I've been doing lots of research on Ethiopia the last few weeks, though not as much since I've been in Florida fighting through theme park crowds lately. I found out that Ethiopia is pretty much the birthplace of reggae culture, and that the word Rastafarian is based in the Ethiopian language Amharic. It makes me wonder if the Peace Corps could have put me any place further from my interests. But then I get excited, because I know that I'll be able to take an interest in and understand a culture that has never been in my path, in my line of sight. Maybe it also means that my family will be less likely to understand and empathize when I get back, but that's something that I'll have to prepare to deal with. Reverse-culture shock made me confused and miserable for six months after I got back from Japan, and I'm hoping that experience will help me deal with it in August of 2014.
We've been sent loads of Amharic material that will help us transition. Turns out Amharic, while difficult to learn for English-speakers, is not as difficult as Japanese (officially, nothing is) so that is somewhat of a comfort. The language sounds beautiful, but there are over 200 characters that I'll have to learn. I'm starting today with five, and just learning five characters and 10 words a day until...well probably for a good long time.
My first semester in Japan consisted of 10 weeks of intensive, 5 hours a day of Japanese study. Amharic lessons, as far as I have seen, will be around 4-5 hours a day for about a month, then we'll all have a second language to add to it. So, I'm thinking I'm not going to be very good in either language. At all. But I'm really really really excited to try!
Anyway, mostly positive feelings, some overwhelmed feelings. Departure is coming up really fast, and I still feel like there's so much purchasing and saying goodbye that I have to do yet. Most of it will have to wait until I get back to Michigan on Monday. Until then, I'm going to bug my family by trying to speak in Amharic to them! They have to learn this shit too goddamnit!
:)
