I Survived Over Two Weeks Without Internet:

   Long story short: every single one of the computers on the Bingham Academy campus, and in the surrounding area, managed to acquire a nasty and extremely contagious computer virus. As a result, the computer maintenance crew had to shut down all of the computers and re-build the servers from bottom up (which turned out to be a much more complicated process than they anticipated). So with absolutely no forewarning whatsoever, all computer access was strictly off-limits. I know that you all were pretty worried…but there was nothing I could do. Let’s just pray that doesn’t happen again…

   On a brighter note, A LOT happened during my unanticipated and prolonged time with no Internet (hence this extremely long post. –But this will totally be worth the read, trust me). In addition to the unexpected Internet shortage, something else pretty unexpected and spontaneous happened: My fiancé came to visit! Dave wasn’t planning on coming to visit until February but a quick turn of events brought him here much sooner and an incredible answer to prayer got him a place to stay for free (even with such short notice). He is gone to the Democratic Republic of Congo now, but during his 10 days here we had quite the adventure. Amongst our many adventures we went to Timket, explored the many markets of Addis Ababa, got accustomed to the bus routes around Addis, got massive sunburns at the Sheraton pool, cooked scrumptious chocolate chip cookies, and went bowling.

   Timket, since I’m sure you don’t know, is a holiday that is probably better explained on Wikipedia…but it is essentially an Orthodox holiday that recognizes baptism and the Ark of the Covenant. In a sentence: thousands of people + butt naked beggars + religious men spraying the crowds with fire hoses (baptism) + guards with guns who wouldn’t let us touch the different Arks of the Covenant + a ton of parades. My pictures didn’t really come out that good since the guards forced us to stand miles (minor exaggeration) away from the excitement, so I’m not going to post any. Feel free to check out Wikipedia if you’re interested…but it’s not that exciting.

   Bowling, on the other hand, was exciting. Except…they forced Dave and I to go out back and help them set up the pins…
Just kidding. We actually volunteered to do that. This bowling alley was simply hysterical because there were actually men backstage whose job was to set up the pins and hand-roll the balls back to us after each persons turn. They were so friendly though, and they welcomed us backstage for the good photo opportunity. It was pretty fun. You can ignore the massive sunburn on my face though. Apparently, not wearing sunscreen at the Sheraton pool was a bad idea… (My back is much worse).

    Teaching here at Bingham Academy is going really good as well. I am teaching full time now and I really enjoy it. My cooperating teacher, alongside all of the staff here, has been incredibly supportive and encouraging. In fact, I was blown away by how supportive the staff here is. It’s definitely a very positive atmosphere and I am so happy to be here for my final semester of student teaching. This is preparing me well for the teaching profession. I may or may not share more about my responsibilities academically in future posts, but I know that writing about such things would probably bore you. This is why I try to write relatively humorous descriptions of my adventures abroad. Mind you, humor doesn’t necessarily take away from the accuracy of my adventures. For instance, let me share with you my favorite elementary moment during the past few weeks:

Dave came to visit my classroom during one of his first few days here in Ethiopia. I decided to let the kids wonder who he was initially (just for fun), so I simply began to teach my lesson. When I got to a good transition spot, I paused to commence the introductions. I pointed out the new figure in the classroom and started to explain who he was, but before I could say anything at all Naomi screeched, “IS THAT YOUR FATHER??!!!” I replied with a quick “no” and she responded just as quickly with a second screech: “IS IT YOUR HUSBAND??!!!” Needless to say, it took a while to explain the difference between a fiancé and a husband…but when all was said and done I permitted the students to ask a few questions. Naomi, yet again, was eager to verbalize her thoughts: “When you have a baby, could you bring him here and show us?” Naomi declared us married for the remainder of the week and she thoroughly enjoyed making awkward kissing noises in our general direction…
I love first graders. :)

   After Dave left I had yet another long and eventful weekend. Friday AND Saturday were full days of school…minus the class part. All of the kids came in for two whole days of field day fun and crazy competitions for “house points”. Everyone at Bingham Academy is on a house team and they compete all year round for points. It’s actually an intense competition and the field day races rack up A LOT of points for the teams so the kids are all viciously competitive. There were sack races, relay races, high jumps, shot put competitions, javelin throwing, beanbag races, wheelbarrow races, piggyback races, obstacle courses, etc. etc. etc. etc. So for two days straight I stood out in the 80 degree (haha) weather measuring shot put throws, timing races, and hanging out with the cutest kids. And speaking of cutest kids…I’m sure you all are dying to put a face with Naomi so here you go:


[left to right: Elshaddai, Naomi, me]

   Since field day lasted through all day Saturday, there was no school on Monday. So, a bunch of the staff decided to plan a short weekend camping trip to Ambo, a gorgeous area 6 hours or so outside of Addis Ababa. We camped out right beside a lake at the bottom of an enormous, breath-taking crater. It took us about 15 minutes to walk down the jagged path to our camping area carrying all of our clothes, tents, sleeping mats, food, water, etc. It was definitely not a fun walk…but it was worth it in the end. The next day, we decided to forgo the pain and agony of dragging our stuff back up the cliff so we hired the Ethiopian workers to carry our stuff for us and we paid to ride horses all the way back to the cars. That was my first time riding a horse since I was bucked off at Fair Haven…and I survived. Phew. I will post pictures of the camping trip in my next post since most of them were not taken with my camera and, therefore, haven’t made their way to my computer yet.

-Nicole