Hello All,
Just wanted to update you all regarding my site assignment and new address. Training will be over in two weeks, and I'll be moving to Bahir Dar, in the North of Ethiopia. I've been in Bahir Dar this week for site visit (seeing my house, talking with my supervisor, learning my way around town), and it seems like it's going to be fabulous.
I'll be living by myself in a two-room house. I have a cold water shower and a porcelain squat toilet (at least I have running water!). I'm the only one on my compound, so I'm thinking about getting a dog, if rabies shots are available in town (not that I really need one, after last week's cat bite and two immune globulin shots...but it's Peace Corps policy).
My house is about 150m away from my work, which will be with ITECH (International Training and Education Center for HIV), which is actually based out of the University of Washington. I'll be working, it seems, mostly on linkage and referrals in the antiretroviral treatment program. I have no idea what that actually means on a day to day basis, but everyone in the HIV field here in Bahir Dar (we've met a lot of them this week) seems fantastic and really committed.
Here's my new address:
Anna Talman
PO Box 2153
Bahir Dar
Ethiopia.
Simple enough. Also check out my blog, at anniopia[dot]blogspot[dot]com (emails seem not to send if they have that address in them. May be related to the Ministry of Info's blocking of blogger. Hmmm.
So I'm feeling good about the next two years. Swearing in is on December 15th, and I've been selected to give a short speech in Amharic. Yikes! I think that it's likely to be quite the event, since we're the first group back in 10 years.
I'd like to upload some pictures, but there are several roadblocks. (1) my camera broke on day one in Ethiopia, so I've been using a friend's backup film camera, (2) uploading them to the internet might take a year with this connection, and (3) since blogger is blocked in ethiopia, I can't load them directly to my blog. I'll keep troubleshooting and figure *something* out.
Anyhow, just wanted to let you know that I'm doing well. I'm headed back to Addis Ababa from Bahir Dar at 4am tomorrow; should arrive by around 4pm, and then back to my host family on Sunday, and to training on Monday.
5 comments:
Anna - this is all very exciting to hear! And working with I-TECH ... woo hoo for staying connected to the Pacific Northwest. Take care m´dear.
anna, you could try posting your pictures to flickr and linking to them. also, google has online photo hosting as well here: http://picasaweb.google.com/home. the latter might work best because Google owns both Picasa and Blogger (so it may be easier to link pictures between them). if this doesn't work (or seems unmanageable), let me know, i will set something up for you. i want to see pictures. can you get a digital camera?
Hi Sweets - now that you're in-site, keep us posted on ideas for care packages...what do you love that you can't find there and you miss terribly? Me - I miss YOU terribly! XOXO
Anna: Don't take chances with rabies! We had three shots before we left U.S. because we were not sure we could get the shots in Africa. David and Alice Haines
Anna: Don't take chances with rabies! We had three shots before we left U.S. because we were not sure we could get the shots in Africa. David and Alice Haines
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