We met!

It has been quite a day!  (This past Monday, that is--I’m writing in a word document, hoping to paste that into an email or a blog post when we can get on the web.  Service is spotty, and we hear different explanations, or different speculations, about why.  I haven’t been able to get on since Sunday night....)

Monday morning, we awoke at 3...Peter, especially, was ready for the day!  So we went to the breakfast buffet first thing.  Then our driver picked us up about 8:45 to head over to the orphanage.  I’m particularly grateful for our very pleasant and capable driver, as I would not want to drive here.  It would take me hours to calm back down, I think.  While they all understand what is happening and the order of things on the road, it would take me some time to become accustomed to that.

We arrived right about 10, and, as I entered the gate last, Sandy and Peter had already met Getabalew...and the numerous other youngsters playing in the small courtyard at the orphanage.  Not much ceremony, but I don’t know how or why they’re would’ve been.  

After introductions, we went inside to sit down and visit.  Sandy and Peter and he talked some, using an introductory Amharic-English vocabulary book we had brought.  Ah...that book.  I had ordered it about 3 weeks before we were to leave, and the company said our order was complete on November 26.  Two weeks and two emails (with no response) later, I had given it up.  Well, as we were locking the door of the house and piling into the car to leave, the postal carrier pulled up with the day’s mail...including the book.  I’m glad for that, because it served as a vehicle for interaction several times in those 2 hours.

Eventually, we headed back out to the little courtyard, and Getabalew and Peter took up a little soccer.  Getabalew was very adept and they passed back and forth happily.  Then Getabalew--with a subtle look of challenge--motioned Peter to approach him, as a defender.  From here, Getabalew “schooled” Peter, as his ball skills are sharper than Peter’s.  

Peter seemed genuinely enthusiastic--for the soccer, and the conversation, all of it.  He asked Getabalew to show him around the house again--just the two of them, after we had all gone earlier.

We’ll go to court today--Tuesday.  Then, if all works as it should, we’ll go to the orphanage to pick him up...for good!

Works as it should...not always the case.  Whether it’s infrastructural difficulties, like the electricity--some outlets apparently are never even wired, or more procedural difficulties that I can’t figure out, like our wi-fi being completely out and being told it has something to do with the government, there are many things we’re having to figure out how to navigate.

The orphanage is a large home in a neighborhood mixed with substantial houses and shanties side by side.  Yosef--our driver--said there is no middle class in Ethiopia, just some rich and a lot of poor.  Rich, of course, is relative.  The whole country of almost 100 million people produces an annual gross domestic product not quite equivalent to Bill Gates’ net wealth.

Peter gets a lot of looks.  The combination of his being brown but obviously not from Africa, being in the company of the only Caucasians in sight, and having hair like he does draws a lot of attention.  And, as Yosef, later explained, he does have a facial similarity to southern Ethiopians, so we do asked if he’s from Ethiopia.

[Writing Wednesday morning]

Court went swimmingly.  We were to the be there at 9, and they started at 9:30...and we were first!  Come to find later that was because our case is the oldest...Getabalew had been waiting longer than any of the other cases to be heard that day.

The judge asked us about 10 questions--have you met the child, do you still want to adopt him, are you happy about this, do you understand that you cannot change your mind, and the like.  We simply had to say Yes to all the questions...no explanations, no discussion.  It took about 5 minutes--most of which was us sitting there while the judge looked at some of the details in our file.

We left, and moved to a new hotel--our residence the rest of the time, we think.  A very large suite--3 bedrooms, kitchen, large living room (more like a great room)...probably 2000 sq. ft. total.  For a pittance, really.  It’s a brand new building, but it reminds both Sandy and me of the Soviet construction we’ve seen in various parts of the Eastern bloc.  We’re very happy with it--the living room is large enough to play this paddle ball game Sandy brought with us.  We just need to figure out how work with some of the things that don’t function like we would have expected.

So, Yosef is headed over to pick us up--drop me somewhere there might be internet access and take Peter and Sandy shopping.  Then, if the court finishes the documents, it’s off to the orphanage to get Getablaew!

I hope that I’ll be able to post this (and some photos?!) before I also have the pick up process to detail to you....

 Reading the Amharic-English book together.  Getabalew has had some English.  Can't tell yet how much, but much better than my Amharic!

Americanizing him already?  Sandy showing Getabalew some photos of our house, of various people "back home," etc.

 Some soccer lessons...

Peter has been very eager to engage Getabalew.  Oh my...is Peter excited, wound up, on overdrive, whatever other analogies you can think of.  And if you know Peter, that means REAL intensity.  He has taken very nicely to all this.  He wants to walk to the little shop window (street shops are almost like windows in the wall) in our neighborhood and buy water, or bananas or whatever.