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.

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.

Sunday's Tour of Addis Ababa

Excerpt from Dan's email to his family regarding out trip around Addis
Ababa today!

> We've moved from the fourth to the second floor in order to get
> better hot water pressure. It's actually a nicer room (drapes in
> the bedroom, a better dinner table in the living area, and this
> fridge has a freezer), and they moved our luggage for us this
> morning while we were galavanting around town. Lyn-Dee noticed that
> we had a few US coins on a dresser that I kind of left as a half tip
> and that it was moved down to our room with everything else, so that
> she is feeling a little more trusting of our valuables in the room.
> Honestly, we're both kind of paranoid to be carrying what I would
> assume is a King's Ransom around town (traveler's checks just don't
> work here, and credit cards essentially don't exist). There has
> definitely been notice served about pickpockets all over (the more
> crowded, the worse) but muggings have never been mentioned by the
> hundreds of people that come for adoption, or even the thousands of
> foreigners that visit. The same with hotel burglary; they have a
> security guard and these hotels are on the web and ensure there are
> not inside jobs from staff. We do lock up our luggage with
> everything in them, which would make it easy to whisk away the
> entire set of valuables, I guess:) We are both very aware to secure
> cash with a money pouch underneath layers of clothes. Our cameras,
> and even our lip balm are in our hands in our pockets. We do get
> followed by little children (more on that in a bit) and a lot of
> interested folks watching two tall sort-of caucasians walking around
> (more on that later, as well).
> So tipping here is a bit different. Sparkie did some research and
> learned that it's more like India, it's just not a high percentage
> tip. There is tax on food (not like Oregon, but like California),
> and they do have a charge for service, so maybe that's why tipping
> is so low (about 10-25 cents for a meal. Meals cost between 5 and
> 12 dollars for us so far).
> So I'm going to kind of jump around here today but I'll try to go in
> some chronological fashion as that's how my brain works.
> We were picked up by the travel agency (a listed company by the
> adoption agency) at 9am local, natch. We had a tour guide and a
> driver in a van, something we did not see the rest of the day. All
> vans and buses were full, so we got a lot of looks having two
> 'servants' take just the two of us down the thoroughfares. Our tour
> guide, Yetasoh, got his BA in History specifically to become a tour
> guide. Funnily, he kind of showed how he felt about those 'other
> people who went to tourism college' and didn't get a full BA from
> the university. Yetasoh had a vast English vocabulary and we had a
> decent rapport with him. He was very knowledgeable and we could ask
> questions in any direction. I think he knew that he was going to
> get pushed to some degree when Lyn-Dee's first question was "tell us
> about Ethiopia." My thought to the second half of that question was
> 'in one sentence.' When he asked for something more specific, Lyn-
> Dee wanted to know the dynamics that led to the Civil War with
> Eritrea and I followed with the counterinsurgency of Somalia. He
> tackled the subject matter between what's reported locally here, his
> thoughts, and tried to give us some objective information. Yetasoh
> just came off a 9 day trip around northern Ethiopia with about 25
> Japanese Tourists; they had a separate translator, with English
> being the bridge. We considered a shorter version of this trip, but
> you fly about every other day to get around the country, and it's
> pretty expensive (package plus airfare for two was something like a
> grand or more US).
> So we opened at the national museum. It's nothing like the slick
> setup you see at the Smithsonian or NY Natural History Museums, but
> Ethiopia has some of the best archeological stuff in the world.
> They are very proud of their country and importance they have to the
> beginning of life. A few notable things we picked up while there is
> that the president and prime minister do not share their religious
> beliefs and it's unknown what and how they practice (very different
> for us). Also, the church (Muslim and Orthodox Christian) are of
> course at odds with the concept of evolution, but the government is
> secular so there is quite a display on 'Lucy' and species studies
> around that.
> Continuing on to the church of St. George. This was interesting as
> we had to be handed off to a deacon of the church to conduct the
> tour. So I might ramble, but the area around the church had a couple
> hundred people milling about, with about a dozen or two circling the
> church and kissing various walls, doors, and steps (it was circular
> in architecture). The deacon let us in (shoes off in a church), and
> we were the only ones inside (it is an active church with services
> every day). We were given information on the artwork, structure,
> religion, historical significance of St. George, and some examples
> of the dancing and music during ceremonies. This was followed by a
> short tour of the museum on the same property.
> Part of the tour included the Merkato, which is the largest market
> on the continent of Africa. We'll be visiting with our adoption
> group next week, but for something crazy like 45 minutes. At a
> market that big, there was just no way, so we were happy to include
> a longer time frame (and an extra session) with the tour company to
> see the market. We've been told that if we see something we like,
> to buy it as this is unlike Target or RC Willey; you won't see the
> same thing again. Vendors come and go throughout the days and so
> start the haggling process (so Lyn-Dee says that we are supposed to
> cut in half the initial offer and land about 70 or 80 percent).
> Unfortunately, a major holiday just passed, and it was Sunday, so
> the market was a shell of it's normal craziness. We asked not to
> stop and move on to our break for lunch. We have a few free days
> where we'll hire a driver to take us there.
> Lunch ended up being at a pizza/pasta/steak/burger place. I believe
> this was a bit more upscale as the patrons appeared to have nicer
> and cleaner clothes, and were also more groomed. We had a 'sampler'
> pizza and a 3 bottles of soda for something like 5 or 6 bucks. As
> our lunch break was kind of long, we decided to walk down the block
> and see if there were any shops to check out. Not really, so we
> stopped at a coffee shop called Red Bean that seemed to be kind of
> like a more hip place to hang. Lyn-Dee got to have a latte and I was
> given a chocolate Macchiato on the house in addition to the coke and
> cake we ordered. The cake was fine with me, not so much with Lyn-
> Dee. As a non coffee drinker, that may have been the best drink I'd
> had; Lyn-Dee has a picture of the artistic layout of the drink. I'm
> going to interject here and say that we ran into our tour guides
> while waiting for our coffees to be served; it was still about 35
> minutes until we were to meet. Yesatoh mentioned he had stopped by
> the pizza place to see how we were doing and that they said we had
> headed in the direction of the coffee shop. I asked if he asked
> about which direction the two tall white people went and got a
> pretty positive 'Yes yes.' No surprise we are sore thumbs. Quick
> second interjection, there is a decent percentage of population that
> runs tall. I've seen enough people at eye level or taller and have
> seen several women that would be even with Lyn-Dee and trying out
> for the volleyball teams back home. Not surprisingly there are not
> too many people on the obese side.
> I'm actually forgetting which order the next two are in, but we
> visited another important church and our guide had to shoo a few
> children asking for assistance; they ran well over two blocks to
> catch up to us as they were hanging by the van at a stop light maybe
> three blocks earlier and decided to run us down.
> We visited the Ethiopian Heritage Museum at Addis Ababa University,
> got some interesting information on religion, the cultures of the
> south part of the country, and learned about the history of
> Rastafarianism.
> The last stop was a view of the city. We were bombarded here by
> about 10 children for chocolate or anything. Our guide was only
> mildly successful here, even with the threat of a rock and boot. We
> do plan to give out candy, but there are several problems with
> giving money or items to begging children. I'll only lay out a few
> quickies, but much of the begging is controlled by what I would call
> pimps and the children benefit very little from whatever you give
> them. The other thing is that assistance of that type does nothing
> to help them on a path towards sustaining themselves and brings in
> more begging (if you think of it as an industry, the increased
> supply by us offering money or food brings in more competition of
> people on the demand side). Okay, off my soap box now.
> So returning to the hotel, we owned up. Bill for the day (agreed
> upon while we were in the States) was 58 a person (I won't insult
> Yesatoh or the silent driver with the gratuity here). And I believe
> we may have been pretty tired and on the wrong time zone, so I think
> our afternoon nap might have ran a bit long.
> Please send us the occasional e-mail to let us know what's going on
> with everyone. Love you all.
>
> Dan

At Dulles airport

2 hrs till we begin the last leg of the flight to addis ababa. Not
looking forward to the 16 hours on the plane. But am looking forward
to bring in the same country as our son.

Sent from my iPhone - Lyn-Dee

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