I'm starting off really strong with creative blog post titles...
Day 2 and 3 consisted of a LOT of driving around in the big grey van (Eventually I'm gonna name it) and trying to find a house to live in. It was cool getting to see the city (I'm pretty sure we covered all of it), but 8 people in a van all day gets a little exhausting. Addis Ababa is more developed than I expected, but it's also a lot more run-down (I know that sounds kind of contradictory, but it makes sense). We've gotten to see a lot of Ethiopian houses the past couple days (like, nicer houses. Not the ones made out of tin scraps... I think that will come later in the summer). It's crazy - Dure (one of the Ethiopians we're working with) just calls up some of his friends, and we drive somewhere in the city, pick one of his friends (I hope) up off the side of the street, and then go see a house. If we don't like it/it's way out of our price range, he calls someone else. I guess people just know who's moving out for the summer/who's selling houses? All I know is that eventually, the system worked. I still can't decide how it makes me feel about America. We walk into these "upscale" Ethiopian houses - if they were in America, all we would see were houses that were in the middle of being furnished with thrift shop furniture. It's easy to jump to criticizing the American lifestyle and talk about how wasteful we are with buying expensive decorations, furniture that matches a specific color pattern, and having a full bed/bath for every family member. At the same time, it's just another culture difference. Brittany asked me the other day if I thought America "blinded us from the reality of society", but I don't really think it has. Things are just different and standards of living are different and there's no such thing as a "reality of society", just different cultures. I definitely think traveling somewhere else makes you more appreciative of what you have and in America we take a LOT of things for granted (TOILET PAPER), but I think we spend so much time bashing the American culture without accepting that standards of living are just different. I think I'm gonna learn a lot about this this summer, but we're so quick to jump to pitying the people on the streets or making lists in our head of what the people on the streets need, when we really just need to recognize that there are VERY different ways to live in this world. I'm not saying it's okay that people are starving, but we need to recognize that our over-the-top form of living isn't the only way that people can live happily.
Okay sorry, that was enough thinking for the day.
DEAR BRANDIE, if you're reading this, I'm really thankful for that time you told me to take advantage of rest. Before I came, I was really anxious about having down time. I was afraid it was just going to make me feel like I was wasting my summer and I was just gonna sit around wishing I was home. But I think this summer is going to have a lot of "down-time", and I LOVE that. It's been so cool having some time to read and think and pray and journal - things that I love doing but don't make enough time for at home. It's been amazing not having my computer or my phone to jump on as the first thing I do when I get a free moment. I think once we get into the swing of things we're going to spend the mornings - mid-afternoons "on-site" (I'll explain more of what that means when I actually know what it means), and the evenings back in our house, so hopefully I'll spend a lot of time reflecting/learning, and I think that's where I'm gonna benefit a lot this summer.
More stuff I've learned:
1. I'm not ready to be a mom (not that I was thinking about it, but still).
2. Taking my frustrations to God is way more fruitful and beneficial than venting to other people.
Random things:
- We've been staying with these missionaries from Atlanta who moved here permanently 2 weeks ago - they've been INCREDIBLY gracious to open up their home to us and let us stay with them while we looked for a house - their blog is thekotrlafamily.blogspot.com if you want to check it out (I haven't gotten the chance to yet).
- Our team is coming together well: we had our first "reflection" time with The Gleason's, Brittany, and I last night - it was nice seeing people's emotions/frustrations come out and talk about what we were learning: it made me feel like we were actually a team, and I really liked that.
- THEY HAVE PEANUT BUTTER HERE. PRAISE JESUS. literally. This might be the greatest thing that's ever happened to Ethiopia, besides when communism went bye bye.
Prayer Requests:
- Godly patience and love. I got a taste of it today - it will DEFINITELY be necessary every day.
- Praise for finding a house and getting the essentials taken care of so we can start working!!
Day 2 and 3 consisted of a LOT of driving around in the big grey van (Eventually I'm gonna name it) and trying to find a house to live in. It was cool getting to see the city (I'm pretty sure we covered all of it), but 8 people in a van all day gets a little exhausting. Addis Ababa is more developed than I expected, but it's also a lot more run-down (I know that sounds kind of contradictory, but it makes sense). We've gotten to see a lot of Ethiopian houses the past couple days (like, nicer houses. Not the ones made out of tin scraps... I think that will come later in the summer). It's crazy - Dure (one of the Ethiopians we're working with) just calls up some of his friends, and we drive somewhere in the city, pick one of his friends (I hope) up off the side of the street, and then go see a house. If we don't like it/it's way out of our price range, he calls someone else. I guess people just know who's moving out for the summer/who's selling houses? All I know is that eventually, the system worked. I still can't decide how it makes me feel about America. We walk into these "upscale" Ethiopian houses - if they were in America, all we would see were houses that were in the middle of being furnished with thrift shop furniture. It's easy to jump to criticizing the American lifestyle and talk about how wasteful we are with buying expensive decorations, furniture that matches a specific color pattern, and having a full bed/bath for every family member. At the same time, it's just another culture difference. Brittany asked me the other day if I thought America "blinded us from the reality of society", but I don't really think it has. Things are just different and standards of living are different and there's no such thing as a "reality of society", just different cultures. I definitely think traveling somewhere else makes you more appreciative of what you have and in America we take a LOT of things for granted (TOILET PAPER), but I think we spend so much time bashing the American culture without accepting that standards of living are just different. I think I'm gonna learn a lot about this this summer, but we're so quick to jump to pitying the people on the streets or making lists in our head of what the people on the streets need, when we really just need to recognize that there are VERY different ways to live in this world. I'm not saying it's okay that people are starving, but we need to recognize that our over-the-top form of living isn't the only way that people can live happily.
Okay sorry, that was enough thinking for the day.
DEAR BRANDIE, if you're reading this, I'm really thankful for that time you told me to take advantage of rest. Before I came, I was really anxious about having down time. I was afraid it was just going to make me feel like I was wasting my summer and I was just gonna sit around wishing I was home. But I think this summer is going to have a lot of "down-time", and I LOVE that. It's been so cool having some time to read and think and pray and journal - things that I love doing but don't make enough time for at home. It's been amazing not having my computer or my phone to jump on as the first thing I do when I get a free moment. I think once we get into the swing of things we're going to spend the mornings - mid-afternoons "on-site" (I'll explain more of what that means when I actually know what it means), and the evenings back in our house, so hopefully I'll spend a lot of time reflecting/learning, and I think that's where I'm gonna benefit a lot this summer.
More stuff I've learned:
1. I'm not ready to be a mom (not that I was thinking about it, but still).
2. Taking my frustrations to God is way more fruitful and beneficial than venting to other people.
Random things:
- We've been staying with these missionaries from Atlanta who moved here permanently 2 weeks ago - they've been INCREDIBLY gracious to open up their home to us and let us stay with them while we looked for a house - their blog is thekotrlafamily.blogspot.com if you want to check it out (I haven't gotten the chance to yet).
- Our team is coming together well: we had our first "reflection" time with The Gleason's, Brittany, and I last night - it was nice seeing people's emotions/frustrations come out and talk about what we were learning: it made me feel like we were actually a team, and I really liked that.
- THEY HAVE PEANUT BUTTER HERE. PRAISE JESUS. literally. This might be the greatest thing that's ever happened to Ethiopia, besides when communism went bye bye.
- Godly patience and love. I got a taste of it today - it will DEFINITELY be necessary every day.
- Praise for finding a house and getting the essentials taken care of so we can start working!!
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