Monday, April 6, 2009
More Pictures of the HOH
Here are some more pictures of the House of Hope. The scripture verse below was painted on the wall of the room that Addie stayed in. The next is Addie in her crib at HOH. The last few pictures are of the HOH courtyard.
Day Six and Seven
Day Six and Seven -Friday & Saturday
On Friday we spent pretty much the entire day in the hotel. I had begun to feel very fatigued and it was great once again to just stay calm and peaceful (as much as you can with a 10 month old!) We were also anxious to get Addie's passport back so we wanted to be around when the package arrived. The HOH staff showed up about 5pm with our immigration package and our baby girl's passport -it was so cute! We all breathed a huge sigh of relief when the package finally came. Saturday, March 7th: We spent the morning in the hotel. Close to lunch time, we went to the HOH. We wanted to get 
pictures of the CHI staff, the other families and the HOH. For lunch the staff served a very traditional Ethiopian meal and even dressed in the traditional Ethiopian attire. After lunch, pictures, and saying bye to everyone, we headed back to the hotel. (In the pictures: one of the staff members making traditional Ethiopian coffee; two of the other families; big group picture including Tsegay and his wife; and the House of Hope.) We originally were scheduled to fly out Tuesday evening. However, due to Addie still having problems with diarrhea, a runny nose, and an increasingly 
worse cough, we began discussing the idea of leaving early. However, I had heard many times that you have to confirm and reconfirm your tickets once you're in Ethiopia because your seats could be given to someone else. My concern was in trying to change our tickets and losing our seats in the process. I was also concerned about any potential translation problems. We had heard that the Sheraton in Addis had a ticket office for Ethiopia Air (which we were scheduled to fly on.) We discussed contacting our travel agent with Susan Parr Travels. However, they are in 
Washington state and are on 12 hours time difference with Ethiopia. So, we knew it would be difficult to get in touch with anyone. One of the other couples staying at the HOH, Lisa and Jason, were also scheduled to travel with us on the same Tuesday flight with Ethiopia Air. They went to the Sheraton Thursday evening and managed to get their flight changed to Sunday evening. After hearing this, we decided to try the same thing. That evening, we secured a driver to take us to the Sheraton. At this time, Pansy was not feeling well, so she decided to stay home. The rest of us loaded 
up and headed out. To save time, the driver dropped the three of us off at the hotel while my mother went with the driver to find us some dinner. Actually changing our tickets to Sunday was suprisingly easy. They also changed our connecting flights with United Airlines. We met my mother and the driver back outside the hotel. I think my mom had the most fun that evening. She got to meet a lot of people and sit and chat with the driver at the restaurant while they waited on the food. For those of you who know her, you will have to ask her about it! You know, I have to say 
this, Ethiopia can be a beautiful country and the people are kind and courteous, but when you are exhausted and your baby is sick, all you want to do is get back home. We were both relieved and nervous about the new closer flight.
On Friday we spent pretty much the entire day in the hotel. I had begun to feel very fatigued and it was great once again to just stay calm and peaceful (as much as you can with a 10 month old!) We were also anxious to get Addie's passport back so we wanted to be around when the package arrived. The HOH staff showed up about 5pm with our immigration package and our baby girl's passport -it was so cute! We all breathed a huge sigh of relief when the package finally came. Saturday, March 7th: We spent the morning in the hotel. Close to lunch time, we went to the HOH. We wanted to get 
pictures of the CHI staff, the other families and the HOH. For lunch the staff served a very traditional Ethiopian meal and even dressed in the traditional Ethiopian attire. After lunch, pictures, and saying bye to everyone, we headed back to the hotel. (In the pictures: one of the staff members making traditional Ethiopian coffee; two of the other families; big group picture including Tsegay and his wife; and the House of Hope.) We originally were scheduled to fly out Tuesday evening. However, due to Addie still having problems with diarrhea, a runny nose, and an increasingly 
worse cough, we began discussing the idea of leaving early. However, I had heard many times that you have to confirm and reconfirm your tickets once you're in Ethiopia because your seats could be given to someone else. My concern was in trying to change our tickets and losing our seats in the process. I was also concerned about any potential translation problems. We had heard that the Sheraton in Addis had a ticket office for Ethiopia Air (which we were scheduled to fly on.) We discussed contacting our travel agent with Susan Parr Travels. However, they are in 
Washington state and are on 12 hours time difference with Ethiopia. So, we knew it would be difficult to get in touch with anyone. One of the other couples staying at the HOH, Lisa and Jason, were also scheduled to travel with us on the same Tuesday flight with Ethiopia Air. They went to the Sheraton Thursday evening and managed to get their flight changed to Sunday evening. After hearing this, we decided to try the same thing. That evening, we secured a driver to take us to the Sheraton. At this time, Pansy was not feeling well, so she decided to stay home. The rest of us loaded 
up and headed out. To save time, the driver dropped the three of us off at the hotel while my mother went with the driver to find us some dinner. Actually changing our tickets to Sunday was suprisingly easy. They also changed our connecting flights with United Airlines. We met my mother and the driver back outside the hotel. I think my mom had the most fun that evening. She got to meet a lot of people and sit and chat with the driver at the restaurant while they waited on the food. For those of you who know her, you will have to ask her about it! You know, I have to say 
this, Ethiopia can be a beautiful country and the people are kind and courteous, but when you are exhausted and your baby is sick, all you want to do is get back home. We were both relieved and nervous about the new closer flight.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)