thirteen months of sunshine

kids at the school

 So I've been home from Ethiopia for basically a week now, and decided it's probably time to make a semi-blog post about the trip.

I say 'semi-blog post' because the only real reason I haven't yet posted about the trip is because every time I start to, I get overwhelmed with everything that happened on the trip, and can't think straight enough to form a cohesive, readable post. So I figured if I post a *semi-blog post* post, mostly pictures with captions, that would be do-able. So we'll see. If all else fails, enjoy the photos. Writing is not my forte. Maybe that's why I enjoy photography so much? It captures my scattered thoughts without having me formulate sentences? Anyway! Onto the Ethiopia photos!
p.s. it's going to be a condensed version - I have nearly... 2k photos from the entire trip. Plus a hundred or so pics/videos on my iphone... 

even though this photo is technically not very great(blurry, underexposed), I feel like it basically encompasses the reactions a bus of a bunch of white kids driving through Ethiopia received 

it's pretty to heartbreaking once you start noticing all the kids without shoes... 

this baby was incredibly content with being carried about on this girls back... and the girl didn't even act like it was burdensome 

so if you want to make friends with ethiopian children here's a way to do it:
 Take their picture and show it to them. Simple. You'll soon have a gathering of about 15 kids huddled around you giggling.

as seen in this photo

and this one

note his soccer ball 

At first the older boys liked to act like they weren't entertained by the photos, but after seeing themselves they were laughing, and asking me to take their photos

This is Yabez, and his little friend. She talked so quietly that I never did learn her name because I just could make out what she was saying. Yabez is sooo ornery, and his little friend is super sweet and shy. Yabez is Ephram's, the school's driver, son. He was there last time and Ephram told us he was excited that we were coming back. He basically followed us around the entire time. 

Mimi, and Bethlehem.
Mimi was at the school last time around, and she remembered us but was MUCH more shy this time. She would barely let me take her photo. Bethlehem is Yabez's little sibling. 

Taken from the bus ride to Wodo Genet, the Hot Springs. AKA our tourist day 

"Sugar! Sugar! Sugar! You! You! You!"
taken from the bus. That's sugar cane, and he really wanted me to buy some 

Bus ride back to Durame. 

women carrying.. something. i have no idea. haha 

Sheshemane. (I think)

There has been some serious flooding this year, and as we were driving though it was basically like the town was in crisis mode, trying to build dams to protect their homes

Yoseph,one of the students kids.
This kid... He is so funny. So many stories involving him. Thanks to Chase, he now knows how to hum the melody to Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance'.
Thanks to Katie, he has an awakened insatiable sweet tooth. Whenever he saw us, he would run up and yell "Carmello! Carmello!"

yoseph having some snot issues 

Yoseph likes National Geographic. Mostly the ads though... He really liked the Datsun ad in the National Geographic 1967 issue.  He looked at it for like 5 minutes jabbering in amharic or whatever language he was speaking

Yabez and his buddy 

yabez goofing around and his friend posing for me 

Yabez's friend with a peppermind and Yoseph eating kolo  

Again... The shoes thing... everybody needs to go to Toms.com and buy shoes so that these little kids don't have to walk around barefooted. 

Oh. The title of this post: 'Thirteen Months of Sunshine'. I'm not bad at math, Ethiopia is just on a different calendar system. They have thirteen, instead of twelve, months in a year. Therefor if you are in Ethiopia, it is only 2003. Perhaps that's why the world hasn't ended yet?