Last night Torrey & Webitu fell asleep at 3:00pm and I tried to wake Torrey to eat but he asked that I just let him sleep & promised to take care of Webitu I she woke up in the middle of the night. I quite enjoyed the quiet time for a little bit. They woke up at midnight and of course little Webitu wanted her mommy. I couldn't resist the little calls for mommy. We played quietly for a few hours until the electricity went out. Luckily we remembered to pack the flashlights which were quite amusing for awhile. Finally mommy couldn't stay awake any longer and daddy took over until she fell asleep again at 3am. I have gotten used to getting up at 6am and couldn't fall back asleep after hearing the calls to worship and chanting from the local church. With the desparate lack of sleep I tried to have Torrey take care of Webitu as much as possible but she really just wanted mommy. I tried to spend a lot of the day packing quitely in my room but Webitu would run away from daddy when he wasn't paying attention and run upstairs to find me. The Guesthouse staff showed us how to make traditional Ethiopian food: injera and wat. I have to say that I am not at all a fan of injera and am kind of glad that Webitu doesn't particulary like it either. I will be happy to have it when she wants it but won't feel guilty about not making it once a week or so for her. After lunch the Guest house staff showed us the Ethiopian Bunna (Coffee) Ceremony. Webitu got really excited when she saw the cups and coffee pot out. In her family background video it shows her sipping on Ethiopian coffe. She didn't particularly like the coffe once she had a chance to taste it today but you could tell that it struck a cord of warm memories for her. After the Coffee Ceremony, several of the families arranged for a van to come and take us shopping one last time before we left. Note for future travelers: Travelers Checks can only be cashed at the Sheraton or Hilton Hotels. We tried several banks for a couple who only brought travelers checks they just recieved blank stares. Also, cash is most easily transferred into Birr at the hotels, airport, or on the Black Market. Another family had a big issue when he tried to exchange thier US dollars at a legitimate bank. The bank refused to exchange the money and after thier $100 bills exchanged hands with the banker several times under a counter, they were afraid that the bank exchanged thier bonafide bills for counterfeit while he was standing there. The family finally decided to take the cash to the Black Market (that is what you tell the driver to get you money exchanged this way). One of our drives said it is basically illigal but nobody really regulates it. You get the best price for your money and the transaction is very quick, upfront, and painless apparently. Anywho...we set out bartering our last birr for some awesome wears. I scored some awesome African drums for the boys and and Ethiopian cross. I am sure I could have gotten much better prices for my items but I was short on time and basically paid the same as I would have paid at the souvenir shop for similar items. One mom was really good at bartering and got some very awesome deals but spent 20 or so minutes on each transaction. So after our final shopping excursion we headed back to the Guest House for a few hours before we loaded up for the airport. The Guesthouse staff were working on getting the bedding changed but were very patient with those of us who were not ready to be scooted out of our rooms. I took a nap for about an hour while Torrey watched Webitu. When I awoke he had headed to the CHS Office to pick up Webitu's Passport, Lifebook, Background video, and Lifebook video. When they returned we ate our last dinner together and met a couple coming in from the next travel group. The mom was originally from Ethiopia but left when she was 16 to come to the US. The next travel group consisted of mostly parents picking up infants and one child 1 1/2 years old. It was very nice to have our travel group of mainly older children and one infant. I really felt like we could all relate having a similar experience with very mobile children with very well formed personalities. I am not sure how another travel group would have tolerated Webitu's monster fits (I am not sure how we made it...the grace of God is my only guess). So we took our group pictures and loaded the vans. We arrived at the airport and our driver brought luggage carts to us and very firmly made it known to all the porters looking for a tip that we did not need thier help. You enter the airport and security officers keep pointing you down the line to the appropriate security baggage scan. Next on to the ticket counters where they print your boarding pass and take check your luggage. They were very forgiving of one of our bags being 14kg over the limit and let it pass without us rearranging everything. Next you turn left and find the counters with little cards to fill out a card for each person traveling with you. You need passport info and visa numbers for each person including your child. Keep them all out because you go to the windows and show them the card and your passport. Next you are sent upstairs to find you gate. We had an hour to kill so we visited a few shops and I realized for the first time that taking Webitu shopping will be a challenge. She is very particular but intent on what she wants. She immediately spotted a black bracelet with Ethiopian flag color beading and put it on. She refused to take it off or switch it with anything else. She gave Daddy the cute smile and the 45 birr practically fell out of his pocket into the storekeepers hands as he admired her sweet cheeks and beautiful bright eyes....yep, we are in trouble! Next Torrey decided to check on our health insurance status since we still couldn't get anything nailed down before we left. The lady at the telephone office told Torrey it would be 3 birr per minute (about 66cents) However after the 17 minute call they said it was $3 US per minute and we were stuck paying the $54. Get it in writting if you can or just don't use the phone! We did find out that the insurance agency we were contacting would not cover Webitu under a normal plan because of her Malaria but were willing to cover her under a 6 month renewable short term plan at a reasonable rate!!! Ahelalueah!!! Next we slurped down our liquid items and proceded through the security at our gate. If you have ever traveled with Ethiopian Airlines you know that they are not very efficient at all! Well, this time was not any different. We saw our crew enter the plane and leave then we were told to move to another gate for another airplane but then ushered back into our first gate. Then again told to move to the next gate and through security once again. After all was said and done we waited at the gates for an additional 2 hours!!! Webitu was having a great time throwing fits with her skirt pulled all the way up over her head so the entire airport could see her polka dot underware. If we tried to cover her she screamed louder, kicker harder, and spit further so we resigned ourselves to the fact that everyone had already seen them and fixing it wasn't worth the trouble. After entering the airplane she quickly fell asleep and we began our 18 hour flight to the US. At first we were in row 12 on the airplane but realized after we were inflight that our seats did not recline because they had moved a while on the airplane and put it right up against our seats. Torrey asked the grumpy flight attendant if we could move and he said that there were no empty seats. After awhile of arguing we moved to the back of the plane which was actually mostly empty. The rows in the middle equipped with 3 seats were all occupied by 1 person so they each had a full long bed of seat to lay in. So we took two sets of two side seats. I laid Webitu down on the two seats while I sqeezed onto the floor. Everytime a person would go by they would trip on my toes because I couldn't squeeze them in enough to clear the aisle. The worse part was though that our seats smelled like fresh urine. If you can avoid Ethiopian Airlines it is so very worth the money!!!! We were rather fortunate that she slept in 5 hour increments and I could sleep for about 2 hours of those at a time.