Roth Amstutz Travelouge

Saturday, August 22 entry:

Greetings from Addis! We can say this finally after quite an ordeal in traveling. We were taken to Toronto by a cloud of witnesses, that is Howard & Shirley, Deb, Kris & Krista. So many thanks to you folks for doing all you did for us, especially in that final week. Those last couple of days were hectic, trying to get all the baggage weight right, sweating away in the room where all our stuff was. The ride to the airport was uneventful, parking was uneventful and getting our luggage checked was uneventful (all bags were accepted at 23 kg. even though the scale sometimes said 23.8 or 24). We had bought a U-Haul box and made it overweight in order for everything to fit, agreeing to pay $150. I had taped the box in the corners and put string around it and the last we saw of it it was making its way through Frankfurt to Addis.

That was the last uneventful part of our journey. Soon after we boarded at 6 p.m. the heavens opened up and a huge thunder and lightning storm engulfed Pearson International Airport (it was spectacular). The deluge gently rocked the airplane as we sat motionless on the tarmac at the gate waiting for the storm to pass. The control tower didn’t clear us to fly until almost 9 p.m. That would prove our undoing. However the flight over was smooth and quiet, 7 hours later we landed in Frankfurt. Unfortunately the smooth ride didn’t help Amani. She couldn’t help throwing up as we landed and we couldn’t find the airsick bag in a moment’s notice. The attendant quietly covered up the mess on the floor and opened a couple of bags of coffee on it to neutralize any smell. (don’t worry about Amani, she’s fine, it was that first time coming down and having just eaten a large meal).

Our connecting flight was to leave at 10:25 a.m. We landed at just before 10 a.m., got out of the plane about 10:05 and were at Gate B62 at 10:15 only to be told by some security that the plane had left the gate. What? It turns out that the 10:25 means take off, not leaving the gate, at least that is the excuse we were given. In my tired state I was pretty upset and I let the airport staff know it. Several other families who had gotten off with us and had run to Gate B62 too. But there was nothing for it but to go find out what options we had (later, in retrospect, I realized that the reasons given by Lufthansa staff at the gate and upstairs at the desk was flawed. Passengers and agencies around the world don’t care what time the pilot has to be out on the tarmac, that departure time listed is for the passengers to know when the plane is leaving the gate. They didn’t have an excuse and probably knew it). And that was the beginning of the ordeal.

We found the Lufthansa re-booking desk upstairs and proceeded to book a flight on Ethiopian Airlines for 11:30 p.m. on a nonstop flight to Addis arriving the next morning (Saturday) at 7:30 a.m. and for the rest of the day we wandered the airport. We didn’t mean to. It just happened. We wanted to find a place to relax until the time came and were told we could go to a ‘sky lounge’ and rest. But it was on the opposite end of the airport. There was a ‘skyline’ tram we could take and we did and after walking what seemed like forever we finally found the lounge. The price of admission was much more than we were told ($40 per person, although the lady was will to charge ‘3 for 5’) and it was cash only, euros or dollars. We had neither. Now we went looking for McDonald’s. Unbeknownst to us, there is more than one McDonald’s, one for travelers only and one for the general public and travelers. They only told us of the public option and soon as we arrived we realized this wasn’t the one we wanted. Busy, dirty, noisy, lots of kids with no room to stretch out. The problem was that we had to pass through passport control and security each time we went in and out. It’s a long story but we had to do that several times because of our confusion. We went back to terminal 1 in search of McDonald’s for transit travelers, back in B area. We visited A, B, C, D, E areas and terminals 1 and 2 from end to end. We did find McD’s in the end but were exhausted. My feet, legs, back and neck hurt. We found some ‘lazy boy’ type chairs in C and rested there for several hours. We were told that ET would probably depart from C area. Turns out they left from B area very near where we started the day. If only we had known . . .

We were the typical tired travelers when we finally were able to board late night. ET flight 707 was fine but not as nice as Lufthansa would have been. It was mostly full, with us near the back with the crying babies and Ethiopian families who wouldn’t talk quietly when the lights went down and everyone tried to catch an overnight nap. The girls all were able to sleep with Sophia having the best spot. My whole center row was unoccupied so she came and laid down across 2 seats for most of the flight. Wanda and I dragged ourselves off the plane in the morning’s light but the girls were almost perky. Customs wasn’t a problem and we were thinking that our luck was about to even out, we only needed to pick up our luggage. 9 pieces came out immediately in the near empty airport but we waited for the box to come out on the carousel . . . in vain. It didn’t show. Well, there goes our 7 lbs. of cheese and 10 lbs. of sliced pepperoni . . . as well as clothes and yard rake head for our gardener.

There were a whole cloud of witnesses waiting for us here in Addis. We were met by Mekonnen, our program manager and Assefa, our driver, at the airport. Yeshiareg, our secretary/bookkeeper and Yeshi, our housekeeper, were waiting at the house along with our new SALT’er Lydette and YAMEN’er Nindyo. Of course there were a whole host of animals to welcome the girls. At first Peanut and Coca barked like we were strangers but when Peanut realized who we were she started yipping, crying, barking and dancing all around the girls and me. Princess Waffles and Spot showed indifference but there were 4 kittens lurking in the laundry room, half wild (they’re now in the house, Princess Waffles personally brought them in and the girls are getting to know them and vice versa).

Wanda and I had a couple of hours of shut eye this afternoon and are working on unpacking all our goodies. So to sum up; we arrived alive, though tired and weary. 90% of our luggage arrived and we are holding out hope that our box will be coming in tonight’s flight. Amani, Abby and Sophia were GREAT! In spite of all the ordeals, all the unexpected twists that are part of traveling they soldiered on, keeping up a good humor for the most part. Wanda and I told them that they are now world-class travelers. And they are.

Thanks to all of you who hosted us on our way through home leave. We were so glad to see each and every one of you and were sad to leave our dear family and friends. But a couple of friends of ours helped us think of our 4 years like a work week; the first 2 years were like Monday and Tuesday, our home leave was like Wednesday (sometimes called ‘hump day’ because as you are climbing through the week you get over the hump of midweek and can see the end of the work week), a break between our term. Thursday and Friday are like the next 2 years, they’ll go by fast, I’m sure.

Tuesday, August 25 entry:

First things first, the prodigal box arrived! The box we brought from Tavistock that didn’t arrive with us on Saturday morning, was in the airport on Sunday morning when I went to pick Megan Weemes up at the airport. Her flight came in at 5:10 a.m. I went back into baggage claim to look for my box. A chill of thrill ran through me when I saw the box in the locked area of the airport baggage claim. It had apparently arrived the night before, on Saturday evening, same flight that brought Krista Allen in. The other wonderful thing was that I didn’t have to pay anything to get it out. No baksheesh, just a smiling official who found the key opened up the door and wished me a good day. Lots of warm and fuzzy feelings toward Ethiopian Airlines and Bole Airport Authority that morning.

Holding our breath, we opened up the box. Would the cheese and pepperoni still be good? The cooler was still intact, the Rubbermaid ice blue cold packs were no longer frozen but were still cold and the cheese and pepperoni were also still cold. Amazing, after 4 days in transit! We immediately sectioned the cheese and pepperoni for freezing and put them in the freezer. We believe it is all still good, the cheese crumbles easy but small price to pay for bringing it all the way from Amstutz Pantry in Kidron, Ohio in July to Addis Ababa in August.

Jet lag is no fun, but the internal gyroscopes are slowly righting themselves, although we’re not out of the woods yet. Wanda and I are still tired in the day and waking up at night. It’s no fun to be groggy when you are working in the office. The girls seem to be doing alright. The compound is in beautiful condition. The rain has made everything green and our gardener, Gutu, has done a great job all around the yard. In addition many things we asked to get done were done. Screens were put in all bedroom windows, the flooring is finished, the painting is done, the shelter for the ping pong table has begun, a wood shed was built, a door for the trash incinerator was installed. That was all encouraging.

How about water and electricity? Things we take for granted we immediately became aware had not changed much here. We were told that electricity was being rationed out, every other day. Our water was beginning to trickle. Only too late did we realize that our 2 water tanks were completely empty. I got a shower on Saturday before we realized it on Sunday. We didn’t even have the jerry cans back up water in place and our house had swelled to 9 over Sunday night! On Monday we had water trucked in but still the hot water wouldn’t flow. Finally in desperation I started drawing bath water in our bathroom and let it run for the next hour. It started out as a trickle, to a tiny stream and finally to a decent stream. It seems that the lines needed to be bled. So now we have running hot and cold water, a real blessing! As for the electricity? Everyone told us that it would go off on Tuesday at 7 a.m. and it did, but then came back on again within the hour! This afternoon we heard that the government decided that the city would have uninterrupted service until the new year (Sept. 11). That’s good news for everyone! (p.s. turns out that that wasn’t accurate; we have had intermittent power outages since Tuesday, including power off all day on Friday and Saturday. Nothing is certain here . . .)

Bingham started school today (Tuesday) and our girls were very ready to go. Monday night they started a new era by making their own lunches (with some mild supervision). This morning they were up and at ‘em early and actually left the compound early, wow! This afternoon they came home so excited. Amani and Abby said that 6th grade is awesome! Sophia said that her grade 5 teacher is awesome (Mr. Peters). So it’s great to hear them so bubbly. (p.s. the mornings leveled off quickly, by Friday we were pushing them out the door, behind schedule)

P.S., Saturday, August 29

We are all getting back into the swing of things. Wanda and I spent the week catching up on our work. Our house and office are more organized than at the beginning of the week but the next week looks as busy as ever. We’re doing orientation for Nindyo and Lydette, we’re meeting with partners and friends in the coming week and planning major workshops and MCC visits at the end of September and early October. We’ll be ready for a break by the end of October.