My first weekend here!

My first weekend here was so busy!!! It was so much fun! So Friday night was spent swimming, typing posts for my blog, and emailing everyone! So busy! But good of course!

So Saturday:

I woke up around 8 (which is super late I know! It was so bad!) It worked out though because Millie and I decided we would make our own breakfast that morning! We went shopping for a few items earlier in the week and couldn't wait for Saturday morning to come so we could cook for ourselves! Everything tasted great:) We made oatmeal! It was delicious! We also had bananas, bread, fresh milk that Tigist gave us,and peanut butter! (Not the American kind with all the sugar and whatnot added. Pure 100% peanut Peanut Butter!)

Oatmeal with cut up bananas in it!
And part of my banana!

Only the best!

After breakfast, we decided to relax for a couple hours until noon. At that time, Millie and I have to give Ricardo a tour of the nearby grocery stores in Addis that he could go if he ever needed or wanted anything to buy. He seemed like he liked that very much! In the first grocery store we went into, he immediately bought a couple food product necessities. Very good:) Ricardo seemed very fascinated in Addis. I'm kind of intimidated when I'm around him though... Because he's from Mexico, his main language is Spanish, and the people from the Genebank know that I'm taking Spanish in high school, so they said him and I could probably talk a lot! Uhh.... negatory... I mean yes I am in Spanish. Yes I can speak it, but I only know the basics... There are still so many words I don't know yet, and I can hear it and read it way easier than speak it! So a lot of pressure on me! But that's good for me:) Maybe I'll get better over summer! How cool would that be?! :)

After showing Ricardo around, the 3 of us went back to the Zebu to eat lunch. It's always soooo good:) Everyone comes there to eat! It's always very busy which is great! When we were finished with lunch, Ricardo said he had to get back to his room to unpack and get everything settled in, so Millie and I decided to go swimming again! The water was so great again and it was SO HOT outside! It felt so good! We swam for over 2 hours! We were so exhausted when we were done. Despite that, I needed to run, so I changed into my running clothes and was walking out the door when Millie ran out of her hostel and said Tigist wanted to have some tea and samosas with us! Looks like no running for me! (Darn...) So I ran back inside, changed my clothes, and Millie and I headed over the her office to meet her. Samosas are soooooooo delicious! We've only had the ones with lentils, but there are also ones with meat in them. Definitely one of my favorite foods here! We were done with our "tea date" around 6:15, and it doesn't get dark until around 7ish, so I decided I needed to go for a run... Woo.... After that, I was totally worn out! About an hour walking around Addis, over 2 hours swimming, and then a run! All in one day! It was definitely time for bed. I got in bed before 9 PM! Probably a new record!

So Sunday:

This was a jam-action-packed day! So much in such little time! First, Tigist drove Millie and me to the International Evangelist Church. It is such a beautiful church. There was even a little garden area in the middle of it! So pretty! Also, it was a whole new church experience for me. Since I'm Catholic, this service was totally different from what I'm used to but it was so cool. Seeing everyone there worshiping and getting so into the songs. It was amazing and really got to me. (In a good way of course.) I was totally moved by this new experience. Tigist wanted Millie and I to experience in the bible study groups that occur after church, so we went and it was very cool too. Hearing other people's and cultures' different interpretations of God and religion and unity of the church was so interesting. I can't wait till next week again! After church, Tigist took us to a pizza place. It was so delicious! It was called Chicken Hut! Strange name right? You wouldn't think they serve pizza right? Wrong! It was one of the best pizzas I've ever had too! The best thing is they also have a Chicken Hut in New York City! So whenever I have a huge craving for delicious pizza, I know where to go! :)

Half tuna and half chicken with black olives
Yummmm

Coke in a bottle! Very good!

It was getting close to 2, so Tigist said we needed to hurry back so we wouldn't miss our site seeing tour of Addis! Millie and I were both extremely excited for this to come! We couldn't wait! On our site seeing, a cab driver (whom Dr. Hanson scheduled to take us) drove us to the very top of one of the mountains, and from there, you could see the entire city of Addis. It was an amazing sight. I've never seen anything more amazing than that.

Me posing in front
On top of the world!

On top of the city of Addis!

We also went to the Taitus Memorial Museum & Palace, but we weren't alowed to take any pictures of that. It was very fascinating though. There were all sorts of historical things of past rulers of Ethiopia and many many artifacts from the Christian Orthodox. It was all very interesting to see. Right next to that was the actual palace itself. We were allowed to take pictures here, so I made sure to take plenty of these!

The whole front view

How people pray, they kneel down, kiss
the ground, and pray

The bell tower

 Our next site was to the National Museum of Ethiopia! We were a little rushed because it was getting ready to close, but we still had about an hour to look inside. It was so amazing! It had everything in it from the history of Ethiopia! It even had "Lucy!" (The 3.18 million year old skeleton found in Ethiopia) It was very cool. Just for Mr. Tegeler, I took a picture of her! Here's to you coach!

Front of the National Museum of Ethiopia

No caption needed:)

Lucy's skeleton

Anddddd our last stop was the market! There are so many people around! Both buying and selling! There was barely any room to move! Also, our cab driver bought us all a cooked ear of corn! It was delicious!

Part of the market and how busy it is

This part is usually all opened up
with many venders

The cooked corn

Millie enjoying her delicious corn:)

It was such a great first weekend here and I can't wait for the other ones to come! Everything is so great here and work tomorrow is going to be even better! (I think?) Dr. Hanson said that hopefully the end of the week we should be able to plant some fields... If we get the rain we're supposed to get. Everyone says the rains are a few weeks late this year, so that's very strange... (Iowa, can you please send your rain over here?) Despite that, everything is going great!