Well actually I'm feeling much better today. At least as far as the stresses of my day to day life in Ethiopia are going. My original response paper I turned in that was one page written, got a C-. You may ask yourself, "WHAT?! THATS IT?!" Well actually I'm quite proud of that C-. A lot of other students typed out several page papers with no spacing at 12pt font and got a C+. So considering the amount of effort I put (10 minutes and one book read) VS the effort that other people put in (a few hours plus one book read) I did exponentially better than they did. Had I known that my work was actually noteworthy I would have put in an extra 10 or 20 minutes of writing for that B or possible A, however by the way this professor grades (like a hard ass) I was under the assumption that whatever I did wouldn't be good enough and I was going to fail these classes miserably. Now it seems I stand a chance.
So instead of battling to the death, I will battle to the pain, and create papers that make small children scream and run away in the streets. Something so amazingly grotesquely perfect that I will at least get a B in this stupid class. I still have to lead a discussion (I'm the last person presenting) and write one more summary, a term paper and a test for the linguistics class.
For the culture class I still have to read a book (due thursday), write a response on said book (which will get me at least a B+), make some kind of cultural presentation, and take a test.
The only tricky part of all of this stuff is finding the time to read that book. I'll be doing a lot of reading tonight for my class presentation and the final summary I'm doing over age and language, and yes I'm taking precious study/reading time away to dilly dally on the interwebs, but honestly if I don't get the procrastination out of my system now I'm going to go bonkers.
In brighter news my computer is finally doing what I want it to do and is attempting to upload my photos from my card to my comp. I'd given up on plugging in the camera, so the card slot will just have to do. My computer is just super slotty. Has all kinds of ports and drives and slots to mess with. Just so slotty... Anyways, once everything is done going to my computer you will get a double dose of dis blog today that will inclue PHOTOS!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!
In the meantime let me tell you how I've been holding up:
Yesterday I nearly lost my sanity what with all the stupid going on. My professor is still expecting unreasonable amounts of work but now it just seems a little more doable as I have been able to turn in 6 pages of work, and only need to turn in three pages of work tomorrow and lead a discussion. So while I was super frustrated some of the others dragged me down for dinner and I had the worst tomato soup ever, it tasted more like watered down prego or ragu more than tomato soup. But maybe I'm just accustomed to stuff thats from a can. I'm not sure if thats the case but who knows. It was terrible.
I got to talk to my loviest of lovers Alexha, and plans have been made for my glorious return to Texas. I can't wait to see all of you again as its probably going to be a stupid emotional teary return cause underneath my hard shell I'm a squishy emotional girl. I'm mostly curious as to what kind of sign I will get at the airport! Last year my darling lover held up a sign that said "Lover#1" It was quite hilarious and I couldnt have been happier to see her! We've decided to get matchy rings and Maybe our secret thing tattood :-p The day that girl gets a tattoo hell might freeze over and cotton candy will rain from the skies...
So I think I didn't really mention what was going on while I was away so now you can have that little rundown as I will summarize an email in super shorthand type.
Day1: drove 12 hours, saw a TON of donkeys. Little burros and burritos! It started raining cats and dogs, and then as we closed in on our destination we encountered some SNOW! I know right?! SNOW IN AFRICA!!!! Yeah we were kinda high up, but we were still lower than Addis Ababa. I stayed in the ghettoest hotel in Bahadir and even with my mosquito net I still got some bites.
Day 2: toured some monasteries that were exactly the same. I saw some HIPPOS on the mouth of the Blue Nile. Yeah, thats right. De Nile is not just a river in Egypt ;) And hippos are SUPER dangerous and super territorial. After this place we drove to Gondar and toured a 16th century castle/palacial place. A pigeon scared me and I jumped across the ancient banquet hall in one fail swoop.
Day 3: Drove 14 hours to Lailibela and saw lots of donkeys and goats. Many photos of the countryside/mountains/grassland/mudhuts. Arrive in Lailibela and get to try Tej. Its about the sweetest stickiest stuff ever. When we cheers-ed My glass shattered. Hulk/Alyssa smash!
Day 4: Tour 10 different churches. Badass churches carved out of rocks and cliffs and are historically preserved now. Someone said that Jesus helped them build it. We interpreted that as the spirit of Jesus helped them carry on. Changed hotels. Power went out, we had a hotel party and the staff told us to shut up. Stupid loud americans sitting in a room talking. SO LOUD. We must promote stereotypes.
Day 5: VOMIT CITY! I woke up, drank water, and threw up. A lot. More than I drank. I didn't think I had it in me. Litterally. So I get on the bus and I get some Zofran from a friend and it keeps me calm enough that i don't puke all over the bus. can't eat, drink or think. first pit stop they trick me into drinking a coke and eating a tiny cookie. nearly threw it up. second pit stop bus driver gets me some phenergan. Sweet dreams on the bus from then on. stop at new hotel and sleep nearly the whole time I'm there.
Day 6: 12 more hours of driving. make it home to the Ras Hotel and I can drink reasonable amounts of liquid and eat tiny amounts of food.
I've relapsed a little bit here and there, but nothing I didn't expect already. Next blog: photo time!
So instead of battling to the death, I will battle to the pain, and create papers that make small children scream and run away in the streets. Something so amazingly grotesquely perfect that I will at least get a B in this stupid class. I still have to lead a discussion (I'm the last person presenting) and write one more summary, a term paper and a test for the linguistics class.
For the culture class I still have to read a book (due thursday), write a response on said book (which will get me at least a B+), make some kind of cultural presentation, and take a test.
The only tricky part of all of this stuff is finding the time to read that book. I'll be doing a lot of reading tonight for my class presentation and the final summary I'm doing over age and language, and yes I'm taking precious study/reading time away to dilly dally on the interwebs, but honestly if I don't get the procrastination out of my system now I'm going to go bonkers.
In brighter news my computer is finally doing what I want it to do and is attempting to upload my photos from my card to my comp. I'd given up on plugging in the camera, so the card slot will just have to do. My computer is just super slotty. Has all kinds of ports and drives and slots to mess with. Just so slotty... Anyways, once everything is done going to my computer you will get a double dose of dis blog today that will inclue PHOTOS!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!
In the meantime let me tell you how I've been holding up:
Yesterday I nearly lost my sanity what with all the stupid going on. My professor is still expecting unreasonable amounts of work but now it just seems a little more doable as I have been able to turn in 6 pages of work, and only need to turn in three pages of work tomorrow and lead a discussion. So while I was super frustrated some of the others dragged me down for dinner and I had the worst tomato soup ever, it tasted more like watered down prego or ragu more than tomato soup. But maybe I'm just accustomed to stuff thats from a can. I'm not sure if thats the case but who knows. It was terrible.
I got to talk to my loviest of lovers Alexha, and plans have been made for my glorious return to Texas. I can't wait to see all of you again as its probably going to be a stupid emotional teary return cause underneath my hard shell I'm a squishy emotional girl. I'm mostly curious as to what kind of sign I will get at the airport! Last year my darling lover held up a sign that said "Lover#1" It was quite hilarious and I couldnt have been happier to see her! We've decided to get matchy rings and Maybe our secret thing tattood :-p The day that girl gets a tattoo hell might freeze over and cotton candy will rain from the skies...
So I think I didn't really mention what was going on while I was away so now you can have that little rundown as I will summarize an email in super shorthand type.
Day1: drove 12 hours, saw a TON of donkeys. Little burros and burritos! It started raining cats and dogs, and then as we closed in on our destination we encountered some SNOW! I know right?! SNOW IN AFRICA!!!! Yeah we were kinda high up, but we were still lower than Addis Ababa. I stayed in the ghettoest hotel in Bahadir and even with my mosquito net I still got some bites.
Day 2: toured some monasteries that were exactly the same. I saw some HIPPOS on the mouth of the Blue Nile. Yeah, thats right. De Nile is not just a river in Egypt ;) And hippos are SUPER dangerous and super territorial. After this place we drove to Gondar and toured a 16th century castle/palacial place. A pigeon scared me and I jumped across the ancient banquet hall in one fail swoop.
Day 3: Drove 14 hours to Lailibela and saw lots of donkeys and goats. Many photos of the countryside/mountains/grassland/mudhuts. Arrive in Lailibela and get to try Tej. Its about the sweetest stickiest stuff ever. When we cheers-ed My glass shattered. Hulk/Alyssa smash!
Day 4: Tour 10 different churches. Badass churches carved out of rocks and cliffs and are historically preserved now. Someone said that Jesus helped them build it. We interpreted that as the spirit of Jesus helped them carry on. Changed hotels. Power went out, we had a hotel party and the staff told us to shut up. Stupid loud americans sitting in a room talking. SO LOUD. We must promote stereotypes.
Day 5: VOMIT CITY! I woke up, drank water, and threw up. A lot. More than I drank. I didn't think I had it in me. Litterally. So I get on the bus and I get some Zofran from a friend and it keeps me calm enough that i don't puke all over the bus. can't eat, drink or think. first pit stop they trick me into drinking a coke and eating a tiny cookie. nearly threw it up. second pit stop bus driver gets me some phenergan. Sweet dreams on the bus from then on. stop at new hotel and sleep nearly the whole time I'm there.
Day 6: 12 more hours of driving. make it home to the Ras Hotel and I can drink reasonable amounts of liquid and eat tiny amounts of food.
I've relapsed a little bit here and there, but nothing I didn't expect already. Next blog: photo time!
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