Travel to Ethiopia and Day 1

Travel to Ethiopia and Day 1

Our Travel Day:

Our day started off challenging when our paid reservation for the shuttle to the airport was mysteriously lost.  We ended up taking a taxi and after much haggling getting them to pay for it since they were the ones responsible for booking our reservation.  When in line to get on the airplane, we met another couple who was adopting in Ethiopia who just so happened to be staying at the same place we were.  It was so nice to have someone else going through the same thing just as lost as we were.  The flight was great until we landed in Khartoum for refueling.  A very large Ethiopian woman (I had no idea those words could go hand in hand...large and Ethiopian) voiced her deep concern to me that we were landing in Khartoum.  Apparently there is much political unrest and a missing president and genocide, etc.  I prayed much and before we knew it we were in Ethiopia.  We had to wait for over 2 hours to get through the visa and immigration process.  Lots of pushing and shoving!  Our guest house picked us and our new adoption friends up at the airport (our new friends lost one of their pieces of luggage...another long wait).  We arrived at our guest house at 10:30pm and they had dinner for us...cold noodles and some sauce.  All of the meals have a certain spice called berr berr or something...I took a pepto bismol.  We unpacked, tired to take a shower (no water, the power was out) and went to bed.  Immediately mosquitoes were buzzing around us...we sprayed bug spray all over but trying to sleep was near impossible.  Then “it” started, the Muslim mosque chanting at 4:40 am and the wild dogs singing along.  UNFORTUNATELY my rainmaker broke while we were in Amsterdam...my lifesaver!  Major bummer.  Our guest house is behind a tall tin fence and barbed wire and has a gate with a man standing on watch.  They assure us this is all unnecessary....The men working at the guest house are VERY sweet and very protective of us.  One man, Akki, asked us right away if we were born again?  We said yes and he said he was too.  He said most Christians in Ethiopia are orthodox.  He had MWS playing in the car, very cute!


Day 1 – In Addis Ababa

We went to church with a couple doing some mission work here.  It was called International Evangelical Church and lots of missionaries go there and people all over the world.  It was awesome!  We loved singing VERY loudly to drown out all of that Mosque Muslim chanting and praying.  While we were there, a MASSIVE downpour occurred.  I could barely hear the pastor.  I thought maybe we should evacuate but no one there even batted an eyelid.  I sat next to an Ethiopian man who asked what brought us to Ethiopia, I told him we were adopting and he asked if we would adopt him also.  This was the third man who asked us this since coming.  Very sweet.  Many have a deep desire to see “America.”  After church we were bombarded with kids selling gum.  Lots of kids on the streets EVERYWHERE standing there mostly or shining shoes or begging.  Lots of moms holding babies coming up to the van asking for money to feed their baby.  So hard to see.  We are trying to go to a place today that sells meal tickets you can hand out to kids since you are not supposed to support the begging.  In front of our guest house there are always random goats, 3 legged donkeys and lots of cows (not to mention cats and dogs).  We went shopping and got our whole family Ethiopian outfits hoping to do a picture when we get home....Shona?:)  A few families at our guest house received their kids today which was super/emotional and draining to watch!  We are excited to meet our son!