Day 6
Today was an awesome day!
We went to just hang out at the transition house with the kids and the
nannies. We brought in the donations
that friends generously sent. (Thank you
all!) “T” was very excited to play with
her friends again. “M^” was excited to
see all the nannies again! They both
really love all the women that are at the transition house. All of them are such loving, caring people! We walk in and “T” is whisked away to have
her hair redone. Her nanny LOVES fixing
the girls’ hair! We sit and talk with
our friend/social worker. We hold
babies. We play with the kiddos. I was able to go and find some of the babies
of people I know through the agency’s chat time and facebook. It was so nice to be able to hold and love on
those babies. I hope that they will
enjoy all the pictures I took!
After a while our friend/social worker starts some
“commotion” around the house!!! A
make-shift volleyball game erupts in the courtyard. She gathers nannies and Miss “M^” for the
game. They have sooooooooo much fun playing! The smiling faces of the nannies is
indescribable. It is joy. I find joy in just watching them. Even though there is a language barrier, I
know they have so much fun together!
Even those that are not playing are laughing and having a wonderful
time!
We eat lunch at the transition house. “T” and “M^” jump right in with the kids
while we eat upstairs. The kiddos head
for a “nap”. It consisted more of
blowing bubbles off the balcony though.
I think having us as visitors threw off their routine a little. After lunch we brought out the gifts for the
nannies. That was so much FUN!!!! We had three gift bags full of various sized
shirts. At first the nannies were very
polite and just set them on the table. I
knew they would go through them and pass them out later. However, after about 5 minutes one of the
nannies started peeking in and looking.
Then all politeness was set aside!
It was GREAT!!! They all started
looking for a shirt that they liked that fit them. The smiles on their faces were super. Shirts were being tossed here and there. People were trading back and forth and trying
them on. They were all so appreciative
and happy. We were incredibly happy to
bring something they enjoyed so much!
We’ll definitely be bringing more shirts when we come next time!!!!
It was time to head back to the guest house for the
coffee ceremony they scheduled for us. I
must say this is just an awesome tradition.
And it is oh so good, especially here at the guest house!
After coffee we went for a tour of our friend’s medical
clinic. It serves some of the poorest of
the poor in Addis Ababa. The treatment
is very low cost and depending on the person’s ability to pay sometimes
free. Some of our friends from church
sent donations for the clinic and they are VERY much appreciated. This clinic has only been up and running for
about 4 months. It is truly a calling
from God for these nurses and doctors to serve the people in this area. We are so happy to call them our friends. We hope to do much more work with them in the
future!
Waiting Room
Lab
Delivery Room
Procedure Room
Observation Room
Post Delivery Room
There wasn’t anything specific planned for the rest of
our day. We listened to some music by
the guard of the guest house. He is an
amazing singer! It was a demo track that
we hope we will hear on a CD someday! I
had a very exciting experience that evening as well. The man who owns the guest house needed a car
moved into a parking space. A stick
shift car that he didn’t know how to drive.
A very tight parking space inside the courtyard of the guest house. I am
happy to report that I didn’t kill the engine AND the car ended up where it was
supposed to . . . eventually . . . and . . . with a little guidance from
Kevin. BUT, I did it!
The Awesome Job I did Parking!
That evening for dinner we went to a restaurant called
Yod Abyssinia. We had been there on our
previous trip as well. They have
cultural music and dancing. AND an
awesome buffet! This meant that our
girls were able to get EXACTLY what THEY wanted to eat. It was good to see what they chose and what
they like. The other nice thing to see
was how affectionate “M^” is already with us.
She would put her arm around Kevin’s shoulder or my shoulder. She would hold our hands. She is fine with sitting close to us. Before we picked her up we weren’t quite sure
the best way to bond with a 14 year old that we couldn’t even effectively
communicate with. However, sitting close
looking at pictures on the smart phone works really well! We also found out that we have somewhat of a
typical teenager. Part of the dancing that
night included a story dance. They acted
out a story and this one happened to include the couple pretending to
kiss. Yup, “M^” was rather embarrassed
by that. Not that I wanted her to be
embarrassed, but it was pretty funny! We
had a really great day!!!
Day 7
We had a rather lazy day today. There wasn’t anything major planned. We decided to do a little shopping. We wanted to buy “T”s nanny a portable DVD
player as a gift. We thought with the
electrical it might be best to purchase it in country. So . . . our friend that runs the guest house
took our family and our friend/social worker shopping. We headed to the big mall. I think this place is about 12 stories
high. We walked up the stairs and tried
a couple of shops. No DVD players. We DID find a children’s clothing shop
though. Our friend/social worker needed
to get a few clothes for a sponsor child and we wanted to buy “T” and “M^” some
new shoes. Both girls really seemed to
like being able to pick out what (I assume) may be their very first pair of
brand new shoes. It was really
cool!
So after that success we moved on in our DVD player
hunt. We went up the stairs. We went down the stairs. We went to the building next door and 2
buildings down as well. We went to
another mall. Then headed back to the
first place. We looked in like 85
shops. Okay, that’s exaggerating a
little bit (only a little, but that number makes the story that much more
awesome!) Back at the first mall we need
to get to the 10th floor. So,
our Ethiopian friend decides instead of the Americans hoofing it up the stairs
we should take the elevator. Nice (note the
sarcasm!) We squeeze into the
elevator. This is THE smallest elevator
I have ever been in. The sign on the
wall says the capacity is 8. Our
friend/social worker was afraid to count, but there were 10 (and a half) people
in that teeny tiny elevator. I feel like
we all grew a little closer after that experience J We ignored the large sign on the other side
of the wall that said in big letters.
“Do Not Panic. In case of
emergency ring the bell.” We got to ride
the elevator almost to the very top. I
feel a little cheated that after all that we only went to the 11th
story and not the 12th. Anyway,
after all of that excitement we didn’t really find what we were looking for
(onto plan B for the DVD player.) Oh
well, it was a lot of fun though!!! (And
yes, we rode the elevator ALL the way down as well!)
During the afternoon we decided that we may actually try
to get “T” to take a nap. I headed
upstairs with her. Kevin and “M^” took a
walk down to the local grocery store to check things out. “T” didn’t actually sleep, but the quiet time
was nice! She read some books and lay
down in her bed. We were thinking of
things to do with the girls since we didn’t have any big plans. So, Kevin and “M^” went looking for a movie
to rent. All the rental places that were
close were closed for the night. So
Kevin and “M^” bought 2 movies off of a street vendor. Both of “M^”s picks were Amharic movies. One of them is called “Made in China”. We watched that one and from what I gathered
by the scenes it’s pretty funny. “M^”
definitely enjoyed it.
During this trip we’ve been working hard a trying to pick
up a few Amharic words that might come in handy. I have no idea how to spell them, but this is
what we have so far . . .
Coffi – smile
Ashangolize – doll
Dimmit – cat
Yellum – no, not here
Conjo – beautiful
Mockinah – car
Bee – eat
Tinnish – soon
Bacca – finished, stop
Gobez – good job
Mook - hot
Coi - wait
Coi - wait
It’s not a lot, but we’re trying. It at least gets some smiles and laughs from
“M^” as we attempt to speak a few Amharic words!
Going to bed that night was fun. “T” feel asleep before “M^” was ready to go
to bed. So, Kevin and I were able to sit
with her and look at pictures of our family and our time in Ethiopia. It was nice to spend a little time with just her.
Day 8
Day trip to the waterfalls!!! We and our friend/social worker wanted to go
on a day trip somewhere. We thought it
might be fun to take the big kids from the transition house and some of the
nannies along as well! We set out in the
morning heading north in 2 large taxis.
We had 4 Burkes, 1 social worker, 6 nannies, and 2 other big kids. It was about a 2 hour drive. The scenery was beautiful. Since rainy season just ended the fields are
mostly green and very luscious. We saw
many small towns and rural houses. There
were many people out working the fields or herding livestock. Many of the kids that were out herding would
wave as we drove by. The kids were great
in the car. “M^” and “T” really enjoyed
hanging out with the nannies some more.
We started on some winding roads and we were coming to
the canyon area. There was a group of
monkeys on the side of the road. We were
able to get out of the taxis to take pictures of them. They let us get fairly close. The kids really enjoyed watching them.
We continued on to the hiking area. There was a hotel and restaurant at the edge
of the cliffs. We were able to walk
about a half a mile to see the waterfalls and the old bridge. It supposedly was built in the 16th
century by the Portuguese.
There were men selling trinkets and necklaces made out of
marble from the nearby cliffs. “T”s
nanny insisted on buying her a little necklace.
She is too sweet to Miss “T”. I
know that “T” has been well loved at the transition house! We hiked back up to the top. The nannies had packed a lunch for us! So very thoughtful of them! While we were eating, some hawks started
flying above us. One of the nannies
started throwing bread to them and before we knew it there were about 25 hawks
circling above. They would swoop very
low! The nannies and the kids had such a
great time!
There were some other creatures we had some fun with as
well. There was the ugliest cat roaming
around. It had a harsh meow and looked
like it wanted to gnaw our ankles off. I
fed it a little and it would come close to me.
Our friend/social worker tried feeding it as well. However, she was convinced that is was out to
get her. Maybe? We decided to sing about it though . . .
“Dirty kitty, ugly kitty,
Mangy ball of fur.
Mean kitty, scary kitty,
Purr purr purr!”
It was a great afternoon.
One of the fun portions was watching the girls with the nannies. And for that matter with people that speak
their language. We saw so much of “M^”s
personality come out. She likes to laugh
and is very adventurous. (Went a little
too close to the edge for my comfort!)
We arrived back at the guest house. The girls played on the tablet together. Through some of the games and such we know
that “M^” knows her English alphabet, colors and numbers! I noticed that I got a fantastic sunburn from
our glorious hike. That should not come
as a shock to anyone! We ordered pizza
for dinner. Everyone seemed to like it.
This evening I also washed “T”s hair for the first time all by myself. This kid has some of the curliest hair I have
ever seen. I’m excited to be able to fix
it, but I think it may take me a while to learn how!
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