Book Description

Have you ever come home from a long vacation, or even a short weekend away, and been so focused on your new destination that you forgot to unpack? Perhaps it was just a day of shopping, a time of running errands, anything to get you out of the house for a little while, and you came home with heaping shopping bags, filled with groceries or clothes or all sorts of treasures. Well, my time away was 21 months, and I came home in March with just a suitcase and a hiking backpack that was falling apart to show for it. At the time, I did not know how long I would be living out of my suitcase--or how much time it would take to unpack. Well, here I am, in August, five months later, looking around my childhood bedroom at fragments of my suitcase, scattered around the room. It's taken time to unpack. From the physical articles of clothing, to the memories I carry with me from my time in Ethiopia. Some things I unpacked quickly, like food products and coffee and souvenirs I was anxious to hand off to friends and family. Other items have taken a little longer to unpack--the memories of coffee ceremonies, bartering for hand-woven baskets, at the Axum market, letters from my favorite students tied deeply to my heart. Slowly but surely, I have been approaching the end of my unpacking. And that is what I've done here in this book--gradually unpacked my Peace Corps experience for you (in a way that is hopefully in much better shape than my hiking backpack)--and in a way that is both honest and vulnerable, the stories as uplifting as they were humbling for me. This is not the year I was expecting. I don't think it was for anyone. So let me pause and say that sometimes, in the most unexpected of circumstances, we find true beauty. If you had asked me as a high school or university student what my plan was when I graduated, I can assure you I would not have answered with 'live in the desert of northern Ethiopia and teach hormonal teenagers English grammar.' No way.And yet, it was one of the most invigorating, amazing, awe-inspiring experiences of my life. I didn't expect it to, but it knocked my world upside down and taught me the most important parts of my self, my community, and the world I live in. 550 days of living in a foreign country, serving as everything from an English teacher to a coffee maker to a diplomat for the U.S., and I can without a doubt say I am exhausted. It's a good kind of tired, though. It's the kind of muscle-aching, foot-throbbing, belly-bloating tired that you get when you come home from the adventure of a lifetime and run into the arms of those you love most, to receive a never-ending hug. I'm tired, but I am inspired. I spent 550 days of my young adult life wandering in a desert, both physical and emotional, filling my heart and my head with stories, colors, beauty and pain all at the same time. And I hope the chapters on the following pages do it justice. I first made it a goal of mine to write one page every day of my time in Ethiopia. I did not come close, but I still managed to leave with some pretty good content. Only a fraction of my time was spent journaling about the day--the other 94% was spent building relationships, making new friends, teaching high school level English, learning the language of Tigrigna, and dancing my heart out. Still, I flipped through written pages of lists, highlights, joys and sorrows, and narrowed down the list from over 450 blog posts to a little over 200 pages of stories and quips. I hope you enjoy them.