Journey to Ethiopia

Day 2
Monday Dec. 15

We wake early filled with anticipation. In less than 24 hours we will be holding Meron in our arms! We have studied her picture and wondered about her for months now and we are so close to finally meeting her. We have a six o'clock flight to D.C., with a couple of hour layover then off to Ethiopia. The flight to D.C. was quick and uneventful. When we get to D.C. we headed to Ethiopian Air to check in for our flight. It was kind of exciting to finally get a glimpse of some Ethiopian people. A couple of older women were dressed in traditional Ethiopian clothing, which are like long dresses with several layers of shawls draped over them. It was also interesting to listen to them speak the language. We also got our first taste of the pace of their culture. All along this process our agency has stressed over and over that the Ethiopian pace of doing things is not at all like here in the U.S. They are very laid back and move at a much slower pace. They don't show urgency in anything, what is the hurry, things will eventually get done. So we were told to prepare ourselves to be patient and move at their pace while in their country. Which we did, so it was no surprise at how things were in the airport. Their system of checking people in, didn't seem to be a system at all, and there certainly was no urgency to get us all on the plane in any timely manner. Once the plane was boarded and we took off, it was a couple of hours later than scheduled. I don't say this out of disrespect, it was just interesting to see how differently they ran things, and I am glad that we were forewarned and prepared to take things as they came. No matter how slowly they came. :) Once we were in the air we settled in for the LONG flight. It was a fourteen hour flight from D.C. to Addis Ababa. We had an hour layover in Rome for refueling, but we didn't get to leave the plane. Plus it was 2 a.m. and pitch black outside, so we were in Rome but have no idea what it looks like. After nine hours on the plane we were hoping to catch a glimpse of some mountains or something. No such luck. So we were off again. It was hard to get settled in for another five hours, especially after watching the little t.v. screen show the plane creep across the Atlantic at an unbelievably slow pace for the last nine hours. But we were within five hours of finally being in Meron's country! We were seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and getting excited again.