Continued from previous posts...

I felt like a little kid looking out the window of the van as we drove through the streets of Addis Ababa…I wanted to see everything and felt a huge variety of emotions with all that I saw. The traffic was unreal...death-defying almost (and this coming from a girl from New York!!!)Even though it was late and dark, the streets were full of people, animals, cars, bikes...it was like I had pictured it in my mind, but so much MORE so.

T., our driver extraordinare, made us feel welcome right away, and we had a lot of fun talking with him and listening to him point out the sites.

When we got dropped off at the hotel, Josh, Dan and I had our first opportunity to try out the handful of Amharic we (I) had learned, and to try and understand English with a thick Ethiopian accent. I was the only one who was able to understand what was being said to us most of the time, so I quickly became our “translator”.

We were staying at the Ghion hotel, and although it was dark, the main entrance was very nice. Our rooms were not connected to the main hotel as we were staying in the “Riviera Suites” (supposed to be nicer than the hotel rooms and have a lot more space). They were about a 4 minute walk from the main part of the hotel.

Dan was two doors down the little road from us, so we said good night to him and then walked up to our suite. I have to say that my first impression of the room wasn’t a great one. The carpet was very worn and dirty looking, as was just about everything else in the room. It was dark outside and we were separated from everyone else and I was definitely over tired! I asked Josh if he thought the room would be good enough for Dan, and he laughed (remembering stories Dan had told him about places he had stayed in other countries) and said yes, so we started unpacking.

I was very happy to find the bed to be very clean, and the bathroom to be very big and very clean as well. We had one big room with our bed, a TV, dressers, a table and chairs, a desk and a couch. There was also a small kitchen and another small bedroom with a twin bed and closet. It was pretty perfect for our situation and the room started to grow on me. It was a new home-for-a-week in Ethiopia. (

After a little bit of unpacking and organizing and some much needed showering (it never felt to good to take out my contacts!), we collapsed in bed (it was about 9 p.m. Ethiopia time, so perfect bedtime)…excited and anxious knowing that we would be meeting our son in the morning.