life update

New Contact
On of this week¹s highlights: We got a mailing address! So, that is exciting. I have no idea how expensive it is to send mail to Ethiopia, and I have no idea how long it takes to get to us, but either way, the option is now available. If you are interested, here it is:
Jessica Russell
PO BOX 54617 (Piazza)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, East Africa

Weekend adventures
The local international church holds a bazaar every few weeks, and the monthly Addis guide said it was planned for Saturday, unfortunately when we arrived we found out the guide was incorrect. So! Kate and Jhood (Jessica Merriam) decided to get a pedicure while I read upstairs at a coffee shop. I was reading this provocative book by Garry Wills called "What Jesus Meant" and this older man, Michael, started asking me about it. It was such a divine appointment! Even though I was only on pg 2, I informed him that the author goes through the Gospels and discusses the radical actions and words of Christ. Michael and I continued to talk about life and self-knowledge and education and the importance of a balanced life for 45 minutes. He spent most of his adult like in London, so the language barrier was not a problem. Turns out he has teenage niece, Yeshi, who is learning English, so hopefully we will hang out later this week. He also has a really good photographer friend who lived in California for a while, and is now back in Addis. I hope to meet him and talk to him about a few photography ideas. What a sweet meeting!

Then, later that evening for our weekly house dinner, we ventured to Top View AKA the nicest restaurant in Addis. The food was delicious and decently priced. I got a steak with veggies and it was under 5 USD...which is a bit pricey here, but not too bad! Then we went to a Reggae club...unfortunately the band who was supposed to play never showed up, but I enjoyed learning to dance reggae style with a few new Ethiopian friends.

Case of the Mondays
Last Monday marked the beginning of my 3rd week at the orphanage, and I am finally starting to find me niche. I try to take a small group from the Montessori everyday and practice colors and small English words. This works half of the time. For whatever reason, the Montessori was particularly WILD one Monday. There was so much screaming and crying and fighting...I thought I hit a breaking point in my time here. Then, I went to get the teachers some tea, and one of the precious KG kids ran into me, spilling a whole pot of hot tea all over my body. As I walked back up to the classroom, soaking wet from hot tea, one of my kids was soaking my teaching materials in water. God is definitely teaching me patience. When I returned to the Montessori room, this one boy, Alias, got really angry with me for playing with Habtamo (who is one of the CUTEST KIDS EVER) and he bit my arm. Ha, then, a few minutes later, the same little girl who peed all over the floor of Thursday repeated her routine. Ohh my! Hahaha. What a day full of surprises.

GOOD NEWS
So, I spoke with Sister Maria, who is the go-to person for everything, about a project idea. Because there are so many short-term volunteers who come into the Montessori, very few of the kids are really KNOWN by adults. I learned from Jeff McSwann that your name is the most precious word in any language, but so few people know these kid¹s names. SO! I asked if I could take pictures (which, mind you, is not allowed) of each child, posting them on the back wall of the classroom, with each child¹s name in blue and pink (all of the kids get their head shaved, so sometimes its really hard to tell which gender the kids is). She agreed! I am so pleased!

Tuesday I took a sick day (haha, and spent 6 hours of that day getting to and back from the doctors...I am feeling better now) and then Wednesday and Thursday I captured images of these precious children. I look forward to editing and finding a place to print these sweet faces in the classroom. I am so thankful for this opportunity. Hopefully, if the folks at Mother Teresa's enjoy the finished product, I will be able do more photography work there.

Tar Heels in Addis
This week there have been an absurd number of UNC encounters. On the busride home from work there was a man sitting across from me sporting a CAROLINA sweatshirt. I quickly showed him my UNC rain jacket, showing him how we matched. He probably bought the sweater second hand since he didn't know what "Carolina" meant, but it was still pretty cool. Then we invited Abraham, one of Lyston's good friends, to lunch. He told us there was a girl from America staying with his family, and that he would bring her to lunch. Turns out the girl is Kristen Ivy, a girl who I lead Young Life with at UNC. CRAZINESS. As I walked home that afternoon I was stopped by a guy who noticed my "Chapel Hill - Young Life in the park" tshirt. Turns he graduated from UNC in 1998 and helped start YL at Durham Academy. So wild. He and his wife and baby live in Addis now...IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. So wild! It is a very small world.