Day 15 Friday
I was supposed to go out on the town with Gutu last night but I kept missing his call. In the morning Dr. A called to ask for my email so he can send torrey and I an apology. I really appreciate the gesture from him. These last 2 weeks have been a crazy roller coaster. I am kind of glad in a weird way that I didn’t have internet access at Notool because I got to see that BFAS’s actions were not in reaction to what I wrote but more because they were trying to do what is right on their own. Korsa also told me that Agitu said I had to pay $80 for 2 days and $40 for the rest of the days for my extended stay at the guest house. (coincidentally that turned out to be the exact amount I had left in US Dollars and ET birr together). I thought that was fair and I am glad that BFAS worked to help make thing right in the end. In the morning I went with Korsa to the embassy to pick up sifan’s passport and packet for immigration. It really felt real this time!!! Then we took the minibus to the Hilton to confirm again our flights. Sefan and my seats were not together…oy…they said that they couldn’t fix it there but they could at the airport. After the ride home we ate some lunch and the plan was to go back to the Care Center one last time but it started to pour down rain so I couldn’t walk there. Atagu put Sifan’s hair into cornrows for me (Sifan’s hair is so short there is no way I could even come close to doing it. Sefan hung out with the ladies at the guest house while I finished packing and mentally preparing for the ride home.
Kalb from New Flower came over to pick up the phone I rented. I had asked him about a refund for the 4 days I did not stay at New Flower and he said No they would not give me a refund….grrrr. They collected everything within the first 5 minutes of my arrival.
We arrived at the airport at 5:30 and the ET airlines counter was not open, so Sifan and I pushed our luggage around for about half an hour and then were one of the first groups to check in. They fixed our seats so we were together and we were off to fill out our exit forms…..and then the long wait until the flight boarding. On our first walk around the airport Sifan became obsessed with a toy car she saw in the window of a toy store that was closed. She refused to move from that window for 30 minutes…..when I tried to get her to move on she grunted at me and tried to open the locked door. After some goofing off she finally left the window and we found a store that took visa and picked out her favorite….a big pack of banana gum…..when we went to check out they said that visa wasn’t working……oy….so I left the gum and tried to slip out of the store quickly and quietly but Sifan was furious and started another fit. After I got her to calm down we walked the airport back and forth for an hour. Then the guards stopped us to ask about adoption. Their English was limited so I had to answer the same questions over and over again. During this time of about an hour sifan was repeatedly standing on the bench and taking a nose dive trusting that I would catch her then she would laugh hysterically. I was sweating after an hour and I couldn’t get her to stop…she was tired and non compliant and I couldn’t not catch her or she would really hurt herself…..and I spoke firmly to her she would have caused a big scene in the airport……Way passed her bed time at 10 we boarded the airplane. She fell asleep before we took off thankfully. She just climbed into my arms and passed out. Sleeping is always interesting on ET airlines……the seats are uncomfortable and you are trying to sleep sitting up and on this trip home I wanted Sifan to sleep as long as she could so she would be in a good mood. Unfortunatley I had to wake her when we got to Rome because the flight attendants wanted her upright and buckled. Well….that was a disaster to say the least as she is not used to seat belts since it is rare to see them in ET…plus she is tired from being woken up so she screamed and writhed and struggled and screamed some more. Then she got into her I am not listening to anything you are saying mood and I knew that It would be 20 minutes before she calmed down and would listen again….I tried to wipe her tears and she swatted at me. The flight attendants tried to get her to calm and the lady across the aisle to…..but she continued to scream about the seat belt. Finally the flight attendant said to just put the seat belt on right before we landed and took off so the whole plane didn’t have to suffer. When we landed in Rome for refueling Sifan said she had to go to the bathroom and we waited in the line to go but the Italian crew came on to clean the cabin and kicked us out before I could take her potty……tired and afraid she was going to wet herself I informed the flight attendant who told us to take our seat without going potty that she would be changing Sifan’s clothes if she wet herself (apparently no filter when I am tired). An hour later we were finally able to go to the bathroom….thankfully no accidents. Sifan stayed awake for about 3 hours and we played all kinds of games…….counting down the hours left was agonizing….The rest of the flight was basically trying to sleep and trying to pass the time….and more screaming anytime the seat belt had to be on.