Christmas in Ethiopia

Wendy, or driver and all-around great guy, with Oliver.

Christmas is a major holiday in Ethiopia where more than half of the population is Orthodox Christian. The celebrations occur January 7, the Feast of the Epiphany, instead of December 25. We were lucky enough to be in Ethiopia on Genet (Christmas). The Orthodox Christians fast from meat for 45 days prior to January 7. All week long we could see goats, sheep and cattle being walked down the road and occassionally we could see a goat or sheep tied to the roof of a van (it was still alive). The custom is to kill and eat the animal on Christmas.

When we arrived back at the guest house on Wednesday evening there was a brahmin cow outside the hotel. I didn't think much of it until breakfast the next morning when Jennifer told me I missed Wendy, our driver, killing the cow. It never occured to me that the cow was for those at the hotel. I thought it was one of the neighbors. After breakfast we went out to see the cow carnage and take a lesson in cow anatomy 101.

Beef, its what's for dinner.

After the morning's events we went to Toukoul and picked up the babies. Since everything was closed for Christmas we decided to have the children spend the day and night with us. We would return to Toukoul on Friday morning to officially sign them out and recieve the rest of their medical information.

We arrived at Toukoul and since school was not in session there was more children than usual out playing in the courtyard. Matt had been handing out Tic Tacs to the older kids all week so they believed he would have something good for them for Christmas. Children ran up to him yelling "chocolate". Unfortunately we were unprepared and the stores were closed. Matt promised the children he would bring them chocolate on Friday.

Our children arrived and we were given one bottle of formula for them. We returned to the guest house where we were treated to a traditional Ethiopian meal in celebration of the holiday. After lunch the women at the hotel made coffee for us all. After lunch we put Oliver down for a nap and in the late afternoon we had more coffee with Aster and attempted to do some traditional Ethiopian dances.

The coffee ceremony

Matt and Brian dancing.

Matt and I dancing. I am mastering what I affectionately called "the chicken dance".

Wendy, our cook, holding Oliver.

We spent all day at the hotel relaxing and enjoying our children and celebrating the holiday. Oliver spent the night with us and he woke up once in the night with a coughing fit. It was pretty scary and we believe he could have asthma. All in all he slept pretty well but I wish I could say the same for myself--I kept waking every few hours to check on him and ended up getting very little sleep.

Brent, Amy & Meaza posing for their Christmas photo.

Oliver, one cool kid.

Dressed in our Christmas colors.

Getting the Visas

We had a new driver today. We left the guest house around 9 a.m. to go to the Mercato but before we left the guest house found out that we needed to meet Sintayehu at the U.S. Embassy to get Oliver’s passport and visa around 10 a.m. We instead drove through the older part of Addis and saw the tin roofed homes in the oldest remaining area of town. We then parked up the street from the U.S. Embassy and waited for Sintayehu. Sintayehu showed and he went inside the embassy and came out a short time later with all the kids paperwork, passports and visas. After the paperwork pick-up we went to shops so the other families could finish picking up some gift items to take home. We then returned to the guest house for lunch.


After lunch Aster delivered our 5 kilos of coffee and we gave her our gratuity for the staff at the guest house since the Christmas holiday was approaching.

At 3:30 p.m. we went to Toukoul to see Oliver. He sounded better after the doctor had started the medicine for his cough and he was very alert and lively today. We walked outside since it was a warm and sunny day. Oliver does not seem to enjoy sitting indoors but likes to be where the action is. We walked with him around Toukoul and saw some young girls styling each other’s hair in the sunshine. After two hours the nannies returned. We then went to a supermarket to purchase some items before we returned to the guest house for dinner.

Tomorrow is Genet (Ethiopian Christmas) and we will go to Toukoul in the morning and bring Oliver back to the guest house to stay. On Friday we will return to Toukoul for a tour and to complete the official paperwork to sign Oliver out.

National Museum & Traditional Dinner

We woke at 6:45 a.m. and had breakfast at 8 a.m. Wendy came to pick us up. We drove to the National Museum and Wendy was our guide. We saw Lucy and learned about Ethiopian culture & customs. While we were at the museum two groups of school children came to the museum. Each group sang a song before entering the museum. It was precious.


I felt much better today as I continued taking the allergy medicines. Matt was beginning to feel the pollution and thus started on the allergy medicine as well.

After the museum we returned once again to the Hilton to exchange money and to enjoy a diet Coke. We then went to the Emirat*es Airline office to confirm our tickets and to make sure we had the bulk head seats on our return flights.

After lunch at the guest house we went to Toukoul at 2 p.m. to meet with Dr. Tsige. We opted to have her meet with all three families at once. She discussed our children’s medical history since arriving at Toukoul and answered any questions we had about our children. Dr. Tsige and Matt got into a heated discussion about Oliver’s diaper blowout. It simply turned out to be miscommunication as Matt did not understand Dr. Tsige’s Ethiopian accent and she could not understand his British accent. I took over communication as Dr. Tsige could better understand my Texan English. We learned that Oliver had had clinical pneumonia. She also ordered that Oliver start albuterol for a raspy/rattling in his chest. He will continue the treatment for three days.

During the meeting our nannies brought us our children and we were able to feed them. Oliver received his medicine from Dr. Tsige also. After the meeting was over, the men went with Wendy to purchase soccer balls for the children of Toukoul and the women stayed behind to play with our kids. Once the men returned the kids came out of the buildings, having seen them carrying the large bag of soccer balls. One little boy entered the family room and asked, “Ball?”. I called out to Matt and he brought him a ball. Girls and boys then came out and kicked the soccer balls with the guys while we went to the Toukoul gift shop to complete the purchases we had started the day before.

We stayed at Toukoul until 6 p.m. Wendy drove us back to the guest house and at 7:15 p.m. we all left to go to Yod Abyssinia Cultural Restaurant for traditional Ethiopian dancing and dinner. Aster and Wendy joined us at the restaurant and ordered for us. Aster insisted on feeding us as it is an Ethiopian custom. We talked and watched the dancers. Later in the show the dancers came out and danced with the audience. Matt, Amy, Brent and I took a go at the traditional dances. During our entire dinner a group of very young children danced just below the stage. They were fantastic dancers themselves and we enjoyed watching them dance. Wendy informed us that Ethiopians are taught traditional dance once a week for an hour at school.

Dinner was fun and enjoyable. I think we all had a great time. We returned to the guest house around 11 p.m. tired and ready to get a good night’s sleep.

The Embassy Appt.

We woke at 6:30 a.m. to the sound of dogs barking and a rooster crowing. In the distance you could hear the planes at Bole Airport taking off. We dressed and went down for breakfast. Wendy came at 8 a.m. to pick us up. Today is Embassy day. Dove’s normal embassy appointment would be on Thursday, January 7, but due to Genet (Ethiopian Christmas) our embassy appointment was moved to Monday. We drove to Toukoul to pick up the children.


We picked up Oliver, who was wearing the same clothes as the day before but this time with a rancid odor. We loaded into the vehicle and headed to the U.S. Embassy. During the car ride it became clear that Oliver was dirtying his diaper. Jennifer lent us a burp cloth to place in my lap in case of any leaks.

Traffic was crowded and we met Sintayehu outside the Embassy. Sintayehu ushered us down and across the road and into the embassy. We noticed that Oliver was leaking and we asked Sintayehu if we had time to change Oliver. Once we cleared the security checkpoint we were able to change Oliver’s diaper. What a mess!

We waited at the Embassy to hear our family name called out. We were the second family in our group to be called and we walked upstairs to the embassy officials window. We were handed two original documents and asked a series of questions. With that, we were done in a matter of minutes. Once the third family finished their meeting, we were ushered back across the street and into Wendy’s waiting car where he drove us back to the guest house.

When we returned to the guest house we bathed Oliver. Oliver was not pleased but it was a needed step as he smelled and his clothing was soiled. After he was bathed and changed we fed Oliver and he took our bottle easily. We spent the remainder of the time playing.

At noon we left to return the babies to Toukoul and came back to the guest house for lunch. In the afternoon we went to the Hilton to exchange money and send emails. After the Hilton, Wendy took us to some souvenir shops to buy souvenirs and gifts. We purchased an Ethiopian outfit for Oliver and Chloe, two rasta scarves, a wooden cross painting, a tablecloth, an Ethiopian flag, maps of Ethiopia and a white head scarf to wear to church (its required for women to wear the white head scarves at church during Genet). During our shopping trip I started feeling the effects of the altitude and pollution in Addis Ababa. I didn’t feel well at all.

I perked up when Wendy told us we would then go to Toukoul to visit our babies in the afternoon for two hours. When we arrived at Toukoul and the nannies brought Oliver to us his clothes had been changed once again. We were allowed to look inside the Toukoul gift shop even though the lady who ran the shop was not present that day. We were told to place items we wanted to purchase on the desk and we could pay the next day. We were surprised to find many of the items we had just purchased at a cheaper price. We had wished we had shopped Toukoul first.

While the three women in the group looked inside the gift shop with our children, the men were outside kicking the soccer ball with some older children of Toukoul. The kids soccer balls were old and falling apart. Once little boy, playing outside the gates of Toukoul was kicking the bladder (inside of a soccer ball) and after every kick he would blow air into the bladder to reinflate it. We decided we would have Wendy take us to a sporting goods store to buy the children new soccer balls the next day.

At 6 p.m. it was time to return to the guest house and say goodbye to Oliver. I started taking my Cla*ritin and was happy I also brought my decongestant as I was developing a scratchy throat, runny nose and itchy eyes. After dinner, we sat in the reception/office of the guest house and looked through the Toukoul catalog of items for sale in the gift shop and talked. Jennifer and I stayed up later than the others talking.

Off to Ethiopia and Oliver!!

Neither Matt nor I could sleep very well last night. We both kept thinking about seeing Oliver. We were both awake at 3:45 a.m. and we just decided to get up and get ready. We could go to the airport, shop duty free and have breakfast and meet the other two families traveling to Ethiopia with us.


We checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the airport. After checking in we ate breakfast and then attempted to shop the duty free shops. Dubai has many great shops but it was so crowded with people that it quickly became frustrating and impossible to move through the maze of people that we gave up and headed to the gate.

Once we were at the gate Matt and I sat down. I looked around at the people and spotted Jennifer, who would be traveling with us. We walked over and introduced ourselves to Jennifer & Bryan and Brent & Amy. All of us were with Dove and would be going to Toukoul together.

Shortly after our introductions we loaded a bus to our 777. There were many other adoptive families on the flight with other agencies. I was surprised by how many on board were going to Ethiopia to adopt. The flight was an easy 3+ hour journey from Dubai, over Saudi Arabia and Yemen into Dubai. We got to see the palm islands of Dubai on take-off and it was an awesome sight from the air.

As we came into Addis Ababa from the air you could see the mountains. There were buildings and barren earth scratched out between the homes and apartments.

The airport looked relatively new. We were one of the first people to disembark the plane and we missed seeing the sign that noted the room to get your visa. We stood in the immigration line. When we arrived at the window the immigration officer redirected us to the visa room. Many of the people leaving the plane made the same mistake as the sign is on the side of room and is not apparently visible as we come down the escalator into the immigration area.

Four officers sat at tables lined up in a row in the visa room. We handed our passports and completed landing cards to the visa officer who then wrote on a white piece of paper information from our passport. You then step to the next officer who takes your $20 visa fee and completes a handwritten receipt. You then step back to the original officer who handwrites your visa and affixes it inside your passport. You then go back and get in line for immigration. No one was left in the immigration line and those that remained, including the other 2 families, were back in the visa line so we immediately went to a window. As we stood in front of the immigration officer’s window I could smell alcohol. It was then that immigration officer smiled at us and said, “Whiskey! Someone smash bottle on floor!”. I looked down to discover than there was a pool of whiskey on the floor that I and my carry-on bag were both in. Matt thought it was a fantastic way to go to the orphanage---smelling of alcohol!

We cleared immigration and exchanged $100 U.S. for birr and went to retrieve our luggage. We were assisted by a large man, despite our protests, who lifted two of our bags off the carousel and the demanded “tip!”. After getting our bags and shooing the man away we went through one more round of baggage screening before exiting.

A small crowd stood, waiting to meet people as they arrived. We scanned the group of people but couldn’t find anyone holding a sign for us. A gentleman approached us and introduced himself. He was from Gladney. He asked which agency we were with and told me he hadn’t seen Sintayehu and if we couldn’t find him to let him know and he would help us out. Matt spotted a drink stand and went to purchase water. I waited for the two other families to get their luggage and clear the screening. Matt returned with Sintayehu. I was relieved.

We loaded our suitcases and ourselves into two vehicles. We went directly to Sintayehu’s office to complete embassy paperwork. Sintayehu’s office is a short drive from the airport and sits on a busy street. We passed many people milling about on the road. Some were sleeping, others were walking from one place to another.

We arrived at Sintayehu’s office and each family went one at a time upstairs to meet with Sintayehu. We paid the $400 visa fee and discussed the three questions we would be asked at the embassy. The process took 15 minutes total for all three families and we loaded back into the cars when we were finished and drove 10 minutes to the YGF Guest Hotel. Sintayehu showed us to our rooms and to the dining room where the staff was waiting to serve us lunch. Sintayehu said we would be able to go and see our children at Toukoul around 4 p.m.

We all had lunch together. We met the cook and Aster, who runs the guest house. We discussed what we would like to do for the week. After lunch, we all went to our rooms and unpacked and prepared to go an meet our children. After I finished preparing our backpack with toys for Oliver, I sat on our balcony at the guest house and waited for Wendy our driver to come and pick us up. It was a beautiful, warm day.



Meeting Oliver--

The drive to Toukoul is not too far from the guest house. The orphanage sits off a busy road to the right down a dirt road. On the left side, men mill about outside a meat market and on the right side of the road men cut stone by hand for a building being erected. Toukoul sits past the meat market on the left side of the road. A blind man sat with his cane outside the entrance. Wendy honked the horn at the blue gates and they opened. We pulled in and we could hear children from inside the buildings. The nannies were changing shifts and people were coming and going. We exited the car and saw 5 small toddlers, dressed in footed pjs banging on the glass from inside the clinic building smiling at us. We were ushered to the family room where we waited for what seemed to be an eternity for our children.

We nervously unpacked our camera and recorder and waited. Time stretched. Then, Jennifer announced she could see them. By the time I made it to the door the nannies were in the doorway holding two small boys and one little girl. I spotted Oliver even though his back was to me. His nanny handed Abdulhakim to me as she announced him. He was so small and so beautiful. I couldn’t stop smiling. Wendy grabbed our recorder and started taping our first encounter with Oliver Henry Abdulhakim. Oliver looked at me and his Daddy with his big eyes and smiled.

For the next two hours we sat on the tan couches lining the room and played with our children. They all were so settled and laid back. We counted all of Oliver’s toes and changed his wet diaper. Oliver loved to chew his hand or ours and we got lots of smiles and giggles.

At 6 p.m. Wendy arrived and the nannies returned to collect the children. We kissed Oliver and watched his nanny carry him away.

We drove back to the guest house on cloud 9. We had dinner when we returned to the guest house and afterwards we were all spent so we called it a day. Matt and I loaded our photos on the laptop and we glanced through them until we could no longer keep our eyes open. We turned out the lights and called it a night.

Dubai

We slept through the night and woke about 8:20 a.m. We had seen a couple of people in the lobby carrying Marks* & Spe*ncer’s bags and we asked the concierge for the location of the local M&S. He ordered us a taxi which took us to the M&S. It was 10 a.m. and the shops had just opened and they were empty. Our sole purpose of going to M&S was for the food shops (Matt needed a British food fix) but it was small and disappointing. We left the store and walked across the street to the Reef Mall. We walked the mall and had coffee before we caught a taxi to the Gold Souq.

The Gold Souq was way busier than the shops. Matt and I surmised that the Emiratis must wake late since we had already been told that they dine late in the evening. We walked the Gold Souq and had a barrage of men try to sell us knock-off watches and handbags in the side alleys of the souq. Matt tried hard to get me to find something I liked but I couldn’t. I wanted a gold coin or figure but we couldn’t find anything that fit the bill. I did try on one gold and turquoise bracelet but I knew it wouldn’t be an item that I would wear often.

After the souq we took a taxi to the Emirates Mall. It is a large and impressive place. Maserati’s & Ferrari’s lined the front entrance. We visited the shops, saw the indoor ski resort and got a bite to eat for lunch. The mall started to get more crowded late in the afternoon so we left, taking a taxi back to the hotel.

Our hotel room was being cleaned when we arrived back so we headed to the pool side cabana for a drink and sat in one of the Bedouin tents. Emirates planes kept flying overhead and we could hear the call to prayer from a nearby mosque.

We went back to the room for a rest. Matt slept and I watched TV and read my book on Ethiopian culture and history.

For dinner we went to Shahrzad Restaurant in the hotel for Iranian food. The food was great. There was live entertainment which would have been entertaining if she didn’t keep interrupting the song to apologize for her sore throat!

After dinner we called Chloe in NJ and got to speak to her. It sounded like all was well. We kept thinking of her all day as we knew we would have to return to Dubai for a family vacation in the next couple of years. Dubai has all Chloe would want in a place---sunshine, beaches, swimming and skiing! They even have a Dun*kin Donuts. All she could ever want!

TOMORROW IS OLIVER DAY!!! WE ARE VERY EXCITED!

Arriving in Dubai

We spent New Year’s on the airplane flying to Dubai. Shortly after we took off, the pilot announced that it was New Year. Matt was already asleep and there was no fanfare.


We took off in the dark from NYC and landed in the dark at Dubai. It felt odd to have “lost” and entire day. We had literally almost flown half way around the world.

After we caught a taxi to the Hyatt Regency and checked into our room, we showered and went to the hotel restaurant for something light to eat. We had pizza and had some leftovers. Apparently it is bad form to carry leftovers from the restaurant so the waitress told us room service would bring it up to our room for us.

We returned to the room and after our room service leftovers arrived we called it a night. We went to sleep around midnight quite easily.