This is a view of the Ethiopian countryside. Addis Ababa is in a high elevation area of Ethiopia
and the mountains are beautiful.
On the other side of the cars is an area where they had their millennium celebration last year. They
celebrated the millennium in September of our
2008. We follow the Gregorian calendar and Ethiopia
follows the Ge'es calendar of 13 months. They have 12
months of 30 days and 1 month of 6 days. It's hard to
see but there is a large sign of lights right beyond the car
that says 2000.
This is the lion of Judah. The lion is represented in many places in Ethiopia.
This is a woman carrying a large bundle of wood or
This is a former king's house.
This is another view of the Ethiopian countryside.
This is a woman carrying a large bundle of wood or something along the mountainside road. Many women
do this job everyday. Ephrim told us that Ethiopian
women are very strong, most of these women are very
old and they go up and down this mountain everyday doing
this hard physical labor.
This is a former king's house.
This is another view of the Ethiopian countryside.Day 5
Thursday Dec. 18
This was Embassy day! Other than meeting Meron, this was the most important part of our trip for the adoption. It is an interview at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa to ensure that we are indeed Meron's adoptive parents, that she was legally an orphan and to start the process for her to get a travel visa. Unfortunately, nature was against me starting the night before. Wednesday night I woke up with wrenching stomach pain which soon turned into double-ended unpleasentries I won't go into detail about. I was so careful with what I ate and drank, I thought for sure I would avoid contracting any kind of sickness from the food or water. We even used bottled water to brush our teeth. The only thing I can think of is that maybe I could have gotten something from our eating utensils, because the plates, glasses and silverware were washed in regular water. Anyhow, I started popping pepto pills hoping to start feeling human again before our visa appointment. We had taken a prescription with us for this kind of sickness, but the day before we left I read about another family that had traveled before us and the husband had gotten sick and had a terrible reaction to the medication. He ended up in the hospital because of the antibiotic. So, the thought of having a reaction and being hospitalized there freaked me out. That was a big mistake, I should have started the prescription as soon as I got sick, but I continued with the pepto which did nothing. Noon came and it was time to go to the Embassy. Rescheduling or missing your appt. is not an option. I felt terrible, the car ride to the Embassy felt like an eternity. We finally arrived and stood in a short line to go through security, all the while with my sickness bag in hand. I probably looked like quite the picture, pale-faced and all hunched over holding my stomach. After a short time, we got through security and they took us to another building to wait to be called for our interview. We went upstairs to a small, hot, overcrowded room and sat down. It was only a matter of minutes and I needed a bathroom fast! Upon asking Tsegay were the ladies room was, he informed me that the only one was back in the other building! So the next hour entailed of going back and forth between buildings until we were called for our interview. Finally it was our turn, and we were called up to a window like a bank tellers and asked to raise our right hand and say an oath, although I couldn't say what it was because all I was concentrating on was not throwing up on the Embassy official. I'm assuming I must have looked pretty terrible because upon finishing the oath, the official told me I could go and Brandt could finish everything else. Needless to say I immediately started the prescription, because at that point I couldn't imagine that any reaction I had could feel any worse. The rest of that day and night are kind of a blur for me, I spent most of it in bed and the bathroom. Brandt was amazing through it all. He completely took care of Meron and all our paperwork that day. I also forgot to mention that Meron had SEVERE diarrhea and was going through entire outfits every hour and Brandt was a trooper through it all. Unfortunately, I was feeling pretty miserable and didn't think to take pictures of anything that day.
Earlier in the day, before our appt. Ephrim took Brandt out of the city so he could see some of the countryside. I wish I could have been there, it seemed pretty amazing. He was able to get some pretty amazing pictures though.
