Last Night at our Training Site

Week 11!! It’s finally here!! None of us thought we would ever reach the end of our training program yet here we are, packing up our suitcases, preparing to travel to our sites. I write this post on my last night with my host family. My neighbors (who are also hosting a trainee, Kassa) invited me to their bunna ceremony after dinner. As we were sitting on their veranda looking up at the moon, Kassa and I couldn’t help remembering our first night with our host families just a few weeks ago. I was so nervous that first day I thought I was going to cry. What got me through that first night was knowing that Kassa was next door going through the exact same thing. As we parted ways that first night to have dinner with our families, I remember us wanting to stay together. We didn’t want to be alone. I was so scared to have dinner with my host family. And tonight here we were, sitting comfortably on the porch with our families, ten weeks later. Tonight felt completely different than that first night and I’m so proud that I can say that. We made it through training. We did it!! There were moments, a lot of them occurring in the first few days, where I didn’t think I would make it. So I must also use this post to thank Kassa. With us being neighbors, Kassa and I often walked to and from trainings together talking through our many ups and downs. Thank you Kassa for being there for me!! I’m going to miss having you next door. We’ve already accomplished things that in the moment seemed impossible, such as living with an Ethiopian family that we knew absolutely nothing about.

Now as I have been assigned to Butajira, I do not have to move very far. I’ll be moving from Kebele 1 to Kebele 3 (a 20 minute walk from my host family’s house to my new home). I have to say, at first I wasn’t excited about staying here, but as we’ve come to our final days in technical sessions and language classes I’m pretty happy to be staying. It’s nice that I don’t have to move very far but most importantly, I won’t have to say goodbye to my host family. Living in someone’s home for 2 months, learning about their family and their culture brings you pretty close to them. I am so happy that I don’t have to say goodbye and that I will become closer to this wonderful family throughout the next two years. I cannot thank them enough for accepting me into their home and treating me like a daughter these past few weeks. They have given me a place to sleep, fed me many amazing Ethiopian dishes, and kept me healthy. They have taught me so much about Ethiopia as well and shown me how hospitable Ethiopians are. My host parents have informed we that whatever I need once I move out of their house, they will be there to help. My host mom and I are planning to do some shopping for my home next week when I come back from our swearing in ceremony in Addis Ababa.

With it being my last night in my host family’s home I am a mix of emotions. I’m both excited and nervous about starting the next 24 months, living on my own, in the middle of Ethiopia. Training has been pretty challenging. We’ve had our days scheduled for us from basically the time we get up to the time we go to sleep. We have been told what to do and where to go at almost every hour. After we swear in, all that will go away and we will be completely free. I’m a bit scared for this drastic transition…wait, no… I’m extremely scared!!! To be left in an Ethiopian town, on my own without any of the people I’ve gotten close to these past couple months is frightening. I feel like I was finally getting into the routine of training and living with a host family. As soon as I feel at ease however, I have to leave that comfort and kind of start all over. But even though being on my own and starting a new job in Ethiopia will be difficult at the same time it will be nice to get to begin the next 2 years of my life. That’s all we’ve been talking about since we got to Ethiopia. Training has been all about preparing us for this and in less than a week we get to start this journey. The days have gone by slow, but the weeks so fast. It’s really all happening!!