Short Stories. World Water Day!

Today is World Water Day!

                                    Most of the world shares water like this, when they have water.

Home Sweet .....although jet lagged, Home.

Such a long travel experience but we have finally arrived home.  It is amazing how far you can travel these days in a relatively short amount of time but when you end the arduous flight travel with a long car ride through a snow storm and then a six hour drive takes nine...that is too much.  We were like horses heading to the barn and kept on going until at last we met our loved ones at the Chanticleer Inn. Eventually our heads touched down on our pillows at home.  Heavy sigh. It had been days of travel. We were at last safely home, but done in.
   

Here are some photos of the guest house we stayed in while in the city of Addis Ababa.  It is typically used by families here to adopt children and provides them a nice homelike atmosphere. We were very comfortable and this is where we were able to get the internet.

                                        Gated courtyard, and razor wire.  Guard house.

Time Out.
I am currently in a self imposed time out.  Upon arriving home I lost my voice.  Gone.  I have so much to say....and can't.  Frustrating for me. Along with friends and family who have called and end up with a few short texts instead.  I am very happy that I have the luxury of being sick at home!  After watching other team members soldier on with their illnesses traveling dusty roads on the bumpy bus, I have it made.  I did drag myself to a friends for dinner the other night. It's just not the invitation that a smart person should ever pass up.   I tried to keep my germs to myself while we engaged in a game of charades as an exchange for conversation.  Yum.  All was worth it and I stayed awake!

"Farenji" Foreigner.  That's what they would call us.  And we learned to say, "amaseginalo," which is "thank you."

Often the kids would yell to us from the street.  Heather was sitting in the front of the bus with her beacon of blond hair announcing our busload of "farenji's."  We would hear the people shouting 'youyouyou' or 'hellohellohello.'  Good english for them, although we weren't quite sure what the correct  response should be. We would just say "amaseginalo" or repeat what they were saying.  We did a lot of waving and they did a lot of waving back.  The Ethiopians we encountered seemed pretty entertained by our attempts at everything and anything.  I guess the white farenji's are rather amusing! Often times there would be students who had good enough english skills to translate for us with the other children but left to our own devices we had to go with the wave and our limited vocabulary. 

Not too close.

Sometimes when we would arrive the children would be very shy.  I would sit down on a bench and they would sit down at the very end of the bench.  As the presentation would progress the children would start sliding down closer and closer to me.....until soon they were next to me, touching me and holding my hands.  It was so sweet.   We developed our own language and forms of entertainment playing thumb wars and every hand game we could think of.  There are now thousands of kids who will give you a high five and know how to move their hand and trick you when you least suspect it!  What a great sense of humor we shared.  Laughter is a universal language.  

  "Special Fish."  I do not recommend ever, ever, ever eating the special fish!  Ask Heather why.