Day 9 Saturday

Today Sifan tried to get up at 4 am but I rolled over and she finally got the idea that she needed to go back to sleep. I woke feeling a bit better but knew that I have to keep myself busy in order to not lose it again. So Sefan and I went shopping again before breakfast. We bought some stands for our coffee servers, a ball to play with in the courtyard when the car isn’t parked there, some hair lotion, and a donut. We came back and watched Handy Manny together until breakfast was ready (electricity today). I tried to play Candy Land with her but she didn’t quite get the concept but I will keep trying. After she got restless and whined for a makena (car) to come we decided to walk to the care center to take more pictures of the children there for their families in America…and to try to get Sifan to not be afraid to go there so that if we are here a lot longer we can go there to play and she will not be as bored. Sifan wanted me to carry her most of the way. I realize now how much I spoiled her. Several people looked at us and laughed. Finally a man walking with his son asked why I am carrying her. I told him that she cries when I put her down. He said that she will get weak if I carry her all the time (I am getting HUGE biceps btw…she is HUGE). So when we were away from all of the people in the market place I put her down and had her walk for awhile where if she fussed people wouldn’t see. She was fine and we kicked rocks together as we walked down the big hill to the Care Center. When she saw the gate she fussed, and she got louder as we got closer to the Care Center. She tried to run away. I tried to tell her I would not leave her but was only there to take pictures. I held her while I took photos. She was scared whenever a nanny came near. When they reached for her I said no she is scared and they smiled sweetly and let her be. We then went in to see the older kids who were meeting with the tutor. They sat quietly watching an English word video and repeated the words. I didn’t want to wake the babies again but got a picture of the one baby that was awake. The tutor was leaving at the same time so we walked together and talked. His name is Gutu and he works for the Department of Defense as an Economist. But he said that he doesn’t make enough money doing that so he works part time as a tutor for BFAS and teaching adults English. He teaches the children at Hannah’s Care Center 7 days a week 1.5-2 hours during the week and 3 hours on weekends. He lives about 5K from the Care Center and walked with a friend. I asked him what fun things there are to do in Addis and he told me they have a cinema for 30bir (about $3). He said it is top of the line for Ethiopia and is run by 2 Americans. He helped me figure out my cell phone number (rented phone) and promised to call me tomorrow to take me to the cinema. We parted ways almost all the way to the Guest House and I carried Sifan the rest of the way (he talked her into walking with us while he was there).

We were greeted by some yummy injera and wot with lots of berber spice like Sifan likes. She scarfed it down quickly after burning off all of those calories from the walk. Then a quick freshening up and my driver from New Flower picked us up to take us to Entoto (we asked the BFAS driver first but he said his car would not make it so Beti suggested I call the other driver). Sifan fell asleep in the car, which I was glad since she was exhausted from all of the walking. We wound up and round the mountain top and passed the wood carrying women. The driver estimated that they carry about 20-30+ kilos on their backs (not sure what that is in pounds), I have heard and read about the wood carriers but I didn’t realize that there were so many. I myself saw at least 100 women carried a huge bundle of long branches on their backs (and I am sure there were many more)….some bundles stuck out 5 feet on each side of the woman. They took tiny steps with their large bundles down the mountain road. I saw several stops along the way were woman gathered to rest their bundles. The driver said that they take the wood to the foot of the mountain and sell it then the wood is distributed throughout Addis.

At Entoto there was a fabulous museum with gifts to the church from Russia, France, Italy, etc., Olympic gold medals, and many things from the Emperor of Ethiopia from the 19^th century. Outside of the museum we toured the buildings where the emperor lived and did business. The ceilings were made of carved wood and leather…they still looked great….I took a picture for T because I know he would enjoy it more than I would. They had a lot of places to hold meat…..like 3 rooms with cow horns hanging from the wall like hooks to hold the meat. After the tour we got to take in the beautiful scenery. From Entoto you can see all of Addis. It was Fabulous! We wound back down the mountain and stopped at the weaver’s district to pick up dresses for Wubitu and Sifan. I was too tired to haggle. The ladies wrote down 240birr and I said 180…they smiled at each other and wrote 200….i said fine and so I paid $10 for each dress…though from the big smiles on the ladies faces I could tell I made their day (or they thought I was a crazy white woman who paid way too much for a pair of dresses). Either way the girls now have matching dresses for Sifan’s dedication at church.

We came home exhausted….and me sunburned….but only 4 more hours before bed…yeah!!

Torrey called and let the kids talk to Sifan. She had a huge smile on her face as she listened to their crazy chatter in the speaker phone. She said each of their names except Noah…I know he was sad about it so I tried and tried to get her to say it but she just sat listening. Wuby was so excited to hear her sister talk and Sifan had a big smile on her face hearing her voice. Wubi asked if I would bring her sister home when I come and she got really excited when I said yes. Carter was excited to tell me that grandma and grandpa let them choose between cereal, poptarts, and waffles for breakfast. Noah told me that he tried a new type of poptart and I told him I missed poptarts, hamburgers, Little Cearsars, and SALADS!!!!!!! I also assured Noah that Sifan can pick him out of the pictures and says his name all the time. That made him feel better. He is such the big brother…really the sweetest big brother to now 2 Ethiopian Princesses…he is always telling Wubi how beautiful she is when she comes down in her princess dresses to show off for him. Talking about the kids all together is fun….sifan will fit right in especially since she is so much like Carter and Wubitu, chatty, giggly, and goofy (while Noah is more quiet, and the “cool guy”).

After dinner, the ladies here gave me a break to catch up on my blogs by talking to Sifan for about an hour.

Torrey has an email into Senator Lugar and their office is sending off an email today in hopes of them reading it before the start of business on Monday to make our appointment. It is all a bit tricky since Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of Indiana so by 8am Indiana time it is 3pm here and the US embassy closes at 3pm. T & I are also trying to diagnose the TB bump through Wiki……the result……inconclusive…likely positive…..praying for negative!