Four

Immediately after this post I will start using my blog to document my training! Yes, it's crazy to think I only have four full months to train for my upcoming half-marathon in September. Ah I am so excited. The sun is out, the weather is great, and I'm ready to rock and roll.

But first, my experience with traditional Ethiopian cuisine.

Last week I had goban with a steamy cup of chai tea. Boiled barley mixed with corn, goban has a consistency similar to oatmeal. My host explained that it is a typical dish eaten before Easter, symbolic of the Last Supper when Jesus and his disciples shared a simple dinner of bread and wine. It was rather plain so we added some berbere, an Ethiopian spice mixture, to kick things up a notch. I can't say I was a fan, but the chai tea was delicious.

And of course a pre-Easter snack merits a post-Easter feast. Today during tutoring I was welcomed to an overwhelming array of food that included injera, lamb, lamb stomach, chicken, and curry, all prepared with a traditional Ethiopian flair. It reminded me of Indian cuisine and similarly, I was encouraged to eat everything with my hands. MY HANDS! I know this is usual in many cultures, but I hadn't eaten a complete meal using only my hands until tonight. Hence, I wasn't able to take a picture because of my messy fingers! It's a shame because all the food was delicious and looked amazing, especially the lamb stomach. It had an interesting gamy texture and a slight crunch. Overall, it was quite a splendid dinner with my part-time adopted Ethiopian family. I definitely did more learning than teaching tonight :)

Clausto and other phobias

Sometimes when I can't sleep I secure my comforter around my entire body, including my head, and breath really, really deeply. I convince myself that the carbon dioxide from my exhales would eventually cause me light-headedness, which would in turn allow me to fall into an effortless although suffocating sleep.

And then I remember I have a slight phobia of the dark and rage around under my covers, gasping for air and frantically searching the dark room for any monsters and creepy crawlers. The excitement and concern usually wears me out and then I end up asleep anyway. 

The end.

Live and learn

I'm usually quite frugal with money. I can be honest about that. I like to save my earnings and always think carefully before purchasing anything that falls under the category of leisure. Lately though, my perspective on such matters has shifted. I'm merely a young adult and what little life I've lived seems cheated somehow by this incessant plague of an idea that money is meant to be kept.

Nonsense says the new me. 

Money is round, circular, cyclical. It comes and goes and since that's its natural pattern, I might as well spend my hard-earned bacon on, well, bacon. What's life without the things that make it worth living? I'm all about good food, good company, and good times.

Spirit

My ESL mentee, Eden, is the personification of positivity. Her spirit is so bright, and her attitude is simply amazing. It's been a few weeks since we've started our English lessons, and today she finally opened up about her life before America. Imagine, years and years of doing things one way and now having to start all over. That's how she explained it to me. She said she feels "born again."

There is always life before and life after. That's what makes living in the present moment so exciting. You never know where you're destined to go in the future or how your past has led to your current state. But if you just go with the flow and accept that you're exactly where you're suppose to be, everything will somehow work themselves out. It's in the cards.

World Sick