Day 1, Trip 1

We arrived here at Bole International Airport in Addis last night around 7:30 p.m. after leaving from Omaha the previous day at 5:00 a.m. We flew Omaha to Chicago, Chicago to Washington D.C., Washington D.C. to Rome, and Rome to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. At the airport, we got our visas and went through customs. We also met Andy and Jenny who were on our flight from D.C. to Addis, but we didn't know they were with AGCI until we were standing in the visa line together. :)

At the airport, we saw a driver from the hotel holding signs with our names on them. After a bit of a wait (waiting for another AGCI couple that we later found out had come in earlier and were already at the hotel), we jumped in the hotel van and off we went! The traffic on the ride from the airport to the hotel was not bad at all, but it was so dark in the city, very few street lights or lights of any kind really. Even still, people kept crossing the 4(ish) lane highway right in front of us in the pitch blackness. Our driver honked his horn a lot; the people on the road looked startled, like they were surprised to see a van driving on the road!

We arrived at the hotel after about 25 minutes; we had seen very little of the city because it was so dark. The hotel looked like one of the nicer buildings; there were security guards outside, and 3 or 4 men came out to help us carry all of our luggage in. Meanwhile, Jenny and I checked into the hotel while Nathan and Andy tipped the luggage helper guys. We checked out our room, and settled in. It felt wonderful to have a place to call "ours" while we are in Addis.

Also of note, we stood out like sore thumbs at the airport. When we had gone through customs and were coming out into the main terminal, there was a sea of brown faces, probably 200 or so, and not one light-skinned person among them. We are the minority here, and what a life-changing experience! I spent a lot of time wondering why this person or that person was looking at me, wondering what they are thinking, what they've heard about Americans. I smiled and tried to be friendly, all the while wondering if I was doing something wrong culturally. Tough stuff. It gave me a new appreciation for people in the U.S. who are in the minority for any reason.

We tried out our computer/internet at the hotel to see if it would work. It did! I put away some thing and unpacked. We got ready for bed and crashed. It felt wonderful to sleep lying down! TOMORROW WE WILL MEET OUR SON!!! :)



Our airplane prior to leaving Washington D.C.




Us at the airport shortly after landing on Ethiopian soil for the first time ever!



Our hotel



The view from our hotel window