March 11 - First Day All Together

We slept okay last night, believe it or not. He's got a big cough, but we're hoping we can get a doctors appointment and get some medicine to clear it up before we get on a plane.

A few useful things: bring kleenex, lots of it. And nasal spray. I've been using nasal spray every day and it's keeping my nose pretty clear and I don't have the nasty boogers that come with pollution - for me anyway. A small warm-mist vaporizer would have been nice, but since I couldn't fit it in the luggage, it didn't come. Might want to make room for that next time.

I thought maybe we didn't have enough toys, but I think we did a good job now that I look at it. We took five matchbox cars (came home with three), a coloring book and crayons, a stuffed fish, and the purchased soccer ball. I think more would have been overwhelming and he seems to like the cars most of all. He calls them "beep-beeps" which is very apt. All the cars in Addis honk. In fact, driving in Addis is like playing Grand Theft Auto on the Playstation. There's a lot fo honking, a lot of near accidents, and people drive on whatever side of the road they feel like. You think I'm kidding? Nope. I was glad to sit in the back so I couldn't see the next deathtrap coming. I just pretended nothing was happening and placed it all in God's hands.

We let him take his beep-beeps to breakfast and MAN, this kid can eat! He had cornflakes, scrambled eggs, potato rounds, and some injera. Oh and toast and orange juice. It was quite amazing. I had no idea small things could eat that much.

After breakfast, we went back to the room to play and wait for 12:15 when we were supposed to go to the Embassy. He let me clean and trim his nails, both hands and feet, and didn't seem to mind it at all. In fact, he enjoyed it. Maybe I've got a kid who will get pedicures! Marc put a movie on the DVD player, but Sintayehu wasn't really interested. He just wanted to play soccer.

We got a call about 11:30 that our fingerprints were still not at the Embassy, which meant no appointment for today. Hopefully we'll get in tomorrow. So instead of heading for the consulate, we manage to get a doctor's appointment to see about that cough.

I almost wish we hadn't gone at all. The doctor didn't give us any medicine and sort of read us the riot act about giving things to him since he was under four. At the time, that sounded reasonable, but we found out later he gives medicine to other small children, he just didn't give it to us. We're wondering if that's because we are American and rubbed him the wrong way. I dunno...he's the transition Home doctor and i'm sure he's very capable and I'm glad he's there, but I really sort of wished we wouldn't have gotten an appointment. We'd have been no worse off if we hadn't have gone.

After the doctor, we did some grocery shopping and got small cups for him, peanut butter, crackers, and more water. He doesn't want a sippy, he wants a regular cup!

Then we went back to the hotel and made some calls to Senator Klobuchar's office in Minneapolis. Maybe she can help us get an appointment at the Embassy. A woman named Caly is helping us and will be sending information to the Embassy in the morning, along with a letter from the Senator. Cross your fingers.

We went for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Makush. It was great! They brought a special appetizer just for Sintayehu, some sort of rosemary french fries, which he really liked, and dinner for four people, along with dessert, only cost about $35. And it was very good food. I rodered the lasagne and it didn't taste like lasagne in the states, but it was still very good.

We came back to the hotel to sleep and our plan is to go to the Embassy in the morning and throw ourselves on their mercy.

Of course, now that I write this, that isn't what happened, but you'll just have to keep reading.