Blog Challenge Day #3
Living as a Peace Corps volunteer is full of ups and downs. Any foreigner in Ethiopia is called a ferenji. There is a difference though between living as a ferenji working through just any organization and working as a ferenji Peace Corps volunteer. Most ferenji working with organizations outside of Peace Corps have the funding to live in nicer homes, have private cars, etc. As any other Peace Corps volunteer knows, we’re living at the grassroots level. We are expected to live just like the locals of our communities do.
Living as a Peace Corps volunteer is full of ups and downs. Any foreigner in Ethiopia is called a ferenji. There is a difference though between living as a ferenji working through just any organization and working as a ferenji Peace Corps volunteer. Most ferenji working with organizations outside of Peace Corps have the funding to live in nicer homes, have private cars, etc. As any other Peace Corps volunteer knows, we’re living at the grassroots level. We are expected to live just like the locals of our communities do.
I have found that I have gotten so much from living at the
grassroots level because I am able to interact with locals and daily basis and
have been able to get a better understanding of what normal, everyday life is
like for them.
Here’s a timeline of what a day in the life of an Ethiopia
Peace Corps volunteer looks like.
The times may vary a bit from volunteer to volunteer. Also, the times in parenthesis
are Ethiopian time.
7:30am (1:30): Time to wake up (and then maybe doze for a
little while)!!
 |
| Good morning! |
7:30am-9am (1:30-3):
Slowly get up out of bed.
Buna (coffee in Amharic) time!!
Oh, I can’t forget about my banana or a hardboiled egg for breakfast…
 |
| Buna! |
 |
| But really... many mornings, I eat less than this. |
9am-12pm (3-6):
Visit offices, school, market (lots of fruits and veggies!! Yum!), read a book, study for the GRE, and
watch a movie or a TV show, visit the post office and bank
And somewhere in there, I’ll go to the café for some more
buna J
But as soon as I leave my compound, I have to been on the
lookout for little children, dogs, cats, chicken, donkeys, cows, sheep, goats,
or monkeys lurking around corners…
 |
| Can't monkey around with these ones... |
12pm-2pm (6-8):
Lunch time! Not a single
person to be found in their offices!
2:30pm (8:30):
People may begin to slowly find their way back to their desks…
2pm-6pm (8-12):
More time for visiting offices and doing programs, reading a book,
studying for the GRE, watching one more movie or TV show
One more buna break sometime during the afternoon.
 |
| Often, buna is made in the traditional jebina. |
6pm (12):
Dinner time! Maybe I could
cook some veggies, make a soup, or make some pasta or some rice.
7pm-9pm (1-3):
Relax! Maybe I’ll read a
book or watch a movie…
In bed by 9:45pm (3:45)!
7:30am (1:30):
Repeat!
When living in my town, this is what a normal day looks like
for me. Some days are boring and
some days are packed with programs and meetings. Some days I stay in my house literally all day and only
study for the GRE, read books, and watch movies/TV shows. In some ways, each day in my town is
the same. But in other ways, every
day is just a little different.
As I am coming to the end of my Peace Corps service, my
schedule has become slightly different.
My work is slowly coming to a close, so I have a little bit more free
time on my hands. Much of the time
I would have spent visiting offices and doing programs is now spent researching
jobs and schools and figuring out what I will be doing after my service.
#BloggingAbroad
 |
| http://bloggingabroad.org/blog-challenge |
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