bec she offers a diff perspective than I do ... all part of the story! Plus
she's being an amazing friend and helper!
-------
Felt like the living dead by the time we got on the ground, and I was pretty
sure my bum was as swollen as my hands and feet were from SITTING for a
bizillion hours, but we arrived without incident, got all our luggage and
visas, found the person from the adoption agency who met us at the airport,
and we've had a real whirlwind of a day. We DID get a chance for a nap
-both of us slept like the living dead we were, and got up this afternoon
for the official First Visit with Ebba. She cried when she first saw
Allison (Allison managed to frighten several children in the room just by
talking to them - I think it was her height, and maybe the blue eyes that
freaked them out - I didn't seem as frightening), but not while Allison held
her, tho she did look away and pretend Allison wasn't there (like cats or
disobedient dogs do...), and by the end of the visit, she cried when Allison
put her in her crib. Got tonnes of pix on Allison's camera.
Tomorrow is the BIG DAY - Ebba will come back to the guest house with us,
and be officially Allison's. I think once we get settled, we'll do some
excursions - there's another couple (from Guelph, oddly enuf) arriving
tonite, and then another tomorrow at midnite, so perhaps we can band
together.
Loads to tell already - driving in ETH is an experience and a half, and I
plan to NEVER do this myself (we had a driver today). Lines (for lanes) are
not even suggestions for where you should drive, there are no street lights,
and the side street "paving" is like giant cobblestones (bigger than my head
kind of giant, in some cases), with WICKED potholes. The Ethiopians
approach to driving seems to involve deciding what direction you want to go
in, and head off at top speed, ignoring the existence of pedestrians and
other cars. I was literally looking thru my fingers at one point, in dread
of what we were going to narrowly avoid NEXT. The potholes were pretty much
the only thing that our driver slowed down for.
Pollution is BAD - vehicles belching gases in various shades of grey.
Smoking is fairly prevalent as well. It leaves a burning sensation in your
eyes, nose and throat, and I'm going to have boil my clothing when I get
back, I think. But so far, no real breathing difficulties - we get a bit
short of breath when we climb stairs, but I prefer Allison's explanation for
that (altitude - we're at 2400 m) to mine (we are dreadfully out of shape).
Driving in the streets of Addis so far, we have seen donkeys (both loose by
the road, and laden alongside a person), a horse and carriage, goats, sheep
for sale, loose dogs, cattle and a chicken. Large bird of prey looking
things (vultures?) circling, small song birds. No cats, tho. And
thankfully, no roaches, tho we did see Trap A Roach boxes at the Ethiopian
grocery next door, when we went to buy a case of water.
The internet connection here is dial up - I had brought my memory card USB
stick to upload the photos as we take them, but I ain't even gonna attempt
this with a dial up connection. So, daily emails are possible, photos will
have to wait, and I won't be able to see Ailsa on the doggie daycare webcam
:-( but I know she's having fun, even if I can't see it.
So far, I have lost my pen (I think I left it on the plane to Heathrow) and
my watch (which I took off this morning before our nap, and which I cannot
now find, tho I am CERTAIN it is in the room SOMEWHERE, I can't for the life
of me find), but nothing else. Got some currency changed....and now my
brain has turned to mush, and I can't complete the sentence. So for now,
g'nite, and we'll pick this up again tomorrow.
A
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