So Peter has you up to date so far it seems like.  The first day was really challenging, and completely out of all our comfort zones which in many ways is good.  I'd volunteered to take the beginners thinking I would be able to think of more things to do with them than I would have if they all were several levels higher.  We started the morning inside in one of the other classroom and it was very slow going.  I could really tell how uncomfortable and unused to English they were and though they really did seem eager to learn it was going to be slow and painful for a little while.  I started with some attempted dialogues but their nervousness and inhibition to speak incorrectly was, more than anything else was what was keeping them back.  So after that first painful session ended we had our break and then I took them outside remembering that whatever situation I'm more comfortable outside and thought they might be as well.  Maybe the lack of classroom walls and desks and chalkboards would help them to feel that this was more about chatting -two names some of us came up with previously were organised talking time' and 'happy time'- so I tried to put us all somewhere away from teacher/ student academic connotations and more into, this is a fun workshop that happens to help your English.  And it went much better.  We ended up at the benches around the boulles pitch (I'm not really sure what to call it actually) and played 'never have I ever' which started out really slowly because they couldn't understand my attempt at explaining the rules; but eventually they seemed to get the general jist which made it better.  And it also made fools out of all of us so with that over and done with we were laughing, if a little nervously at least we were laughing.  We then moved onto playing Boulles for a little while.  They explained the rules to me in English and we played completely in English which was good, but also meant I didn't entirely understand what I was doing.  After Boulles we sat back down and I pointed out some of the phrases they had been using while we played, simple repeated phrases and I gave them synonyms for them so they had a wider variety to choose from.  After Boulles we moved onto basketball terminology which disintegrated into basketball and random questions which was fine by me, so long as they talked. 

The afternoon was mainly evaluation and we assigned them some exercises which I knew my group would struggle with, but I wanted them to try.  I was also coming up with a list of possible vocabulary themes so each night they could have a list to learn and then in the morning we would go through them and play a game or a dialogue using the words.  The first one, which I gave them today, is introductory phrases and greetings, both formal and informal.  Then it was dinner with the Abbas and the 'Great Escape' in the evening.  Again I knew most of my group wouldn't be able to follow most of what was going on but luckily this just happened to be one of the films I brought down with me so this morning in our second session after spending the first hour and a half on grammar, we re-watched most of what we'd seen the previous night, this time with me pausing to explain and them sometimes asking questions.  It was good, and gave them a break from grammar.  We had our tea break with them this morning as well instead of with the Abbas which I think works better.  Then lunch, volleyball and more grammar.  We again went through the Present simple and present continuous.  I never realized how hard it is for a native speaker to teach their own language!  If you speak English, you just know it, you know what it grammatically correct by how it sounds, you don't know all the names of the different tenses or the exceptions or why something is written as it is, it just is that way, but then you sit down to try and explain it and you (or at least I) just can't!  I tried though, looking for patterns that show you which tense or conjugation to use where but some of them just make no sense.  Such as 'Now I see what the teacher means'.  Because it uses 'now' it should be in the present continuous, but that would mean conjugating 'see' as 'seeing' and in no way shape or form would that ever make sense!  And I find myself -to my horror- thinking of my french classes from highschool, not only because of the names of the tenses but also because of the looks of frustration I can see on their faces when they don't understand and no way I explain seems to make it clearer for them.  I hated that feeling, when I knew there was a reason, I knew I had it wrong, but I just couldn't seem to understand how to make it right.  It was always the worst feeling in the world, the feeling of total inability to understand or complete anything.  And it's killing me to see it on their faces!  Yet I can't seem to explain it in a way they understand.  I'm thinking of maybe making a little booklet of tenses and their rules for them, so they'll always have them and can read and learn them in their own time when there isn't the pressure of a teacher figure -however much I'm trying not to fit that description- sitting in front of them waiting for them to answer because no matter how patient a teacher is, the fact that they're their waiting, expecting only make sit worse and I hate that I'm now in that position to see their discomfort. 

On to happier thoughts now.  The culture here is amazing!  Everyone we've met is so polite, so hospitable and courteous.  When I went into the Tv room last night for the film, most everyone was already there and all the obvious seats on the couches were taken, then all of a sudden every single on of them stood up and offered me their seat.  All of them.  Peter said they'd done the same thing for him.  I really don't like being the centre of attention, especially when I've done absolutely nothing to deserve it and this was just too much, I swear my face must have looked like a tomato.  And when we went in for tea with them they sat us at a different table and wouldn't hear of us getting our own tea.  After we watched Great Escape, Filmon carried my laptop back to my room for me even though I'd repeatedly said I could carry it and my arms were empty.  The Hagos (There are six of the seminarians named Hagos) I was sitting next to for the film was telling me its just their culture, for every guest and every senior, this is how they act, it's how they show respect,  hospitality and gratitude.  And as much as it may make me ever so slightly uncomfortable I don't want to make them feel that I want them to change for me but at the same time I don't want to just let them always have their way if I'm uncomfortable.  It's a thin line to find, let alone walk. 

But now it's stopped hailing so I think everyone will be outside again soon so I'm going to go!

Em

And outside we went, but not for more sports, we went into town and the three of us got split up into different groups and each had a different tour around town by different people.  It was really great!  Woldesegasi, Hagos and Hagos took me around and we ate cactus!  The little prickly pear fruits of the surrounding cacti (there are so many cacti here it's unbelievable!) There are women standing by the side of the road with buckets full every day and you eat them by the dozen.  I had four I think.  They're good, but kinda weird, almost like a pumpkin and a mango combined and the seeds are hard enough that you can't really bite through them but no one else was spitting them out side I had to try and chew around them which made it interesting. 

After the cacti eating session we wandered through the centre of town, then up one of the streets, turned left and followed it back parallel to how we'd come.  We meandered back past the high school and then back into the Cathedral, seminary compound.  We talked to whole way and they pointed out different things like the richest man in Africa's hotel, different bars, some of the shops and boutiques.  And they kept asking if I was tired, afraid that the elevation might be affecting me.   But it was fine. 

Dinner was the same as it has been every night.  The food is actually alright, better than some of the college food I've had this year, but it is always the same and I think that might get really annoying by the end of the month.  After dinner we finished The Great Escape. I sat next to Abba Thomas and he talked the whole way through it was hilarious, he's worse than I am -and I'm pretty bad. 

This morning it was glorious out, a little overcast but the sun didn't seem to realize that and shone just as brightly.  Our shower has been leaking so that's being fixed which meant I had to get creative to control the frizz which is my hair, but I think it ended up alright.  We went outside to the benches between the basketball and volleyball courts and when asked if they'd rather do more grammar or some vocab they said vocab.  So we paired off and started doing dialogues of meeting people for the first time and asking introductory, small talk questions.  It started a little slow but soon really picked up.  I'd correct them if I noticed something wrong but mainly stayed in the background.  It degenerated into just a question and answer session which I joined in on and they asked me about everything from dad's name to how they could improve the living standards and third world status of Ethiopia. 

Tom had suggested a game the previous night using questions and Boulles so we soon picked that up where the team who won the point could each ask the other team a question.  We went from the rights and wrongs of celibacy to your favourite colour and everything in between.  It was really fantastic and I could really tell that they were enjoying themselves and improving right before my ears.  We didn't quite finish our game before lunch but after tea in their dining room we went right back out and continued.  After we finished the game (and another one after it) we returned to the benches and got out the cards.  They'd taught me a game similar to gin yesterday and we played that with a few alterations.  Every card you discarded, you had to take its first letter (so if it was a six, 's' or a queen, 'q') and think of another word that started with the same letter.  It worked really well and they got so into they'd be saying five or six words for every card.  It really helped for them to recall words they didn't necessarily know they knew, and they know some really good words! 

When we went in for lunch, or rather were waiting just outside to be called for lunch, some of the Abbas were interrogating them about what they'd done this morning -nicely.  And even speaking to the Abbas they were clearer and more confident and calmer about speaking; it was wonderful!  Lunch itself was uneventful, except for we discovered that every Wednesday and Friday is a fast so no meat, which is fine by me.  It was thundering and sprinkling all through sports so we accepted defeat and went inside for the afternoon session where we again played cards because Filmon had been missing in the morning and hadn't gotten to play.  We changed the rules this time though because we were starting to reuse some words (especially 't' and 'f') so now it was the letter after whatever letter was on the card (so for six 't' and for queen 'r') which livened it up again.  Then we went through the vocabulary for tomorrow, directions!  We're going to play a game in the morning where we blindfold one and put a water bottle or something  on the basketball court and then direct him to it. It's another one I stole from Tom, but they've seen his group playing and were excited. I'm thinking I'll add obstacles as well to make it harder, but we'll see. 

Right, they're at the Cathedral, so I'm going to have a nap!

Em

Well the directions game went over REALLY well yesterday!  They're still a little hesitant but they know what they're talking about when they say something.  We played in front of the cathedral since the basketball court was taken and it was much more fun; more room to move around and much more interesting when you're blinfolded than a simple flat surface.  It's also right where everyone can see us though, so we had a large audience. They really really enjoyed it though.  We used my umbrella as the object to be found and hid it all over the place down the stairs, in a tree, in the bushes, over a fence, up the stairs and through a gate, the list was endless.  But the more creative the hiding place, the more creative the directions s it was good. 

For the second session we retired to the benches between the basket and volley ball courts and discussed famous people.  It very quickly degenerated into Bible characters but that was fine because they had a lot to say about them and we spent the entire hour and a half talking which was amazing!  And the improvement is just phenomenal!  Their confidence is so much higher, they're not nearly as afraid, they correct each other and jump in excitedly when they know the answer.  They're friendly and happy and chatty, always asking questions and telling me the word in Tegrinia (local language) that I tell them in English. 

And then after lunch I played boulles with a couple of the Abbas and a Hagos or two which Pete and Tom were playing volleyball and the daily thunderstorm began to brew overhead.  Then about 2 30 we all went inside for afternoon tea -they put even more sugar in their tea than I do in mine!- and upstairs away from the rain one last game of cards and then the telling of our lie stories!  From life stories we moved to amusing childhood stories.  At four Pete, Tom and I went with Ngassi and Big Hagos to Ngassi's cousins house for a coffee ceremony Ngassis had been telling us he would do for us all week.  He found me the second night we were here and excitedly made me promise that he could be first in showing us how a coffee ceremony was done in Ethiopia.  The house was simple but really had all it ever needed.  A window with a curtain, a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, a bed in one corner and another opposite, a coffee table with a couch and four matching armchairs, a tv, a table full of all the cooking implements and a large rug covering most of the cement floor.  His cousin greeted us and sat us down then set out a small tarp and put a little cooking stove on top with and small, long handled pot on the coals.  In the pot she roasted the coffee beans then crushed them and poured them into a long necked pot to which she added water and placed back over the coals.  Ngassi explained that there are three stages to a coffee ceremony, meaning three cups of coffee, each very tiny -the pot wasn't very big.  The first stage is where the coffee is the strongest, then she adds more water to the same beans to produce the second stage, and again for the third stage.  It was the best coffee I'd ever had -and I don't like coffee, but this was good- possibly partly due to the amount of sugar added, but who cares, it was amazing!  They had home roasted popcorn as well and we watched the second half of a very bizarre film about a french army deserter who gets lost in the desert and befriends a leopard, very strange, wouldn't recommend it.  The whole thing took nearly two hours and was probably the best evening we've had so far.  We wandered back to the seminary via a bar for a quick beer before dinner -a pint cost 6 bir which is a rough equivalent to 20p.  The beer was really quite good but I didn't have too much, the elevation I knew would make less count for more.  Though I do think it made me a little tired because I could hardly keep my eyes open during dinner and had to skip the news which seems to be a nightly tradition -one I like- and go straight to bed; at about 8 45... 

This morning we played basketball with adjectives.  Every time they missed a shot they had to give me the synonym, antonym or definition of an adjective we'd learned yesterday.  It went well. We also went over sayings for different occassions like Christmas, and a birth or graduation or death.  Then very nice overly sweetened tea and the second session was spent again playing the directions game, but this time whenever they bumped into someone they were asked and had to answer three questions; one in the past, one in the present and one in the future.  Tenses are one of the things they struggle with most, so it was a good game and again they really liked it.  They're boys, how could they not enjoy blindfolding and directing each other around? Poor Hagos had to climb over the dirt piles and through the trees.  When we ended for lunch I discovered that Peter had been taken to the hospital earlier because he'd been throwing up all morning and then found when Tom didn't show up for lunch that he had the same thing!  They came back and said it was only a minor bug.  They'd given him some pain killers, antibiotics and some rehydration sachets, told him to keep warm and get some sleep.  He'd be better in the morning.  The same went for Tom.  I was sitting there trying to figure out what they'd eaten that I hadn't, and couldn't come up with anything so had to assume I was next.  But so far I'm fine, so I guess I'll just have to be extra careful and be thankful I seem to have a stronger immune system.  Since we were down to only one teacher for the afternoon, we piled into the tv room and watched what claimed to be "Witness for the Prosecution" but ended up being nothing of the kind.  It was a murder mystery, but so far it has little of Agatha Christie's style and most definitely isn't witness for the prosecution.   It generated a little discussion anyway so that's fine.  Both Pete and Tom are resting so that's good and they say they already feel a little better so that's great!

Em