May 22, 2009 -- posted by Karen

Life certainly has a slower pace out here in Ethiopia. It has allowed much more time for reflection, reading and long walks with family. For the most part, we all go to bed with the sun and get up with the sun and realize that we are finally getting enough sleep. This is all very good but at the same time I find myself getting just a tad restless. This weekend will be especially slow since several of our housemates are away and others are occupied with various commitments. We like to do stuff on our own but without transportation, our options are quite limited. Besides, it feels like we’ve done almost everything there is to do in DZ. This is not exactly a bustling, cosmopolitan town. I am trying to enjoy these few restful days knowing that next week will be very different as we take our trip up North.

We spent the day doing schooling and helping the library staff process books. In the afternoon we celebrated Lydia’s birthday (she turned three) so the kids had fun throwing water balloons at each other and we had cake and some time to visit. I managed to figure out how to bake a chicken for supper. Since Lois and Ernie are gone for the weekend, I used their oven. This is the first real meat we have had since we’ve arrived other than a few meals in restaurants.

We continue to try to eat one meal a day in the dining hall. This is a bit of a stretch. Their diet here at the College is pretty basic and rather monotonous. They will have injera for either lunch or supper. This is not particularly good injera and many of the Ethiopian students don’t like it because it is very strong and sour. We try to avoid the injera meals as much as possible. The other meal is most often macaroni with a bit of a sauce. Sometimes they vary that up with spaghetti with the same sauce or rice. And they always serve bread with every meal. So you can see, we are definitely loading up on our carbs. The students seldom get anything that resembles fruit or vegetables.