Adventures abound!

Monday 6/28
Well, I meant to post yesterday (Sunday) while I was at the internet, but got caught up in answering emails and doing school work and completely forgot about the blog! Sorry!

We arrived on Saturday night…that “we” would be me, Neeha, and Neeha’s luggage….I think mine stayed back in Detroit….Got to the house, which is nice, three bedrooms, small kitchen, t.v., and secure. It is walking distance from a bunch of things and Neeha and I are learning our way around.

Yesterday was a relaxing day, in the sense that we are 10 hours difference in time, so adjusting there; made our way to the internet and also to the grocery store. More exciting yet was homework last night!

This morning started our day going to the airport (which you need to not only pay for parking but pay to get a ticket to enter the airport. I went to claim my luggage….*sigh* no luggage. Went traipsing up to the KLM office, to find out that “it should be on the 9:35 flight (it was 9:25….) GREAT! Go down, talk to Ahmed our taxi guy, and let him know I need to wait……Kenya Air arrives (don’t ask me why it got switched to them…) …..*sigh* no luggage. I was smart enough to pack a few extras in my carry on, but they will be well loved by tomorrow. Needless to say I am getting a bit crabby about the entire situation.

We made our way out to “Foster” today, which consists of 4 different homes in this neighborhood that make up the foster homes. They are not in the order of 1,2,3,4, but in the order they rented the houses. These homes house about 125 children, ages birth to 11 years old. We toured all four homes and got the “lay of the land” – then went back to Foster 2 to work with a few of the kiddos….Oh my, they are sooooo stinkin’ cute, - I can hardly stand it. The facilities are nice, great staff ratio and with what they have are doing amazing things. The care giving is far different from Eastern Europe and the babies get much love, cuddles, and held for each feeding (no propping bottles at any of the houses. We met with the doctor, and he helped identify 5 kiddos that need some assistance. Neeha and I are trying to figure out how and what to do with the rest of our time, to work in some suggestions, play activities, structure, etc. The wheels are turning after day one.

Getting to and from Foster is quite an adventure – today on the way there we were in Ahmed’s cab, that was due to the airport run. On the way home we take these vans, that are chucked full of people, and they run anywhere for 1 – 3.5 Birr per leg of your ride….Birr is about 14 Birr to 1 US dollar….so, they are not expensive, but we need two legs each way. Listening to the driver’s assistance call out the stops, is going to take some getting used to. Very interesting.

The temperature is much cooler than expected…Neeha and I the two “California girls” are cold much of the time – especially in the evening. We will adapt, no doubt. The rain comes mid afternoon, each day. Last night had a storm around 1 a.m. Speaking of time – here’s one for you….in Ethiopia it is 2002 (not 2010)….and their clocks are different as well….7:00 a.m. (world clock) is 1a.m. ET (Ethiopian time)….go figure. I haven’t tracked down the “why” to this yet, but when you are asking people to meet you, pick you up, etc. you need to specify world time or ET. Very funny. I haven NO idea on the year….but Neeha and I decided we both liked being 8 years younger.

Neeha and I were going to go to the internet to post this after diner, but the electricity just went out (thank goodness for gas stoves). We are not sure if it is just in our neighborhood or all over; we may venture out to see…..
Okay, that’s about it for now….I have left out some funny stories for time saving (one, the original conversation when my bags didn’t arrive) and well, about our little critter friends in the kitchen….let’s just say I am getting good at removing my sandals and smashing…. Know we are well, safe, and trying to find our groove here ….Until next time…jms