Whoops :(

To my surprise around midnight the night before the reception, I decided to look for my passport. I couldn't find it- so I didn't sleep much and felt sick all night long. It's Monday & I'm supposed to leave Tuesday and I still haven't found it.
What does this mean?? It means I'm sticking around here for a few more weeks while I get a new passport and business visa. I'm bummed as I was very excited about going back to Ethiopia and digging into some work. Thought you'd like to know....

Wedding Fun

May 12 was Josh and Abby's Santa Rosa Reception. After days of cleaning, preparation and planting flowers-- the stage was set and the event went off without a hitch. We had a blast at our simple but very nice party. To the envy of most women, Abby wore her beautiful wedding dress again (and also the next day for pictures). She looked fabulous and my brother was the happiest I've seen him.
It was great to be able to catch up with family and other friends whom I hadn't seen for a long time. And I got to answer many of the same questions such as how is the food, what do you normally eat, and what does a typical day look like. But overall it was just a great blessing to be able to share with my brother and new sister in their wedding day and their celebration day. Whoo hoo!!!

Traveling

Hey All!

After a very long journey and an unexpected overnight stay in Washington DC, I finally arrived safely in Colombus, OHIO. Yesterday I was fitted for my bridesmaid dress, which actualy fit me far better than I had anticipated. We also decorated the church and I met up with my parents. It was a busy day but great to have my feet on US soil. I think the best thing was the hamburger I ate for lunch and the tacos I ate for dinner. Well today was busy again- with a bridesmaids lunch and more running around. It's really hard to believe that my little brother's getting married tomorrow. I'm excited for him and excited that I get to be apart of it all!

Oh-- This is a picture from Frankfurt, Germany. I spent the day roaming around the city. Behind me is the Opera House, which was rebuilt after WWII.

Back in Addis

So I'm spending my last few days in Addis before I head home for Josh & Abby's Wedding! It's Sunday afternoon and Bemnet (my Ethiopian sister) and I are at one of my favorite places to eat-- the Lime Tree. It just so happens that some building around here has high speed wireless internet--- I just found out and I had forgotten how fast the internet really is. So this is a pic of Bemnet checking out my blog!
Hope you have a great day!!

Bye-Bye Bicycle

I bought a bike for getting myself around Zeway. It was nice while it lasted because it's already gone. We had 4 days of meetings all in Amharic. Needless to say I was exhausted by the end of it. On the last day I came home late from the office, made some dinner and went to bed early. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about my bike. The next morning I soon realized that I left my bike outside and it was gone. Bummer for me!! The crazy thing, is my compound is locked at night and we have a high wall surrounding the compound. Either the thief came climbed over the wall then had a friend help lift the bike over the wall, or the thief was a friend of one of my neighbors.

I went to the police office with my boss and we filed a report about my missing bike (something I never would have done if I were in the US). So now, the theft of my bike has been the talk of my neighborhood. And it's been embarrassing explaining that I simply left it outside, unlocked. It is absolutely incredible how fast news can be passed around. I guess I'll be looking for a new bike when I return from the US… but given that I ride my bike with skirts all the time… this time I'll buy a "girls" bike. Now I'll be styling!!

When it Rains it Pours….

A few days ago I was traveling with some of my colleagues from Addis Ababa to Zeway. It had started raining the night before in Addis and I was surprised to see that it was also raining outside of Addis. The roads were wet and flooded in various places. Flash floods are common in the rift valley as there will be a torrential downpour in one place, then that water will flood a place where there was no rain. On our way down we saw many flooded houses and rivers in places where there should be no river.

That afternoon we received a phone call from a government official in Abossa (one of our sponsorship sites). Outside of this town, there had been massive flooding. Many houses were flooded, stored food was destroyed, and even some cattle drowned. I was given the opportunity to join Food for the Hungry and some government officials to visit the village. We were met with people in shock from what had happened. As we trudged through the water and mud we saw first hand the aftermath of the events that had taken place.

Although houses can be restored, the biggest loss was that of the food that is saved and rationed to last through the year. This food that was destroyed had been the previous season's crop. This crop was their livelihood and a devastating loss for the people. Apparently, this was not the first time for this village to be flooded. They were moved to this area during the government's relocation program about 4 years ago. I wonder what will happen as the long rains will be beginning in just a few months. Please pray for them as they rebuild once again and slowly recover. Also pray for creativity as FHI looks into working with the community to take preventative measures against disasters such as this in the future.

This is a photo of a man showing his ruined store of corn. the water level was over a foot in the little hut. The other photos below are from the flooded village that I uploaded while in Zeway.

P.S. It's now stopped raining and the sun is shining!

Pictures bring things to life

I saw many sights, including this man dragging a dead cow to dry land. Something I have never seen in my life.
This other picture is of a woman walking away from some of her food storage containers. She later showed us all of her destroyed maize. Once again I cannot express how devastating this flood was for the people of this village