A Day Out of the City

Today is a hard blog to write.  All Paul and I can think about is that it is our last full day as a family of 3 for a while.  We both know that Ibssa will take it very hard when Paul leaves.  I am confident that I can handle it, but it saddens me to lose my best friend and soul mate.  This will be the longest time that we have ever been apart.  Please take care of my honey when he gets back to Canada.  I know Paul has a happy face all of the time but this will be very difficult for him as well.  Please pray for us as we journey through this very last hurdle.

Today was the day we ventured out of town.  Even though we get up at 6:30am, we still struggle to be ready by 9:30am.  I wanted Paul to go up the street and pick up the wired money from the church that was sent for groceries for the orphanage before we left.  Thank goodness that was very simple to do.  He came home with a very thick wad in his shirt.  God bless Dundas church as well as our friends and family for making such a generous donation.  After we all got in the van, the Gresty’s and the Schiele’s, I started trying to reach Elizabeth at Abenezer.  I never seem to have any luck reaching her, so I called Germatchew from Kids-Link, our adoption facilitator from this end.  Germatchew said he would get a hold of Elizabeth and call me back with a time for tomorrow.  Phew!  Communication is always so tough.

We headed out of the city.  Addis Ababa is huge.  It probably took us at least an hour of extremely bumpy roads and massive amounts of diesel fumes before the traffic got somewhat better. We were going through an industrial area so the number of very smoky trucks made it very difficult to keep ourselves together.  Ibssa fell asleep and cuddled in next to me.  This was perfect because we knew he would be missing his afternoon nap.  I really felt bad for Candy and Rob, they have a 7 month old baby who was not very happy with that ride.

As we drove through the countryside you could see a lot of people using horses.  Livestock was everywhere on the roads.  However, they seemed to be easily manipulated by their caretakers.  There were mountains in the distance.  We were heading to the crater lake area.  The first stop was a gorgeous resort just outside of Debra Zet.  We had to pay 250 birr each to get in, less for Ibssa, but that included a huge meal when you got in as well as the use of kayaks, and discounts at the spa. 

 Rob was hungry and it was 12:30 by the time we got there so we decided to head for the restaurant.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We sat at a table next to the rail overlooking the lake.  The menu was a dinner menu.  After that ride, eating was the last thing I wanted to do but I went for it anyway.  Ibssa and Paul seemed less bothered by the fumes.  Our first course was bread and lentil soup.  The bread came with chili sauces to dip in which Ibssa devoured.  Even the waitress was impressed with how much heat he could take.  Most of us had lentil soup for a starter and Candy had roasted vegetables.  Ibssa loved the soup.  Next we had an assortment of entrees.  Ibssa had a chicken nugget kids meal which he basically did not touch.  He managed to eat from Paul’s plate, penne, and Rob’s plate, lamb.  Candy and I had the rosemary chicken.  As delicious as it was I could only manage to eat about a third of my plate.  We finished the meal with dessert…..always room for dessert.  Paul had a fried banana, Ibssa had ice cream, and Candy, Rob and I had brownies with a coffee.  Yummy.  Lunch probably took about an hour and a half.  We all toddled off in different directions to explore the resort.  None of us really wanted to go kayaking. 

Ibssa found the swimming pool.  He has great memories of swimming with Paul the other day and couldn’t really understand why they weren’t doing it again today. Rob found a cinema that was kind of weird - it had cushions that looked like beds so you can lay down and watch the movie.  Of course, Paul and Ibssa had to try it out.  Eventually Candy and I found ourselves at the spa.  It was starting to get late but we decided to just peak.  Of course, it was beautiful as well.  We asked how much it was for a pedicure….the lady said 160…we both looked at each other and said birr?  That is about $7.50 in our money.  We couldn't refuse.  I decided to get a manicure as well.  What’s another 5 bucks LOL.  They did the pedicures first.  Candy was a little worried about how Rob would do with Ephrem since he hadn’t really had much of a sleep all day.  She scurried out while I got my manicure.  My phone kept ringing.  I was sure it was Germatchew about a pickup time for tomorrow.  The spa attendants were not happy that my phone was ringing.  After my manicure I was told to sit and wait for it to dry.  Again my phone rang.  I answered it but really shouldn’t have.  I wrecked my manicure, I managed to get nail polish on my phone and my face LOL.

  Oh well, it was fun anyway.  When we were finished we called Sinteyew, our driver, to pick us up, he was already waiting.  Phew!  Rob was getting cranky.  We all assumed we were heading home, but he actually took us to one more resort with a lake.  It was only a half hour stop to just look at scenery.  They are proud of their lakes in Ethiopia.  Unfortunately, they really don’t hold a candle to anything that you would see in Canada. 

 We were polite and commented on the beauty, but we just wanted to head back.  So, away we went.  The drive outside of the city wasn’t quite as busy as the morning but just as bumpy.  It didn’t agree with Ibssa.  Just as we reached the outskirts,  Ibssa began to hurl.  Good grief.  Good thing Candy and Rob had wipes.  I was completely unprepared for this event.  Paul and I cleaned up the mess as best we could.  Candy and Rob gave us a Zip Lock bag to put Ibssa’s clothes in.  The also gave us a blanket to wrap him up in.  They literally saved the day.  Ibssa’s seemed in much better spirits but you could tell he was very tired.  It took everything Candy and I had to no hurl ourselves.  The diesel fumes were unforgiveable.  It took forever to get to the guest house.  We thanked Sintayew.  He said we could pay Lee in the morning for his fee.  It is supposed to cost $120 that we are splitting with the other couple.

Although it was great to get out of the city, I will NEVER do that again.  It is extremely hard on our lungs.  We as Canadians just can’t take it.  How people survive in this I will never know.  It is now 3 hours later and I feel like I am still detoxing from that ride.  We heading upstairs and immediately put Ibssa’s clothes to soak in the tub.  Bugger, it was only day one for this set.  We put him in his pyjamas.  We decided to give him a little down time before we put him to bed.  All of a sudden he was hungry.  Paul got him a piece of toast and some instant oatmeal.  I guess he wanted supper.  I assumed he felt like us and that food was the last thing on his mind.  Was I wrong.  He ate almost all of it.  He then went to bed and was out like a light in no time.  I laid down with him because I was feeling so crappy.  After about an hour I decided to get up.  Paul was working on downloading a program on my tablet so we would be able to watch the movies on our portable hard drive.  He will be taking the only real computer home with him tomorrow night.  When I walked in the living room he was watching one so he was successful. 

Tomorrow I will get Lee to tell Ibssa that Paul will be leaving.  She thought he would be able to understand.  He cried this morning when Paul went to the bank without him, but it only lasted about 30 seconds.  I hope all goes well.  Paul has a brutal flight home.  He won’t actually get into Toronto until about 11:30pm on Friday.  He is flying to Washington and then on to Toronto after a 12 hour delay.  Pam and Mike will pick him up since they will be in Toronto anyway seeing Joel Osteen, something that we had tickets for and had to give up. 

I forgot to mention, when we got back to our room they had swans made from towels sitting on the bed.  Usually, we just towels folded up.  I think TIGI must know Paul is leaving tomorrow  Awwwww.

 

Well it’s getting late.  The updates may not be as wordy or as often for the next couple of weeks.  I will be using my tablet and it’s a lot harder than typing on a laptop.  Also, when I lay down with Ibssa, I may not get up until morning.  LOL. 

Hugs and Blessings,

Karen