Host Families

My favorite part of every day is coming home. When I turn onto my street, I can hear the kids in the neighborhood yell, "Betty! Betty!" I try to ask them in my stumbling Amharic how they are, resulting in capricious giggles, and end up fist bumping them. I greet each member of my host family, making sure to ask how they are twice, before settling in to my first dinner.

Living here in Ethiopia is an incredible experience. From learning to live with little "personal space," to the overwhelming and humbling hospitality, this country has quickly become my new home. As many bends and twists I make to my own life to fit into Ethiopian culture, the entire fabric of this small city is doing the same, especially the host families. My host mother cannot seem to believe that I am not hungry for second dinner, or that I only take coffee in the morning rather than at night, without sugar, no less! I am adjusting to the extended greetings, being fed unceasingly, and, of course, living without things like a washing machine or hot showers.

The Peace Corps Ethiopia Group 10, or G10 as we are called, are broken up into two sectors: health and ag-environment. We spend our days studying the language and skill training. As a health volunteer I learn about health education, the healthcare system in Ethiopia, disease transmission and treatment, among other topics. I spend most of my time studying the language. G10 is split into three language groups: Amharic, Afan Oromo, and Tigrinya. I am a part of the Tigrinya group, and when my two months of training is over I will be moving to Tigray to start my service. The language training is going great, but since I am currently living in the Amhara region, I am constantly confusing the bunabet servers (coffee shop) with my half-Tigrinya half-Amharic orders.

Luckily I have an excellent host family. Peace Corps pairs the trainees together with families in order to promote cross cultural exchanges, as well as teach us Americans the skills many of us have been lucky enough to live without: hand washing clothes, cooking from scratch on a stove top, or living without any indoor plumbing.

My host mother is an English teacher in the local high school. Between her and her kids, who have picked up English from school and American movies on satellite television, we are communicating just fine. In case you were wondering, card games are a universal language. We live in a compound with other tenants. The house is spacious, comfortable, and always full of conversation. From my host family, to guests, to friends of the family, to tenants we all keep talking. The background noise to my life here is the chatter of salutations and greetings, and I could not be happier about it.