From Jess 9/19/08 (Friday)

First off--I do love Ethiopia, and I'm really enjoying Addis Ababa,
however, it's been two and a half weeks, I'm wearing my "good
traveler" skin thin.

We've been at the guesthouse now for two and a half weeks I think?
(I"m losing track of time). They've determined that I'm now 1/2
Abesha (Ethiopian) and a "permanent resident" here. The good thing is
that after 10 days, the guesthouse rate goes down to $50 a night.
Hopefully today we went to the Embassy for our visa--it's been the
"guideline maximum" of 10 business days since we applied. At 3:00pm
we were unceremoniously told that the Embassy is closed, we may come
back on Monday. MONDAY?? (Would someone kindly inform the Ambassador
that these banker's hours from 9:30 AM until 3:00 PM is simply
unacceptable?) Next week is another "holy week" next Saturday (a week
from tomorrow) is "Cross Finding Day" and always when Holy days are
imminent the entire city begins to grind to a halt--mostly clogged by
sheep I think. Please keep us in your prayers for a DHL, FEDEX, Donkey
or Dove to deliver this Visa, We are all missing home!
On the way to the embassy, we met with Julie and her friend Cindy.
Julie is another WACAP mom and just arrived last night to pick up her
son M who is close to Destiny's age--and a very good Friend of
Melat's--when they saw one another in the van--there was much hugging!
M recognized me from our visits to WACAP House where I left him with a
little flip book of airplanes--he loves airplanes and was very
patiently waiting for his mom to arrive on one, so I gave him that to
play with while he was waiting another week for his mom. It was great
to see him with his mom--he was so happy!

Ato Teklu took us to the mountiantop today--the highest point in Addis
Ababa at 10,000 feet. We drove most of the way, and hiked the rest.
The view was stunning!!! The entire city spread out below us through a
forest of eucalyptus.

There were wild monkeys, and a man with a rifle accompanied us in case
of fox or hyena (Great--more animals with teeth!!) There were the
women coming down from the mountain with the giant bundles of firewood
on their backs (it was a terrifying switchback road--think one of
those Weyerhaeuser roads up in the black hills!) These women were
headed down with bundles the same size as them tied to their backs!
At the top of the mountain we met a local historian/guide/artist who
does AMAZING work. One of his most famous fans is Beyonce Knowles.
(She came to Ethiopia last year for the millennium concert and has done
some humanitarian work here). He has a three room gallery at the top
of the mountain made from old shipping containers. I found a painting
just like the one I bought for Rob--so I'm going to check the
signature--I think it's the same guy just based on the rather
characteristic style and the fact that the gallery I bought the
painting at dealt with all local artists and was reputable (Hilton) so
unlikely to deal in fakes. (So there Rob, you have a painting just
like Beyonce's!) Side note: Everyone here is big fans of: Beyonce,
Oprah, Angelia Jolie/Brad Pitt, and Barrack Obama. I've seen more Barrack
Obama campaign T-Shirts here than in America.
T didn't go on that trip to the mountain--she'd been out late
getting her hair done at the beauty salon next door--I hadn't realized
we were going to the mountain or I would have picked her up from the
beauty shop next door and brought her with us hair half-done and all! :-)

Tomorrow we are going with Ato Teklu, Julie and her friend Cindy and
little M on a picnic to the Lake in the countryside. (50 KM away--I
have no idea how far that is). T wants to go on that outing, and then when we get back we'll try to go see her aunt--if not tomorrow, then on Sunday. Also, perhaps
another visit to Layla house, I've promised a visit to Layla if we
were here on the weekend.

We're now crossing our fingers the the Visa comes on Monday, but in
case it does not, Laura has contacted Project Hopeful for me--they
work with families who's medical wavers have gotten lodged someplace
in diplomatic chaos. (The email came back when I tried to contact
her--some domains aren't cooperating when I use google.com.et)
At this point as soon as we've got the Visa, we'll be coming home on
the next available flight. Melat is getting very attached to the
staff at the guesthouse (as am I--I do think I'll cry when we leave)
but I worry about all of her moves and attachments and losses--it's
just so much.

She still doesn't especially like me. I know intellectually that this
too will pass--as it did before with big sister. It's also especially
easy for her to like someone else--as there's so many likable
Amharic-speaking people around us every day. Bedtime is tough. She
likes to sit with the guard after dinner and listen to the radio with
him. At around 7:00 T and I pry her away, and I put on a movie, and
at 8:15 the hysterics subside to occasional sniffles. A few minutes
later she's fine and dandy, and then she falls asleep around 8:00.
This morning she woke me at 6:00AM force-feeding me cookies. (I'm not
sure what that's a sign of, though I've considered the options: 1: She
might like me, a little, 2: she find me less threatening when I'm
asleep, 3: she's trying to induce a coronary).

She's a funny kid though--likes to play games and tease and joke. She
is very social with people and will talk to them about anything, or
nothing. She likes dogs. She likes white rice, but hates fish. (We
had fried fish in berebere for lunch today... it was...different--like
a cross between fish sticks and hot wings, only with catfish). Today
for dinner (This is for Destiny's benefit who wants to know the
details of all meals) we had the best chicken-potato soup that I think
I've ever had!)

The woman at the guesthouse who got so sick and was hospitalized a
couple of days ago is well now. It was food poisoning (From a pizza
restaurant of all places... I ate Kitfo and I'm fine but she got sick
from Pizza! ::patting my pocket to be sure I've still got my Cipro
with me:: Just goes to show it can be anything--the last time I had
food poisoning it was from Stanley and Seaforts of all places). She's
still a little queasy and weak but is a lot better. It was quite a
scare. We walked to the supermarket this morning for some
tummy-friendly snack foods. I picked a chocolate bar (I was dying for
a chocolate bar). It was made in Turkey, and heavily stabilized with
Paraffin to handle the extreme heat in transit and on the shelf. It
was like eating shoe polish. (may I place an advance order for some
"chubby hubby" Ben and Jerry's ice cream when we get home?)
We've compared notes and determined that when a taxi driver is going
to the hospital, it seems they've appointed themselves ambulance
drivers.... the most terrifying car rides we've had yet were to the
hospitals--and she said also that her trip was pretty terrifying! The
drivers flash their lights on and off like ambulances--only with one
hand on their lights and another hand on the shifter (these Fiat taxis
are all manual transmission) and no hands on the steering
wheels--potholes, pedestrians and sheep everywhere!!) Poor Katie
though did all of that in the dark and rain too!!

Well, that's pretty much our story for now--more hurrying up and
waiting. I have great faith in Project Hopeful, they'll be a great
help. Also, it's always possible that the visa will come in on Monday
if 9/11 (Being an Ethiopian Holiday) didn't count as one of our ten
days. Another side note: if these embassy people get to work from
9:00 until 3:00 and take all US and Ethiopian Holidays, I may be
considering an alternate line of work. They've got a sweet deal.
We all miss everyone and look forward to getting home and sharing hugs
and showing you our amazing photos of this trip. It's truly the most
amazing place I've ever seen and I hope to come back sometime soon
(though on a more definite time frame would be much easier). We do have
great help in our agency here--they've been very good to us. Also I
cannot recommend the guesthouse highly enough, they are excellent!
See you all soon--ciao for now!

Jess