Ethiopia, Chapter 6, The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-quarters

Since I have been labeled either a dork, or nerd, or both, I decided to embrace my geekness and go with it. Letting you gentle reader, figure out today's title.

OUR journey in Ethiopia continues.

Monday was the day we went to the National Museum of Ethiopia. I was initially looking forward to this because this is where Lucy is. If you want to learn more about Lucy, just click on her name. However just before leaving the US I read an article in "The Daily Prophet" which mentioned that Lucy was going on tour in the States and what we would see in Ethiopia was actually a model, not the real thing. Then I learned that it is always a model so my chance of seeing the actual skeleton was always going to be 0.

To get to the museum we did not have to go to King's Crossing and board a train, instead we all piled into two vans and off we went. Traffic in Addis is interesting and very hectic. Not as bad as Cairo but definitely a close second. Both of our drivers for the week were very skilled in the art of placing a van in a lane of traffic designed to fit a Yugo which was very helpful. After about a half hour we arrived in one piece at the museum.

Once there we had to go through security and have our passports checked. I started thinking they might have "The Philosopher's Stone" inside, but alas all in all I was very disappointed with the place. It is incredibly small and Lucy's exhibit is in a corner in the basement with little signage to even let you know where she is. There was lots of art which I loved but not as much artifacts showing Ethiopia's history as I would have expected. After all Ethiopia has been considered the Cradle of Humanity.

After the museum we went back to the guest house and then went over to the care center to see the kids. We would have gone in the morning to see them but they were at the embassy getting their passport photos taken. Tariku was tired and slept most of our visit. We wrote it off as him having a long day and the fact that he was 4 months old and really at that age all they do is eat and sleep. Again we probably would have known he wasn't feeling well if he had been in our care and we were able to watch over him 24/7. I am not criticizing our hosts, they really did a great job and we understand they still had some last minute details to take care of including the passport photos. I just meant that since we did not have him with us the whole time it took us longer to realize he was sick.

Tuesday was the day we had Tariku the longest up to that point because it was US Embassy day. The kids had been to the doctor in the morning and had their blood drawn and then they were dropped off at the guest house. I have never seen so many excited adults in one room. Except maybe at the finals of the Quidditch World Cup.(Okay I will stop now. I promise!) Back to reality the children arrived and we all piled into the two vans again and headed through town to the US Embassy. After another half hour trip in the vans, security not once but twice, where some families had to drink the formula out of their baby's bottle, and another 2 hours of waiting we each went to the window answered a few questions and were told that our children were our and we could bring them home! Of course throughout the entire day Tariku slept and ate a little bit.

I should mention eating and then leave Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for next time. The babies in the care center are cup fed from these tiny metal cups. It is amazing to watch. We even saw an infant under 15 days old in Hossana's care center eating this way. They say it is safer on the children since it is easier to sterilize a cup that a bottle and nipple. I believe this is part of the reason they do this. It is also a lot quicker to feed the kids this way and when you have lots of hungry kids who need to eat every 4 hours or so, you need to do it quickly. (Just one man's opinion) Anyway, Jen fed Tariku on Monday out of a cup and she did a great job with it. On Tuesday we all brought cups and bottles not knowing if our kids would take from the bottle right away but all of us wanting to transition them to that point. Tariku took the bottle right away never once needing us to go back to the cup.

Eating for us included a great mixture of American cuisine and Ethiopian. The cook at the guest house made us breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday and we walked away from most meals way too full. I never knew you could have dessert with every meal!

Again, this is way too long of a post so I am calling it quits. I better go make sure Jen doesn't think I am too much of a dork. Besides I am getting this pain from the scar on my forehead. Peace!