Trippy Thoughts Day 3

So, on Sunday morning (which was Easter Sunday in the states) we got up early and drove to the airport in Dubai. We were on our way to Ethiopia!!!! We met up with 2 families that we would be spending the week with, so that was fun to finally meet some of the people that I had been chatting with for months and months now. We were once again bumped to business class for the flight to Addis Ababa, so that was a nice surprise. It was a quick flight (well, at least it seemed quick, it was actually about 4 1/2 hrs). When we landed it just completely overwhelmed me that I was in Africa and that we were mere miles away from Teg now! It was an out of body experience!

The minute we stepped off the plane and into the airport, I knew we were in a totally different world. The airport was very old and pretty run down. We immediately got in a line to get our visas. I remember Sabrina and I giggling because the official sign on the door was made using those foam kids craft letters and the i was missing. The visa "office" was a few people sitting behind folding tables with pens and paperclips and they were handwriting everything, no computers, not even staplers! It was like stepping back in time! We finally got through that, got all of our luggage (again PTL!!!) and exchanged some money. It was funny because they checked our baggage to our claim tickets 3 times and we were the only people picking up luggage. And then they sent them through the "security check" to leave the airport! It was pretty funny!

When we stepped out of the airport, we just kind of stood there and took it all in. We were with Dan and Kirstin Bartel and Amber Jones and her friend Danielle. We just couldn't stop saying "I can't believe we are here!!!" The landscape was beautiful and the sky was cloudy, like it was gonna rain at any minute. We met our driver and got into the van that would take us to the Addis View Guest House.

We were all pretty quiet as we drove, just looking out the window and soaking it all up. I noticed right away how absolutely beautiful the people were, and how much poverty there was. I wasn't surprised, but it is still a lot to take in. There were SO many people everywhere, walking, herding sheep, selling trinkets, everywhere you looked there were people.

After about 20 min or so we arrived at the guest house. Right away the doorman and workers jumped in and were so sweet and incredibly helpful getting all our bags and getting us settled. They were awesome! We checked in (on the 5th floor, we did A LOT of stair climbing that week!) and decided to rest for awhile. 4 hrs later we realized that we had zonked out and had taken a good nap. We all felt much better. We met up with the Bartels, Chad and Kim Kulp and Megan and Steve Crowell and Megans mom to go to dinner. We decided to venture out and went to a restaurant called the Safari Room. It was a really cool place and they had very good pizza. I think the bill for the 3 of us for dinner and drinks was around $15 US! When we got back to the van, it was pouring rain and thundering and lightening, it was really cool! We enjoyed the evening, getting to know some of the families and seeing a bit of Addis. We went to bed that night, and all we kept saying was "we're gonna meet Teg tomorrow!!!!" It was totally unbelievable that we had come this far, and we were down to a few hours!!!