There’s nothing like a good rainfall to bring the promise of green and fresh, unless it continues raining like the Flood in Noah’s time . . . That’s the way it was beginning to feel last weekend. From Thursday evening through Sunday morning the rains came in waves. Thunder rumbled across the landscape every couple of hours. Our family stayed mostly inside.
But we can’t say that we weren’t warned. Everyone told us that we were arriving during the most dreary part of the Ethiopian climate season, the season called “Krimt”. From June through August, we were told, expect constant rain. But since arriving in early July we have also seen the sun enough to give us hope that we were going to escape the warnings of Krimt. But there it was, coming down like the proverbial “cats and dogs”.
Rain that comes long and hard produces a sea of mud in the small alleyways and on the dirt and stone streets off the main roads. Vehicles drive thru making impressions ever deeper. People must find ways to walk around the deep and wide muddy puddles that cars leave behind. But that has not been the hardest thing to deal with.
Cold. For a family coming from a North American summer of heat and humidity coming to daily 60 degree temperatures is an adjustment. It is cold outside but that is bearable. But it is also cold inside. There is no heating in the houses. I was used to turning on the heat in the mornings for an hour during similar weather in April in St. Catharines, then turning it off the rest of the day. Just to get the chill out. But no chance of that here. We wear layered clothing and shiver in the morning when we get out of bed to go to the bathroom.
Cold plus damp equals dreary. So on Saturday we stayed in and watched it rain. Wanda and I were reading big thick paperbacks and the girls were playing games or playing a form of house. Sophia got pillows and blankets and with chairs set up strategically, created a play house with the blankets draped from chair to chair to be the roof. We had bought a chicken to roast and Wanda made it for supper that night. Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans. It didn’t turn out like at home (and no, Grandma Amstutz and Grandma Roth, the mashed potatoes were not like anything you make. No mixer, the mashing was all done by hand). The chicken wasn’t quite as plump and tender as we are used to expecting. This chicken had apparently spent many happy days being a “free-ranger”, running around and toughening those muscles. Still, it was a taste of home and the girls were happy. They ate everything on their plates and asked for seconds.
The sunshine did return on Sunday so we were encouraged by that. It would be tough if the rainy season would be so intense all the time. We now know why we keep hearing that the expats are all on vacation for the “summer” away from Addis . . .
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Puppies at Tamara's Place
Tamara is the other North American MCC’er here in Ethiopia and she lives a block away from our compound. She lives with Maria, an active Orthodox woman who has a dog which just gave birth to two puppies. Tamara invited Amani, Abby and Sophia to come over and play with the puppies. What joy and anticipation there was over the invitation! The girls stayed all afternoon. They came home chattering with excitement, describing in detail the puppies and their activities. After that we were inundated with requests everyday to go and see the puppies. So on Friday Wanda and I joined the girls and went over to see these “incredible” animals, as described by our daughters. There they were in all their glory; two roly-poly puppies, a male and female. They waddled, they fell down. They shook and shivered when they were picked up. And our girls loved them. Ever since then Amani, Abby and Sophia have asked to go over to see them. It’s hard to say no to such animal lovers.
On to Home Improvement: On Saturday the last of the suitcases were emptied out and the contents found a home on shelves. One of the reasons it took so long was that there were shelves and drawers that needed to be cleaned out, in some cases 40 years of items. A rack for the coats and hats was hung by the front door. Amani and Abby’s beds were made into bund beds (they had been asking for this since day one). Sophia’s room was rearranged with the safety board removed from her bed and now she has even more room to play school with her stuffed animals. Earlier in the week we traded our bed for the guesthouse bed (the quality of the beds are the same, but the one we have now is longer by about 4-5 inches. The bed was specially made for an MCC’er who was 6’7”). And we are dreaming about improvements such as kitchen cabinetry (Shawn and Tyler, wanna sell us new cabinets and come over and install them?), new floor tiling, new lighting for the living and dining rooms and other smaller items. Should we buy a TV and DVD/VCR or go without? We’ve enjoyed playing more games and reading but going cold turkey is hard . . .
On to Home Improvement: On Saturday the last of the suitcases were emptied out and the contents found a home on shelves. One of the reasons it took so long was that there were shelves and drawers that needed to be cleaned out, in some cases 40 years of items. A rack for the coats and hats was hung by the front door. Amani and Abby’s beds were made into bund beds (they had been asking for this since day one). Sophia’s room was rearranged with the safety board removed from her bed and now she has even more room to play school with her stuffed animals. Earlier in the week we traded our bed for the guesthouse bed (the quality of the beds are the same, but the one we have now is longer by about 4-5 inches. The bed was specially made for an MCC’er who was 6’7”). And we are dreaming about improvements such as kitchen cabinetry (Shawn and Tyler, wanna sell us new cabinets and come over and install them?), new floor tiling, new lighting for the living and dining rooms and other smaller items. Should we buy a TV and DVD/VCR or go without? We’ve enjoyed playing more games and reading but going cold turkey is hard . . .
Transition Time
John and Holly Blosser Yoder, and their family, are now safely home in Iowa and Wanda and I are now the Country Reps for MCC in an official capacity. There was no special swearing in ceremony, no pomp and circumstance. John and Holly just barely made in on to their flight. The good folks at British Airways held the flight while Ethiopian officials argued that John couldn’t leave without showing his work permit. In the early morning Mekonnen and Yeshi rushed back to the office to get the demanded document but it was clear they wouldn’t make it back before the flight was scheduled to leave. Praying hard, Yeshi pleaded with the official and then his boss, to let them go. She promised to bring them the permit, they were only minutes away. And the boss said yes! One last brush with bureaucracy, a fitting ending in some ways.
So what does one do in that first week in office? We had just spent two weeks with John and Holly in a whirlwind of activity, meeting important folks who we will be working with in the future. It all felt overwhelming. Where do you start? Start simply, start slowly. Recover from the frantic pace. Sign papers at the bank to authorize our signatures on checks. Register at the Canadian and US embassies. Deal with money transactions as they come through the office. Learn how to get around the city. Where the grocery stores are. The churches are.
Ah, the embassy visits. A study in contrasts. First to the Canadian embassy. Like all embassies there was a high wall with barbed wire on the top. There were guards at the entrance and security procedures. When we showed the guard our passports he told us to go over to the metal door in the wall and we were let in. We went through a metal detector and had to leave our cell phone and Wanda’s purse. The guards were relaxed and friendly, almost apologetic for using the wand on us. They smiled at our girls and clipped visitor passes on our tops. We walked the grounds of the embassy unescorted to the office to register. The grounds reminded us of home; a well manicured grounds with evenly cut grass (grass is hand cut here with the cuttings sold). The guards showed our little family to the door and by their smiles and friendly gestures it seemed that they were thanking us for coming.
Then we went to the U.S. embassy. Mekonnen, chauffeuring us on that morning, pointed out the embassy as he drove past. No stopping here. Huge cement blocks lined the high wall of the embassy. Electronic surveillance. Nervous guards who yelled and pointed their guns at anyone slowing down or stopping their vehicles within a ½ block of the compound. The sidewalk was closed on the embassy side of the street. One needed to park a block away and walk on the opposite side of the street then cross. I flashed my U.S. passport and we went through the same screening as before. But there was to be no walking the grassy compound. Once inside the walls, we could see the beautiful grounds from beyond a iron gate but we were let to offices just inside the walls. The guard with the large machine gun scowled and waved me upstairs to the consulate room. It was a large sterile room with the smiling faces of George Bush, Dick Cheney and Condolezza Rice looking down on us (sorta reminded me of the faces on Cirith Ungol in The Lord of the Rings). The guards were unsmiling but fortunately the workers behind the teller windows were kind and helpful. Good to know some people can act friendly in this fortress (like Americans I know and love).
So the transition is complete. Well not yet. Not until we can drive the vehicles. Not until we can converse in Amharic. Not until we can find our way around Addis and to our partners locations. Not until we learn and master the MCC International Development Database and all the financial accounting that comes with it. Not until we master grant writing, and we can teach our partners the skill. Not until we become comfortable in our relationships with our partners and this culture. Come to think of it, our transition may never be fully completed . . .
So what does one do in that first week in office? We had just spent two weeks with John and Holly in a whirlwind of activity, meeting important folks who we will be working with in the future. It all felt overwhelming. Where do you start? Start simply, start slowly. Recover from the frantic pace. Sign papers at the bank to authorize our signatures on checks. Register at the Canadian and US embassies. Deal with money transactions as they come through the office. Learn how to get around the city. Where the grocery stores are. The churches are.
Ah, the embassy visits. A study in contrasts. First to the Canadian embassy. Like all embassies there was a high wall with barbed wire on the top. There were guards at the entrance and security procedures. When we showed the guard our passports he told us to go over to the metal door in the wall and we were let in. We went through a metal detector and had to leave our cell phone and Wanda’s purse. The guards were relaxed and friendly, almost apologetic for using the wand on us. They smiled at our girls and clipped visitor passes on our tops. We walked the grounds of the embassy unescorted to the office to register. The grounds reminded us of home; a well manicured grounds with evenly cut grass (grass is hand cut here with the cuttings sold). The guards showed our little family to the door and by their smiles and friendly gestures it seemed that they were thanking us for coming.
Then we went to the U.S. embassy. Mekonnen, chauffeuring us on that morning, pointed out the embassy as he drove past. No stopping here. Huge cement blocks lined the high wall of the embassy. Electronic surveillance. Nervous guards who yelled and pointed their guns at anyone slowing down or stopping their vehicles within a ½ block of the compound. The sidewalk was closed on the embassy side of the street. One needed to park a block away and walk on the opposite side of the street then cross. I flashed my U.S. passport and we went through the same screening as before. But there was to be no walking the grassy compound. Once inside the walls, we could see the beautiful grounds from beyond a iron gate but we were let to offices just inside the walls. The guard with the large machine gun scowled and waved me upstairs to the consulate room. It was a large sterile room with the smiling faces of George Bush, Dick Cheney and Condolezza Rice looking down on us (sorta reminded me of the faces on Cirith Ungol in The Lord of the Rings). The guards were unsmiling but fortunately the workers behind the teller windows were kind and helpful. Good to know some people can act friendly in this fortress (like Americans I know and love).
So the transition is complete. Well not yet. Not until we can drive the vehicles. Not until we can converse in Amharic. Not until we can find our way around Addis and to our partners locations. Not until we learn and master the MCC International Development Database and all the financial accounting that comes with it. Not until we master grant writing, and we can teach our partners the skill. Not until we become comfortable in our relationships with our partners and this culture. Come to think of it, our transition may never be fully completed . . .
Friday, July 13, 2007
We Are Here
They say you should do lots of writing when you enter a new culture. Write in a journal, a blog, email, letter, anything. Why? Because those first days, weeks and months are the times you can “see” things that will become normal to you later on. So allow me to offer some random impressions as well as a recalling of events upon our arrival.
John and Holly Blosser Yoder, outgoing CR’s, had a full schedule planned. We were glad to soak up as much information as they could provide in 10 days before they left, but it looked like a lot to 5 tired bodies. Our internal clocks were ticking on the wrong time. Wanda and I found ourselves waking up between midnight and 3 a.m. for the first couple of nights. We tried in vain to go back to sleep but ended up turning on the light and reading something. The girls did surprisingly better on that adjustment. We explored our new house that night and the next day. The mornings are cool and the evenings can be as well if it has rained a lot. There is no heating of any kind so one has to wear layers of clothes. That first night the house felt cold and clammy. It’s hard not to feel a bit depressed and homesick in that first night state of mind.
The MCC house is in a compound about the size of a half a football field. Inside the gated wall there is our house, two ship containers back to back (one is a storage shed, the other a guest room), MCC offices, parking area for the 4 MCC vehicles and a nice little garden area down below the house. Everything is green right now, plenty of daily rain. There are always one or two “guards” at the gate by day and by night (no weapons, mostly deterrent). They screen visitors at the gate and open it when a vehicle comes and goes. Yeshi is our housekeeper and comes weekdays. She arrives after breakfast and starts housekeeping; washing the dishes, making beds, straightening up, cleaning floors, washing and ironing clothes, making meals. She makes the evening meal and puts it in the refrigerator and leaves about 4:30 p.m.
The house itself feels a bit “dark” on the inside. We are used to bright lighting and single bulbs from the ceiling in the middle of a large room has an old movie feel to it. The area immediately around the bulb is fine, but large pockets around the room remain dark. There aren’t as many electrical outlets and it may be just as well. That first night we tried to plug in two space heaters to warm up and off went the electric! John thought it was just a normal cut and it may have been but the power stayed off. Eventually we checked the circuit box and found out it was us.
Our first order of business the next day was to see the school the girls were going to go to. Bingham Academy. It was a 15-20 drive from the house. By day we could see Addis. I think the traffic and roads struck me the most. To us westerners it looks like there are no rules on the road, it seems total chaos. But in fact rules exist, it is only that they are informal, not codified. For example, the road is shared by buses, minibuses, taxis, trucks, cars, SUV’s, people, donkeys, horses, goats, sheep and the occasional chicken. Traffic flow reminds me of people who are all trying to exit a movie theatre, there is no lineup, everyone is moving forward together. But one by one they squeeze through the door. As long as your vehicle’s nose is in front of the other’s you are given the right of way. People and animals walk into traffic and vehicles casually steer around them.
I had seen this before in Cairo but this has been a new experience for Wanda and the girls. Another new experience will be the “supermarkets” I don’t expect to see any supermarkets that resemble a Zehrs or Buehlers. But we will be shopping in a “Seven Eleven” supermarket that is slightly larger than a 7-11 or Avondale.
The weekend and week of July 7-10 we were on the road south of Addis. Not only does Ethiopia have mountains but beautiful lakes and large tracts of farming land. John and Holly want us to meet as many MCC partners with them as possible before we go so we headed for the Boricha project way down south, an 8 hour ride. No 4-lane highway here but a decent 2-lane outside of Addis. We stayed in at the Norwegian Lutheran Guesthouse; a series of little efficiencies built on the side of a hill overlooking Lake Awasa (get your map out or go to Mapquest). Mosquitoes were present so we were taking our malarone pills. They say there are hippos in the lake but we saw none, nor heard any. But the girls saw lots of wild roaming monkeys and exotic (to us) birds.
We also went through Nazret (Nazareth in English) on the way back and stayed overnight at the Safari Lodge, which was neither. It was located in the heart of a city of 300,000 and was a motel. But it did have a pool and the girls did jump in. It was too cool to stay in long (I managed 15-20 minutes) but they played around the pool.
In all the places we stopped the girls stayed back at the motel or guesthouse with someone watching them. All the projects are time consuming with lots of adults talking about things uninteresting to 7-9 year olds. That has been the way we’ve handled it here in Addis this week as well. John and Holly knew a family with two daughters who agreed to watch our girls this week while we go all over the city meeting church and project leaders. So our girls have stayed away and played far from the boring action of MCC activities.
Much more could be said but that is it in a nutshell. Again, I will try to post at least once a week (which may be longer) but may post shorter observational blogs during the week. It all depends on how much time we have and what our internet situation is . . .
John and Holly Blosser Yoder, outgoing CR’s, had a full schedule planned. We were glad to soak up as much information as they could provide in 10 days before they left, but it looked like a lot to 5 tired bodies. Our internal clocks were ticking on the wrong time. Wanda and I found ourselves waking up between midnight and 3 a.m. for the first couple of nights. We tried in vain to go back to sleep but ended up turning on the light and reading something. The girls did surprisingly better on that adjustment. We explored our new house that night and the next day. The mornings are cool and the evenings can be as well if it has rained a lot. There is no heating of any kind so one has to wear layers of clothes. That first night the house felt cold and clammy. It’s hard not to feel a bit depressed and homesick in that first night state of mind.
The MCC house is in a compound about the size of a half a football field. Inside the gated wall there is our house, two ship containers back to back (one is a storage shed, the other a guest room), MCC offices, parking area for the 4 MCC vehicles and a nice little garden area down below the house. Everything is green right now, plenty of daily rain. There are always one or two “guards” at the gate by day and by night (no weapons, mostly deterrent). They screen visitors at the gate and open it when a vehicle comes and goes. Yeshi is our housekeeper and comes weekdays. She arrives after breakfast and starts housekeeping; washing the dishes, making beds, straightening up, cleaning floors, washing and ironing clothes, making meals. She makes the evening meal and puts it in the refrigerator and leaves about 4:30 p.m.
The house itself feels a bit “dark” on the inside. We are used to bright lighting and single bulbs from the ceiling in the middle of a large room has an old movie feel to it. The area immediately around the bulb is fine, but large pockets around the room remain dark. There aren’t as many electrical outlets and it may be just as well. That first night we tried to plug in two space heaters to warm up and off went the electric! John thought it was just a normal cut and it may have been but the power stayed off. Eventually we checked the circuit box and found out it was us.
Our first order of business the next day was to see the school the girls were going to go to. Bingham Academy. It was a 15-20 drive from the house. By day we could see Addis. I think the traffic and roads struck me the most. To us westerners it looks like there are no rules on the road, it seems total chaos. But in fact rules exist, it is only that they are informal, not codified. For example, the road is shared by buses, minibuses, taxis, trucks, cars, SUV’s, people, donkeys, horses, goats, sheep and the occasional chicken. Traffic flow reminds me of people who are all trying to exit a movie theatre, there is no lineup, everyone is moving forward together. But one by one they squeeze through the door. As long as your vehicle’s nose is in front of the other’s you are given the right of way. People and animals walk into traffic and vehicles casually steer around them.
I had seen this before in Cairo but this has been a new experience for Wanda and the girls. Another new experience will be the “supermarkets” I don’t expect to see any supermarkets that resemble a Zehrs or Buehlers. But we will be shopping in a “Seven Eleven” supermarket that is slightly larger than a 7-11 or Avondale.
The weekend and week of July 7-10 we were on the road south of Addis. Not only does Ethiopia have mountains but beautiful lakes and large tracts of farming land. John and Holly want us to meet as many MCC partners with them as possible before we go so we headed for the Boricha project way down south, an 8 hour ride. No 4-lane highway here but a decent 2-lane outside of Addis. We stayed in at the Norwegian Lutheran Guesthouse; a series of little efficiencies built on the side of a hill overlooking Lake Awasa (get your map out or go to Mapquest). Mosquitoes were present so we were taking our malarone pills. They say there are hippos in the lake but we saw none, nor heard any. But the girls saw lots of wild roaming monkeys and exotic (to us) birds.
We also went through Nazret (Nazareth in English) on the way back and stayed overnight at the Safari Lodge, which was neither. It was located in the heart of a city of 300,000 and was a motel. But it did have a pool and the girls did jump in. It was too cool to stay in long (I managed 15-20 minutes) but they played around the pool.
In all the places we stopped the girls stayed back at the motel or guesthouse with someone watching them. All the projects are time consuming with lots of adults talking about things uninteresting to 7-9 year olds. That has been the way we’ve handled it here in Addis this week as well. John and Holly knew a family with two daughters who agreed to watch our girls this week while we go all over the city meeting church and project leaders. So our girls have stayed away and played far from the boring action of MCC activities.
Much more could be said but that is it in a nutshell. Again, I will try to post at least once a week (which may be longer) but may post shorter observational blogs during the week. It all depends on how much time we have and what our internet situation is . . .
Travelogue
The Roth Amstutz Odyssey began on Monday morning, July 2. The vans were packed full of luggage. The Ohio summer sun shone brightly, the morning air was fresh and clear. Both the Roth and Amstutz families were gathered and ready to drive with us up to Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland. We made a brief circle and said a prayer and we were off.
The biggest questions were about luggage: would the luggage, especially the 2 boxes, make it all the way to Ethiopia without damage and without being lost? Would they let us check out 10 huge pieces of luggage/ boxes all the way through from Cleveland to Addis Ababa, in spite of our 24 hour layover in Frankfurt? Were our pieces overweight, in spite of weighing them on our small bathroom scale (we knew the one box was overweight, would they let it pass)?
The officials at United seemed slow and uninterested in customer service (we’ve enjoyed Southwest and West Jet too often). We were given good news and bad news; yes, they would check our luggage all the way to Addis, but some pieces of luggage were overweight. In the end we were charged $100 for our overweight baggage but the luggage was on the plane and we were on our way.
Chicago O’Hare International was unpleasant. The area where we were to sit and wait on our layover was hot. The air was motionless and the sun beat into the waiting area. My mini-crisis came when we were ready to board a member of the Lufthansa airline staff said I couldn’t take my carry-on on board. I just brought in on board from Cleveland! I made the quick decision to not argue the point. Wanda threw a pillowcase at me and I quickly stuffed a few of my belongings I would need at the hotel in Frankfurt. I spent the next two days wandering around with a half-full pillowcase in tow.
Chicago-Frankfurt will be a flight to remember, a night which will live in infamy. A lesson for our family; don’t bring the maximum carry-on on board: backpacks, Barbie “purses”, dolls, blankets, etc. We all brought too much stuff on board. We were strewn across one whole row of the plane. Getting in and out of our seats for any reason took effort. In addition, the boy in the seat in front of me decided to recline his seat fully from the beginning. The back of the seat was in my face the entire trip. Yes, I know, simply ask him to move it forward. But I played the part of a long suffering good guy. It only made me grumpy.
Our little party of five entered the Frankfurt airport in the early morning at 6:45 (German time, our bodies were still at 12:45 North American time) dazed and confused. The girls instantly noticed smokers in the airport. They seemed to be smoking everywhere! But it was only at designated spots. We made our way through customs with our carry-ons hanging out everywhere upon us. I worried about my checked carry on and our luggage. But a very nice Lufthansa woman assured me that it was all in a secured holding area, not to worry. I decided to take her at her word, we were all too tired to care. Next was to find a shuttle bus to our hotel. I used a phone to call our hotel’s front desk and she told me one was coming. But I was either too tired or she was not clear enough, anyways we waited at the wrong area for about 45 minutes until I called again and realized we needed to be about 300 meters up the terminal. Everyone took the whole fiasco well but Abby. She had had enough of snafus and was mad as heck and wasn’t gonna take it anymore . . . *sigh*. Yes we found the shuttle and the hotel and by 10 a.m. we were in our hotel.
So we slept. Ideally we should have stayed awake the whole day but if there is a bed in your room and you can’t think of a reason not to lie down on it . . . Thank the Lord for Andy and Manuela Martin who came up by train from Basel to keep us company for the evening. They provided us with an excuse to get out. We walked and talked and eventually found an Italian restaurant on a street corner. The pizza was great and I got my good German beer (I ordered “ein gut Deutsche bier” which got a few laughs. Apparently the phrase “good German beer” is redundant, because all German beer is good). Andy and Manuela were only with us for 4 hours but they lifted all our spirits so much, hanging out with friends was very heartwarming.
Our final leg of the journey to Addis Ababa actually went pretty well. The flight was better and when someone reclined their seat in front of me, I did what any good “passive-ist” would do, I reclined my own seat fully. I did feel sorry for the woman in front of me. The man in front of her was quite large, over 300 pounds easily and he started it, reclining his seat back fully. Fortunately the Lufthansa attendants made him raise his seat upright for the meal, so the woman did hers and I did mine. He never reclined it back again. We saw Addis by night as we landed at 8:45 p.m.
There was lots of good news at the end of the journey. All of our luggage arrived, including my carry-on bag and all its contents. Thank you Lord and thank you Lufthansa! We were also met by the folks who were coming to meet us; John Yoder, Tamara Hayes, Mr. Mekonnen and Ms. Yeshi. The only hiccup was that the airport officials wouldn’t let our girls in without visas. So we ponied up $60 and got 15 day visas for the three. But late that night we were in our new home, exhausted but happy to have arrived.
[Apologies to all those who have waited anxiously for word of our arrival but we have been in full gear since we arrived. We were gone from Saturday until Tuesday down south seeing important projects and meeting partners we will be working with. I’ll be adding blogs in the coming days to ‘catch up’ and then hope to blog on Sundays so you can count on at least once a week, Mondays, a blog from us. Feel free to comment on our blog at the end of each entry.]
The biggest questions were about luggage: would the luggage, especially the 2 boxes, make it all the way to Ethiopia without damage and without being lost? Would they let us check out 10 huge pieces of luggage/ boxes all the way through from Cleveland to Addis Ababa, in spite of our 24 hour layover in Frankfurt? Were our pieces overweight, in spite of weighing them on our small bathroom scale (we knew the one box was overweight, would they let it pass)?
The officials at United seemed slow and uninterested in customer service (we’ve enjoyed Southwest and West Jet too often). We were given good news and bad news; yes, they would check our luggage all the way to Addis, but some pieces of luggage were overweight. In the end we were charged $100 for our overweight baggage but the luggage was on the plane and we were on our way.
Chicago O’Hare International was unpleasant. The area where we were to sit and wait on our layover was hot. The air was motionless and the sun beat into the waiting area. My mini-crisis came when we were ready to board a member of the Lufthansa airline staff said I couldn’t take my carry-on on board. I just brought in on board from Cleveland! I made the quick decision to not argue the point. Wanda threw a pillowcase at me and I quickly stuffed a few of my belongings I would need at the hotel in Frankfurt. I spent the next two days wandering around with a half-full pillowcase in tow.
Chicago-Frankfurt will be a flight to remember, a night which will live in infamy. A lesson for our family; don’t bring the maximum carry-on on board: backpacks, Barbie “purses”, dolls, blankets, etc. We all brought too much stuff on board. We were strewn across one whole row of the plane. Getting in and out of our seats for any reason took effort. In addition, the boy in the seat in front of me decided to recline his seat fully from the beginning. The back of the seat was in my face the entire trip. Yes, I know, simply ask him to move it forward. But I played the part of a long suffering good guy. It only made me grumpy.
Our little party of five entered the Frankfurt airport in the early morning at 6:45 (German time, our bodies were still at 12:45 North American time) dazed and confused. The girls instantly noticed smokers in the airport. They seemed to be smoking everywhere! But it was only at designated spots. We made our way through customs with our carry-ons hanging out everywhere upon us. I worried about my checked carry on and our luggage. But a very nice Lufthansa woman assured me that it was all in a secured holding area, not to worry. I decided to take her at her word, we were all too tired to care. Next was to find a shuttle bus to our hotel. I used a phone to call our hotel’s front desk and she told me one was coming. But I was either too tired or she was not clear enough, anyways we waited at the wrong area for about 45 minutes until I called again and realized we needed to be about 300 meters up the terminal. Everyone took the whole fiasco well but Abby. She had had enough of snafus and was mad as heck and wasn’t gonna take it anymore . . . *sigh*. Yes we found the shuttle and the hotel and by 10 a.m. we were in our hotel.
So we slept. Ideally we should have stayed awake the whole day but if there is a bed in your room and you can’t think of a reason not to lie down on it . . . Thank the Lord for Andy and Manuela Martin who came up by train from Basel to keep us company for the evening. They provided us with an excuse to get out. We walked and talked and eventually found an Italian restaurant on a street corner. The pizza was great and I got my good German beer (I ordered “ein gut Deutsche bier” which got a few laughs. Apparently the phrase “good German beer” is redundant, because all German beer is good). Andy and Manuela were only with us for 4 hours but they lifted all our spirits so much, hanging out with friends was very heartwarming.
Our final leg of the journey to Addis Ababa actually went pretty well. The flight was better and when someone reclined their seat in front of me, I did what any good “passive-ist” would do, I reclined my own seat fully. I did feel sorry for the woman in front of me. The man in front of her was quite large, over 300 pounds easily and he started it, reclining his seat back fully. Fortunately the Lufthansa attendants made him raise his seat upright for the meal, so the woman did hers and I did mine. He never reclined it back again. We saw Addis by night as we landed at 8:45 p.m.
There was lots of good news at the end of the journey. All of our luggage arrived, including my carry-on bag and all its contents. Thank you Lord and thank you Lufthansa! We were also met by the folks who were coming to meet us; John Yoder, Tamara Hayes, Mr. Mekonnen and Ms. Yeshi. The only hiccup was that the airport officials wouldn’t let our girls in without visas. So we ponied up $60 and got 15 day visas for the three. But late that night we were in our new home, exhausted but happy to have arrived.
[Apologies to all those who have waited anxiously for word of our arrival but we have been in full gear since we arrived. We were gone from Saturday until Tuesday down south seeing important projects and meeting partners we will be working with. I’ll be adding blogs in the coming days to ‘catch up’ and then hope to blog on Sundays so you can count on at least once a week, Mondays, a blog from us. Feel free to comment on our blog at the end of each entry.]
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