Day 3 - Exploring Gondar

Sleep is glorious. :) I got a full 6 hours lol! Way better than the past few days, with all of the travel craziness. In the last post I promised pictures, so here are some pictures of my home for the next 3 weeks:

I have a sitting area in front of 3 massive windows!

Not too shabby :)

A fully functioning bathroom!! I am so thankful :)

View from my window 

View from the balcony right outside my door. I can't believe how beautiful it is! And so green!!

Today has been a great day! I had pancakes for breakfast at the hotel, and they were amazing! Drizzled with chocolate and some sort of honey/syrup I think? So good. :) Then University of Gondar (UoG) sent a car for Dan and I so we could go to the meeting with Nicole, Mustofa, and Reta to plan for the upcoming classes and focus groups. UoG has been so great to us, providing transportation anywhere we've needed to go. After a really productive meeting, Mustofa offered to show us Gondar. The differences between here and the US are astounding. The buildings they are constructing are really beautiful and intricate, but their scaffolding is slightly terrifying. Also, fútbol is very popular here. :)

You could not pay me to climb on that tiny stick scaffolding.

Kids playing fútbol.

We walked to a restaurant called Four Sisters. It was a very beautiful restaurant with amazing food!! To start, they come around the table with warm water in this hollow gourd for you to wash your hands. They then bring fresh bread with a variety of dipping sauces (I even tried the spicy one and liked it!) and some sort of delicious soup. Mustofa ordered an array of traditional dishes for us to try, along with honeyed wine and coffee after the meal. It was a great meal with some wonderful people. :)

The women sitting down was roasting coffee beans, and she brought some to our table. They smelled heavenly! 

Traditional Ethiopian food served on injera (the flat bread) It's a mix of meats, beans, and vegetables.

COFFEE!! :)

We walked around and saw all kinds of shops and food stands. All of the children would shout "photo, photo!" when they saw our cameras/iPhones, so we would stop and take pictures and show it to them. One picture was never enough. They kept wanting you to take pictures of them in different poses and then they wanted to see the pictures. Nicole had also given me a handful of Columbus pens and OSU bookmarks to pass out to the kids. As we were walking, a little boy asked me for something in Amharic (I'm assuming money?). Instead, I gave him a pen. He then started jumping up and down, smiling and shouting "pen! pen!" and I was soon surrounded by kids wanting pens lol. Word travels fast! The kids were all so adorable and so excited about things children in the US would consider to be trivial items. I'm going to have to take more pens/bookmarks with me next time we're walking around. :)

That's all for today! I'm really having a wonderful time, and I'm positive that is going to continue. :)

Much love,
Joslyn :)

P.S. Today's words of encouragement are, "The stars may fall, but God's promises will stand and be fulfilled!" - J.I. Packer. A HUGE thank-you to my dear friend Kristina for giving me these daily slips full of encouragement. :)