I Homesick You

Coming back from vacation is tough, especially to Gondar. I got used to life here and the transition for me was relatively seamless. I was in a great groove with work and what you could call a social life. But going away and experiencing a place like South Africa and coming back to Gondar is difficult. Life in general here is difficult and it takes hard work to find any kind of normalcy.

That being said I am happy to be back home. To get back into that groove of working at school and on some fun projects is wonderful. I feel rejuvenated and motivated.

Our trip to South Africa could not have been better. We went on safari. spent a lot of time exploring Cape Town and the coast (wine tour, lounging on the beach at Camp's Bay, V&A Waterfront, Long Street, Cape Point, Boulders Beach and lots more). We ate a ton of good food and enjoyed the nightlife. We met some amazing people. Like I said, couldn’t have been better.

We came back to school on Wednesday and the students and teachers were happy to see us. Everyone came up to us and said, “Welcome!” as if we’d never been there. What they meant was welcome back, which we’ve been suggesting. One of our fellow teachers said “I homesick you”….to which I responded flatly “what?”. What he meant was that he missed us and we both had a good laugh. The teachers are genuine and they enjoy having us around. They enjoy conversing with us, learning about America and teaching us about Ethiopia.

The students were great this week. Every class was excited to have us back and really well behaved. I am equally as excited to see the kids and get back to work. They are making good progress in their exercise books and will soon be gearing up for final exams.

Monday is Genna, Ethiopian Christmas. We don’t have class and everything shuts down. Everyone spends this holiday with his or her families and most Ethiopians attend church. I was told that there’s a big meal as well, which hopefully one of our friends will invite us to attend because lord knows I love to eat!

It’s funny, some of the teachers here have been telling Elizabeth and I that we look “fat”. Now, I’ve never eaten more food in my life than I did in South Africa so they may be saying this literally. However, it’s a common saying here that when someone looks healthy people will say that you look “fat”. I prefer this meaning but honestly who knows…..

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope this year brings new challenges, adventures and successes. 

A few pictures from our travels:

In the cage

Jaws........cage diving with Great White Sharks at Dyer Island

Liz and I on Table Mountain

Some of the 12 Apostles over Camp's Bay

Clouds coming over Table Mountain w Cape Town below

A Pride

Sleepy Lion

Giraffes

White Rhino

Beautiful sunset over Camp's Bay

In Franschhoek on a wine tour

With some friends after we hiked up Lion's Head to watch sunset