Religion

There were quite a few mosques and churches.  The churches looked to me (a remarkably unreligious person) a lot more like the mosques than I was expecting.  Some of the Orthodox Christians were praying loudly over loudspeakers at assorted times of day. Until someone corrected me, I had assumed they were Muslims praying.

I also saw religious services taking place out in an open area under some trees.

Because of my short stay, I did not have the opportunity to participate in any religious services.   I would recommend that everyone, even if you are not normally religious, seek out a service to attend.

  

Signs

Many signs in Addis were in both English and Amharic.  Of course, the further from Addis we were, the less English there was.  I wish I had taken more photos of the signs.

This sign was just on the South side of Addis.

I’m pretty sure all of the green road signs had the city names written in Roman letters (English).

  

Notice the ditch/gulley bridge on the bottom right.

This was outside the prison in the Durame area. I have no idea what it says. Knowing my luck it probably says, “any persons photographing government installations, property or signage will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  Don’t even think about posting this on the Internet.”

Vehicle Emissions, Dust

The amount of vehicle exhaust in Addis almost overwhelmed me on a few occasions.  I did notice myself getting a headache when we were stuck in traffic and the clouds of exhaust surrounded us.  I think the mountains surrounding the city may prevent more efficient dissipation of pollution as well.

Outside the city, the air pollution was minimal.  Certainly, we were able to visually see the emissions from the vehicle, but the bigger factor was the road dust.  (Rainy Season had not started yet.) At some points, it did get bad enough that we had to roll up the windows.  I was able to turn a Wet Wipe completely brown when I wiped the dust off my face.  When I washed my hair, the first round of shampoo rinsed out grayish-brown.   Because of the suds color, I actually had to check to see if the shampoo started out purple.  (It started out pale green.)  Second washing was a lighter gray-brown sudsing.  Third washing was back to white suds.

I would definitely take the dust over the pollution, though.

However, part of my job is Environmental Management AND I live next to a State Park in a small town away from heavy industry.  So, I freely admit I am a snob about air pollution.

Rain

While I was there, it only rained 2 times that I recall.  One time was a pretty heavy downpour as we were driving back to Addis.  I don’t think it lasted for more than 20 minutes.  It was quite amazing to see sheets of water gushing down hills and roads. 

After seeing the voracity of the rain, the erosion  problems became much more understandable.  The rain did clear the air a lot, though!  I really appreciated that.

The only other time was a light rain, barely greater than a mist as we were walking to the Goodbye Ceremony.

Rainy Season starts in June.  I wonder just how different things are depending on whether you are there before, during or after rainy season.

Random Bits-n-Pieces

This entry is for little interesting bits…not in any order. 

GREENHOUSES:

A couple times I saw HUGE greenhouse complexes.  One was so enormous I could not see the end of the buildings.  The greenhouses I saw were used to raise flowers for export.  I don’t know which kind, though.

LICENSE PLATES: 

 

The license plates on the vehicles are color coded with either blue, black, or green registration numbers. Maybe there are more colors, but I don’t know. The color indicates if it is a regular vehicle, commercial vehicle, NGO or diplomat.  With the diplomatic vehicles, the diplomat’s country is identified by the first numbers on the vehicle.  So, theoretically, everyone would know a U.S. diplomatic vehicle by the license plates (no flags or magnetized door-signs with Bush’s face required!).

VEHICLE DRIVING:

They drive on the right side of the road (mostly).  All the vehicles I saw were manual transmission.  I didn’t see any American-style semi-trucks.  But, there were a lot of the commercial straight trucks/flatbeds.  Not infrequently, I saw a person sitting on top of the load while it was driving (sometimes at 45+ mph).

SCAFFOLDING:

There were a lot of buildings under construction.  Most appeared to be primarily concrete-based. The scaffolding used was rough-hewn sticks/logs.

DONKEYS:

Donkeys were everywhere. They seemed much better behaved and trained than any American donkey I’ve come across. They carried everything!  There were specially built harness/carriers that hauled specific items, anything from water jugs to big rocks.

I’ve lived and traveled in Africa.  I was pretty cocky about having seen everything (goats on the bus roof, chickens in a gunny sack, toddlers sticking hands down my shirt looking for a hit of milk), but even my eyes bugged out when I saw the donkey-bale.  The donkeys were completely loaded with straw walking down the street.  The only thing I could see was the head and the bottom 6 inches of its front legs.  (Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture from the front side.) It seriously looked like the straw (or maybe it was grass) went completely around the donkey.

We also saw 2 donkeys loaded up with goods jogging down the street without a person in sight.  Of course, I did a double-take and my head literally whipped around to see if that’s what I was really seeing.  Were they donkeys on the lam, looking for a new gig? When I asked where the people were, Elsae laughed and said the donkey knows how to get home!  I asked, “How?”  He said, “They just know.”

WOOD FOR SALE:

Outside of Addis, there were a lot of people I saw selling wood.  There were often piles of eucalyptus on the side of the road to be used for firewood.  There is a special hand signal the vendors (usually boys standing by the side of the road) use that means, “Hey. Stop here.  I have too much wood.  You need to buy from me.”  I thought they were just trying to hitchhike.

There were also piles of eucalyptus wood that seemed to be intended for home construction.

GRAVES:

While we were driving outside of Addis, periodically we saw small collections of above ground coffins/headstones, like a sarcophagus.  We did see a funeral procession with the coffin strapped to the top of the vehicle and 50+ people singing, wailing and praying while they walked along with the vehicle as they headed to the gravesite.

TREE CLIMBERS:

This person was climbing the tree to trim off limbs that were near power lines. 

And, yes, the two men on the bottom of the photo were laughing at us because we stopped to take a picture.  But hey!  One of my travelmates is a professional tree climber.  We needed the photo.

COFFEE TEA:

The leaves from the coffee plant were dried and crumbled up to make a tea.  So, the next time someone asks me, “Coffee, Tea or Milk?” I can answer, “Yes!”

What about the 19 month olds?

My son was 19 months old when I picked him up.  He had been at one of the care centers for the previous 4 months.  Some specifics on him at that time:

1. He was sort of potty trained. If he was sat on a potty chair, he usually responded.  However, he also went when he wasn’t sitting on the potty chair.
2. He weighed 26 pounds.  He was snug in the size 3 diapers.  The diapers sort of presented a challenge because to be tight they had to go under his pot belly.  But, then they hung a little loose on the legs (not good for loose stools!).  If I strapped the diaper over his belly, it slid down anyway.  Size 4 works much better.
3. He drank out of a regular cup.  But, he had spills when he was over-eager.  The cheap sippy cups and sports bottles (like bicycle water bottles) worked very well.  I really like the sports bottles because they closed and because I could also drink out of them without looking a nutter.  They were also handy for traveling. The fancier sippy cups with the flanges and inserts and whatever else were hard for him to figure out and the liquid didn’t flow fast enough even after he did.
4. He had a size 5-wide foot (but was wearing a size 7 shoe).  He walks much better with his a size 5 shoe on.  Sandals were a great idea because they are able to be form-fitted and are more forgiving when they aren’t exactly the right size.
5. Most of the 18 month old clothes were just right or snug.  The footy 18 month jammies were too small.  The 2T clothes worked well. Keep in mind, he was probably the chunkiest kid there.  Or, as I hear in America, “Oooh.  He’s solid.”
6. He refused (and still refuses) to wear a hat.
7. He was walking by himself, climbing steps with no problem and putting on his own shoes.
8. He took/takes a 2+ hour nap and sleeps through the night.
9. I used plastic bibs (with the catch pocket on the bottom) because of the messy eating.  They were handy to rinse off when I was done.  He’s quite a pro at using the injera to scoop up the wat (or, the American version:  using a tortilla to scoop up the taco meat).

 

Trip South - Travel Arrangements

I had decided to visit my son’s family as soon as I knew it was a possibility.  I mentioned it to Jan via email before I left and I told Asnake on Monday morning when I had the standard meeting with him.

On Tuesday, one of the other families told me the arrangements had been made.  The four families that were picking up children that week would all be traveling to Hossana and beyond to visit the families.  They decided to split us into 2 groups because of the final destination (family locations).  He told me the trip would cost us 1000 birr each and to be ready at 8am to go.  All of this was relayed to me by another parent so I was a little wary of it really happening.

On Wednesday morning shortly before 8:00am, the vehicles showed up at the guesthouse.  (The family that was staying at the Ghion met us at the guesthouse).  They brought a Toyota pickup truck (with backseat) and a Toyota Land Cruiser. I went with another mom in the Land Cruiser with our driver, Lekneh.After dropping off a child at the care center (and changing money…because I forgot to do so the previous day), we gassed up.  The other driver asked for an “advance payment” of 500 birr to pay for the gas, which we gave.  The rest was due upon return.  However, when we gassed up again in Hossana, we paid 500 birr again (1000 out of 2000 birr total at that point).

We paid the balance when we were returned to the Guesthouse on Thursday evening. 

Lekneh told me the company he worked for is called Tadesse Car Rental.   For anyone needing a driver, I would recommend them.  You can find contact information on the page for Tadesse Car Rental.

Trip South - Our Driver

One of the most important lessons I learned (but not quite soon enough) was to exploit the knowledge of the people around you.  On the way South, I sat in the backseat with the other Mom.  One of us should’ve sat in the front seat.  Two reasons:  better views and easier conversation.

Our driver, Lekeneh, was a bit hesitant to speak at first.  I guess us obnoxious Americans can be intimidating.  However, he was so great about answering every question we asked, pulling over everytime we wanted to take a photo and apologizing for the rough road.

We had a great time in the evening, see the Travel - Evening Activities post for more info on that.  So,  by the second day we were much more familiar with each other and friendlier.  We completely took advantage of his services by making him the videographer while I photographed.

He told us a lot of stories, too.  He used to be a lorry-driver, long-haul to Djibouti.  When he started telling us about how some of the drivers would chew chat to keep them awake and then demonstrated the effect it had on them, I about bust a gut.  It was even funnier for the next 5 km as I repeatedly tried to get a photo of him re-demonstrating and re-demonstrating the CHAT FACE.  My camera was on the red-eye setting so it kept double flashing and missing the face, plus it was messed up because it was sensing the bright light outside his window.  Stinkin’ technology!  Apparently, he couldn’t hold the CHAT FACE pose because of the potholes and donkeys he had to watch out for.  Visualize real life Pole Position.  Quite possibly, my very unladylike laughing snorts may have been distracting him as well.

1. Not good enough.  Looks too normal.
2. Better, but too humorous.
3. What’s up with the squinty eyes?
4. Nope.  Just a smilin’ profile.  Did you give up trying or what?
5. Better, but I can’t see your bug out eyes.
6. Way off.  Looks like a hitman.

   7. THERE YOU GO!  WE HAVE CHAT FACE!!

OK, this may not seem funny to you, but try 5 days of not sleeping right and a possible concussion from hitting your head on the truck ceiling (courtesy of an unexpected pothole) and you will also find this absolutely hillarious!!

Note to Lekeneh’s boss (and other future passengers):  He doesn’t use CHAT.  He was just demonstrating the face for us!!

Note to others:  CHAT is a plant that you can chew (like Skoal) that affects you like amphetamines might.  Rumor also says that it boosts male fertility.

Lekeneh took us out to the craft/souvenir shops when we returned to Addis and bartered for us.  And, he carried our bags.  (Hello?!!  American husbands, pay attention here!  He carried our bags… willingly… without us asking first!)  If Marta hadn’t called around 5pm on Thursday to remind us that we had to be to the Crown Hotel in a short while, I’m pretty sure our adventure would only have gotten more interesting.

I am quite sure that we were his favorite passengers EVER!  I simply must believe that because my ego would be crushed to think that everybody gets this kind of service.

Post script: I warned Lekeneh that I posted his chat face on the Internet. He has agreed to demonstrate chat face to any future passengers upon their request. So, if you use Tadesse car rental and get Lekeneh as a driver, make sure you hold him to that promise!!  Contact info can be found on the Tadesse Car Rental page.

Biggest Regret

Hindsight is 20/20. 

I should have brought my 5 year old son on the trip with me.  (Excuse me, 5 1/2 year old son.  If you have a child this age, you KNOW why the 1/2 is important!)

I should have had a lot more faith in him, his intelligence and his emotional capacity than I did.

A little background: 

He is my biological son.  His father (my ex-H) is African (not Ethiopian, from a Southern African country).  He has grown up knowing about his relatives in Africa his whole life, but has never met them.  He asks very intelligent questions about Africa and likes to understand the differences.  I lived in Swaziland, but his Dad is from a different country so he wants to know how they are different but still all Africa.  He is extremely proud every time I go to one of his classes to talk about Swaziland. We all (Me, him, his Dad and older half-brother) live in a mostly white community in the Midwest. 

When debating whether to take him or not, a few things were the main factors.

• Cost.  Looking back now, this was a really dumb reason.  An extra $1200 in the whole scheme of things wouldn’t really have mattered much.
• Fear for his Reaction/Self-Evaluation.  He has not been exposed to a lot of black people in his life on a regular basis.  Having not been to Ethiopia before, I could only form an opinion based on what other people have said/written.  I was very afraid that he would see a destitute country of begging, extreme poverty, and sickness that he would characterize as the way African people (his people) are.  I didn’t want him to associate his heritage with negative or depressing feelings/emotions.  Having seen and experienced Ethiopia for myself, I realize this should not have been a major consideration at all.
• Travel/logistics in Ethiopia. I didn’t know the travel condition in-country, the accommodations, the ability to move about with a child, etc.   I was concerned about him toughing out less than ideal conditions.  Also shouldn’t have been a major consideration.

One of the biggest issues for him is trying to get a handle on why his brother’s family can no longer take care of him and why adoption resulted.  The explanation of “they are too poor” to feed, care for him is basically incomprehensible to him.  I really wish he could understand the difference between real poverty and his likely concept of being poor (no money to buy a toy every time we go to the store). 

As a side note, we went swimming the other day with his friend.  His friend asked if we could go to McDonald’s afterwards.  I said no because I didn’t bring any money for that.  The friend started whining.  My son jumped in and said, “Stop it.  My mom doesn’t go to her job now.  She doesn’t got any money.”  {I’m on unpaid FMLA leave at this point.}  Initially, I was quite proud of him.  Then I started to get worried that he might be thinking we would become poor if I spent all our money at McDonald’s and he would have to be placed for adoption. 

I think if he could have seen the conditions, he would understand more.  And, I think it would have increased his empathy for others and his appreciation for what he has.  There are so many positive things I saw, including the hardworking, loving nature of so many people that could have ballooned the pride he has in his African heritage.

Also, my impression of Ethiopia was not one of devastating poverty.  There were certainly opportunities to see sights that showed poverty and sickness, but I don’t think it was pervasive like some people make it out to be.  Of course, I lived in the bush of Swaziland for 2.5 years, so I may have a different perspective.

The in-country travel was not that bad.  I think the whole idea of kids going somewhere in a vehicle without their seatbelts on (and me allowing it to happen) may have set his whole view of the world off kilter, but other than that he would do fine.  The agency was very accommodating about getting us where we needed/wanted to be and I don’t think the addition of a 5 year old would have affected this.  However, he is a flexible child.  He is very low maintenance.  He likes camping and hiking.  I think he would’ve seen the potholes and crazy driving as an adventure.  I don’t think he would’ve cared if we had to wait a long time at the embassy as long as he had other kids to play with.

I think if he had been there, the transition for my new son would’ve been even smoother.  However, things are going very well.  There is so much mutual adoration between them.  (See photo documentation below.) The older one looks out for the little one like a mother hen and always refers to him as, “my baby brother.”  The younger one copies EVERYTHING the older one does.  The older one doesn’t even mind…even when his friends are over.  The friends have been given very firm instructions about what is or is not OK to do around or to HIS baby brother.

Honestly, reflecting back, the only thing that would concern me about him traveling with me is that I KNOW he would’ve been extremely concerned about the kids that were still at the orphanage when we left.  I don’t know if I would really be able to assure him that they do have families coming to get them soon (and, NO, we can’t take them home with us and just have their Mom and Dad pick them up at our house).

This is really the only major thing that I regret or wish I had done differently, but it is a BIG ONE. (I also wish I had taken my new son with me to visit his family, but that doesn’t weigh quite as heavily on me.)

Once this adoption stuff is paid off, we will keep living frugally so we can save up money for ALL of us to go back to Ethiopia.

They are like velcro brothers!

Swimming. Guess who’s the best boat tower around?

Laughing in bed instead of sleeping.

If one brushes, the other will.

The 2006 Strawberry King (and his helper elf).

The best stroller pusher around.

Showing off/bragging about his new brother at summer school.

Swinging together.

The best thing about having a brother?  A hiney softer than a pillow (apparently).

Trip South - Meeting the Family

The majority of this story is extremely personal.  However, there are a few points I'd like to make that may help others to have the best experience possible.

It was big deal in the community for us to arrive.  Imagine how much chaos some white people driving up in a Land Cruiser can cause in a small town not frequented by tourists.  Consequently, everyone wanted to be there and around us.  At one point, we entered into a fenced area and they actually had to gate out people.  Still, there were a lot of people present that, based on the info I had, did not seem to be relevant to our situation.  Of course, they managed to be in nearly every photo and every scene of the video.

Also, I had not really planned on how I was going to get the kind of video and photos that I wanted.  I just handed my equipment over to the other mom.  She did a great job based on me telling her nothing.  However, I would recommend that you discuss ahead of time with others that may be helping you out a general overview of what you are hoping for.  I had also left the other mom in charge of all the AV equipment.  Clearly she couldn't do both.  By the second day/family, we had figured out to take advantage of the kindness of our driver aka videographer extraordinaire (Kind of embarrassing that of all the video that was taken, his videoing was far superior to mine!).

In hindsight, I really wish I had brought my son with us.  I know his family was hoping to see him again. We could've had the opportunity to see him interacting with each of us.  I could've had photos of him with his family for future reference for him.  The reason for not taking him was the long journey.  Yes, I think it would've been rough on him but kids are more resillient than we give them credit for.  I don't think it would've interfered with bonding or traumatized him.  Even if it had, it would've only been a minor step backward.  And, seeing how well he's doing now, it's hard to imagine it being of any lasting consequence.  I don't know if I would feel the same way if he were 2-4 years old, though. 

A lot of things went well, too.  I was able to say most of what I wanted to say.  I gave his family a partially filled album with photos of our family, home, school, etc. The empty slots are for the photos they will receive from us in the future.  (I hoped they viewed this as a guarantee that they would continue to be a part of our boy's life.)  I also gave them an inexpensive locket with his photo in it (to keep him close to the heart at all times).  I think these tokens were appreciated. 

Trip South - Motivation

As soon as I learned that my child-to-be had a known family, I decided I wanted to visit with them.

Although I clearly wanted to learn more about his background so that I could convey it to him in the future, my main motivation was for his family.

It is absolutely incomprehensible to me the emotional and physical situation they must've been in to reach the point that they needed to even consider adoption.  I can't imagine how much faith they would need to trust that everything would turn out OK and he would end up with a family that loves him and wants as much for him as they do.  In light of this, I felt the absolute least I could do was to meet them to hopefully bring a little solace to their hearts.  I wanted them to see for themselves that I am a good person who will do my very best by their/our child.

I don't know if I was effective at reaching my goal, but I hope so.

Crown Hotel - Post Party

I wrote an entry detailing the post-Crown Hotel activities.  After re-reading it several times and trying to fix it to convey the true atmosphere and camaraderie of the evening, I simply couldn’t do it.   If I do ever refine my literary skills to the level of Last Comic Standing, I will give it another go.

So a simple summary of the evening.  Tesfaye, the guesthouse families and one of the other visitors at the guesthouse gathered in the common area of the guesthouse.  It started out as just reviewing/looking at the digital photos I had taken.  One of the reviewers, not to be named, spent an inordinately long time admiring a photo of himself and his very nice teeth.  That basically instigated some teasing/joking that just snowballed from there.  (You only tease the people you like, right?) 

I had trouble catching my breath a couple times and my bladder was pulsing so hard I was sure I was going to pee my pants.  Considering how much baby/toddler urine I’d had on me the previous 5 days, I figured no one would notice.  At one point, I could actually feel my abdominal muscles cramping from laughing so hard. Wow!  If that’s all I have to do to get 6-pack abs, I’ll sign up for the program!

The aforementioned guy is handsome, does have nice teeth and was an awfully good sport about everything! 

Goodbye Ceremony at the School

On Friday afternoon, we headed to the school for the goodbye ceremony for the kids that were leaving.  Our families chose to get gussied up in the Ethiopian clothes we had purchased.   However, they did present us with gifts of traditional outfits for the children (in case the parents hadn't bought them).  The one they gave my son was better than the one I had bought for him, in my opinion.  They also gave me back my son's photo album at that time.

My son in the gardens of the school.

After the children were roused from their naps, the ceremony began.  The kids sang songs.  Then the girls sang songs.  Then the boys sang songs.  Then there was a lot of praying for the children, their families, the future and I don't know what else since it was in Amharic.  However, the nanny leading the prayers was very fervent with her words.  The children shouted out "Amen" periodically, sometimes even before they should have.

They presented the kids with a cut-out heart with kind words from the staff and the names of the children there at the time.  Some of the kids had even pressed their fingerprints next to their names.

Then we had the opportunity to speak.  S, the dad, started.  To sum it up, he made me cry.   Hey, S!  Thanks a lot.  My opportunity to try out the Ice Princess persona was shot thanks to you!!   (At least I wasn't the only one weeping!!!)  I was third to speak.  I honestly don't remember what I said except to thank everyone for loving the children so much, but I did kiss each of the kids individually.  Of course, I lost track of where I started and ended up doubling up on some of them.

 Then we had cake and orange drink or Fanta.  I took a lot of photos, especially of my son (the boy who did NOT want to pose) with the nannies.

By far, the toughest part of the whole experience was seeing the sadness and silent tears of a pre-schooler who was one of the departing kids. The child clearly understood what was going on.  My heart was breaking for the child, the child's close friends at the orphanage and the child's new family.

This girl (see below) was kissing my boy when he started to get upset.  She was such a sweet child all of the time.  Anytime another child started to cry, if a younger one fell over, someone needed help with shoes, she was there right away with her kisses and kindness.  I don't think you could write a character like her in a storybook because no one would believe that a child could be so giving and loving all of the time.

Language

Amharic 

I didn't learn much of the language before I went.  My computer's CD drive was busted so I couldn't play the CD I had bought on learning Amharic.  Since then, my computer has been fixed and I tried out the CD (Talk Now).  It was a waste of money.  I'm sure there are other Learn at Home programs that are better.

I tried to learn by reading, but that had limited success. So, basically, by the end of the trip my vocabulary consisted of (spelling is a phonetic guesstimate):

• Enat-Mom
• Abbat-Dad
• Shinto/Shintobait-toilet
• Amesegunallo - Thank You
• Awa or uhyah (with eyebrows raised up) - Yes
• Maquina - car
• Ferengi - white person
• Selam - greeting for hello
• Chow/Ciao - bye
• Dehna-I'm fine.
• Shy  - tea
• Ache (Kembatinya) - Mommy
• Abba (Kembatinya) - Father 

I don't know if those are even the right words.  Those are just the ones that I was saying. 

I truly hated not having a better vocabulary than that.  I felt like such an ugly American when a lovely mom and her baby came up to me with a huge smile and started talking to me.  All I could do was look at her like an idiot and keep repeating, "I don't know.  Sorry.  I don't speak Amharic.  Sorry."

I did find myself slipping in Spanish and siSwati words accidentally.  Apparently, my brain thought if I used any kind of foreign words, the Ethiopians might understand me.  FYI to myself:  Spanish and siSwati are not the same as Amharic!! J

I am sure next time I go my vocabulary will be much better!

English

To help people understand me speaking, I slipped into my "Tishela" mode.  Tishela is siSwati for teacher. I used to teach chemistry, physics and math to Swazi students.  For the most part, all of their other teachers spoke English with a British or South African accent.  Therefore, my American accent, word slurring, and Midwest vernacular was hard for them.  I learned if I was going to be an effective Tishela, they had to understand my words before I could get them to understand electromagnetism.  To do so, I had to

• slow down my speech
  • I didn't slow it to the point of insulting, but there was a clear difference between how I spoke to them as compared to how I spoke to the other Americans.
  • Dragging out words was not the answer. It is kind of akin to talking louder if someone doesn't understand you.  It just makes you look like a dorky umlungu (aka Ferengi).  "Whaaaaaat iiiiiiis thaaaaaat?"
• separate words (but not syllables)
  • They learned English in words, not syllables.  Therefore, separating a word into syllables didn't help because they started to listen for the syllable as a word.  As an example, "What. Is. That. Bill. Ding?"  didn't make sense because they didn't see me pointing at a bill and they didn't know what a ding is.
• avoid not real words like gonna, wanna, or ow-uh-no (I don't know)
• explain American words (vs British words) or just suck it up and use the British word if I didn't have the time for a lesson
  • lorry vs. semi
  • boot vs. trunk
  • rubber vs. eraser
• rephrase
  • if a sentence structure became too complicated, I restated it with simpler sentences or used alternative vocabulary words

Tishela-speak really helped out in Ethiopia.  Someone asked me why I was easier to understand than another person since we were both from the same part of the US and presumably had the same accent.  The answer?  I spoke with Tishela-English!

Trip South - Hossana Care Center

As part of our trip, we stopped at the agency’s Care Center in Hossana.  This was the meeting point to pick up our translators.  It also gave us the opportunity to see where our children had stayed temporarily.

The center was not as nice as the one in Addis, though I hadn’t expected it to be.  However, I certainly think it was more than acceptable for its purposes and maintained with care.   The toilet accommodations may be a little bit uncomfortable for the new parents, but I’d take them over a bush!  The nannies were just as nice.  And, once the kids were able to see themselves in the digital images of my camera, they were just as friendly and eager to strike a pose as the ones in Addis.

The compound is relatively compact but very vibrantly decorated inside and out, both with flowers and with paint.

In the corner, you can sort of see the cots some of the kids were resting on. I know these cots (like the kind used at daycares) were on the list of requested donations.

Just outside the main entrance there were head shot photos of lots of children.  I’m guessing they were the kids who have passed through this facility on to their way to their new families. 

Trip South - Homestead

We were fortunate enough to be very graciously invited into the home of a family living in the area we visited.  The photos are from that homestead and the surrounding neighborhood.

There were a few main types of buildings that I noticed.  The round and rectangular huts seemed to be made from a stick frame with eucalyptus planking and mudding to insulate the cracks.  There were also quite a few cement buildings.  I also noticed that quite a few houses had decorative painting or script on the houses.  Usually the script was a phrase like “Praise God’s Blessings” or something similar to bode good fortune on the home and family.

This family was working with wheat when we arrived.

The false banana root was stored in very deep pits in the ground.  One pit looked to be about 4 feet deep. It could be uncovered, dug up and cooked at a later date.

I think this was used as an irrigation pond for their many plants.  The bucket was tied onto a long nylon strap.

The outside of the shintobait (aka toilet).

 

The inside of the toilet.  See the darker opening in the back right side of the logs?  That’s the opening.

This was a pot for water storage.  I basically took the photo because I liked the composition, especially with play of light and shadow. 

(Who am I kidding?  I don’t know squat about photography and photo composition.  I just took about 900 photos, deleted 200 because they were so blurry or dark and, for the rest, mostly lucked into a shot.) 

Really Nice Teeth

I noticed, as a generalization, Ethiopians have very nice teeth.  Some of them have some decay but, for the most part, the teeth are nice and straight.  Whoopdeedoo, right?   Well, as a person who spent 4 years in braces and had 2 surgeries to correct congenital issues with my teeth, I do say WHOOPDEEDOO! 

What I don't get is if you have such nice teeth, why don't you show them off?!!!  I can't even count how many times I had to insist that people smile for me.  I know, I know.  Smiling for the camera is such an American thing, don't jam American values on people, but…it makes my heart so much happier to see photos of people smiling.

So here are some examples of the first photo next to the second photo.  Can you see why I'm the obnoxious American insisting they smile?

 

 

At one point, to tease several people that I had to repeatedly prompt to smile, I quickly mugged a serious face for 0.8 seconds for a photo I was posing for.  R, who was taking the photo, just happened to snap the shutter with my serious face…much to the delight of the onlookers!

 

Trip South - Views

This is the best view/scenic shot I could get while in Addis.

Once I got out of Addis, I couldn't stop taking photos.  It just kept getting more and more beautiful.  I can't even imagine how much better it will look after the rainy season when the vegetation is even more lush.

I have no idea where these were taken.  Somewhere between Addis and Shinshicho.

The one above is looking out towards Durame, I believe.

Trip South - Fauna

This is a bit of a teaser title.  Below you will see most of the animals I saw. All were quite common.  I think besides these, I saw a bunny, dogs, donkeys and one large exotic bird.  Of course, our trip was not intended to be a safari so I wasn't disappointed in this matter at all.

Souvenir/Craft Shopping

I didn't do a lot of this since I already have a basement and bathroom full of crafts.

The clay pots I got on the side of the road on the way back from our Trip South were by far my most savvy acquisitions.  They costed 5 birr each. I was a bit surprised they both made it back to America unharmed.

I also acquired a lot of clothing to outfit my boys until they reach 16 years old and a dress for myself.  I also am having a custom-made long-sleeve shirt done for me.  The best place for good quality, reasonably priced male/gender neutral clothing, in my opinion, is at Africa Leprosy Rehabilitation and Training Center (ALERT) in Addis.  At ALERT, you are also able to see the clients weaving the cloth and stitching the embroidered patterns.

At the ALERT shop, I also bought some wooden animals, a goat hair animal, an animal plaque/wall hanging, a huge blanket, pillow cases and a clay kitfo dish.  Unfortunately, the kitfo dish did not survive the trip home.  Aside from the clay pots, these were the best deals I got.

(blanket, rug, toddler outfit, teenage shirt on crib rail, scarf on crib rail)

We also stopped at the Passa. Lekeneh, our Trip driver took us there. I don't know if Passa is a real place or if I just misinterpreted what the word was.  It was basically a strip of craft/souvenir shops near a French school (I think).  Bargaining skills are very crucial for these shops.  Fortunately, I have experience in that area.  Several times I had to employ the "Thanks, but no thanks.  I'll just go somewhere else" strategy and head for the door to get the price dropped.  Most of the time it worked.  If it didn't, there was always another shop selling similar things.  At these shops and from the street vendors in that area, I acquired a covered basket, a leather covered basket, two metal (maybe tin or aluminum?) necklaces, a wooden Ethiopian cross, a metal cross, my dress, several traditional scarves and a huge goat hair rug.  The only problem with the rug is that it still smelled like goat.  I washed it 5 times in the Soak/Extra-Heavy Duty cycle to get the smell out.  Unfortunately, the rug shrunk a little bit irregularly as a result and is no longer perfectly rectangular.  I think it still looks good, though.

(covered basket and wooden Ethiopian cross)

The first place we went to was a shop Tesfaye took us to after the embassy visit.  They had some pretty nice things.  I bought some clothes there (because I didn't know about ALERT at that point) and some scarves/colored cloths.  They also had some wooden carvings and some West African clothing.  I don't think the prices were the greatest, but compared to Pier 1 Imports they were still a pretty good deal.

(neckace, wooden animal and colored cloth/scarf)

I didn't have a chance to go to the Mercado because I hadn't planned my stay for enough days. 

On the day I left, I ended up having to ask other people/parents to shop for music and kids' books for me since I ran out of time.

Fortunately, there always seems to be another parent you come to know who will be heading over in a few weeks or months.  Save a few birr.  That way, when you get home you can try to get them to be your own personal shopper for whatever you forgot or regretted you didn't get.

In the end, there were some things that I probably didn't get the best price for and could've negotiated more.  However, I was pleased with the actual things that I bought so that was all that really mattered to me.