Little House

We are reading the Little House series from start to finish. We just finished Little House in the Big Woods and built a model of the house from Lincoln Logs using a picture from a Little House resource book I have as a guide.

Next we are drawing log cabins with the help of the Draw Write Now series.

Home Sweet Home

It is good to be home! We are blessed. A home to live in, keeping us dry and safe. A bed to sleep in. Plenty of food to eat. Clothes to wear. A way to clean our bodies -- and our dishes and our clothes. Children who have two parents to care for them. Friends who were sweet enough to make us notes and pictures to take on the trip, which were sweet and inspirational and touching and funny. Thank you, Lord.

Misc Photos

A traffic circle. There are a lot of those, of various sizes, all over town. View out our hotel to the left. People walking to work, school, etc. in the morning.

View from our hotel to the right.

View straight out from our hotel. We saw animals grazing and children playing on this land.

House immediately across the street from the hotel. Sacks of charcoal for sale. I saw the woman sweep her steps every day. Since they are dirt, she is wearing them away!

General Observations on Ethiopia

The people are very nice. The currency, birr, is rounded up or down to a whole number. The exchange rate is around 16.75/1. During the week we counted 27 people peeing by the side of the road. (After seeing a few we started counting for entertainment purposes....) I saw one port-a-potty but don't know who uses it, if you have to pay, etc. Not many flies. The smog is horrible. I-wish-I'd-brought-a-mask horrible! Temps range from 50-70. Perfect weather in my book! There are berms in the center of roads going a long way so you have to u-turn a lot. If you pick a mission and focus, you will be successful. If you think too broad, and start out too big, you will burn out and fail. Health care is very inexpensive but tough to negotiate. Rich & Melissa are helping a little girl get medical treatment. They were sent to a place to get a test only to find that the machine has been broken for 4 months. Addis Ababa means new flower. The city is only 70 years old. The government owns all land. Everything is leased from them. There is construction everywhere. Scaffolding is eucalyptus -- steel scaffolding was the rare exception. There must not be any form of OSHA there! Painted corrugated walls around town are where the govt reclaimed land for new construction, displacing people. They have tried to find new housing for those evicted but it isn't always ready on time. A "squaty" is a toilet in the villages and probably some places in Addis. There are billboards around town. Some are more public service, like the one showing the merits of marriage. Interesting reflection of social issues.

Food in Ethiopia

Best bananas I've ever had. Sweet but not mushy. Makes sense as the bananas we get are picked before they are ripe and ripen on the way to America. Wish I'd eaten more of them. Juice drinks are very thick and not sweet. I liked the taste, but not everyone did. Soda is made with sugar, not corn syrup. Diet Coke is Coke Light, and is not found everywhere. Given the need to drink bottled drinks, I drank more soda in that week than I usually do in a year. Sprite is MUCH better than 7-Up over there. Need to do a corn-syrup version over here to see what I think. Bottled water at restaurants usually comes in small, medium, and large. Eggs are not very yellow and on a fried egg we usually couldn't identify a yolk. The yolks are apparently often small or whitish. Hearing that made me realize it is a result of whatever the chickens eat, and that was not a good thought. There aren't many restaurants that offer take-out. Drive-thrus don't exist. The coffee has a unique flavor. Since I only drink decaf, which they don't have, I couldn't drink enough to really acquire the taste. Shurro is a sauce there for meat and vegetables. I like the flavor. Injera comes in light and dark. I couldn't tell a difference in the taste between the two. It is made from a grain called teff. It provides fiber, iron, protein, and calcium. I describe injera as a tortilla-shaped bread of a spongy consistency with a sour taste like sourdough bread. Injera is used to scoop up food so utensils are not required. Feeding food to another person is a sign of friendship and acceptance. Cooking is an interesting process. People have a two-burner "stove" but that only works if you have power! There are things call injera-cookers for cooking injera. We had popcorn a lot. Cheap and easy. The government price controls some food items. Good for the masses, but I wonder how the producers can continue to produce the food.

Problem Solving Skills in Ethiopia

People in Ethiopia are not taught to think or problem solve. They learn rote responses to things in school. Many live day to day, so planning ahead isn't required. For example: The eight of us stayed in five rooms. One morning the hotel manager indicated that 3 of our rooms must be vacated as some other guests were coming and they didn't have room for both. They had found a place for our displaced people down the street (but they decided to stay at Rich & Melissa's.) That evening we met the people the hotel needed to make room for -- a group from South Dakota with a partner church in northern Ethiopia through Compassion International. They were there for one night. Given the option of having the people who were staying all week move out for a night, or making part of the group there for one night move down the street, which would you choose?? The latter option is the natural one for us, but not them. Even the 10-year-old I asked this could see the logical solution. Another example: At one restaurant I was thrilled that there were some cloth napkins with silverware in them on the table. (Granted, not enough for each of us, but better than most places where I had gotten used to wiping my hands on the tablecloth for lack of another option.) Three people ordered soup. The waitress came and took the wrapped silverware aware and left a spoon on the table. One of those people was having soup and food that would require a fork. and of course, she never brought napkins for those people. So, I totally get how one person can slow down adoptions without considering ramifications, communicating with others, etc.

Day 10: Traveling & HOME

Sleep some more. Caught myself drooling two times.

We are served breakfast, and then dinner. This is all before arriving in the US at 7AM so it seems so strange. Watch the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is good.

Arrive in Washington DC and are happy to be in the US again!

Eddie & I are flagged in immigration b/c we admit we have been on a farm (at Selam, that great orphanage.) In customs I have to pull the shoes I wore out of my bag so they can be sprayed. This is amusing, as we stepped in more "agricultural products" in the streets of Addis from the variety of donkeys, sheep, and goats all over the place than we ever even saw at Selam.

Got a cup of decaf at Starbucks. Ahhhh! Chris got some Dunkin' Donuts and those, too, were incredible!

Lunch at Chili's, Too in the Chicago airport. The service was so wonderful!!! Napkins, extra napkins, silverware, fast, polite.... Joy!

The airport bathrooms were awesome, too! Automatic plastic seat covers, water & soap, paper towels. The little things!

Hard to stay awake on the flight, as it is our bedtime in Africa. Sour Dots from Lesley save the day!

Nashville! Eddie did not get his bag and Chris did not get one of his.

Are welcomed at home with signs the kids made and posted over our garage doors, and the kids hopping up and down in the garage as we pull in. Hugs and kisses and giggling and stories! My parents survived, too!

Ate dinner, which Lesley brought for us. Bless her for that!

And sleep in our own bed! Took two Advil PM and slept through the night.