Days Five and Six in Ethiopia

This trip is not for the weak.   We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here, but we are emotionally and physically spent.  Unfortunately about half of our group is or has been afflicted with some sort of malady over the few days we’ve been here.  Matt and I are still healthy and I pray that it stays that way until we are safely back home.

It’s been another busy couple of days.  The Holt staff in Ethiopia have done such a great job of taking care of everything for us while we are here.  They have also packed our week completely full of Ethiopian culture, food, shopping and just an all-around wonderful experience learning about our girl’s country.

Yesterday we headed to the care center first thing and then to the U.S. Embassy.  I wasn’t really concerned about this appointment as there usually aren’t any problems by the time you get to this point in the process, but the emabassy is a bit of an intimidating place, nonetheless.  Thanks to the great work of the Holt staff, I think our entire group of 8 families was in and out in less than an hour.  After the embassy, Dawit, Holt’s in-country guide for traveling families, took us out for pizza which I think really hit the spot with all of us.  Ethiopian food is wonderful but if you’re not used to eating it for every meal it is easy to tire of it rather quickly.  Once we were done there, it was back to the hotel with Liremet.  And we were officially on our own.  Scary stuff, eh?  We had a pretty easy night.  We played with her a little and then she was so worn out she went to sleep at about 6:30.  She was up at 10:30 and 4:00 for a bottle, and then up for good at about 7:00.  I would say that’s not too bad for her first night in an unfamiliar place.  I wish I knew what she was thinking.  It has to be confusing for her to be with people she doesn’t know in a place she doesn’t know.  Not to mention all of the sights and sounds of the city that she had never experienced before.  She was just totally wide-eyed the entire time we were out and about.  She seems to have adjusted to us pretty well so far, but what do I know. A few things about our girl:

• She is the most mellow baby I know.  We still haven’t heard a full-blown cry, just the cutest little squishy-faced whimpering.
• She sucks her index and middle finger to put herself to sleep.  I’m sure this was her self-soothing technique in the care center, but it sure does the trick.  We have tried to get her to take a pacifier, but she hasn’t been too interested.  Hopefully we’re not still trying to wean her off the finger-sucking by the time she goes to kindergarten.
• She’s very quiet and calm around everyone else, but once we get her back to the room by ourselves, she really lights up.  She kicks around and plays with her toys.  She smiles and laughs and coos.  She’s totally adorable.
• She prefers to sleep on her stomach.  I know she’s not supposed to sleep like this according to whoever it is that says how babies should sleep, but I figure if she’s survived sleeping that way for 6 months perhaps we’re okay.  You should see how the babies sleep here.  The nannies wrap them up like burritos, often completely covering their heads with blankets.  The American in me wants to rush over and unwrap every last one of them, but that’s how they do things here.  And the babies all seem to be doing just fine.  Go figure.
• We can already tell a huge difference in her from the first day we met her to today.  For one thing, we see much more of her personality now.  The first day we could barely get a smile out of her and she pretty much just laid there.  Now she laughs and smiles for us and is moving those arms and legs like crazy.  We’ve also started working with her on sitting up with some support and putting weight on her legs and I would say she’s already doing better with these things also.
• We do indeed have some sort of stomach issue.  It doesn’t seem to bother her, but it bothers me when I have to change her nasty diapers.  I thought I had psyched myself up for this part, but I must admit when I unwrapped the first one this morning, I had to take a step back.
• And of course she’s beautiful.

Today, we went back to the care center for the farewell party with the nannies and staff.  They dressed the kids up in their traditional clothing.  I’ll post a picture of Liremet in her outfit below – it was too funny.  The farewell party was a special time in which the staff and parents prayed for the kids, all of the parents were asked to say a little something, and there was a coffee ceremony for us.  The coffee ceremony is very important in Ethiopian culture and involves Ethiopian coffee (which is the best I’ve ever tasted) and popcorn.  This is the second coffee ceremony that we have attended, the first being on our trip to Durame.  I know I’ve said it before, but the Holt staff here – both on the administrative and child care side are so, so good.  We will forever be grateful for all of their hard work that brought our little family together.  We left the kids at the care center and did some shopping this afternoon and now I’m hanging out here with my sleeping baby and my snoozing husband.  I hope to be joining them very soon.  But not before I post some pictures!

Traditional dancing at the Crown Hotel.  Ethiopian dance is so cool.  Particularly this one dance where the girl spun her head around in ways that I swear are not human.

Coffee ceremony at the Crown Hotel

Hanging out during dinner last night.

A little play time in the hotel room this morning.

Farewell ceremony at the care center.  The headband kills me!

Part of our group at Kaldi’s coffee this afternoon pre-shopping.  Kaldi’s is like the Ethiopian Starbucks.