A brief note

Life in Ethiopia has been good thus far. I haven't had much internet time, and I don't have a lot right now.  here is the quick 5 cent update.  Language class is going well, I can almost read the crazy script with 230+ characters. Other trainings have been interesting, completely boring, and everything in between.  Ethiopia is the most dangerous country in the world to drive in.  The public transportation is one of the most scarey and uncomfortable experiences available.  My site (where I will spend the next 2 years in after training is over) is Leku.  its about 20 km from Hawassa one of the larger cities in Ethiopia.  It has no mountains.  I am not happy about this, but will make the best of it. It is very green, and has lots of organic coffee, which makes me happy.  My counterpart is young and motivated, only about a year out of University.  We get along just smashingly. He makes my site much more bearable.  The weather here is nice, not to hot, sunny most days.  It is the dry season, and the cool part of it.  We'll see if i still like the weather when it rains everyday.  My new address is as follows:
Wayne Ciullo
PO Box 64
Sidama, Leku
Ethiopia

II just wanted to give everyone a quick update to let you know I am alive and well.  I have been in Addis Ababa for 2 full days.  It reminds me of other big cities in developing countries that I have visited.  It smells a bit peculiar, and there are tons of half finished sky scrapers all over the place.  The plane ride over here was long but as enjoyable as a plane ride could be.  They even served wine and after dinner drinks complimentary.   I went for a run today, and apparently they don't like short shorts much.  I got a lot of really strange looks, and one guy even cheered me on a bit.  There are also tons of guys in blue camo with AK's walking around.  An interesting cultural fact involves the men in Ethiopia.  It common practice for men to hold hands in public, fondle each others facial hair, and even rest a hand on each others inner thigh.  Apparently its completely platonic. It better be, becuase Homosexuality is outright illegal, and being discovered can lead to beatings and jail time. Got to go do some yoga, but here are some addresses you might want in case a letter or care package is in my future. Don't forget to write "Air Mail" on all packages and letters.

Letters:

Wayne Ciullo
P.O. Box 7788
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Packages:

Wayne Ciullo
US Peace Corps
P.O. Box 7788
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Jitters.......

Its 2 am on a nondescript night in Maine, and I am still conscious for some indeterminable reason.  That might be a lie.  I know exactly why I am still awake.  In less than a week I will get on a plane and fly far far away, to the most foreign of foreign lands; Ethiopia.  I'll be spending the next 2.25 years there as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  My job title (one of the longest and most important sounding that I have ever held) is "Conservation and Natural Resource Management Specialist", whatever that means.  For me it means that all I know about what i'll be doing with the Peace Corps, and where i'll be doing it is that it will have something to do with natural resources, and it will be somewhere in Ethiopia.

On top of the uncertainty regarding my entire life for the next few years, I will have to learn an incredibly difficult language, and live in a culture as different from mine as chocolate is different from nori. The great part is also that I get to live in a culture that is as different from mine as house cats are from wolves.  I am tired, and this post has taken far too much brain power to write.