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Wednesday's Adventure in Addis Ababa

Last night we finally caved in and took Tylenol PM and slept from 8 pm
till almost 5 am. And it is currently 8 pm here and we haven't had a
nap. I think we might actually be on ET time now. YEAH.

So, let me begin by saying that Dan and I really did pack light this
trip. We each only took 1/2 a suitcase for all of our clothes for two
weeks. If I had to do it again I would have brought one less donation
for the CHSFS care center in order to have more room for
undergarments. We had bought this traveling type of undergarment that
is supposed to dry in 2 hours...and it may...some place else. But, in
Addis, it doesn't. I will leave this story with the
remark...sometimes it is better to pack too much than to little
because there isn't a kohl's close by.

Today, we went on an incredibly long drive to the Blue Nile Gorge. By
long I mean 11 hours roundtrip. On the way there we stopped at the
Debre Libranos monastery. Today was the celebration of the Day of
Mary, the day Mary was born, and so the monastery was actually open
and monks and the like were doing a prayer service both upstairs in
the church and downstairs in what I would call the prayer room. The
prayer service was an awesome thing to watch and listen to. I only
saw men there and so I felt very out of place but the guide didn't
seem to think it was a problem so I went with the flow. We were told
that the nuns, monks, and practicing religious folk generally wear
three colors, yellow, black and white. The yellow is for HOPE. Hope
that they will soon make it to the afterlife. Black is for something
like nothingness. The don't care about this life because it is
nothing and they are just waiting to get to the afterlife. The white
is for purity. Their soul is pure and they are ready for the
afterlife. This church has been around for what seems like forever
and while it definitely didn't have as pretty mosaic windows as
Trinity and its outside wasn't as pretty as St. George it still was a
terrific church. It had an aura about it that was peaceful.

Afterwards we got back in the van and started driving north.
Immediately after getting out of the city you could see some of the
magnificent landscape Ethiopia has to offer. WOW - it was so
beautiful. The gorge reminded me between a cross of the Yosemite
Valley and a very green and lush grand canyon. We drove for 4 hours
and finally made it to the bottom of the gorge and to the Blue Nile
river, which is the river that leads into the nile river (Egypt).
Just a quick note - the blue nile was very brown and not even in the
slightest blue so the name must come from something else. We went
through lots of small villages with people walking on both sides of
the streets. Our guide, who we find out is really named Gesoth
(spelling still), said that most of thes people were famers and had
trouble making ends meet. I don't know about Dan but I had difficulty
figuring out if the people were walking someplace or if they were just
milling around. We saw lots of young boys, maybe 6 or 7, herding
cattle. It made me wonder what Tadiwos did during his day with his
family. I am not convinced he didn't do some type of work with his mom.

The drive was like going to yosemite - lots of winding steep roads.
When we were about 20 minutes away from the gorge bottom, where we
were supposed to eat lunch, we ran into a problem. The road was
blocked by two huge hauling trucks. At first it was difficult to see
what the problem was but the GETTS travel guide and driver both went
down to assess the situation and it appears that the heaviness of one
truck caused the road to sink and so it jack knifed a bit and couldn't
move. Then the other truck decided it would just go around but the
road wasn't paved in that area and it just kept spinning its wheels.
It took us 30 minutes of waiting for them to finally get one of the
trucks moved and for us to pass. We then ventured across the gorge
using this bridge that was very old. Japan, to build their friendship
with Ethiopia, has built another bridge next to the old one but it
won't be in service for another couple of months. We couldn't take
pictures due to security concerns but the new bridge was very pretty.
Gesoth said that it was the best bridge in Africa. It wasn't very
long, shorter than the carquinez (spelling again) bridge. But, I
still held my breath going over it. After seeing some of the buildings
being built in the city I wasn't completely convinced it was safe. I
looked at Dan and he didn't seem to be having the same thoughts going
through his head so I didn't mention it. We were safe both time we
crossed.

When we stopped for lunch, which was included in the cost of the tour,
we sat near this small waterfall with lots of other Ethiopians who
were taking a lunch break from working on the bridge or something.
Boy, were we stared at. It is hard to eat your lunch when 1) the food
isn't very good 2) people are watching every bite you take. We ate
enough of the food and then took pictures o the waterfall and after
too short of a break we got in the car and headed back. Oh - let me
mention that there was a women in this area who had a business of
serving coffee and tea. She was so efficient and her area was very
clean. I think she was doing okay in her business.

The drive home was 205 KM, which is turns out is about 4 hours.
Luckily about 2 hours into it we got to get out and stretch our legs
and see the Portuguese bridge and a water fall. Access to both was at
this Ethiop-Germany Park hotel that was still being constructed. It
is called Ethio-Germany because a german woman married and ethiopian
man and they are building the hotel. Here we looked at a valley that
goes into the gorge. I could never quite understand the name of the
valley but it was gorgeous. The guide said that the area was not
always so green but from July through October it is very green because
that is rainy season and rainy season. We picked a good time of the
year to visit (like we had any control!). We then hiked further along
the valley to the bridge whic was constructed with the help of the
Portuguese bridge. This is a walking bridge not a driving bridge and
it looked old but very stable. By the time we got to the bridge,
maybe a 10 minute hike in, we had more than 10 followers. The men
were telling me that they were married with kids and that their family
members made these knick knacks they wanted to sell to us. I was very
uncomfortable during the entire walk. I was worried for my safety I
was just irritated that I couldn't enjoy the magnificent view because
I had to be on my guard about the sellers. I shouldn't have been so
bothered because this is just how things are done here in Ethiopia.
People make stuff and try to sell it to everyone, especially the
foreigners. I gave them chocolate when we got back to the cars but I
think they would have appreciated money more.

We then drove another two hours home. AH - I finally got to see some
crazy traffic. It was rush hour and there were cars everywhere. Our
driver did an excellent job maneuvering through everyone, especially
considering we came in off the north west side of Mount Entoto and
needed to get all the way across the city to the south east side where
our hotel is located.

couple of random thoughts -

1) driving an infinite G35 or BMW 3 series to the gorge would have
been SO much fun. while the scenery was beautiful and I am glad we
did it my back is still sore from sitting in the van the entire time.

2) We decided to book another tour on Thursday. I was really happy
about this because checkout is at noon and we have to be at the
airport at 7 and had no plans for the 7 hours between. Plus, I was
concerned that with all the milling around I was going to go stir
crazy wanting to see Lincoln Tadiwos.

3) My thought was wrong - we are still not completely on ET time. We
went to bed around 8:30 on Wednesday night and it is now 2 am on
Thursday and we are both awake. I am sure we are both a little
anxious about the life changing events that are happening in just a
day or so now.

4) There are 5 million people in Addis and about 80 Million in all of
Ethiopia. I think we saw at least 20K of them just on the roads
walking, talking, working, herding animals on our way to the gorge.
We saw lots of kids playing fuzball and ping pong. The little kids
were all so cute playing and working it was both nice to see them
having fun and sad to know that they probably will live their entire
lives in poverty.

I am sure I am missing some details of the trip but at over a page of
typing I am sure you are all tired of reading it. So, I will close
and go pack. Tomorrow night we start staying with the other adoptive
families and on Friday we meet Lincoln Tadiwos. YEAH!

Take Care,
Lyn-Dee

Tuesday in Addis Ababa

Hello from Addis - 

Today was another big holiday in Addis Ababa but this time for the muslim community.  It was the last day of Ramadan.  Alem our taxi driver said that he thought most of the stores would be closed until the afternoon so when we left at 9:00 am we were not sure what exactly the plan was going to be.  We decided to start the journey by going to this non-profit library called Shola Library (or Ethiopia Reads).  The library is supposed to help children learn to read in both amharic and english.  The directions we had were not the best and it took us about an hour of walking up and down the road just to find out that the library was closed because of Ramadan until 3:00 in the afternoon.  We didn't mind walking around because we were in the middle of a gaggle/herd/gigantic parade of people walking in one direction.  It turns out that all of the people were walking back from the last service of Ramadan, which was at sun up.  We were told that the services were held at the Mosque, the arena area (where they also hold Maskal and other holiday celebrations) and one other place.  It was amazing how many people were walking down the streets.  We had a couple of children touch us and you could tell it was because they wanted to be able to say they had touched an "american" or "white person" sometime in their life.  

Afterwards we went to Red Bean and had more coffee.  I got the chocolate Machiatto today and it was good but not as good as the honey latte.  I know better if there is a next time.  I did have this banana cream pie that was SO good.  Probably the best thing I have had while in ET, and yes, I do know that it isn't an Ethiopian traditional type of food.  We bought Alem some coffee too and in exchange he taught us how to say some amharic words that will help us communicate with our son.

After that we went back to the hotel and decided we would tackle shopping in the afternoon since a lot of the shops were still closed because of Ramadan.  I took a 2 hour nap and was a little grouchy when Dan finally woke me up at 3:10.  We said we would meet with Alem again at 3:30 and Dan didn't want to be late.   We started the afternoon off shopping and while Dan and I both wanted to go some place other than were we were yesterday to shop we couldn't really tell Alem a better place so we ended up in the same general vicinity.  We went into shops that we had not seen yesterday but that mostly had the same type of stuff.  I was very happy with everything we bought today even if on a couple of things I could have worked out a better deal.  I was still a little grouchy and the bartering was irritating me and so at the last shop I just paid for the stuff at pretty much the quoted price.  We might get to shop a little tomorrow at Debre Librano, a city we stop in on the way to the blue nile gorge, but if not I am sure we can finish up our shopping when we are with CHSFS.  

Finally, we went to the Top View, a high end restaurant, that is on the top of a mountain and overlooks the city.  I think both Dan and I would have preferred a more traditional Ethiopian restaurant but the view was very pretty and the price was reasonable.  For two cheeseburgers with fries and two cokes we paid $9.50 USD.  We saw lots of americans and non-ethiopians in the restaurant.  The only downfall of the dinner was that we think Alem, who joined us towards the end of dinner, was trying to hit us up for some type of partnership.  It sounded like he wanted us to somehow help him get more driving gigs from americans.  And, while I will definitely tell everyone how much we enjoyed his company and his driving style and helpfulness I don't have time to take on any more jobs.  The downfall wasn't so much that we had to have this conversations as much as after we had it I was ready to go and this was the only restaurant that had ice cream and Dan didn't get to have any.  Sorry Dan.  

About Alem - we found out today that his parents were Ethiopians and he was born in Ethiopia but he lived his entire live in Eritrea.  That is until 4 years ago when because he was Ethiopian he was arrested and detained for 4 months before being deported to Ethiopia.  He said it was very scary because lots of Ethiopian were killed instead of just deported.  He said that he learned how to speak English over the last 4 years.  He has a very good command of the language.

Tomorrow we are going on another tour with Getts Travel and I think Dan and I are both looking forward to it.  There is not a lot to do here besides shop at knick knack stores and eat and so while we are not bored we are definitely a little uneasy.  Dan and I are used to being on the go all the time.  Plus the fact that Lincoln Tadiwos is in this town and we are just hanging out is a little sucky...at least for me. 

We are going to take some Tylenol PM now and hit the sack.  We are determined to get on Ethiopian time today.  

happy tuesday for everyone

As Lyn-Dee is posting much of the same info as I, with only a few
minor differences, I will shorten my narrative and save the redundancy
(hopefully).
Today is the final day of Ramadan, so while looking for a particular
children's library we saw thousands of people returning from services
at their mosques. Not quite awe inspiring, but still moving to see
that many people returning from that singular purpose of celebrating
their faith.
Upon a little break in the afternoon, we realized that it was raining
as we left the building. Hadn't expected that, but then again we're
not checking weather forecasts. We hopped in the cab, conducted a bit
more shopping, was tired of it after about six shops again, and went
to dinner high up on a hill that oversaw much of the city. This was a
higher class restaurant that seemed to cater to the foreigners as
everyone was dressed up and there were two BMW's parked outside:)
Cheeseburgers later, we stopped at the store for a some water and
Dan's requisite soda and called it a night. We'll do some
administrivia (something I picked up from Lyn-Dee) and turn in early
(hopefully) as we have an all day trip to the Blue Nile Gorge.

Sunday's Tour of Addis Ababa

So, I have given up posting to my Mac website.  After about 30 minutes of blogging I tried to post and the system failed..and of course I forgot to save all that writing beforehand.  UGH.  I then decided to just post Dan's thoughts of the day and it still won't work.  I am done.  I have decided just to post my thoughts to this email and then send it to blogger.com (link available on the mac website in the left hand column towards the bottom - sorry, can't remember it right now) .  I will try to include a picture or two with each post but most of them will have to wait until we return.  I am sending this email to my mom to distribute but going forward if everything works right I will just send to my blogspot.

Quicknote about why we are blogging so much.  Aren't we supposed to be enjoying our vacation. I think the answer to this is two fold.  Dan and I like to write our thoughts and feelings down about our trip and we love to be connected to the world by Internet.  The 2nd, probably more important thing, is that we have not yet adjusted to the time here in Ethiopia.  We keep sleeping from about 4 or 5 in the afternoon till 11 pm or so and then are up for the rest of the night and into the next day.  It has been a vicious cycle that we have yet to break but there really isn't that much you can do after 11 pm other than learn amharic, watch movies, and blog.  

On Sunday we went with Gett's Travel on a tour of the city.  It was fantastic.  Our tour guide, Yesatoh (spelling?), has a BA in History from the University of Addis Ababa.  He was very knowledgeable and shared a lot of Ethiopian history with us.  I love history so I will probably add to much information here...please feel free to skip over any of the boring parts.  

About the Tour

1) Museum standards in Ethiopia are nothing like the standards in the US.  On the tour we went to 2 museum's and while the were both very informative and enjoyable the buildings were old the exhibits were old and dusty and you felt like you were in a rinkie dink city visiting the museum not the country's 2 major museums.  The best (most modern exhibit) was on Lucy or her official name "dinknesh".  There was a GREAT exhibit on the different bones that have been found to support our evolution.  it was extremely well written and beautifully done.  It was interesting because even here where all the evidence has been found the church refuses to recognize the obvious.   I found out during this tour that Lucy was named Lucy because the archaeologists were listing to the Beattle's "Lucy in the Sky" when they discovered the remains.  

2) There are three main religions here, Orthodox, Muslim, and Protestant (listed in order of % of people who practice the religion).  The orthodox ethiopian christians appear to be devout in their religion and we saw two different churches that depicted this faith.  The first church was St. George's church.  Ethiopian churches are either circular or rectangular in shape.  St. George's was circular and beautiful.   We were given a private tour of church by one of the deacon's.  It was weird being the only people allowed in the church and hearing the presentation.  In circular churches there are three rings, the outer most ring is where the choir and guests would be during the service.  The next ring was the place for communion and then the inner most circle was for Deacons and Priests.  Circle churches have three entrances (to represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) and clergy uses one entrances, men another, and women the third.  Women never sit near then men because that would lead to too much temptation during worship.  Ethiopians believe that St. George helped lead the Ethiopians to win the last battle again the Italian Occupation in 1941.  St. George is revered here.  

3) The second church we saw was the Trinity Church, which was rectangle in shape.  It looked like a traditional US church (not the churches in the strip malls but the true church buildings).  The women and men are were still separated during service.  At this church they had the tombs (not sure if they were empty or not) of Haile Selassie and his wife.  This church had traditional mosaic windows depicting different aspects of Christianity.  The work was beautiful.  

4) The Merkato is the largest outdoor market in Africa.  However, it is closed on Sundays and so when we went by it was pretty quiet.  This was really the only true disappointing aspect of this trip because I wanted to compare the Merkato to Charminar (in India) but I quickly got over my issues when I realized that I was really to tired to shop and barter anyways.  

General Thoughts

1) If you have time you should google Maskal, "The Finding of the True Cross".  This is a huge holiday in Ethiopia and one that we just missed because it was held on Friday or Saturday evening.  There is a huge festival in the center of downtown that includes about 10,000 people and a bonfire (having to do with the finding of the true cross).  Our guide told us the story but I missed some of the names and timing of events and so I don't want to share misinformation with you.  As I am sure you all know, Dan and I are not really religious people.  However, we want to have Lincoln Tadiwos grow up knowing his culture and roots.  it will be interesting to see how we reconcile celebrating some of the traditional religious holidays and St. George and other Ethiopian Saints with our beliefs.  This is not something Dan and I have discussed in detail but one that we will tackle soon.

2)  Traffic is not at all crazy here.  However, it is also definitely not like the states.  I have only seen 3 traffic signs and there are no dividers in the road for oncoming and giong traffic.  There are also people crossing the street at all times.  Of course, you can also see goats and donkeys in the streets.  But, in comparison to India the traffic is SO tame!  Ethiopians don't honk at each other that much and generally don't drive to crazy.  It is pretty clear that most people walk or take buses around town. Cars and taxies are for the more wealthy (which there are not a huge percentage of the population).  However, I have seen several BMW X5, a Hummer, and a Land Cruiser.  I am not sure why you would need that nice of car in this environment but they do.  Toyota appears to be the biggest supplier of vehicles here and I have yet to see a Honda product.  

3) Fellow Americans - We have seen maybe 10-20 americans since getting of the plane on Saturday.  You would think since we are more than the minority here in this country that we would all band together and be friendly...but NO.  As much as I smile and try to look like I want to start a conversation the non-Ethiopian Caucasian people ignore me.

4) Poverty - The amount of poverty you see on every street is real.  However, it is clear to that there are lots of people who are working for a living and eeking by.  I haven't seen the amount of beggers that I saw in India but it also might be that Ethiopia doesn't have the tourism that India has so begging won't work the same.  Begging only really works when there are people wealthy enough to give out the money.  While we were stopped at this major intersection a kid came to the window and asked for food.  He followed us 2 blocks and was right there when we got out of the car.  At that time we didn't provide him any of the candy that we brought because our tour guide was already shooing him away.  Providing either birr or candy to beggars is a tough decision.  If you do it you are asking for a swarm of people to be instantly following you even when it is clear you are out of giving.  Being swarmed can make a person feel uncomfortable, especially as they are carrying all of the money they have, their passport, and their video camera with them.  But, not giving just makes you feel guilty.  

5) Coffee - After the morning session of our tour was over our tour guide dropped us off at this pizza place for lunch.  He said he was going to return in 2 hours.  not sure what we were supposed to do for 2 hours but even eating slow and waiting for 25 minutes for the bill we only wasted about 1.25 hours.  As a result, Dan and I decided we would walk around outside and see fi there were any shops or things to do.  We only made it about 200 feet when I saw "Red Bean Cafe".  Seriously as a latte and machiatto drinker I was excited to try Ethiopian speciality coffee.  WOW - It was  so good.  Dan who hates coffee was provided a free cup of a chocolate macciatto and I had a Honey Latte.  Both were delicious and we plan on going back on Tuesday.  While we were waiting for our drinks Dan noticed our travel van outside talking to a customer and pointing.  Dan recognizing we were being looked for rushed outside.  He asked our guide if he asked did you see two tall while people walking and he said "yes, yes".  We do stand out like a sore thumb here but really everyone is very nice to us.  I haven't felt like the odd man out too much yet.  But, then again I am pretty naive when it comes to stuff like that and probably wouldn't notice.  

Okay - While I am sure I am missing stuff I think that concludes my thoughts on Sunday's tour of Addis Ababa.  

Monday's Adventures in Addis Ababa

Yesterday while we were touring our luggage was moved from a room on the 4th floor of our guest house to the 2nd because we were told that the lower you get the better the hot water pressure would be.  I liked the view on the 4th floor but hot water and enough pressure that water actually comes out of the nozzle is a must if at all possible.  Because of the lack of water pressure Dan and I didn't really shower from Thursday until today, Monday.  Try not to pass judgement the shower was REALLY cold.  Today, to our sheer delight we got a hot fully pressured shower.  Oh..it was blissful.   The only problem is that they don't have shower curtains or an enclosed shower so there is cold air blowing everywhere and water from the shower is not contained.  We did avoid any broken noggins caused by slipping on the wet tile bathroom...but just barely.

Today we had no official tour plans so we decided to hire Alem, the tax driver who picked us up from the airport, and go around the city some more.  We started the day off buying walking around the piazza and shopping.  We shopped for about hour and hit about 15-20 little shops and spent about $140 dollars.  We bought tons of stuff for LT and friends but really need to spend some time tonight categorizing it so we can see what we still need.  I was pretty tired after just an hour of bartering with the sales people.  I must admit that I like the American style of looking at a price and paying that price not trying to barter.  

After shopping we went to lunch at the Zebra Grill, a non-ethiopian type of restaurant.  Dan had eggs and sausage and I had Beef and french fries.  The french fries were good.  The cost of the meal was about $15 USD and was by far our most expensive meal so far.  

Alem then took us to a music store where we bought some traditional Ethiopian music and some more modern stuff.  The CD's were $2.50 a pop.  Not a bad price if you ask me.  I wanted to get some children's music but they didn't have it at this store.  Alem said he would ask around and see if he found anything.  

Our last stop of the day was to St. Mary's church.  Yesterday, the last stop of the tour was going up to almost the very top of this mountain (entoto mountain) and viewing the city.  It was gorgeous!  The guide told us there was a church at the top of the mountain but that it wasn't part of the tour.  We decided we would visit it on our own today.  Alem said it would be worth it and it was.  The church was circular and looked to be one of the bigger churches of the city.  We were not allowed to go into this church but just walking around it was fun enough.  We also paid $10 to be allowed to visit and film King Menelik (spelling) first home in Addis Ababa.  If I recall correctly, he was actually the first King to move the capital go Addis Ababa.  He built his home at the top of Entoto but then later decided to move closer to the city.  The mountain is very steep and Alem's little car had some difficulty getting to the top and coming down his brakes got overused and we had to stop and let them cool.  The house and accompanying buildings were built over 150 years ago and still were standing strong.  However, they were definitely what americans would considered sub standard living for kings or presidents.  Addis Ababa is about 6K feet above sea level and St. Mary's church is at about 7K.  The air around St. Mary's was fresh and crisp and totally peaceful.  When we walked around one of the kings buildings we were surprised by the view of the backside of the mountain.  It was so green and lush and unoccupied by people and lean-to's.  Just seeing that view made it worth the entrance fee.  

coming down the mountain we passed out candy to lots of children.  It was nice to see them smile but you could tell they weren't quite sure what to do with themselves.  Some of the children tried to trick us and come back for 2nds and 3rds, Other's were a little cautious about taking things from strangers.  

After St. Mary's we came home and slept some more.  We thought we would just take an hour nap but it was more on the side of 6 hours.  Ugh.  We will never get on Ethiopian time at this rate.

So, before I close I want to write one more story.  Remember yesterday I said we were approached by a kid on the streets.  Well, that same kid found us again when we were stopped at the same intersection.  This time we rolled down the window and gave him candy.  He told Alem that he recognized us from yesterday when we were in travel company's van.  You know, I understand that Dan and I stand out like sore thumbs here but I was still very impressed that this little guy recognized us remembered where he saw us.  I am sure he will be on the look out for us for the next several days.

Okay a couple more random thoughts - 1) Alem said that Tadiwos name would be pronounced Ta-Dre-os too.  I think there might be something to when a man pronounce his name versus a woman.  Because the 2 men who have told us how to pronounce it say Ta-Dre-os and all the women say something more along the lines of Ta-day-wos.  Only a couple more days till we find out on our own.

The government is giving away 10,000 condominiums right now.  It is a lottery system and you have to be of a certain poverty level in order to qualify to go into the lottery.  Alem said that he qualified and he should find out in the next couple of days if he was selected.  He said for a 1 bedroom condominium you would have to put $7K Birr down and pay $200 (Dan's remembers 200 and I remember $400) Birr a month for 15 years.  After that he would own the home.  He said it was a great deal and that the government needed to do it in order to help everyone be able to afford a home.  He said right now that he rented a 1 bedroom apartment for $500 a month.  Not sure if I mentioned it before but $1 USD equals about $9.5 Birr.  So, $500 Birr is about $50 USD.  The price we are paying per hour for his service is a great deal at 65 Birr per hour and so after 7 hours of driving us around we paid him 450 Birr is service charge and 120 birr in tip, which totaled about $67 dollars in USD.  Well worth the cost.  

Okay, it is now time to close this post with we are doing great and enjoying the trip.