Allright, I know I'm late and I know you guys were waiting. We had no internet connection at the hotel from Tuesday until Friday so I made outlines to write my blogs from when I got home. So they'll all be posted today and you'll have to read them all at once instead of one at a time while I was over there. Sorry about that! I hope they're just as much fun, though!
This is actually a continuation of the previous post, talking about the rest of that Monday.
Health update on Stephanie: I still have intestinal problems. I know it's not the ET food, since I started having trouble in New York. Must be stress. At least, that's what I hope it is.
Robel picked us up at the hotel about 11 and we met Duni at the Hilton and did our paperwork, which was remarkably easy with only one family. The food wasn't too bad (which was nice after last night) and we discovered exactly why families can't stay. I guess I didn't quite understand it until Robel explained it. Foreign dignitaries stay at the Hilton (you'll see why) and because of that, the Ethiopian government does not want adoptive families staying there because it might give the wrong impression. Lots of white people with black kids could look bad to other countries, even if the rules are very strigent and there's very little child-traficking that occurs. The government just wants to preserve Ethiopia's image. I can understand that, but the Hilton was really nice...
After lunch (we could hardly stand it) we went to the Transition Home for the first time...my heart was pounding so hard I began crying when we first drove through the gate. We walked through the home, led by a nanny, to the toddler room where all the kids were lined up in front of the fireplace and I was so completely overcome, I didn't even recognize our boy at first. He was a bit fussy since he had just ogtten up from a nap and didn't want to talk to us at first, but after a few minutes, a nanny led him over to us and we got to spend our first minutes together...
We had about a half hour with him, just us. He had a piece of comb and really wanted me to comb his hair, so I did...
And once we had a bit of time with him, they let the other toddlers into the room. You know that lady who has fourteen kids under the age of six? We felt like her! All of a sudden, there were small children crawling all over us, clamoring for attention, stealing toys from each other, and wanting to touch us. It was overwhelming and I bet, had there been more families, it wouldn't have been quite so terrifying. And I say terrifying in a nice way, really. We spent about three hours with all of them together and I got some GREAT pictures of the toddlers in groups, but I can't post them here, since not all of them have referrals yet, so they don't have families.
This was the living room and toddler sleeping area where we spent some time. See how many cribs are in there? No wonder he doesn't like sleeping alone.
Anyway, after a few hours, we left to go back to the hotel to get cleaned up to go to dinner. Since Robel wasn't feeling well and Duni was quite busy, Futuna took us to Yod Abyssinia for a traditional Ethiopian meal. And let me just say, we didn't like it. The Berbere spice they put in everything made Marc feel rather ill and I just don't particularly like injera. Oh well, we tried. The restaurant was fabulous for the entertainment, though, so we enjoyed ourselves even if we hardly ate anything.
This is a picture of the dancers doing a traditional tribal wedding, which was very entertaining.
We went back to the hotel about 9:30 or so to go to sleep. They delivered a crib today and its at the end of the bed. I'm scared out of my mind since tomorrow, he comes back to the hotel with us. Will he even like us? Guess we'll find out!
Something I learned: Do NOT go anywhere without toilet paper in your pocket. Wipes, kleenexs, anything. There wasn't any toilet paper in the Transition Home bathroom (Robel says this was an oversight) and I had the problem at several other bathrooms, too. They have little sprayers to clean yourself off, but when you're sick, those do no good. Put the TP in your pocket when you get there and keep making sure it's still there!
A note: The guys unloading our luggage at the airport thought the Susan Parr luggage tags were awesome. One of them was already using one as a badge and one of the other guys begged one off me. I gave him one and he was so proud! Someone should ask Susan if you can have more luggage tags and take them just for the guys at the airport. He didn't want a tip, he just wanted my luggage tag!
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