My New Home-Take Two

I just finished my week long site visit to Kosober/Injibara (I asked the locals and many of them just refer to as Injibara; Kosober is the newer name given by the new government some years ago). Before we left, we were given an info sheet that gave us a description of our sites. The town is nothing like what the sheet says, which goes along with the whole limit your expectations thing. It's for the better though. My town is pretty high up, around 2600 meters or so and is surrounded by great hiking mountains. One thing that was true from the last entry is that it gets cold at night (thanks for letting me borrow your sleeping bag, Dad, as I will be using it every night now), but has pretty nice weather during the day. The sun is really intense because of the altitude, so I may be sporting an umbrella around town. Luckily, it is fashionable to carry these things around along with men growing out their pinky nail, but that is another discussion. There are shops after shops after shops here, selling pretty much the same thing, except spoons (Why don't any of them have spoons?). I was tempted just to buy a ladel, but thought I wait it out. Maybe they will have a new shipment in by the time I return in a month.

Other than my fruitless conquest to find a spoon and after the realization that this town is also literally fruitless, I spent my time wandering town and buying things for my house. I did most of these things by myself, which was an interesting experience. Good thing I had an idea of how much things cost, because the lighter your skin, the higher the price. I don't think I got ripped off too much, but I still have my suspicions. I'm excited to have furniture when I return because sleeping on a foam mattress on a concrete floor is not exactly my definition of ideal. I say this now, and I hope I don't jinx myself, but other than a community of rolly polly-looking creatures and a spider that was hanging over my bed, there are not many bugs. I may have a different story to report later, especially during the rainy season.

Overall, my house is decent. I feel safe, which is the most important thing. My landlord and his family took me in as their own this week. She fed me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She also took the time to show how she makes the dishes she served me probably as a hint that I shouldn't expect this later.

The day before I left I ran into some other ferenji. It was quite exciting. I could spot them from a distance and already knew their names because some locals thought we were related. They have been living in Kosober/Injibara for over a decade working on some agricultural projects. Our meeting was good timing because they offered to give me a ride to Addis, since they were going there the same day. Due to their generosity, I was able to circumvent another crazy bus ride in which I fear for my life. Once again, a whole other discussion in itself. Transportation is an issue. A real, flippin' big issue.

I have about five weeks until going back to Kosober/Injibara. Until then I will keep on training in Gonde. Hopefully I will learn the language a little more, so conversations may be about other matters than the food and weather.