Archived Blog
A new house.
Wow, sorry it's been so long since I posted an update here. A lot has changed in the last week or so, and my access to internet has been drastically reduced!!
I've finished moving house. It has been a very busy week of moving furniture, possessions etc. The house did not come with any furniture so we were responsible for sourcing or buying all of the things that we needed. Johannes, who (along with his wife) I'm now sharing the house with, did a great job of sourcing a fair amount of used furniture for us to start off with. We've purchased all the kitchen equipment we needed, and the place is starting to feel like a home now. It is very spacious, with plenty of spare rooms for visitors (Hint hint).
The house itself is in a convenient location, between Bingham Academy and the Language school I attend. It's definitely very handy to be much closer to places that I regularly visit, although I do miss certain benefits that came with living at SIM, internet in particular. Now that I don't really have regular access to it, I feel a little out of touch with the rest of the world, and miss a lot of what's happening around the world. Hopefully, we can get some sort of internet at our house as soon as possible.
At the same time, though, it is wonderful to be out in the community. Johannes is very keen to help me to learn Amahric, and often initiates conversations with me in the language. It is wonderful to be out in the community, which has been something that I have been seeking since I moved to Ethiopia. I am excited to be able to develop relationships with the people in the neighbourhood.
Some pictures:
Front of the main house
The back rooms where I'll be staying
Living room
The dog which we've acquired with the house. His name is "Goonbess" which means kneel, or bend down. The landlord said he is supposed to show respect for his owners, but we'll see.
We have only 1 week of language school left before this phase is finished. I've definitely noticed an improvement in my amharic ability, both in grammar knowledge, but also in speaking ability. It is encouraging, but I am also very much aware of the long road ahead before I'll be anywhere near fluent, or able to express myself well. However, practice makes perfect, and I will continue to take every available opportunity to converse in the language. They have a proverb here which says: "Kas be kas, unkolal be ehgir yehaidal." Or "Slowly but surely, the egg will grow legs and walk." Sometimes it feels like my egg is taking it's time to grow legs, but I'm sure they're growing.
I'm also hoping to leave for Langano next week. I'm going to do about 3 weeks down there, making a video highlighting the work of the mission school in the area for supporters back in America. Hopefully it will be a good opportunity for language immersion at the same time. However, my friend down there has informed me that they haven't had working internet for the last couple of weeks, so this might be the last post for a while!! I'll make sure and post a big update when I get back.
Niall
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