Ethiopia Journal: Days 1 through 3 (December 24-26)

Christmas Eve morning. The gifts were all wrapped. The girls' bags were packed. Our bags were packed. Passports, check. Plane Tickets, check. Embassy Paperwork, check. I was wearing the silver pendant that one of our Tampa Ethiopian friends, T, had ceremoniously presented me at lunch on Monday (a version of the Cross of Lalibela) with the words, "Wear this during your trip and you will have no trouble in Ethiopia. People will recognize this pendant, know that you are connected to Ethiopia and respect you." (how could I not wear it after that?)

We headed over to Cracker Barrel where we met up with lots of family for a hearty breakfast, a hand-off of the girls and lots of hugs and good-byes.

At the send-off breakfast (images courtesy of Big Star Photography): We sent the girls home with Daddy, dropped my car back off at home and loaded our bags into Dad B's Hummer and headed off to the airport--chauffered by Dad B and Hus-B's brother, G.

On our way to the airport (images courtesy of Big Star Photography):

An angel disguised as an elderly African American airport worker met us at the departure drop-off. We made small talk with him as we were unloading our bags about where we were going. He asked if we were missionaries and we explained that we were adopting a little girl. Instead of escorting us to the looooooooong line of people waiting to check in and check luggage, he walked us over to a station that was not being used and weighed our bags. One came in at 58 pounds, the other at 41 pounds. He recommended that we re-distribute some items so as to avoid a $150 fine by Delta, so we did, and ended up with one bag at 49 pounds and one right at 50! He then took our bags, passports and tickets up to the agent at the front of the line and checked us and our bags in with no wait!

At the airport (images courtesy of Big Star Photography):

Our plane left at just after 1 p.m. We had a 2.5 hour flight to New York, followed by a 5 or 6 hour layover and then a 14 hour flight to Dubai. We flew Emirates from New York to Dubai to Addis Ababa and were very pleased with the service. Even the food was good! As soon as we left New York, we started working on setting our body clocks to Ethiopia time. We took a little nap until what would have been morning in Addis, then stayed up and watched movies (The Informant, District 9 and Julie and Julia) and episodes of The Office. It was about 8 p.m. Christmas night when we arrived in Dubai. Since we had a 13 hour, overnight layover in Dubai, we spent the night at a hotel close to the airport. We didn't get to see much of Dubai, but what we did see reminded us somewhat of Las Vegas--everything was shiny, new and over-the-top. Most of the people were dressed in traditional Arab robes and most of the women had their heads covered (and many had everything but their eyes covered). It felt so good to get a hot shower, stretch out in a bed and sleep! We woke up early to catch a shuttle to the airport and check in for our 8:30 a.m., 3 hour flight to Addis Ababa. As our plane took off, we were able to see the Burj Al Arab hotel, the Burj Dubai skyscraper, and the Palm Trilogy of man-made islands. We landed in Addis Ababa at around 11 a.m. on December 26. We got our Visas, and were happy to see that both of our checked bags made it all the way there. As we picked up our bags, we noticed D holding up an "AGCI Family" sign, and he led us over to a few other families whose flights had also arrived that morning. Several of us knew each other from the listserv/blog world, and it was neat to finally meet in person--and funny that some of us already knew so much about each other that it was more like catching up with old friends than meeting new ones. As we walked out of the airport, the weather reminded us of summer in Colorado. Sunny and cool with no humidity. We piled the luggage on top of the van, tipped the many men who had crowded around us to help, and made our way across Addis Ababa to the Union Hotel, our home away from home for the week.

Just arrived at Bole International Airport:

There is nothing quite like a ride through the streets of Addis Ababa. Thousands of street-side stands selling everything from live goats and cows (and other stands offering slaughter/butcher services right there in full view of passers-by), to vegetables, to clothing, to baskets, to shoes to cheap plastic sunglasses. Thousands more people walking--to work, to school, to who-knows-where. It reminded me a lot of Nairobi, but without the fear of being carjacked or robbed. For a big city with so much poverty, the crime rate, particularly the rate of violent crime, is very low. It was impossible not to notice how affectionate Ethiopian people in general were with one another. When walking along together, be it children or adults, they have their arms around one another. Very unusual to see people of the opposite sex walking hand in hand or arm in arm, but very common for same-sex friends to do so. And greeting one another with kisses on the cheeks is customary. Of course there were also lots of people crouched down on the sidewalk sitting behind a handful of odd items offered for sale, begging, sleeping. We saw many, many disabled people sitting along and hobbling down the roadside and lots of frail-looking women doubled over carrying huge bundles of sticks on their backs. Tucked in along the fences and walls were makeshift tents, constructed out of cardboard, scrap metal, tarps--large enough for maybe one or two people to find shelter. Behind the streetside stands and down the narrow cobblestone alleys were acres and acres of rusty tin-roofed shacks, jutting up next to the occasional single-family home surrounded by a wall (usually topped with broken glass and other sharp objects) and gate. The roads were crowded with cars, blue and white taxis and buses, pedestrians, donkeys and cows. No real rules, it seemed--just inch wherever you can inch and try not to get run over or run anyone else over. We even saw 2 guys on a moped with a live cow straddled between them. Crazy! Everywhere we looked things were "under construction". The roads were torn up for installation of a large water main and hundreds of half-built concrete structures were surrounded by scaffolding made of sticks tied together.

Addis Ababa street scenes:

(Photo courtesy of the A Family)

(Photo courtesy of the A Family)

(Photo courtesy of the M Family)

(Photo courtesy of the A Family)

(Photo courtesy of the A Family)

(Photo courtesy of the A Family)

(Photo courtesy of the M Family)

We checked in at the Union, were assigned to Room 103 and I started unpacking and organizing (I can't stand to live out of a suitcase--if I'm going to be somewhere more than 2 days, I must move in!), while Hus-B called T's brother A who had graciously offered to show us around Addis that afternoon.

The Union Hotel:

(Photo courtesy of the M Family)

Our Room:

An "interesting" twist:

Views from the hotel

(Hannah's Hope Orphanage is the brick building toward the top on the right edge of the photo):

A arrived shortly after 3 p.m. and took us for a drive. Most people in Addis Ababa do not own cars, so the fact that A has 4 (a Mercedes, two Peugeots and a Land Rover) made it obvious to us that even though his home and lifestyle may be somewhat modest by American standards, his family was well-to-do by Ethiopian standards. A took us to the home of his wife's sister and introduced us to his family.

Another of our friends, who owns an Ethiopian restaurant in Tampa, had asked us to also check in on his brother, who owns a restaurant in Addis. Apparently something was lost in translation, however, because we never could find the restaurant (which we were sure he told us was called "The Bottom of the Hill"). We laughed until our sides ached as A called everyone he knew on his cell phone and would be quickly chatting away in Amharic and then we would hear "Buttum of Ze Hill". No one knew what he was talking about. A thought that if anyone knew where it might be, it would be his friend G, an Addis taxi driver. We pulled up alongside G's parked taxi and he hopped in the car with us. We also thought that perhaps "Bottom of the Hill" was the location of the restaurant (Addis is built on a hill). After about another half hour of driving around the literal bottom of the hill, we gave up and drove to the "top of the hill" for dinner at a restaurant called "Top View" which overlooked all of Addis. After dinner, we dropped G back off at his taxi and A took us back to The Union. We watched some T.V. ("Ethiopian Idol", news (in Amharic), and a few music videos featuring Ethiopian music and lots of traditional dancing) and then tried to get some sleep before what we knew would be one of the biggest days of our lives--the day we would meet Miss K!