This was our least eventful day in Addis. We found out back in mid-December that we were going to be unable to meet Abe’s birth mom. Our caseworker had checked into the details of a meeting and it was going to involve an in-country flight and an overnight stay for the 3 of us. That would have left Abe in Addis with a caregiver and would have really stretched our stay and our budget. We had asked about flying her into the city, but for ethical reasons, we could not. An adoptive family is not allowed to gift a birth parent anything over $25 in value, and the trip would have broken that rule. So, we made no mental preparations to meet with birth mom.
However, we found out on Tuesday at lunch that Belay had found a ride for her into the city so that we could meet with her. Apparently, it is a two day car trip each way. The meeting was supposed to take place today. So, we decided to just hang close to the house today and wait for a call to come and meet her. But, she was delayed and now the meeting has been rescheduled for tomorrow at 11:00. It is important to us that we meet her so that one day we can share as many details as possible about this woman who gave birth to him and then allowed us the gift of parenting him.
The restful day was welcomed by all of us as we are getting tired. The drastic cultural differences can be overwhelming and quite frankly, we’re all ready to go home. I think it would be a very different kind of trip if Abe could just go exploring with us, but we’re constantly torn between discovering the city and spending time with him. New travel guidelines went into effect a few months ago which prevent adoptive parents from traveling with their adopted child in the city. That means we can’t go eat or shop with him. When we do go out, I’m anxious to get back and see him.
Tonight, I had my first (and hopefully last) meltdown. When we found out about 4:00 this afternoon that we definitely were not going to have a meeting today, we decided we would go out for dinner. There are 2 restaurants that have been recommended as having fairly good “American” food. So, we decided we’d try one of them. I have done really well all week with making do wherever we’ve gone, but I was ready for a cheeseburger. So, we arranged for the driver and caregiver to come so that we could go out. The driver gets there and it’s not our normal driver. We asked him if he knew where the first restaurant was and he said yes, but it was too far. Then, he told us that our driver told him to take us to the Greek Club. Thus began a few minutes of debate and suggestions and a phone call to our original driver. He assured us that the Greek Club would have the same food as the “American” restaurants. So, we went to the Greek Club, but I was tired and I was frustrated that we’d wasted a whole day in the city just waiting, and I started crying. I spent the next 1/2 hour fighting tears. I would be okay for a minute, then I would lose it. Of course, it wasn’t about the cheeseburger, I was just at my limit. It was awful. I am sure our waiter at the Greek Club thought I was a goofy American moron!
The whole evening was way too memorable. When Abby went to the restroom at the Greek Club, she got locked in the bathroom and by the time I went to check on her, she was in a panic. The restroom attendant tried to help, with no luck. Then, she went and got a man and he came in and worked on the knob and got it open.
The food was not so good and definitely not so American. Abby got a “chicken gordon blue” (yes, that’s how it was spelled on the menu) and we never did find any chicken in it.
Then, when our driver came to pick us up, he couldn’t stop the car alarm from going off and it took him a while to get it started because of the security features. By that time, we were all laughing hysterically just because we needed to.
We did decide to end the evening on a sweet note by going for ice cream at Kaldi’s, which is basically the Ethiopian Starbucks. The cinnamon ice cream was yummy and it was just the taste of home I needed.
We have finished most of the packing for our return trip home and we are excited that we are returning home with only 6 pieces of luggage as opposed to the 9 that we brought. That means we won’t have any rolling suitcases in the airports like we had on all of our layovers coming here. That will be a relief with our wiggly 15 month old!
Here are some photos we took during our afternoon at the Bejoe House.
2 comments:
I appreciate all the information, it allows us to leave our usual world and peek into the lives of others who are not so fortunate. Thank you, and God bless your growing family!
He is so pretty! Thank you for the education you are giving me as God continues to work on my heart.
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