Ethiopia : the journey, the wonder, the screw-ups...

I am going to be sharing some of my husband's journal entries.

For years and years (well, 16 to be exact!) Jerry has led me to believe that he doesn't, can't, won't, (whatever!) write. I've always disagreed with him. He has moved me to tears many times with his sweet messages on cards or his occasional (o.k...so extremely rare) notes. Never one to be sappy, he has always written from his heart and that's what I love the most!

I was so touched and excited when Jerry told me that he plans to journal his journey to Ethiopia.
Even though I wasn't going, I would still be able to feel a part of the journey and it would be something to treasure and share with Kidus and Biruk someday.

Anyway, I've decided that it's just too good to not share...I love his masculine, fact oriented language and the frankness with which he writes.

So with a few (very few) minor detail changes, here it is, in all it's male splendor...

7-10-09, 12:46pm

We left from the house at a little after 10am. Got to the airport with all our junk....took us about an hour to get checked in and through security. Damian is feeling like crap. Hope we didn't make a mistake by taking him with us.

6:00pm

We are on Emirates Air flying over Utah right now. We left L.A. at 4:45.

Wow, I love this airline so far. Very impressed. They have got a great media center for each seat with tons of movies, music, and games that we can entertain ourselves with for the next 14 hours. They brought out hot wash cloths before we even left the terminal, gave us a little zippered bag with a tooth brush, toothpaste, and a washcloth or something of the sort for each passenger. Damian is feeling a little better....may be due to the nice amenities of the aircraft though. Our seats are at the very back, (1 row behind us) of the plane.

Don't know if I should try to sleep or stay awake. I feel quite tired but it may be due to the wine I had a few minutes ago. Chad is watching a movie, Caleb is playing with his DS, Damian has his ear plugs in and a blanket over him, and I am pecking away at this keyboard.

They are beginning to serve dinner and it smells so good, I am putting this computer away.

7-11-09

4:50am

This is a looonnnggg flight! Still have 3 ½ hours (2021 miles) to Dubai. We are flying over the Black Sea right now. My head hurts. I stupidly put the Advil in the checked luggage instead of my carry-on. Damian has been complaining every chance he gets about his stomach. Poor kid. He has asked me several times why I made him come along. He acts completely miserable, however the last several hours he has been sleeping. I think. He has a hard time getting comfortable. Right now he is sitting on the floor curled up with his head on the seat. He has eaten very little....one bit of a soda cracker, a slice of orange, bite of apple, couple bits of banana. Drank some juice and water.

I'm trying to prepare myself for the trip home...two little kids with too much energy, coped up in the flying prison, not being able to communicate much, and probably not like the food.

It just now dawned on my that we are some of the very few Caucasians riding on this flight. The older grandpa sitting across the isle from me knows half the people on this plane...must be some big family traveling together. Everyone seems to want to stop and visit with him and talk loudly, not in English, with lots of gesturing. I guess we will be in the minority for the next 7 days.

I think Chad was on some kind of a movie marathon. Seems like he must have watched about 5 movies back to back. He is sleeping now...at least he's going through the motions of it, its hard to sleep on this thing.

7-11-09

4:30pm

Its 3:30am and 7/12 here in Dubai. We got in last night around 8pm and got to our room here around 9:30ish, I think. I am supposed to be sleeping but my body won't let me. It doesn't help that at around 1am I could hear someone in the hallway knocking on doors and loudly calling out, “Housekeeping”. Who does housekeeping at that time of the morning?

We got two rooms....Damian and I are together, and next door are Chad and Caleb. I think Damian is finally feeling better. We went down to the lobby last night and he found some food on the buffet that he felt like eating. First time he has really eaten since we left.

Dubai. Wow. This place is hot and so humid I can hardly believe it. The second we walked out of the airport terminal to catch the shuttle to the hotel we were instantly soaked in sweat. So different than good ol' Phoenix. The airport is absolutely huge. We must have walked a mile to get out of there. The ceilings are about 40 feet tall with huge pillars everywhere, stone floors, everything shiny and new. Don't know what they are trying to tell the world...looks like they may be compensating for something. On the way to the hotel we passed a place that was advertising Tex-Mex food....thought that was kinda funny. They put us up in a very nice hotel a few minutes from the airport.

So the guy I was referring to yesterday who was sitting by me that new everyone on the place is a Syrian. We talked some and he is an Orthodox christian and is so excited that we are adopting kids from ET. He is traveling with a large number of his family...so that's why he knows so many people on the plane. I also met an Ethiopian, Daniel, and his son who are traveling with us all the way from L.A. Seems like a nice guy. His wife and daughter have already been in ET for a month and they are meeting to visit family. Our plane leaves at 8:25 am (local time) this morning. The shuttle leaves the hotel at 6....hope that leaves us enough time to get through airport security and walk the 2 miles back to the gate. Crazy big airport. They should supply us all with Segways...then I would be impressed.

We arrive in Addis Ababa around noon today. YAY! Not sure what we are gonna do first besides haul all our crap to the hotel and try to get a cell phone so I can make contact with my woman on the other side of the globe....and to call (agency personnel) and Feduka(sp?).

Oh...so we are trying to get out of the airport last night and they make go through security to leave.?? We had to show our passports and I got Damian's and mine out of my bag and tell Caleb to get his. He said he doesn't have it. I went through all my bags and pockets all the while telling him he was the last one to have it and he saying that no, he had given it back to me. Finally Chad says, “Caleb, look in all your pants pockets”. There it was. I am carrying them all from now on. Hope he doesn't lose the $1100 he has tied around his waist.

When Caleb and I ate down in the lobby restaurant last night there were several different groups of Americans eating there. Was looking around to see if any of them are the family from Mo that we are going to be staying at the Yeka Guest House in ET with. It shouldn't be that hard to spot a Missourian in Dubai.....but it was. Unless they weren't there.

The food down there was fit for a king. Chad really missed out....except that he said he almost ate himself into a stupor on the plane yesterday.

The airline fed us so much food.....and all of it was really good. I don't like lamb. I don't eat lamb. Not usually anyways. Yesterday was not usual. I ate lamb. The best lamb that I have ever tasted. Not saying it was the best food I ever ate but it was definitely the best lamb...and I would gladly eat it again if given the chance.

Wonder if Kidus and Biruk have any idea what is happening this week? Wonder if I do? I think I love them....but, am I going to like them? I have no idea. What if they are brats? Will they even like us?

I guess time will tell.

9:25am (local)

We just got off the ground from Dubai. Delayed one hour due to....I don't know what. First they had us all sitting at the wrong gate. Then 20 minutes before loading time they told us we had to move from gate 214 down to gate 139....another ½ mile walk. Started boarding on time only to find out we were being herded down a long winding corridor the the ground lever and onto a bus. Yes, a standing room only bus. Took about a 7 minute ride out on the tarmac to the waiting plane....and up the stairway onto the plane. Off to a late start....then they said a tire was low and they were waiting for an “engineer” to come fill it. They should have just let me go do it. Stupid engineers.

While waiting to board at the gate we met Lisa D. and her husband, who has no name because I don't remember it, who are also adopting from ET....same agency as us. They are from MO.

The flight crew just handed out the little yellow cards for us to fill out to get a visa when we get to the airport in Addis Ababa.

Serving good food again...gotta eat.

1:15 (local time)

I am sitting in our room at the Yeka Guest House. We had a nice short flight into Addis Ababa after our late departure in Dubai. Got into the terminal and it was pretty empty...no lines anywhere compared to PHX, LAX, and DBX. We got our visas, exchanged $900 for 11,199.60 birr (didn't get the .60 cents though), claimed our luggage (all 8 pieces showed up), and went through security, all without a hitch. Went outside to meet our ride...looked for someone holding a sign that might say “Jerome G******”. Might as well looked for Napoleon Bonaparte. I did find two different people in two different locations holding signs that said, “Lisa and Kevin D*****”. I talked to the first one and she was not from Yeka, the other one was. So the group of us: the D*****'s, their missionary friend Sherry, Sherry's son, the driver from Yeka, the other driver, and I, stood around trying to figure out what had happened and what we were gonna do. Nobody had any information about a G******* party of 4. Wish I would have had a phone to call (agency personnel) at the moment. We finally agreed to all go to Yeka and see if they had room for all of us. So the D*****'s get in the car with their friend and Chad, Caleb, Damian, and I go with the driver, Jeremiah. We got out to the parking lot, pushing 3 cart heaped with containers and immediately got surrounded by a bunch of guys wanting to help us. Jeremiah successfully got rid of all of them except one which he chose to help. We got out to the car and it was a little 4 door. It could only fit 2 tubs in the trunk. We had 8. The car the helper had was identical to Jeremiah's car, except for a little rack on top. They piled stuff on top, in the trunks, on the seats. Chad got in one car and Damian, Caleb, and I got in the other. What a drive. I can't even begin to describe what it was like....tore up roads, people walking everywhere, junk and trash, little shacks made out of plastic and card board. The guest house is quite nice, totally surrounded by tin roofs that that leak like sieves.

They obviously were not expecting us here at the Yeka. I called (agency personnel) to make and appointment to meet with here Monday morning at 8:30am. She said she would have a driver come pick us up at 8. Shortly after i talked to her someone else from Hope called (a man) to tell me that we had rooms somewhere at another guest house. I told him we are fine here at the Yeka and will just stay here.

3:00pm (local)

I also called Fekadu and agreed to meet tomorrow afternoon sometime. He sounds really nice and speaks good English....which is nice after some of my communication today. Can't wait to meet him and see his ministry and give him the 3 tubs of donations.

I am supposed to be getting a cell phone tomorrow. When I do get it I will be able to give the number to Jenni so she can call if she needs to and it won't cost anything on this end.

We just got done ordering food that will be brought back here to eat. Not Ethiopian. Italian. She gave us two menus; 1 Italian pastas and 1 pizza place. I didn't fly 32+ hours to eat spaghetti. The receptionist was shocked that I wanted Ethiopian food. I hope we get some tomorrow.

Oh, the water in the guest house doesn't taste good. Bad aftertaste. I guess we'll see if the $100 I spent on the Steripen was money well spent.

*To be continued....