Travel Day 8-9--Gondar to Lalibela and a Day in Lalibela (aka July 22-23)

Travel Day 8 started out with feeling sligtly better than the day before. This is when the upper respiratory symptoms started to set in for me (sore throat, cough). I also insisted Tony and I start the Cipro today.  We still both hada bit of a stomach thing going this morning too.  We had a great breakfast--I couldn't eat it, but it was good. Mangos are quite proliferative in this region so fresh squeezed mango juice quickly became a favorite of Sarah's...We'll forever remember Sarah's catchy tune every meal after that while we were waiting for her order of mango....
I want my MANGO juice....
I Want my mango juice.....
I want MY mango juice...
I WANT IT NOW....

The trip from Gondar to Lalibela also brought us in contact with a squat toilet.  If you want more information about this....feel free to google it.  Find the worst example you can...insert that picture in your brain.  The girls were smart  yet unaffected with the upset stomach portion of this illness so they refused chose not to go near the thing.  Tony and I had no choice.  I had to visit 2 separate ones on 2 separate occassions.  Fortunately our tummy woes were not long lived.

We arrived at the Mountain View Hotel after a several hour drive from Gondar. The landscape was amazing and we saw many small villages along the way.  We also spent about 2 hours on a VERY bumpy rocky road that did lots of twisting and winding in order to get to Lalibela.  The scenery was worth it though.  Also, this was probablly the nicest hotel we stayed at throughout our journey.  If we go back, we'll definitely stay here agian. The restaurant was phenomenal as well.  Here are some views...

a Gelada babboon we saw on our way to Lalibela

A typical village we saw as we were nearing Lalibela

up close picture of a completed dwelling (right) and an in process dwelling (left)

The view from our hotel...Yes, really.  There was a tunderstorm moving in.

We pretty much just hung out on the hotel on Thursday afternoon.  We all took naps, played cards. I started getting a lot sicker here, fever, chills, body aches and the upper respiratory thing was really taking off. The girls and Tony had dinner in the restaurant and I rested. They did bring me some great bread and a coke though :) 

The next morning, I was thinking I officially had either contracted the plague or Typhoid Fever and was completely bedredden.  This was unfortunately the part of the trip I was looking most forward to, but the upper respiratory thing had really set in and I was coughing and with the altitude, had difficulty catching my breath...yes, the thought that I was several hours (even 2 hours by plane) from a 'real' even remotely westernized hospital did cross my mind. Tony was feeling much better and the girls were as ready to get moving as ever. I opted to stay put in the hotel and sleep (and look out the window) and they went to visit the rock hewn churches of Lalibela. Fortunately they took LOTS of pictures.  Their day was broken in 2 parts....churches, a break for lunch, then more churches.  Take a look....

Tony and the girls really loved visiting all the churches and seeing not only the architecture but the art too.  I'm hoping one day when we go back to visit Ethiopia, that I'll be able to return to Lalibela to visit the churches myself. It took 23 years to carve out these churches. They are carved DOWN into the rock--out of solid stone....what a remarkable tribute to our God.

Pregnancy vs Adoption

Ok--this is NOT going to be a controversial post...just comparing some of the milestones of pregnancy to milestones to adoption....Here it goes...Below are some of the "biggies" in pregnancy, followed by their adoption milestones, followed by when they happened to us, followed by what week it would correlate to in the pregnancy....check it out

Have your last period = Mail in your application = 1/4 = Wk 0

Conception = Agency contract = 1/11 = Wk 2

Positive Pregnancy Test = Get your dossier packet in the mail = 2/11 = Wk 5

Morning Sickness = Homestudy visit = 3/5 = Wk 8

First hear the heartbeat = Dossier mailed to agency = 4/3 = Wk 12.5

Ultrasound time = First see the picture and info of your child = 4/5 = Wk 13

Feel flutters of movement = Mail your acceptance papers to agency = 4/28 = Wk 16
"Big" ultrasound mid pregnancy = Case submitted for court = 6/14 = Week 22
Diabetic screening = Appeared in court = 7/28 = Week 27
Braxton Hicks contractions = New Birth Certificate issued = 8/19 = Week 31
Labor = Leave to bring your child home =   +/- 10/4 = Week 39
Delivery = Moment you step into your home and have all your kiddos with you  +/- 10/10 = Week 40


I think everyone has thier own equivalent milestones....What are your?

Travel Day 7--Bahir Dar to Gondar (aka July 21)

So...this is the day where the sickness set it.  It started off innocently enough...we got up to our alarm. Tony didn't feel too well...tummy troubles...But we were chalking it up to our previous night's dinner while excellent--and NOT too spicy--we live in Texas for goodness sakes--the spices are very different and are said to upset the delicate tummies of Americans.  "I" felt ok other than not hungry...not unusual for me in the early morning.  The girls ate better than morning than any other one!  We headed out for Gondar. The ride was lovely, pretty countryside and uneventful.  Tony's tummy troubles appeared to resolve by the time we got into Gondar.  Mine, however, kicked in the moment we stepped out of the car to visit the wonderful castles of Gondar.  We were able to see the castles and enjoyed them, but by the time we got to the hotel a short time later, we were both achey, upset tummies, fever and chills. Tony and the girls went to lunch and to visit another church, I stayed in bed under much covers shivering.  Remembr, its cold here and Gondar had the worst weather in terms of temperature. But, this day was not ALL lost...here are some pics...

 

We naturally played it low key in Gondar.  Like I said, I slept all afternoon and evening too.  We both started feeling better but it was just a cruel joke. Fortunately, the girls were happy having a dinner of peanut butter and crackers that night.  More to come 'tomorrow.'

Travel Day 6--Bahir Dar and Blue Nile Falls (aka July 20)

This day will be infamous in our trip, but we won't know it for another day or two.  It started out great enough. Good pancakes in the restaurant in our hotel---the Summerland Hotel.  The girls liked them and gobbled them down faster than you can say 'pass the syrup.'  We headed out then for our boat tour of Lake Tana.  Bahir Dar actually means next to the lake.  Lake Tana is HUGE.  It is the largest lake in Ethiopia and Bahir Dar is often referred to as the Riveria of Ethiopia.  It has many hotels, several on the lake, and many Ethiopians visit here during the year for vacations and weekend getaways.

It was raining this morning so our boat tour started late.  I had imagined pontoon like boats but NO.  They aren't bad...here is a picture of  a similiar boat...

This boat is nicer.  Ours had a blue tarp covering that had seen many better days as well as a motor that was severely underpowered.  Not bad but the motor kept sounding like it was going to die at any moment so somewhat scarry.  It took abut 30 minutes on the boat to reach our destination.

What destination you might ask?  The monastaries.  There are several monasteries that were built on the islands and coast of Lake Tana as early as the 14th century.  There were 4 stops with 5 monastaries to see.  We did not visit the first (as we were told the 3rd and 4th were the best).  Tony visited the 2nd (as men only are allowed there) and we all visited the 3rd and 4th.  The fifth was a brief stop and none of us saw that one.

Monastaries on Lake Tana

The Good---they are beautiful.  The artwork/paintings that depict the Word of God are very easy to interpret and I was fascinated how they transcended culture, language and generations.

The Bad:

This is the muddy rainy season.  It is wet, it is slick. Yes, I fell.  Luckily I was NOT carrying any camera equipment in my back pocket as that is what cushioned my fall.  It was a wet and slippery walk up hill and a trecherous treck down hill as the rain really began in ernest once we reached the top of our 20ish minute hike.

We were able to see where the Nile River starts at the outlet of Lake Tana....

and the boat we could have been riding on.....

After finishing our boat tour (in the driving rain) we got back to the hotel, had a snack and a brief rest then set out for Blue Nile Falls.  This was the highlight of the trip in terms of scenery.  The drive there was an hour on a VERY bad dirt road full of potholes and your teeth were rattling by the time you stopped.  But, the trip was well worth it. It was a 20 minute light hike to the falls.....

There are actually 3 falls, and they are NOT blue and rarely are.  Since this is the rainy season, there is a lot of runoff into Lake Tana from the higher elevations so the water is very churned up and BROWN--just like the lake.

We got back to our hotel and had a great meal of traditional Ethiopian food and Ethiopian Beer....St George's.  It was great. It was also the first time we had 'national' food since arriving to Ethiopia.

Plan to test my memory...

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is all I actually real timed wrote while in Ethiopia.  Yes, I journaled 5 day of my 12 day trip.  Better than I actually thought.  I'm hoping to keep doing some "late entry" journaling about our trip before I forget any special points so check back soon.....

Travel Day 5--Addis Ababa to Bahir Darvia Debre Libanos and Debre Markos (aka July 19th)

So today the call to pray came on time about 5am and the rooster, believe it or not did not wake up from that call…he did however wake up after hearing the mating cats and loud howls from the dogs. We got up about 530 and finished packing as we’re leaving for our trip about 7am. We tried to combine bags last night so we’d have fewer bags to take but that was easier said than done…we did loose one bag but that was it.


I’m anxious to get out of the city. It has been very different than what I had imagined and honestly difficult to see. I had seen images of the streets of Addis Ababa, with many people just sitting about, shack houses and shops, very few ‘western’ looking buildings in the photos. I had assumed that there were ‘bad’ areas that were poverty ridden, and ‘good’ areas that were newer development. I had expected much fewer of these ‘newer’ areas than we’d see in western countries, but I have been shocked to see that even the good areas (nicer hotels, restaurants, shops) resembled western ‘bad’ areas and were not many in number.

Well, we got on the road shortly after 7am. Our driver Kiddir seems very nice. Our first day took us from Addis Ababa to Debra Libanos (a monastery) through Debra Markos (where we had lunch), the Blue Nile Gorge (where we took some great pictures) and onto Bahir Dar. The trip was at once beautiful and had a feeling of danger at the same time. We were out of the city and were able to see some spectacular views, even with the over cast skies. We came close to hitting several people (again pedestrians are very brave people) and actually did hit a donkey.   I am sad to say that we do not believe the donkey survived the encounter. People tend to walk in the roads as cars passing are not overly frequent. Animals crossing the road are common too. In the case of the poor donkey, it ran out from behind some bushes into the road. Our driver tried to stop but it was either swerve off the road (into a muddy ditch) or hit the donkey.

Debre Libanos—This is a monastery for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It was named after one of their saints.  When you drive up, there is a large open courtyard with a museum/offices on the left and the church right in front of you.  The stained glass windows were the highlight of this visit.  The guide (a priest) discussed at length the history of the monastary and the saint for whom it was named.  We were able to see some of the art work inside the monastery and also were able to go down to the basement where there were many men praying and singing.  We also saw the baptistry which gave me a strong feeling of being closer to those men and women that were praying in the monastary...that as brothers and sisters in Christ, we all share that same passage.

Debre Markos--We stopped here at a restaurant/hotel for a late breakfast. Interesting French Toast.  Not bad, just made from a sweet bread and no syrup.  We weren't here very long.

Blue Nile Gorge--WOW.WOW.WOW.  What else can I say...I think the pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

 

We arrived at our hotel about 6 in the evening.  We didn't see much of the town as it was almost dark.  We pretty much crashed in preparation for Day 6.....

Travel Day 4--Addis Ababa (aka July 18)

This morning the rooster was late (didn’t start crowing until about 530) in waking everyone up—but the Islamic call to prayer was right on time about 5am. I believe that woke up the rooster. A short while later there was some commotion downstairs maybe at the family compound next to us. I hate not knowing the language. During the commotion outside, there was a man yelling (and laying on a car horn). The tone of the man seemed either urgent or angry, I couldn’t tell which (not knowing the language). That was a bit distressing. Was someone ill, injured, trying to break into a house or to the hotel? In the dark, not knowing the language and being separated from your kids (albeit by a 2 doors and about 10 feet), I don’t think being a little nervous is unwarranted. Anyway, as the light came up, it seemed business as usual everywhere.

Our driver for the day, Dawit, arrived right on time at 10am. He was recommended by Gail at AAI—mostly because he had a van that could comfortably seat several people. We were a bit more comfortable today. We delivered a package to Layla House for one of the volunteers from her mom. We then went and booked our hotel at the Green Valley Hotel for when we get back from our tour. Green Valley is just down the road from Kidane Mihret (5-10 min walk with only one big street to cross). We drove up to the gates of Kidane Mihret and I so wanted to go visit, but we weren’t expected and I don’t think It’s fair for Hanna to see us for a little today, not again for a week then for another few days. I also don’t think I’d handle that very well either.

We went to a market and I was able to buy some cloth--one silk piece and one cotton piece. I probably paid more than a local would have paid, 1000 Birr for both pieces ($73). I think it is a better price than I would have paid in the states though so I’m happy. The shopkeeper was going to charge me 2400 Birr for both, so at least I haggled some. We wanted to go by a book store today because I wanted some books in Amharic but they were closed. We were able to buy an Amharic Bible. It was interesting in that you buy Bibles not necessarily from a bookstore but around a church. There was a roadside stand with sellers set up to sell Amharic gospel music, Bibles and Christian literature. We paid about 80 Birr ($6).

We went next to the Ethnological Museum. That has been the most interesting place other than seeing the Lucy bones yesterday. The museum was sectioned off by life stages, childbirth, adolescence, adulthood and death. There was also a lot of interesting art work from the 16th century on, a lot of them religious paintings that were vibrant in color and painted on wood or canvas. Our driver took us back to the same restaurant we ate at yesterday, but as the menu was different, it was fine. The weather today was a bit chillier…maybe in the high 60s as compared to the low 70s yesterday. Not cold, just a slight chill in the air that made a long sleeve cotton shirt comfortable.

When we got back, everyone took another of those long naps…even the girls were ready for a nap today! Sarah and I both felt the altitude more today. I’ve been feeling a little more short of breath that comes and goes. Sarah was notably out of breath and breathing hard after going up a flight of stairs.

Travel Day 3--Addis Ababa (aka July 17)

I forgot that roosters crow at daybreak…or sometimes before. That was our ‘alarm clock’ this morning. Following that was the Islamic call to prayer—there must be a mosque nearby. I had heard about the call to prayer, not the roosters. We laid around in bed for a while (Tony still sleeping, me somewhere between awake and asleep). It would be about 930pm Texas time when that rooster started crowing. The girls came and knocked on the door about 630 or so dressed and giggly…they said they’d been up since 5ish this morning. It’s now about 730 am. We’re waiting on breakfast. We asked for breakfast about 745-800am but now I’m thinking the 730-745am time would have been better. We also just realized that you have to turn on the hot water heater in the bathrooms so we’re waiting on that now so we can shower. I’ve also been thankful that there was a water boiler (this neat coffee pot looking thing that boils about 1.5 liters of water in about 2 minutes) that we used last night to fix our noodles and this morning to make instant coffee.


So our first order of business (after waiting for that hot water heater to heat up) was to call Gail with AAI to find out how to deliver those packages. It was a little odd, we can’t make calls from our room to an outside line, we had to go to reception and have the receptionist dial the number. We finally got through and found out all we need to do is drop the packages at Layla. She suggested we call Dawit, a driver, to show us around and get those things to Layla. Dawit wasn’t available today but he’s meeting us at 10am tomorrow.

We had the receptionist call a driver for us today Yonas, who took us to the National Museum and the Museum of Natural History. He then took us to the Blue Top restaurant for lunch. It seemed to be some sort of Italian/American/Worldly mix of cuisine. It was Pizza for the girls, pasta for me and some kind of pepper steak with veggies for Tony. The pepper steak was odd, but had a great spicy sauce. We then went to a shopping center where we were able to buy some ‘traditional’ Ethiopian clothing (ceremonial type) and probably paid too much for them although all in all it was much less than we’d have paid in the states. There was also a grocery store there where we were able to buy some bottled water and soda.

Points so far:

Altitude. While no one has been sick, I’m definitely exhausted. I don’t know if it’s jet lag or if it’s the altitude. I felt a little winded going up the stairs in the museum but that could just be me. I also now have a headache that is getting worse by the minute—but that could be my kids that are causing that. I’m very thankful now that the girls have another room where they hang out and we have one that is quieter where we can sleep. Right now I’d love to go lay down and rest but our room is being cleaned—hence we are all spending ‘family time’ together. That’s great in theory, but the girls haven’t caught up on sleep either so they are either giggly or at each other’s throat.

Driving. You couldn’t pay me enough to drive in this city. Few street signs, no traffic signals and it appears to be a free for all for both pedestrians and for drivers. I don’t think I’d like to cross any streets either, especially any of the big ones. I will say I feel safer in the car than I would walking on the street (for the simple fact that the pedestrians appear to be at risk of being hit by one of the drivers).

Children. Everywhere you go there are kids begging. At your car window when you slow down, especially if they are rolled down. At the entrances to the museums, stores, etc. We even encountered women begging with their small babies. You want to do something. You want to give them money but you also know that you can’t help all the kids. All the travel guides caution that giving to kids (or adults for that matter) only perpetuates the behavior of begging and urges would be ‘givers’ to use agencies or services that provide things like food and shelter to those in need. Even though I felt like I was warned about the begging children, I am still surprised at how widespread it is. I can remember being in Mexico and around the outdoor shopping areas, airports and ‘touristy’ areas, it was worse than in the indoor shopping centers and hotels. We didn’t encounter any kids asking for money (or as is more popular trying to sell you something like Kleenex or gum) once inside the gates of the museum, restaurant or inside the shopping center. While we were there, one little child, maybe 10-12, was thrown out of the shopping center for shoplifting. We had seen him outside earlier asking for money. This shopping center appeared to be a mix of shops designed for travelers and for locals. I kept wondering what hardships our daughter and her family had experienced. Had they been begging like these families, did they decide they couldn’t care for Hanna before they got that destitute? I guess with time we will know but probably not until Hanna decides to tell us.

We were finally able to lay down and take a nap after they finished cleaning our room. We ended up sleeping about 4 hours. We got up and decided to ‘order in’. When we asked for a to go menu from local restaurants, we were given a basically American menu. I am wondering if there are any Ethiopian restaurants in Ethiopia.

Travel Day 1 & 2 Houston to Addis Ababa (aka July 15-16)

So, as of now, it is 1557 (Ethiopia time) we are over Al-Kharijah, Egypt, about 1294 miles (just about 2.5 hours) from Addis Ababa. Just an FYI, we are flying at about 533 mph (ground speed) at 37000 feet. The temperature outside our plane is -40 degrees Celsius. If you count the time since we left Houston, we have been traveling now 15.5 hours. Mostly in the 'economy' class seat hosted by Lufthansa with about 1 hr 45 min transiting through the Frankfurt airport. I have decided that in the future if it doesn't cause me to go too much in to debt, Business Class is the way to go. I was honestly hoping more from our layover in Germany, like we'd get to wonder around the gift shops but we barely had time to make our way off the plane (took 20-30 min to debark from the plane), get onto the transport bus, go back into the terminal, back through security (at least security here was more efficient than in the states)—note to other travelers, if you have a REALLY thick book in your bag, be prepared for your screener to check it out. After security, it was down more hallways and stairs, a quick stop at the ladies room, back on a transit bus, then LONG wait on said transit bus until it was full, then back to another plane.

I do have to say that Xanax has been wonderful. Just a little dose has kept me quite calm this trip. We've had more turbulence that I'd imagined you'd have flying this high on a larger plane. Even Tony says it's a bit much for the circumstances, but I guess jet streams are a crazy thing. I'm certainly not looking forward to spending even longer in the air on our way back. The girls have done pretty well too. Hailey was a little nervous on the first takeoff but has done great since. Sarah just wants to sleep (that's what they're both doing now). Tony and I napped a bit too on this flight, in fact we both slept through what I'm sure was a lovely airline lunch. Our previous breakfast and dinner were both very good.

I'm not sure what all I'm feeling right now. I'm tired, that's for sure. I'm excited about seeing the country where my daughter is from and getting to know more about her culture. I'm very anxious to meet Hanna, but I'm trying not to get too worked up about this or let myself think about it TOO much, since I won't be able to see her for 9 more days. I think it would be harder to visit early then be here in the country with her and not be able to visit more. I understand why the directors of the orphanages don't want us to spend a really long amount of time with our kids before they are ready to come home. It must really be hard for them to see us and then we disappear for who know how long—maybe 4 weeks, maybe 8 weeks—maybe longer. I also know that the younger the child, the more difficult the visits must be. It's easier to explain to a 12 year old what the situation is than it is a 12 month old.

Anyway, our flight in to Addis Ababa was on time but it did take us a couple of hours to get out of the airport. The line 'visa on arrival' was a little on the long side, but not as long or as slow as the line to get our 'visa stamped' in order to leave the airport. We managed to get through those lines uneventfully then to the bank to get some dollars exchanged for Birr--$400 for 5428 Birr. That felt awkward holding such a stack of cash. The exchange rate is 13.55 Birr to $1. I do find it somewhat interesting that the fastest line the whole trip was the final one to get out of the airport through customs. Our driver from the hotel was waiting for us (I felt bad because I think he had been waiting since shortly after our flight arrived—but it took us a long time to get through the airport). The drive from the airport to the hotel was pretty short—10 minutes maybe? It was already dark so it was hard to see much of what was going on. There were a lot of people out for 830-900 at night (both pedestrians and cars). It seemed that a lot of the shops were closing up, especially street vendors. I'm not sure what the traffic rules were—I'm just glad so far that I'm not driving in the city.
Our hotel is pretty nice. I've been very surprised as I was looking around online before the trip that rooms with 2 double beds for families are nonexistent. You can have cribs brought in or sometimes a rollaway bed, but certainly not for girls the ages of Sarah and Hailey…they get their own room. And, they are so hyped up from the trip, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Our hotel, the Afro Land Lodge, is a newer guest house/bed and breakfast. Our room rates are pretty good by American standard although slightly higher than what we had hoped for. Our rooms do 'connect' albeit by an outdoor 2^nd floor patio. There are also only 3 rooms on the 2^nd floor, two of them being ours. There is also someone at the desk 24 hrs/day and there is apparently security. Which from what I read having a security person is very common although crime is pretty low here.
Everyone was happy that we had packed snacks (ramen noodles, oatmeal, peanut butter crackers) so we didn't have to go out for dinner last night. Our dinner consisted of ramen noodles, peanut butter crackers, trail mix and soda. So--not the dinner of champions, but we all just wanted a little something before we went to bed. By the way, temperatures here are in the 50s at night.

Back....

So, we're back, have been since July 29th. I just haven't gotten around to posting anything yet.  As an update, we've passed court (officially).  We're just waiting on our adoption decree. That will be sent to the embassy and we'll be working on a passport and hopefully returning to Ethiopia to attend our embassy appointment early October.  I've decided to post my 'journal' if you can call it that...ramblings is more like it.  I only journaled the first few days then we were traveling so much (then I contracted the plague) and the journaling sort of fell by the wayside. I'm hoping to catch up and some some 'late entry' journaling about the rest of our trip.