Sunday, March 27, 2016

(or Megabit 18^th, 2008 if you’re using the Ethiopian calendar… look it up…)

                                                              

Happy Easter everyone!! It is day 2 of our trip to Ethiopia (or day 11 depending on if you count how long the flights to Ethiopia felt). Everyone should know that we are all doing really great! We woke up around 8:30 this morning with varying levels of rest obtained from the previous night. I slept like a baby on the bottom bunk below sweet Allie Swanson in our glorious penthouse room. We all got dressed for our first full day here and made our own breakfast in the house kitchen. I scrambled some fresh eggs for some of us and other people enjoyed yogurt and fruit. After breakfast, we gathered in the living room with our host Amy and a new friend named Duggy (Dagim) who gave us a little info on Ethiopian culture. We learned some basic phrases and greetings as well as the day’s itinerary. We learned that we would be going to an Evangelical church, getting lunch, going to an orphanage, getting dinner, and then dancing! We then gathered our belongings and hopped in the van for church. The church we went to is called International Evangelical Church which has a mixture of Westerners and Ethiopians. We stood in the balcony where we sang and listened to the service. Jane, MK, and Zoe made friends with a cute little girl who the played with throughout the sermon. I enjoyed listening to the sermon in which the pastor spoke about the last line of the Lord’s prayer and how it concludes the prayer by directing our attention back to God. I thought the message of how our actions should not be about us or for our glory was very relevant to our trip here. It was also very cool to be worshipping with all different people in one church, on another continent, praising the same God.

After church, we drove to Sishu, a ferenji (foreigner) restaurant, where we ate burgers and tofu sandwiches which were very good. We also played with some puppies outside of the restaurant. (don’t worry we did not touch them…) It was great to have some non-airplane food and we were feeling very satisfied after eating.

We then headed over to the orphanage, Sele Enat. I am not sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised by what I saw. My preconceived idea of an orphanage was a tall, grey building that was multiple stories high and fluorescent lights. Instead, we entered through a bright blue gate into a courtyard with many surrounding buildings. We were greeted by a few kids and adults and were led to the rest of the children. This is when the fun began. We all split up to various parts of the compound and naturally, I headed to the basketball/soccer court. I played a little one-on-one with a ten-year-old boy named Tariku (who would soon become my closest pal of the afternoon). After we played basketball, I was feeling a little tired but the kids did not care. I was quickly pulled into a game of soccer with Tariku, Caroline, and another little girl. It was fun and more people joined in until we had a full fledged game going. I have to give it to the kids, they were pretty good and I was tired out pretty quickly. The next few hours consisted of playing with balloons with different children, seeing Tariku’s bedroom, blowing bubbles, and holding the babies. It was very neat because all of us had our new friends that we made a strong connection with. It was fun and lighthearted to see the kids playing with the balloons, enjoying the dum dums, taking pictures with our cameras, and just enjoying being with us. There was one boy who stood out to many of us with some developmental disabilities. He would often let out a high-pitched scream and grab one of our hands. He would seize our hands and take us where he wanted to go. He would pull out a chair for me, gesture for me to sit, take a seat in my lap, and then wrap my arms around him. He was precious and just wanted to be loved and have someone with him. Although he could not speak, his love for us was apparent and it was nice to be able to give him the love he wanted in return. No one wanted to leave but we get to go back on Wednesday which is exciting!!

After the orphanage, we went back to the Cherokee House where we were welcomed by Ms. Floyd who made it to Addis safely!! It was great to see her and get the chance to rest before we went to dinner. Again, I had my own idea of what dinner was going to be like. Again, I was wrong.

None of us will ever forget the dinner we had tonight. We went to a place called Yod Abyssinia where we enjoyed traditional Ethiopian food. You pick up this sponge-like bread (injera) and grab the various food types with the bread in your hand. It was interesting to try the food and have the waiters come around with water kettles for us to wash our hands. What really made dinner great though, was the performers. We watched some incredible entertainers play, sing, and dance traditional Ethiopian music. And not only did we witness a very cool Ethiopian boy-band wow us, we got to dance as well! It all started when Buffy (Ruthie) was pulled up on the stage. The rest soon followed and we all were laughing at our poor dancing skills and the fun moves we were forced to come up with on the spot. We were all enjoying ourselves and could not contain our happiness. :)))))

Some highlights from the day:

-When two puppies untied both of Jane’s shoes with their teeth. (Very cute)

-Jenni and I getting our hair braided by one of the girls at the orphanage.

-The cutest, chubbiest baby (nicknamed blubber) who brought joy to all of our lives.

-Seeing Ms. Floyd again! And her telling us about the beautiful view of the Arabian Peninsula that she got to see on her flight.

-When we spent twenty minutes trying to figure out the character in High School Musical who has the brown hair and falls in love with Kelsey and finally Caroline remembered it was Jason! We all gave a solid fist pump in the air after that brain teaser.

-Mary Powell being called up onto the stage and forced to free style in a competition with one of the dancers. She won when the cartwheel was executed perfectly.

All in all, it was a very awesome day. We have had a great time making memories with each other and experiencing both difficult and wonderful things with one another. We are so excited to see more of the city and do more memorable things tomorrow!

We love you all!

-       Andy Smithey, ‘16