Bunna: The Small Things.

Bunna: The Amharic word for coffee. Each mid morning and afternoon of training (which is carefully and wonderfully scheduled down to every hour by a color coded chart provided by Peace Corps), we have a 30 minute bunna break.  At this time, the volunteers gather outside of the hotel and enjoy shai (tea), bunna (coffee) and an assortment of savory and sweet delicious treats prepared for us. Sometimes, a group of volunteers with go for a short walk during these breaks and see; locals with little shoe polishing stations set up on the sidewalk (not at all like the DIA shoe polishers), many local dogs roaming the sidewalks, beautiful trees, the busyness of the big city, and perhaps (or definitely) some smog.  It is very prevalent here, with older cars exacerbating the issue. However this doesn't take away from the charm the city has. After a full day of sessions ranging from safety and security training, language class, Ethiopian history and more, there is time to teach a yoga class to some fellow volunteers before dinner at King's Hotel.  Injera (the spongy bread made from teff) is always served, along with a delicious array of items, served buffet style.  The servers are all extremely kind and enjoy hearing us practicing our Amharic as we order an "Ambo" aka sparkling water, and greet the servers by saying "Selam naw," which means hi how are you?

Let me back up and tell you about the hotel: King's hotel is the nicest non-ferenji hotel in Addis.  Ferenji hotels, with ferenji being amharic for foreigner, are like the Sheraton, which is even fancier that US hotels.   The King's Hotel is quite nice though, with hot showers, a cute little balcony, and twin beds with mismatched and colorful comforters.  There have been no spider or bug incidents,, yet...  We are advised to lock our expensive belongings when leaving the room however, as a precaution.  

Each morning so far (3 days and going strong), I have gone for a run at about 615 am with  1-4 other fellow volunteers.  It is still dark out, and so dressed in full length running leggings and dri-fit t shirt (to be conservative and culturally appropriate with attire), I meet other volunteers (including Tim a health volunteer from NH and Jane and Trevor a couple from Missouri), in the lobby of the hotel and venture out on a run; a 4.5 mile loop that a previous volunteer helped us map out.  A few points to make about running here: 1) We are at almost 8,000 feet in Addis.  2)There is a lot of pollution.  3) There are significant rolling hills.  4)It is incredible to run here, a place where distance running is so prominent.  The run was equal parts challenging and exhilarating.  Our lungs were burning, but it was so great to get to see different parts of Addis and to get our bodies moving after the long flight and hours of sitting and absorbing a lot of information.  We saw about 30 other local people out running!! We even saw a group of about 10 people, perhaps a sports team, doing pushups, situps, and plyometrics on the sidewalks.  We didn't even get any weird looks-- that we saw :) 

The weather during the day is PERFECT here by the way-- about 73 and sunny, with a cool breeze; seriously the most wonderful temperature!  

This experience is helping me to realize that it is the small things in life: The small things like a 3 year old Ethiopian girl passing me on the sidewalk and reaching out to squeeze my hand with a huge smile on her face, watching the vibrant pink and orange sunrise over Addis Ababa while finishing a morning run, being unplugged from technology, great conversations with the diverse, and incredible group of fellow volunteers, and last but not least, bunna. Ethiopia is blessing me each day in unexpected ways and I look forward to the days, weeks and months to come! But for now, I will focus on a piece of advice given by a PC staff member: "Take it one day at a time, and remember that you are the author of your own PC adventure and service." Let the writing begin.....

<3 H.

Two of the other incredible volunteers: Ciera and Elaine, with the city surrounding us, balcony style.

An additional simple thing: seeing donkeys casually carrying heavy loads down a mountain.