure was gone.
In some ways, it can be a little difficult being at site
because I have had to create my own schedule. It has been nice in that my time has been more flexible and
I have the option to really do what I want with my time. My normal day since moving to site
generally looks like this:
·
Wake up around 7:30am
·
Eat some breakfast and get ready for the day
·
Go to the health office for a couple of hours,
visit a non-governmental organization, help/attend a training or meeting, go to
an internet café, and/or run some errands
·
Around 12 or 12:30pm I will normally eat some
lunch
·
After lunch I will normally, go to the health
office for a couple hours, visit a non-governmental organization, help/attend a
training or meeting, go to an internet café, and/or run some errands
·
Some days I will also go to a language tutoring
session at some point
·
I often arrive home by around 4:30pm
·
I will relax, eat dinner, and head to by around
10pm
If I had to tell you what my normal day looks like, that
would be it. There are so many
different variables to my day and one day never looks quite like another. Honestly, there are some days in which
I really do not have anything to do other than to study Amharic and read a
book. Some days are extremely busy
and I will be at a training or meeting that lasts the whole day. Unlike our first three months in
country, this schedule will be very different for every volunteer based on the
organizations they are working with, the projects they are working on, how
motivated they are to do projects, etc.
It really varies a lot because each volunteer is different and we all
have our own priorities and desires when it comes to our interests and what we
want to accomplish in our sites.
There are also many other things that affect the life of a
volunteer. During pre service
training, we all had different experiences because we all had different host
families with differing lifestyles, religions, etc., lived in different areas
of town, learned different languages, and were split up by sector
(environment/agriculture and health).
Since moving to site, we have been living in vastly different regions of
the country with different customs and traditions, have been speaking different
languages, have been living in towns of very different population sizes (ranges
from 2,000 to 100,000), and differing resources and organizations to work
with. The various factors go on
and on. No volunteer has exactly
the same service. Even volunteers
serving in the same country have very different experiences.
So here is the short answer to the question: what does are regular day look like?
Many days are routine in that I wake up, go to the health
office or other non-governmental office (to do a training or plan), take care
of any errands, go home, relax, make dinner, and go to bed. But in reality, no day is ever like
another. Even the smallest thing
can happen to significantly change my day or my who experience here in Ethiopia
is a Peace Corps volunteer.
Painting Murals during PST |
Language Trainings |
Laundry is always a regular chore. |
Playing games like UNO with friends always provided a much needed break during PST. |
Big Group sessions during PST. |
It's always fun going to community events like soccer games. |
this is so true... i meam im still so new to all of this but so far every day is different. Nice photos!
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