Welcome to Bingham!

It's been a week since I arrived at Bingham Academy in Addis Ababa and I think I have been settling in quite nicely. I arrived last Saturday morning and each day has flown by pretty quickly. I share a second floor apartment at Bingham with two teachers, LauraKay and Kippen. This is Kippen's first year here and LauraKay is approaching 2 years. They both actually taught through CCTECC like I am doing, so it is really nice to have people who were in my position not too long ago.

We are in the middle of the city and our property is surrounded by a wall and there are guards at the entrance to get in and out. The property is a lot bigger than I expected since there many apartments, as well as the school for Pre-K through 12th grade. There is a gym and sports fields and playgrounds as well as many pretty grassy areas on the property. The part of the country that I am in is not being effected by the drought and rainy season just ended, so the compound is really green.

The main building and front office

One flag for each nation represented at Bingham. 

A lot of the teachers and families live on the campus and even more work there; I am continuing to meet new people each day. The school has devotions each morning and also provides lunch to the teachers so I am getting to know a lot of people during these times. I have been invited for dinner at a few homes and take each opportunity I can to do spend time with the people at Bingham. I could write an entire post (I probably will soon) about my student teaching experience so far. I am in KG1 (Pre-K equivalent) and my cooperating teacher, Chris, is from Britian and she has been teaching for over 30 years. She is fantastic and I am so excited about all that I am learning from her.

My first Ethiopian meal (although I was told it was the equivalent to school pizza haha)

I have not been out in to Addis too much and some of the teachers say it is easy to forget what it is like outside of the school if you aren't careful. Addis Ababa is the capitol of Ethiopia and is in the middle of the mountains so it is generally cooler than other parts of the country. Also because it is in the mountains the altitude is a lot different than I am use to, so sometimes I get a little bit dizzy and when I am walking uphill or running I get out of breath more quickly. I have had a few opportunities to get off of the campus and there are people everywhere. There are many little shops nearby and the driving is crazy..The roundabouts are the scariest for me because cars come at al directions and people often walk really close to the cars as you are driving! It is quite the experience.

The neighborhood view from my porch.

My first juice with LauraKay (Banana, Pineapple, Guava, and Mango).

The veggie stand where normally go to.

The first day I was here we had the middle school girls over to watch "Princess Diaries". We also did just dance and painted nails. I had the opportunity to visit a house church and had dinner with everyone; this week I am visiting an international church. On Wednesday I went to a bible study with some of the people on Campus. Getting juice and coffee is also really cheap so people often go out in the afternoons for that. I have spent the evening at a few people's houses and today I will visit the Bazaar for the first time and at some point this weekend we will get to carve pumpkins with some of the kids on campus.

And the Journey Begins...

I am sitting in the London Heathrow airport reflecting on the journey that has gotten me to this point. Technically I did not begin my trip towards Ethiopia until yesterday evening at 8:15 or rather 4:30 when I left for the airport. But in reality this process has taken me almost an entire year (longer if you consider what God had to do in my heart first). This time last year, I was already working on my application for student teaching and I had just found out about the CCTECC program that would be allowing me to go to Ethiopia. 

Next I need to get the approval of my school to apply for going abroad. After that my application was sent to CCTECC and they began to go through the process of accepting my application. Once they accepted it they sent it to my choice schools and those schools would go through the same process to decide if I would be a good fit to student teach there. All of this took a matter of weeks and happened much more quickly than I thought, but once this happened it was only December. Then in April we had are CCTECC orientation, but honestly it did not feel real. It felt so far away, as if a dream I had and not something that would actually take place. 

However, the fall approached everything came on rather suddenly. I was getting shots, applying for my visa, student teaching, doing homework, and still babysitting. Even as all of this was happening it still didn't feel like reality. But through it all I can see how God's hand was moving and working even down until today. Getting my visa turned out to be the most complicated part of the process. I originally applied for the visa 30 days in advance, but due to some complications my application was sent back and I had to start the whole process over. My visa and passport weren't actually returned to me until yesterday!! About 4 hours before I had to leave for the airport it all arrived in the mail. It was nothing short of a miracle and despite my worries, once again God proved to me how His hand is working in my individual life. 

After my Visa arrived it started to hit me (but not completely) that I was actually going to Ethiopia! My mom took me to the airport and when I arrived at check in, once again I was reminded of God's presence. But this time it wasn't just about His provision, but about Him caring about the little trivial details of my life. Before leaving for the airport I had realized that my layover in London was more than long enough for me to go exploring for awhile. But I also knew that I had to pay for all of my checked-in baggage so I was planning on only checking in one bag and I would have to carry my duffle bag and my backpack everywhere. It made going downtown seem a little unrealistic, but I knew that it was not that important for me to see London (although, of course, I really wanted to). But after I arrived at the airport I learned that for my flight I was actually receiving not one, but two free checked in bags! Now I only needed to worry about my backpack and I was reminded that God also cares about the little things such as having a fun afternoon and a new cultural experience!

Being able to go into London was so distracting to me that I could barely continue processing that I would shortly be heading to Africa. So this morning after arriving at the airport I headed to the underground. With the assistance of some very helpful workers I figured out how to get a day pass and exchange my money and I took the tube down to Green Park. There I spent a few hours walking around two of the royal Gardens, visiting Buckingham Palace, a few memorials, and some shops. I headed back to the airport into time to grab a nap and I still have an hour or so before I board my final flight. After waking up from my nap and talking to a friend on facetime, reality finally hit. I will be spending the next 7 weeks in Ethiopia!! It is finally real..and in the middle of the airport I began to tear up a little. 

I cannot even imagine what I will experience, who I will meet, and how God will change me and use me in Ethiopia. I remember how much my time in Costa Rica impacted me when I was 19 and as I was sitting in the airport I knew that I was leaving someone behind. I won't be the same person when I get back. And that's not a bad thing, but can be a little scary and also exciting. I know that I could easily go through life not being challenged or changed (something that I fell into during college-getting content with complacency). But I want each encounter and experience from a trip into London, to talking to someone on the plane, to my time in Ethiopia to help me become what God desires me to be. As I finish writing, the plane for Ethiopia has just started to board and I am ready to continue this journey!! 

Life Before I leave

Even though it is hard to believe that soon I will be in Africa, at first it was kind of hard to picture what my life and student teaching would be like before leaving for Ethiopia. Especially when I found out that I would need to find a new place to live about 3 weeks before school was starting. When I first knew I needed a new place I completely panicked and it took me a few hours before I calmed down enough to give it over to God. But as usual I had no reason to worry because He always has my back. I had so many loving people praying for me and a few different families that offered for me to stay with them. In the end it worked out for me to stay with the Soniers, a family that I nannied for after school over the last two years and over this past summer as well. 

It was definitely going to be different than living in my own full apartment over the garage, but as I was praying I realized it might be a blessing in disguise. While I loved living on my own I am at a stage in my life where I was feeling lonely a lot of the time and God also knew that I needed an example of a loving family in my life. I have a bedroom in between the boys and share a bathroom with them, I actually really love it! It's like having 2 really little brothers (7 and 9 years old). My favorite is when they come into my room and jump up on the bed to read with me or talk to me. Kathy and Michael have also been so kind and helpful as I prepare to leave for Ethiopia. It has also been really convenient living right behind Eastern and only 20ish minutes from my student teaching placement.

On an adventure with my boys

I was actually pretty nervous when I first found out I would be teaching fourth grade. I had requested first or second, not because I didn't feel comfortable with that age but more because I am not near as knowledgable on fourth grade topics or cirriculum. But so far it has turned out to be a wonderful experience. My cooperating teacher has great experience and has been such a wonderful encouragement and mentor. The class has 23 students including 10 ELL kids and I have even had thfe opportunity to use some of my Spanish. I love teaching them and working with them and it will be very hard when it is time to leave them.

I have also been teaching Sunday school since June at the church I have been attending and the kids completely have my heart. I taught 6 and up for most of the summer, but just recently some of the older ones have left since we now have a youth leader intern. Now I am teaching just 6-8 year olds and will probably have a hard time saying goodbye to them as well! Each week we share our highs and lows, play a game, read a story about another country and find it on the map, pray for countries around the world, learn about Jesus, and have art and response time. These kids are reminding me what it should be like to be in awe of the world Jesus has created and to have unrelentless faith in our Father. 

The last few months have been such a learning and growing experience...and a reminder that I don't need to leave home for God to do big things in my life.