Okay, I am going to try something different. It seems like uploading all the pictures and putting them in the right spots is taking me forever, and keeping me very unmotivated to document the trip. So I am going to make a slide show quickly for each day and post it along with a description of our day (all the photos in the slide show will go in order throughout the day, so you should be able to follow along). I know it's not ideal, but I promise to move faster now!!
When I left off, we were on our way to the guest house and transition house. The drive was LONG, and we got our first taste of Ethiopian driving. We've traveled quite a bit, and have experienced Thai driving, which we thought was crazy, but we both agree Ethiopia wins! The exhaust was immense, the roads were bumpy, and it takes forever to get anywhere. By the end of the week we were totally used to it though! After about 50 minutes, we arrived and I saw the sign for our agency's home that I had seen in other blogs. My heart began to beat faster when I realized our daughter was right behind the gate!
We got out and the staff took all of our luggage inside for us. We had only one suitcase plus our carry-ons that were our things, and the rest were filled with donations, so we had them leave them downstairs, and they went through and sorted all the items to distribute. It was about 11 am at this point, and they brought out some breakfast for us to eat. They had told us they'd bring the babies out right away, so we tried to quickly freshen up and then picked at the food. I think we were all bundles of nerves!! We were so happy to see the rest of the eye clinic mission group hanging out in the room, and they sweetly offered to film and take pictures for us, which was a huge help. As we were eating, we spotted two nannies carrying two babies towards us through the window, and knew the moment had come!
The first nanny asked for the family of the other baby, and then we heard a nanny holding a baby covered in a soft pink blanket ask for "Lina's family." That's us! She handed her to me and I just drank her in, crying and smiling. She was even more beautiful than her pictures. She seemed a little unsure, but content. After hogging her for a few minutes, I let Chad have a turn. She got a bit upset, but calmed down after a minute. We took her upstairs to our room, where she got fussy again, but I quickly realized that she was tired. I rocked her for a few minutes and she fell asleep easily in my arms. I got to nap with her on the bed for a while, which was wonderful!! Chad hung out with us and also tried to get the internet to work on the computer so we could e-mail home and tell them we'd made it.
At some point a couple of hours in, they came to tell us lunch was ready (yes, about an hour and a half after the breakfast they'd made!), and we brought Gabby downstairs with us. Chad was going to hold her and we'd take turns eating-neither of us minded missing a meal to hold her! But then the nannies came in and took her back to her bed, so we ate and took a nap to recover a little. After we woke up we grabbed the babies back and spent some more time with them. It was a wonderful way to start our trip to get to spend so much with her the first day. We were totally and completely head over heels in love!!
Woudneh came back at dinner time to take us out to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant. We ate a bit, and Chad was thrilled to get Tej, a honey wine we've had at our local Ethiopian restaurant here. As we ate the dancers came out and started to perform. They also pulled us up to dance throughout the evening-it was fun! We were all SO tired, but Woudneh kept telling us the best part was still to come. He also told us we needed to stay awake until 10 pm or so, so that we'd end our jetlag. I thought I was going to fall asleep sitting at the table!! The big number was a dance re-enacting a marriage ceremony. They brought JW, KC, and Chad and I up on stage and sat us in chairs with the happy couple in between. They brought out another plate of injera and a pot of spicy meat, and then began feeding us, and encouraging us to feed each other. It was funny, but the meat was spicy, we were tired, and they just kept shoveling it in!! We had a great time, but were thrilled to head back to the guest house.
We were disappointed to learn that our shower totally stunk. It was a bit like having someone squirt you with a water gun while they stood directly overhead. After our long travel and first day, we were happy to take whatever kind of shower we could get, but it was kind of funny! At least it was hot! We were also surprised to learn that our bed pillows didn't have pillowcases, rather they had the decorate shams that came with the comforter. Again, it wasn't a huge deal, just kind of funny! Despite a lot of noise outside, I slept for a blissful 8 hours, but poor Chad got only about 4 hours of sleep and woke up in the middle of the night with stomach pain :(
No comments:
Post a Comment