Oh Bahir Dar… a city that I was afraid that I would hate when I first came to Ethiopia and has become a city near and dear to my heart.

Thanks to a happy mixup with our driver, we ended up in Bahir Dar a night early, giving us an extra day to explore the city I love. The first morning we got a Lake Tana boat/monasteries tour with a VSO couple currently living in Rwanda and a German woman travelling alone through Ethiopia.

I’ve been struggling with this post for a few weeks, because I feel like I have been really negative lately, such as my rant about the harassment in Harar and Dire Dawa. But every time I pull up this post the emotions resurface and I can’t help but feel like I have to share it. So, here is another rant from me but this time about tourism and tourist pricing… avoid if you want to.

I seriously hate farengi pricing. I hate it. I understand that many people think that Americans and residents of other Westerns, such as the UK or Germany, sit around all day and money falls out of the sky, but almost anyone who has ever lived or worked in a Western country understands that most people work for their money—and they work hard. They work long extended hours at jobs they may love or hate, but they work hard regardless.

Therefore, when someone is trying to take advantage of a foreigner simply because they are foreign really frustrates me. Just because I am fareng does not mean I should be subjected to a different price, nor should any other fareng. Yes, maybe my parents can afford to pay a little more than I—as a Peace Corps Volunteer—can pay, but my parents also have worked hard for the money they have. They’ve worked hard for the past 40+ years sometimes well over the standard 40 hours a week and just because their skin is a different color doesn’t mean they should be punished.

So we get to the Zege Peninsula on Lake Tana to visit (what the guidebook says) is the most beautiful monastery.  The first thing that happens upon landing, is that we are forced to take a guide. This frustrates me, I don’t react as well as I should have, I argue a little and the guide keeps an eye on me the rest of the time. And by keeps an eye, I mean he won’t let me talk to any of the vendors on the island alone. For example, I look at a cross that  I know shouldn’t cost any more than 50-70 birr… I ask the woman the price and our forced guide responds, “Three hundred and fifty birr.” What?? That is seven times the correct price!! And people happily pay it because the guides are sure to tell you what a good price it is.

I don’t want to turn this entire post into a rant, and I find it really unfortunate the guide left such a bad taste in my mouth about a beautiful monastery and treasury. But I digress…

After we left the big monastery, we headed to a small island with the dual monastery-convent of Entos Eyesu. It wasn’t near as large or grand as the previous one, but it was all the more beautiful and extremely peaceful. A young monk who spoke no English showed us their paintings and we wandered around at the top of the island for a bit, listening to the monks and nuns chanting. There was also an old prison on the island, which was really interesting to see.

We got back to Bahir Dar in the early afternoon and we did a little shopping and stopped by the Bahir Dar market. The next day was a beautiful day of rest as we just explored Bahir Dar, ate good food and headed out to the Dashen Beer Garden to taste some of Dashen’s cellar beer, a beer on tap you can only get in three places in all of Ethiopia!

The next morning we had a half day excursion to the Blue Nile Falls planned. It was quite a hot, dusty hike across the Portuguese Bridge up and around to see the falls, but it was definitely an amazing experience. The falls were low due to it being the super dry season right now, and I can only imagine what they look like after rainy season!!

The place we stayed in Bahir Dar was called B&B The Annex, a wonderful guesthouse run by Negist, located in a very convenient location in Bahir Dar. My parents and I got the "family room" which had sleeping space for five, along with an en suite bathroom, and it was a great price!! Along with a great breakfast each morning, it was a great place just to hang out. If anyone is looking for a place in Bahir Dar for family visits—I highly recommend checking it out.

The next morning we headed off to Gondar via minibus (my parents really are adventurous and very good sports!) to see the City of the Kings. Stay tuned for parts 4 and 5 as I cover the end of our trip!

(Also see Part 1 and Part 2.)

It’s now been over five months at site. Sometimes it makes me sad, that I have to celebrate the small victories, such as getting a container garden started or surviving another month, but that’s just my reality. The reality that some days are a struggle.

And while maybe that’s not the reality that people like to hear about Peace Corps, that’s what it is. It’s hard. Peace Corps is really hard. And no matter how many times I’d heard that or read that before I headed off on this great adventure, it can be difficult to imagine exactly how hard it can be.

Some days I’m exhausted. Most days, really. Some mornings it takes a monumental effort to get out of bed to my landlord banging on my door shouting, “LORA! THE WATER HAS COME!!” Other mornings, I leap out at first light to practice yoga and get to an early morning meeting at a school, and it feels wonderful.

Peace Corps is up. Peace Corps is down. Daily life is nothing like you’ve ever known before and nothing one can simply imagine. Lately I feel like things have been really negative… as much as I dislike that that, I want there to be a fairly accurate representation of my emotions during my service, and recently, it’s been really hard. So there it is, but I know it’ll swing the other way soon.

Regional IST

Next week G8s regional In-Service Training will begin, which (thankfully) is being held in Bahir Dar. After spending the better part of two months out of site between IST and family/friends visiting, it’s a relief to stay somewhat nearby my site, even if it’s still 150 km away.

We are also having a Gondar Camp GLOW meeting the Sunday prior to IST. Along with my awesome finance and logistics people, we have been working hard to get this meeting going and it’s hard to believe camp is only about 2 months out!

Everything Else

Really IST is the main thing going on in my life right now, along with the English Club (who is still doing awesome things, as always), and trying to get some projects underway. Since school will be out soon, we have a little bit of a hiatus to try and work with teachers returning next year.

Rainy Season?
It seems that rainy season is well on it’s way. Despite the water still being out a lot (and sometimes for multiple days at a time), about once a week it absolutely pours for hours and I’m able to collect rainwater for my container gardens. Have I mentioned my container gardens?

Container Gardens
Since I haven’t mentioned it before, here is a short rundown: I have 2 jerry cans that I cut up, one horizontally and one vertically, to use as planters, as well five small containers (cut up water bottles and a M&Ms bag) that I am using for seed starters. The horizontal container has swiss chard and spinach (and some catnip… heard it’s good to keep mosquitoes away so trying it out) growing. The vertical container will have some peas as well as tomatoes and lavender growing in it. This is mostly just an experiment until I am able to get a larger garden underway…

Propane Stove
I am also finally the proud and very happy owner of a propane stove!! It’s really nice to be able to cook when the power is out. My good friend brought me the stove that his site mate had offered me and picked up the tank from the propane store in Bahir Dar, and got to me right before Fasika (Ethiopian Easter). Just in time for power to be out! I love it… things cook SO FAST compared to electric. And like I mentioned, if the power is out I can still eat cooked food now. Happily, if I use it smart the tank should last me the remainder of my service.

So there is my update for my fifth month at site and in my eighth (!!) month in Ethiopia , leaving me only twenty months until my service is over. Not that I’m counting or anything, it really is hard to believe it’s been that long when it seems like PST ended not that long ago…

After the travels in Harar and Dire Dawa, it was exciting to get back into Addis for a few days as my parents arrived and Jessica took off back to America.

We spent a pleasant day in Addis for Jessica’s birthday, visiting some of my favorite restaurants (okay, I’m in Addis, sometimes you just want farengi food!), got ice cream and saw Lucy at the National Museum, met up with my friend Tewelde and in general, had a good time.

Jessica caught a late flight back to America and the following morning, a really great driver picked us up at the hotel and off we went to Hawassa via Butajira. Hawassa was great, as I’ve heard, and we stayed at a nice resort (the Lewi Hotel) where monkeys were staring curiously into our room and stealing our bread at breakfast. We also had a fantastic dinner at the Venezia restaurant nearby—Ethiopia really does have amazing Italian food!

After a morning boat tour around the lake, we headed off to Sagure to visit my host family and have my American parents meet my Ethiopian parents. They made us doro wat (and during fasting!! But it’s because they are Protestant and not Orthodox) and we had a great conversation while the boys played with their new One World soccer balls that my parents brought as gifts.

We made Nazaret/Adama that night, and with a very early start headed through Addis and the Blue Nile Gorge (pictures to come at some point in the future!) and all the way to Bure by nightfall. After a little mix up on the times the next day, we headed to Bahir Dar for four days of fun in the sun—more to come in the next post and photos to come over the following weeks!