Ethiopia: August 1

Today was our first full day in Ethiopia. We arrived last night at the guest house around 11pm, and were welcomed with a delicious meal. Thank goodness, because we were hungry and tired, after the 27 hour trip to Addis.

During dinner, we met Lisa, (another adoptive parent, who is here with her husband Jay, and sister-in-law, (also) Lisa) who gave us a quick rundown of what to expect during the following days. She could not have been nicer, and we were very grateful for her giving us the scoop. Right after that, we crashed hard. I don’t know how I slept with all the excitement in the air, but I did. And I am thankful!

After breakfast this morning, we hopped in the car with our driver, Solomon, who took us to meet our lawyer, Abebe, to finish some paperwork for the Embassy. We arrived at Abebe’s house, and as his servant opened the door to greet us, a huge cloud of smoke rolled out the door. This was an incredible amount of smoke, like something out of a Cheech and Chong movie. I wasn’t sure how to react, so I turned around and looked at Eric, and he was equally confused. We giggled a little. When I turned back around, Abebe was standing there with open arms, and insisted we come in immediately, even though visibility inside the house at that point was about 1 ft, max. (I would describe Abebe as looking somewhat like Jesse Jackson with a buzz cut, and with equally as much character.) Turns out he was just preparing his house for guests by lighting some incense. A lot of it.

As the smoke began to clear, we found our way to some couches and finished filling out the papers, and were served our first cup of Ethiopian coffee. Being the nervous freak I am these last few days, I decided to forgo the caffeine. A few sips of that black, almost oil-consistency stuff, and I would have been jittering off my chair. (Hopefully I didn’t offend Abebe by not drinking the stuff...I did take one sip. And it was the kind of stuff that puts Starbucks hardest stuff to shame.) After the meeting, we ran to the embassy to drop off paperwork, and then, the much awaited moment… meeting our little M+Ms!! And it happened in the blink of an eye.

We literally pulled up to the orphanage, and there they were, in the arms of nannies, waiting for us outside! The most beautiful babies in the world! The babies we had only imagined over the last few months. Like tiny little celebrities. In our minds we knew them so well, and yet they had no idea who we were... I was so in shock when I saw them, I think I was holding Melese for about 5 minutes before I realized what was happening. He kept smiling, and is probably the happiest boy ever. Mamenesh is also a very happy baby-- but definitely the big sister of the bunch. She seems very cautious, and I have a feeling she will always be Melese’s watcher. Always checking things out – and not handing out smiles as freely. I guess somebody’s gotta be the responsible one, right?




Even as young as they are, I can tell that they already have a serious brother-sister bond. At one point, Eric and I were holding each of them on our laps, and they kept looking at each other. Melese reached over and grabbed Mammy’s hand. And maybe I just imagined it, but it seemed intentional. Almost like he was telling her, “It’s gonna be ok, sister bear…These are the ONES!”

He reached for her several times. And by the end of our visit, she had relaxed enough to fall asleep on Eric’s chest. (Of course, this was after she tried to latch on to Eric’s chin, in a mad hunt for some mother’s milk. No luck there.) Shortly after, Melese fell asleep in my arms. His whole body went limp. And Eric started singing “Aww, I just died in your arms tonight!!” It sounds very weird as I type it now, but I guess you had to be there?

I counted their toes, and yep, they each got 10 of ‘em. And long ones too! One proud mama, I am! Their curls are so tight, almost like Velcro. And only on top of their heads, as they have apparently rubbed the sides and back off by “rocking” themselves to sleep. The hairstyle, as Eric puts it, is a Reverse Mullet. We had heard about this rocking phenomenon before, but it really makes you think about what their lives have been like to this point. I only wished we had met them sooner… and not just to prevent this serious case of Reverse Mullet.

Our new friends, Jay and Lisa, were with us and acted as our personal photographers, which was awesome. They have also been our Ethiopian mentors. (They’ve been here 4 days, which makes them experts in our eyes.) We’ve enjoyed getting to know them and their sweet boys Bereket and Seto.

After lunch, we ran to the internet café and sent out the “We’ve arrived, and the babies are so SWEET!” email to our families. Then off for a little bit of shopping in an outdoor area called the Post Office.( I assume there is an actual post office near there, but never actually saw one.) We spent 15 minutes there before it started raining. So we had Solomon take us home to the guest house.

Solomon has been great. I cannot imagine getting around Addis without a driver. The streets here are insane. Cars everywhere, no lines, no lanes, cars passing into oncoming traffic. People in the streets, taxis pulling out in front of you (missing by inches, I kid not). It’s absolutely crazy. I sat in the front seat for a while this afternoon, and when this taxi van came charging right towards the passenger side, I sort of braced myself with my right foot (keep in mind, there are no seatbelts in these vehicles). I really tried not to seem alarmed, but Solomon must have noticed my tension, because he told me it was ok to take my foot off the brake, and that everything would be ok. I laughed away the tension. Sort of. But from here on out, I think I’m gonna ride in back so Solomon doesn’t notice my subconscious “braking”.

We came back to the guest house this evening, and had another delicious meal, visited with Jay, Lisa and Lisa, and now I’m headed to bed. I’d say our first day in Ethiopia was a success! Tomorrow we plan to check M+M out of the orphanage for the whole day and bring them back to the guest house to play. We’re thinking about giving them their first baths tomorrow. Literally, their first real baths! They only get sponge baths at the orphanage, so this will be their first time smelling like sweet little babies are supposed to! Looking forward to it. J