Sunday May 17th

Well after a seriously LONG flight and time change we arrived in Ethiopia around 8p.m. and headed straight for the In Country Visa line which took at least an hour and a half. Then to the customs line which wan’t as bad but our whole group went together so it took a while to get us all through. Then had to get all of our bags accounted for and get to the vans. So one whole van was for our luggage and the other was just enough room for our travel group. As we were heading through Addis Ababa the van stopped and the window I was next to was open and this boy about 10-11 came to the window begging for food. First of all it scared me out of my mind I swear that kid came out of nowhere and then he just kept saying “uh food, hungry, please?” I almost cried but didn’t thank you very much! Then he was gone. So that was a memorable experience! Then we drove on for a while til we got to the Union Hotel Apartments where we would be staying.
When we got to our room it was around 11p.m. and we were whiped out, for sure. So we plugged in the hot water heater and got ready for a quick shower. As I was getting ready I noticed a sign above the toilet “Toilet Cannot Flush Toilet Paper,Thank You” So I was like hey Jason, is this a joke, what am I supposed to do. So he started laughing at me and said “Oh just put the toilet paper in the garbage can when you’re done”. Uh yeah right are you kidding me? Let me say this, I have only been out of the contiguous United States to go to Hawaii ok, I have never been anywhere where you couldn’t flush t.p. down the toilet. So I’m still getting used to this one. Anyway, we must have a suite cause we have a king size bed and this huge shower/Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom that we have yet to figure out how to drain the water. It took us 5 minutes to figure out how to turn the lights on. Anyway, we hit the sack and slept like a rock til 3:30 am and couldn’t go back to sleep for nothing! So I read my Angles and Demons book which I really want to finish, the night we stayed in D.C. we saw the movie and it’s LAME-O but the book is fascinating, so I feel I must redeem my expensive ($9.75 a person – don’t complian Yakima people)crappy theatre experience. Then we watched a downloaded episode of the office on the laptop, the power went out 2 times, and then we decided forget it and go down and get some coffee!
And today begins a new chapter for us…. Becoming a family of 6!!!

Blessings,
Kala

New Friends Kale and Kim

More new friends Truett and Kim