Hello.
Listen, you know how crowded Orbit becomes at Tate?
That's nothing.
Prepare for your mind to be blown.
We once fit 25.4 Ethiopians and Foreigners on a mini bus designed for SEVEN.
The 0.4 accounts for this one infant.
Bodies were hanging out of the windows.
I was lucky. I got to share a seat. With 3 other girls.
In comparison, Orbit practically provides first class seating.
So, anyway 10 days into the Ethiopian adventure and I can safely say that I have run out of clean clothes.
It is a freedom like no other to wear dirty clothes.
You can't even imagine.
Okay actually maybe you can.
Picture yourself as Pocahontas in that cliff scene when 'Colors of the Wind' or whatever is playing and there are those weird rainbow feathers drifting around.
That is pretty close to how I feel.
I have conquered the impossible! Alice Yang who used to wear shirts and jeans only once before washing has now worn the same jeans for 10 days.
In retrospect, I should have packed more than one pair of jeans. Ignorant American that I am I assumed summer in America meant summer everywhere! And yes, I still think the Australians must duct tape themselves to the ground to avoid falling off the planet.The Ethiopian weather is actually approaching its "winter" season or "monsoon" season. The word monsoon draws up horrifying images of tidal waves and cars and houses floating in lakes. Thank god for my ankle high rain boots...
*That last remark was only 50% sarcasm. Besides, I bought a mini umbrella too.
So back to the subject at hand.
I have learned that the only way to survive in Africa is to let go of Western expectations and ideals.
It's sheer stupidity to assume you can wear clean clothes every day. When I first came here my laundry hamper (a Kroger plastic bag by the way) started overfilling. Eventually I realized I was going to have to either run around naked or compromise some expectations.
By the way in case you are wondering, I ruled out the nudity option.
Giving up clean clothes was helped by the fact that the attitude here is so carefree and wonderfully simplistic.
You start to wonder why you don't just wear a burlap sack everyday.
* By the way burlap would be a terrible color on me so of course that option was always ruled out.
And oh how happy I've been to make this marginal change in my life.
Ultimately, Ethiopia has made possible the elimination of self consciousness that would be improbable in the judgmental and highly peer pressurized America.
When you have separated mind from insignificant matter, the mind thanks you.
And you also save like 50 birr by avoiding the laundromat.
So America, I have been truly humbled by Ethiopia and consequently discovered the secret to happiness...
DIRTY CLOTHES!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Supersized Slice of Humble Pie
Today, when you plop your bottom onto a toilet I want you to be thankful for every cosmic movement in this universe that has thus allowed you the luxury of sitting down to relieve yourself.
It has been about a week since my arrival in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
It might as well be a lifetime.
How do I start to describe this miniature lifetime within a lifetime?
From the beginning of the beginning I guess.
WARNING: THIS IS AN EXTREMELY LENGTHY POST. I AM TRYING TO MAKE UP FOR A WEEK'S ABSENCE. IF YOU ARE THE TYPE THAT IS BORED EASILY PLEASE PROCEED TO ENGAGE IN THE OFFERINGS OF YOUR SMART PHONE AS I WILL NOT BE OFFENDED IF YOU ONLY FEIGN INTEREST/ATTENTION AT THIS PARTICULAR POST.
So on May 12, 2012, my eager 18 year old self finally got my stuff together and headed towards Hartsfield Jackson. After a hasty goodbye to the family, I found myself in a most unpleasant, heated exchange with the baggage checkers. It started like this: They took apart my delicate purse handle. Completely unnecessary by all counts. They then proceeded to stop me and manually open my laptop case and treat my fragile laptop like a bomb. Sprinkled in between is me frantically whisper shouting for the man to please for the love of God be more gentle with my belongings.
*Side note
A list of the people I would most want to dunk in a volcano
Baggage checkers
Gynecologists
Dentists
Salesmen
So, after this bump in the road I uneventfully boarded the plane. It was very nice. Through some luck with the airplane gods I got promoted to the front of the economy seats. Leg room like no other.
Brief run down of semi eventful ride to Ethiopia
Excitedly hoard all postcards offered on plane.
Get bored.
Take advantage of free cheap wine.
Watch confusing movie which turned out to be in French.
Got off in Frankfurt, Germany.
Buy scandalously overpriced water. 3 and a half euros! I could start my own taxi company in Ethiopia with what I had to fork over for a quarter of a liter of water...
Terminal changed, unbeknownst to me.
Thirty minutes to take off: Panic attack ensues.
Frantically run to other side of airport.
Board plane.
Crying babies everywhere.
More cheap wine.
Meal with hidden pine nuts. Which I am deathly allergic to.
Panic Attack Number 2 of the day ensues.
Resemble crack addict as I desperately pop some benadryls.
Cute boy across the aisle looking on in shock/possible revulsion as I frantically spit out food.
Hazy period of my life..........
Awaken to find that we are descending in KHARTOUM, SUDAN.
Completely shocked.
How do I describe Sudan?
Khartoum was honestly a little frightening. Everything had this dusty post-apocalyptic glaze. No colors as far as the eye can see. Just this khaki color. No human beings in sight. No cars. Maybe one other plane.
Intercom system goes off: "We are stopping in Khartoum now. If this is your final destination please collect your belongings now."
No one gets off the plane.
"Pictures are not allowed in the airport."
Two hours of forbidding silence ensue before we leave.
I'm still not totally sure why we stopped in Sudan. Presumably to refuel.
On wards!
Adorable toddler screaming like a banshee.
Decreases adorable factor.
Mother delegates me as babysitter/clown/entertainer of the baby.
This is okay with me. I teach the baby peek a boo and other such nonsensical baby things.
Finally descend upon ETHIOPIA: CITY ON FIRE.
Let me explain.
I did not know at the time but Ethiopia is composed on subtle hills.
Since it was nighttime, the city's street lamps were all lit and Ethiopia looked like this endless black velvet blanket sparkling in lights.
Completely breathtaking.
Collect baggage. Side skirt the baggage checking. No one stops me. No one cares.
Meet up with two Aiesec Ethiopia members.
Haggle with taxi drivers.
Head towards my condomonium/home for the next 3 months.
Dream of Ethiopia as an advanced "Shanghai of Africa" completely crushed.
What I mistook for a city on fire was actually very minimal lighting for such a sprawling capital city. On our drive the only lights came from the streets. It was only 10 P.M.
Bring bags up to condo in complete darkness.
The darkness really hits you in Ethiopia. This is the capital city too, so you can only imagine what it must be like in the country. It's a darkness that attacks quickly at 7 pm every night and completely fills in the spaces between shops and main streets.
I digress.
So, I meet my five other roommates. Two are from Kenya and one is from Indonesia and one is from America. All friendly. All healthy.
The juicy gory details: I step into the "restroom" and find myself in a perpetual lake. There is no drain on the floor and the shower is open. So anytime someone wants to shower they must manually scoop water off the floor and back into the shower.
Venture nervously across lake.
Behold THE TOILET.
The toilet really deserves its own blog post and if you are still reading and you are of the sensitive stomach type I would not read the next paragraph.
Our toilet has no seat. Someone broke it earlier and the other interns have not been bothered. There is no flushing mechanism. You must manually fill a bucket twice or sometimes three times and pour into the toilet in order to flush.
Since the first day I have endlessly campaigned for Aiesec Ethiopia to fix up the bathroom to little avail.
Simply put, the others have adapted and I am expected to do the same.
I'm sure in two months I will not even think about it but for now a feeling of horror passes over me every time I enter the bathroom.
Oh by the way, our doors don't close. There are no lights in the bathroom or kitchen and now we are prohibited from using the sink because it is leaking quite profusely.
There is no internet for miles. In part this explains my inability to blog often.
I begin to mentally breakdown on the inside.
I go to sleep and dream of toilets that night.
END DAY ONE.
So after a slightly traumatic start, I am really growing accustomed to Ethiopia but quite frankly it is the most difficult living situation I have ever been in.\
FUN FACTS:
The national language is Amharic which I don't speak. I only know the phrases necessary for deterring strangers and for haggling.
Everyone is so kind. Ethiopian hospitality puts Southern hospitality to shame. Complete strangers will help you when you are lost. They will literally walk you to the right taxi even if it is a kilometer away.
The food is amazing. Everything is relatively cheap due to the exchange, but be careful what you eat. I have had a downright miserable last three days after eating some bad injera which is their traditional dish.
The main mode of transportation for Ethiopians and cheap foreigners like me is the minibus system. This is a nightmarish maze of tiny vans that people will squeeze onto past seemingly physical capacity. There are no street names, no addresses. Only common stops for these buses. The taxi driver maneuvers the lane less streets while a boy or teenager shouts out the next stop to the people waiting outside. To get to most places you need to take around 3 taxis and God help you if you don't know which stop to go to next.
The street is a pedestrian trap. There are few crossings, no lights. It's an absolute free for all. Vehicles don't stop for you so you have to be careful. I've already had a taxi brush my jacket as it rumbled by.
Montage of Humorous Short Stories Depicting how Chigarumn I am
The other Aiesecers here are wonderful. They are mostly Ethiopian male students in college. They call me Ms. Cheapness or in Ethiopian , Ms. Chigarumn. I am really quite proud of how cheap I am. I have to survive three months on 60 dollars a month. Of course I am going to be stingy. In the National Ethiopian Museum I tried to convince the security that I was Ethiopian so I should only have to pay 2 birr, not the 10 birr a foreigner must pay. (1 dollar=17 birr) My Ethiopian friends laugh and laugh at this.
I smuggle toilet paper from the nicer hotels. My Ethiopian friends also laugh at this.
I haggled for an hour to get a cheaper taxi one night. The security of the hotel I just exited from was laughing at me. His friend came up and tried to tell me that my asking price was most unreasonable. With both of them cackling at me I only grew more stubborn. Finally, out of pity, they had to haggle with the taxi in their language (Amharic) in order for me to get a cheaper taxi.
...
So in sum, I am having the roller coaster ride of my life.
I will post more about the project itself later, but basically I am creating events and looking for partnerships/sponsors to promote this school Fresh and Green and its kids and their mothers.
Ethiopia is crazy. But it is the kind of crazy that grows on you. Sure, the infrastructure is insane and the accommodations are a Western nightmare, but you can't help but totally love Ethiopia. You realize how much you used to take for granted. Materialistic attitudes come here to die. The people are so carefree and wonderful, you begin to wonder why you bother to stress at all.
So here's to three months of new experiences like no other. To making lasting friendships. To changing a little pocket of the world.
May I not get hit by a taxi and live to see it.
It has been about a week since my arrival in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
It might as well be a lifetime.
How do I start to describe this miniature lifetime within a lifetime?
From the beginning of the beginning I guess.
WARNING: THIS IS AN EXTREMELY LENGTHY POST. I AM TRYING TO MAKE UP FOR A WEEK'S ABSENCE. IF YOU ARE THE TYPE THAT IS BORED EASILY PLEASE PROCEED TO ENGAGE IN THE OFFERINGS OF YOUR SMART PHONE AS I WILL NOT BE OFFENDED IF YOU ONLY FEIGN INTEREST/ATTENTION AT THIS PARTICULAR POST.
So on May 12, 2012, my eager 18 year old self finally got my stuff together and headed towards Hartsfield Jackson. After a hasty goodbye to the family, I found myself in a most unpleasant, heated exchange with the baggage checkers. It started like this: They took apart my delicate purse handle. Completely unnecessary by all counts. They then proceeded to stop me and manually open my laptop case and treat my fragile laptop like a bomb. Sprinkled in between is me frantically whisper shouting for the man to please for the love of God be more gentle with my belongings.
*Side note
A list of the people I would most want to dunk in a volcano
Baggage checkers
Gynecologists
Dentists
Salesmen
So, after this bump in the road I uneventfully boarded the plane. It was very nice. Through some luck with the airplane gods I got promoted to the front of the economy seats. Leg room like no other.
Brief run down of semi eventful ride to Ethiopia
Excitedly hoard all postcards offered on plane.
Get bored.
Take advantage of free cheap wine.
Watch confusing movie which turned out to be in French.
Got off in Frankfurt, Germany.
Buy scandalously overpriced water. 3 and a half euros! I could start my own taxi company in Ethiopia with what I had to fork over for a quarter of a liter of water...
Terminal changed, unbeknownst to me.
Thirty minutes to take off: Panic attack ensues.
Frantically run to other side of airport.
Board plane.
Crying babies everywhere.
More cheap wine.
Meal with hidden pine nuts. Which I am deathly allergic to.
Panic Attack Number 2 of the day ensues.
Resemble crack addict as I desperately pop some benadryls.
Cute boy across the aisle looking on in shock/possible revulsion as I frantically spit out food.
Hazy period of my life..........
Awaken to find that we are descending in KHARTOUM, SUDAN.
Completely shocked.
How do I describe Sudan?
Khartoum was honestly a little frightening. Everything had this dusty post-apocalyptic glaze. No colors as far as the eye can see. Just this khaki color. No human beings in sight. No cars. Maybe one other plane.
Intercom system goes off: "We are stopping in Khartoum now. If this is your final destination please collect your belongings now."
No one gets off the plane.
"Pictures are not allowed in the airport."
Two hours of forbidding silence ensue before we leave.
I'm still not totally sure why we stopped in Sudan. Presumably to refuel.
On wards!
Adorable toddler screaming like a banshee.
Decreases adorable factor.
Mother delegates me as babysitter/clown/entertainer of the baby.
This is okay with me. I teach the baby peek a boo and other such nonsensical baby things.
Finally descend upon ETHIOPIA: CITY ON FIRE.
Let me explain.
I did not know at the time but Ethiopia is composed on subtle hills.
Since it was nighttime, the city's street lamps were all lit and Ethiopia looked like this endless black velvet blanket sparkling in lights.
Completely breathtaking.
Collect baggage. Side skirt the baggage checking. No one stops me. No one cares.
Meet up with two Aiesec Ethiopia members.
Haggle with taxi drivers.
Head towards my condomonium/home for the next 3 months.
Dream of Ethiopia as an advanced "Shanghai of Africa" completely crushed.
What I mistook for a city on fire was actually very minimal lighting for such a sprawling capital city. On our drive the only lights came from the streets. It was only 10 P.M.
Bring bags up to condo in complete darkness.
The darkness really hits you in Ethiopia. This is the capital city too, so you can only imagine what it must be like in the country. It's a darkness that attacks quickly at 7 pm every night and completely fills in the spaces between shops and main streets.
I digress.
So, I meet my five other roommates. Two are from Kenya and one is from Indonesia and one is from America. All friendly. All healthy.
The juicy gory details: I step into the "restroom" and find myself in a perpetual lake. There is no drain on the floor and the shower is open. So anytime someone wants to shower they must manually scoop water off the floor and back into the shower.
Venture nervously across lake.
Behold THE TOILET.
The toilet really deserves its own blog post and if you are still reading and you are of the sensitive stomach type I would not read the next paragraph.
Our toilet has no seat. Someone broke it earlier and the other interns have not been bothered. There is no flushing mechanism. You must manually fill a bucket twice or sometimes three times and pour into the toilet in order to flush.
Since the first day I have endlessly campaigned for Aiesec Ethiopia to fix up the bathroom to little avail.
Simply put, the others have adapted and I am expected to do the same.
I'm sure in two months I will not even think about it but for now a feeling of horror passes over me every time I enter the bathroom.
Oh by the way, our doors don't close. There are no lights in the bathroom or kitchen and now we are prohibited from using the sink because it is leaking quite profusely.
There is no internet for miles. In part this explains my inability to blog often.
I begin to mentally breakdown on the inside.
I go to sleep and dream of toilets that night.
END DAY ONE.
So after a slightly traumatic start, I am really growing accustomed to Ethiopia but quite frankly it is the most difficult living situation I have ever been in.\
FUN FACTS:
The national language is Amharic which I don't speak. I only know the phrases necessary for deterring strangers and for haggling.
Everyone is so kind. Ethiopian hospitality puts Southern hospitality to shame. Complete strangers will help you when you are lost. They will literally walk you to the right taxi even if it is a kilometer away.
The food is amazing. Everything is relatively cheap due to the exchange, but be careful what you eat. I have had a downright miserable last three days after eating some bad injera which is their traditional dish.
The main mode of transportation for Ethiopians and cheap foreigners like me is the minibus system. This is a nightmarish maze of tiny vans that people will squeeze onto past seemingly physical capacity. There are no street names, no addresses. Only common stops for these buses. The taxi driver maneuvers the lane less streets while a boy or teenager shouts out the next stop to the people waiting outside. To get to most places you need to take around 3 taxis and God help you if you don't know which stop to go to next.
The street is a pedestrian trap. There are few crossings, no lights. It's an absolute free for all. Vehicles don't stop for you so you have to be careful. I've already had a taxi brush my jacket as it rumbled by.
Montage of Humorous Short Stories Depicting how Chigarumn I am
The other Aiesecers here are wonderful. They are mostly Ethiopian male students in college. They call me Ms. Cheapness or in Ethiopian , Ms. Chigarumn. I am really quite proud of how cheap I am. I have to survive three months on 60 dollars a month. Of course I am going to be stingy. In the National Ethiopian Museum I tried to convince the security that I was Ethiopian so I should only have to pay 2 birr, not the 10 birr a foreigner must pay. (1 dollar=17 birr) My Ethiopian friends laugh and laugh at this.
I smuggle toilet paper from the nicer hotels. My Ethiopian friends also laugh at this.
I haggled for an hour to get a cheaper taxi one night. The security of the hotel I just exited from was laughing at me. His friend came up and tried to tell me that my asking price was most unreasonable. With both of them cackling at me I only grew more stubborn. Finally, out of pity, they had to haggle with the taxi in their language (Amharic) in order for me to get a cheaper taxi.
...
So in sum, I am having the roller coaster ride of my life.
I will post more about the project itself later, but basically I am creating events and looking for partnerships/sponsors to promote this school Fresh and Green and its kids and their mothers.
Ethiopia is crazy. But it is the kind of crazy that grows on you. Sure, the infrastructure is insane and the accommodations are a Western nightmare, but you can't help but totally love Ethiopia. You realize how much you used to take for granted. Materialistic attitudes come here to die. The people are so carefree and wonderful, you begin to wonder why you bother to stress at all.
So here's to three months of new experiences like no other. To making lasting friendships. To changing a little pocket of the world.
May I not get hit by a taxi and live to see it.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Adventures Away!
Hello everyone.
I'm sure you are reading this blog because you are dying to keep up with whatever awesome things happen to me this summer.
And not because you are forced to judge hundreds of blogs for AIESEC.
If however, you do fall under the latter category, I shall find it in my heart to forgive you if you promise to read this blog and at least chuckle from time to time. Maybe let your heart quaver under the intensity of this blog. Maybe allow your soul to be exposed to the sheer humanity within this blog. Perhaps even allow yourself to cry a little.
I have not even boarded the plane yet so this last bit was mostly joking.
To be honest, I haven't even finished packing.
....
So, all joking aside, WHO AM I?
Great question, I ask myself that quite often.
My name is Alice Yang and I am a freshman at UGA. I suppose I am now to be considered a sophomore, but the imprint of "freshman" shall carry over until the Fall 2012 semester officially commences. I am an International Affairs major. Yes, we do all think we can change the world someday. Yes, we are always buried under essays and readings. No, we do not all want to be spies.
I have the great honor this summer of being an EP in AIESEC at the University of Georgia (GO DAWGS!)
I am going to Ethiopia for three months (May 13-August 7 if you must know the dates in order to come surprise me at the airport/throw me a surprise party/make me signs/etc..) to work on a Women Empowerment project. For these three months, I will be stationed in the capital city, Addis Ababa, and will be coordinating with various NGO's and Embassies in order to promote the small scarf businesses of the Ethiopian women. The idea is that international coordination and sponsorship will increase the success and sustainability of these businesses. Basically, I will be creating events for speakers and attending meetings all in the hopes of helping these women help themselves and later their communities.
As an Int'l Affairs major (from here on out referred to as IA because I am lazy) this internship will be a wonderful opportunity to learn about development, policy, and worldwide issues. Similarly, it will present a chance to meet great people who actually change the world every day.
These job descriptions are always mildly dull, so I promise in my blog I will make it seem like a James Bond movie every day.
So, now it is 2:33 A.M. I must continue the battle against the suitcases.
But, first a list of things I will miss in America:
McDonalds
ChickFilA
Panda Express
Sushi
(I am obviously obsessed with food)
My Dog
My Family (My dog gets precedence because she is the least annoying)
My wonderful friends
Swimming at the pool
Do not be alarmed that my deepest attachment is to food.
Things I look forward to in Ethiopia
Airplane food
Ethiopian food
Wearing my fancy "I-mean-business" blazer
Coming back 20 pounds lighter (I have to cook for myself. Let's be honest, I'm no Iron Chef. Unless it's the Ramen Iron Chef. Without the delights of meal plan or home cooking, I deflate like a balloon.)
Meeting fantastic new people, local and international
Changing the world in my own way
Embarking on my first international development experience
...
So, here's to me safely arriving in Ethiopia at least for the sake of continuing this blog. And here's to the greatest adventure of my lifetime. May I come back a kinder, stronger, and wiser individual.
PEACE OUT.
Alice
I'm sure you are reading this blog because you are dying to keep up with whatever awesome things happen to me this summer.
And not because you are forced to judge hundreds of blogs for AIESEC.
If however, you do fall under the latter category, I shall find it in my heart to forgive you if you promise to read this blog and at least chuckle from time to time. Maybe let your heart quaver under the intensity of this blog. Maybe allow your soul to be exposed to the sheer humanity within this blog. Perhaps even allow yourself to cry a little.
I have not even boarded the plane yet so this last bit was mostly joking.
To be honest, I haven't even finished packing.
....
So, all joking aside, WHO AM I?
Great question, I ask myself that quite often.
My name is Alice Yang and I am a freshman at UGA. I suppose I am now to be considered a sophomore, but the imprint of "freshman" shall carry over until the Fall 2012 semester officially commences. I am an International Affairs major. Yes, we do all think we can change the world someday. Yes, we are always buried under essays and readings. No, we do not all want to be spies.
I have the great honor this summer of being an EP in AIESEC at the University of Georgia (GO DAWGS!)
I am going to Ethiopia for three months (May 13-August 7 if you must know the dates in order to come surprise me at the airport/throw me a surprise party/make me signs/etc..) to work on a Women Empowerment project. For these three months, I will be stationed in the capital city, Addis Ababa, and will be coordinating with various NGO's and Embassies in order to promote the small scarf businesses of the Ethiopian women. The idea is that international coordination and sponsorship will increase the success and sustainability of these businesses. Basically, I will be creating events for speakers and attending meetings all in the hopes of helping these women help themselves and later their communities.
As an Int'l Affairs major (from here on out referred to as IA because I am lazy) this internship will be a wonderful opportunity to learn about development, policy, and worldwide issues. Similarly, it will present a chance to meet great people who actually change the world every day.
These job descriptions are always mildly dull, so I promise in my blog I will make it seem like a James Bond movie every day.
So, now it is 2:33 A.M. I must continue the battle against the suitcases.
But, first a list of things I will miss in America:
McDonalds
ChickFilA
Panda Express
Sushi
(I am obviously obsessed with food)
My Dog
My Family (My dog gets precedence because she is the least annoying)
My wonderful friends
Swimming at the pool
Do not be alarmed that my deepest attachment is to food.
Things I look forward to in Ethiopia
Airplane food
Ethiopian food
Wearing my fancy "I-mean-business" blazer
Coming back 20 pounds lighter (I have to cook for myself. Let's be honest, I'm no Iron Chef. Unless it's the Ramen Iron Chef. Without the delights of meal plan or home cooking, I deflate like a balloon.)
Meeting fantastic new people, local and international
Changing the world in my own way
Embarking on my first international development experience
...
So, here's to me safely arriving in Ethiopia at least for the sake of continuing this blog. And here's to the greatest adventure of my lifetime. May I come back a kinder, stronger, and wiser individual.
PEACE OUT.
 |
| My incredibly attractive Visa photo. I am just reeking of the photogenics. |
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