First flight done

It's 10:45 PM in Dubai.  Exactly 12 hours later than in Tacoma.  We'll be departing Dubai at 3:50 in Tacoma's afternoon.  Morning here.  We're trying to get some rest, but it's pretty hard to do so.  Kind of bright, not the best chairs.  And a bit noisy.  Blue Oyster Cult--Don't Fear the Reaper--is playing just loud enough to be a bit annoying.  In fact, I found it amusing that Emirates was playing The Eagles and Van Morrison (all three flights so far) over the PA as we boarded the plane.

I think Elyas is already asleep, and Peter will make it soon, I hope.  I doubt much will happen for me...unless things settle down a little more.

Went to the McDonald's in the airport...next phase in Elyas' Americanization!

We made it!

Everything went like clockwork--TB test got read at 9 AM.  To the next hospital...and they were quick quick.  Arrived US embassy about 11:15.  Our local agent--the masterful and resourceful Mr. Wondo (wan-doo), he of the taking the money for the immigration applications while the attendant went and copied something we needed--did his work, and we had our "interview" about 12:30.

It wasn't much of an interview...and they were very accommodating, promising to have the visa ready at 2:00, at which time Mr. Wondo would pick it up and meet us back at the office at 4 to give us all the paperwork.

Like almost everything else, we had to endure one unexpected bump.  We arrived at the adoption agency office at 3:50, and Mr. Wondo wasn't there yet.  His phone was in an "unavailable" mode, so Yosef surmised that he must still be at the embassy--where you must turn off and check your phone.

So Yosef took us back to the hotel, then returned to the office to wait for Mr. Wondo to return.  Yosef collected the documents, then brought them to our hotel!

So, it is now 6:15, the documents are in hand, and Sandy is organizing our packing.  We are set to depart tomorrow afternoon!

If all goes as expected (and I'm more confident about that with what remains than I had been with the earlier stuff--because I'm more familiar with tomorrow's "stuff" than the other), we should be at the 4 PM Christmas Eve service at Faith!

Thanks for your interest, support, encouragement, prayer, etc.


And thanks for reading.

With love and gratitude,
Andrew (for all the Miltons)

The conflict I mentioned

And the reason that the State Department advises that we take caution in leaving the capital.

Detainees to be released--in custody for the state of emergency

Our new friend in whose class I spoke has an evacuation plan (well, her organization has one):

Drive to Kenya.

Not much of a plan, really, but about all they have, I guess.

It's calm here.  The only thing that might be connected to this problem is that we get searched on the way in to things--like the national museum and Kaldi's Coffee.  That and you do see army personnel [sorry, I was wrong...it's federal police] about...with substantial weapons.  Old AK 47s, it appears.

Ethiopian History

...is a curious thing.  They are undoubtedly proud of their history.  The National Museum features extensive displays of bones of early humans from the Great Rift Valley.  "Lucy"--the 3+ million year old early human being--was found in what is now Ethiopia, and her "bones" are on display--though not as featured as an American museum would do.  I say "bones" because, apparently, portions of the partial skeleton were found at some distance from each other.  In any case, Ethiopians are particularly proud of their status in the ancient history of humanity.

Lucy

They are also very proud of their ancient Solomonic heritage.  We visited Entoto yesterday.  That's the site of the palace of the king that established Addis Ababa...in the 1870s.  So, the last few Solomonic kings ruled from Addis, instead of the ancient Axum or Gondar.  I'm not sure why Menelek II moved the capital to the Entoto--a mountain just outside Addis, but he reputedly found evidence of a church hewn from the rocks, which showed Ethiopian presence there earlier.

This is that very church...if I understood our guide correcetly.

It is also the site of this 140-year-old church today.

Elyas, with Elyas (Elijah).

The church--and, as I gather, all Ethiopian Orthodox churches--is octagonal, for 7 archangels and Jesus.

The seven on the left--the archangels.  The four on the right--what our guide called 'the evangelists'--Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The exterior 8 walls of the inside structure (which houses the holy of holies) are brightly painted with about as much bible story as you could imagine.  Adam and Eve, the birth of Jesus, the miracles, death and resurrection, the apostles, their deaths, judgment day, and more.

The apostles' deaths, including Peter, crucified upside down.

The last supper.  In traditional Ethiopian style, all bad characters are shown in profile--only one eye.  Judas, is on the far left, one eye, and the devil at his back, pulling him.

Doubting Thomas.

Petrus, Paulus and Petrus.

The devil.  Our guide says, "two eyes, because he didn't start out bad."  They keep a curtain over this.

So, the Solomonic heritage resides elsewhere, and the very young Addis Ababa--it's younger than Tacoma-- stands at the end of that legacy.  But still the Ethiopians are proud of this history, and the newness of Addis Ababa is transcended by its historical connection to the ancient Ethiopian church...another of the things of which Ethiopians are proud.  Their Orthodox church was originally administered by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria from the 4th century to 1959.  Apparently, Christianity was declared the state religion in 333.  And they are a non-Chalcedonian--they reject the Council of Chalceon's 451 claim of Christ having two natures, divine and human.  Instead, the Ethiopian church unites both natures into one.  And beyond that, I'm out of my theological realm.

The Ethiopian Orthodox church also adheres to Jewish dietary standards and a variety of other traditions.  They fast extensively, though that fasting takes various forms.  Sometimes, it's vegetables and no meat (until 3 PM).  Wednesdays, it's a complete fast until 3.  The numerous saints' days involve fasting, though I'm not sure which kind.  And they do some form of fasting for weeks before Christmas and Easter.  The fasting is so extensive (but can involve some eating) that restaurants have a fasting section on their menu.

They also believe that Menelek I--Solomon and Sheba's son--brought the Ark of the Covenant back with him after visiting his father in Jerusalem.  That ark is in Axum, Ethiopians will tell you.  And every Ethiopian Orthodox church has a replica, stored in that church's holy of holies, and brought out for special occasions.

It seems that about 40 % of the population is Orthodox, about 1/3 Muslim and 1/5th protestant (which they call pente--pen-tay, from pentecostal).   Yosef tells me that religious conflict is not a problem--at least, not now.  Conflict here seems based more on what we'd call ethnicity.  As I mentioned before, the Oromo and Amhara groups feel disenfranchised by the much less numerous but more politically powerful Tigray.

The Lion of Judah. 

Since Solomon was from the tribe of Judah, all the Ethiopian kings--through Haile Selassie--are also.  This figure is everywhere, and was even in the Ethiopian flag for a time.

Another--probably not the last--thing for which Ethiopians are proud is their coffee.  And, as they tell it--that they created (founded?, developed?) coffee first.

The "founding" of coffee.  A goat, whose shepherd was named Kaldi--thus the name of the Starbucks derivative, wandered off.  When Kaldi went to find it, he discovered coffee beans.  First, they tried to eat them, and then they tried something else (sorry...I can't remember what it was), then they ground them up and ran water over that...and you get coffee!

Sorting out good beans from bad.

Okay...that was a lot for tonight.  Tomorrow, we head to all those last details...hopefully to include the embassy and the final steps before departure.  

I'm hoping I can do one more post Thursday night or Friday morning...then I'll go dark.  That'll mean we're on our way.

Thanks for reading!

Drinks

 The Ethiopian coffee preparation, and some papaya smoothies...

which don't really have much of a flavor.

Several juices...and avocado.  

Can be mango, papaya, avocado and another fruit whose name I still can't figure out.

A strawberry shake.

Step one (in what's left to be done...

...and about which the Faith TNT notice asked for prayer).

If everything worked just right, here's what would happen:

Tuesday morning, 9 AM.  Get the TB injection.
Wednesday, the going away party at the orphanage.
Thursday morning, 9 AM.  Get the TB test read, and it be negative.  We hand carry that result back to the first hospital where we had the exam.  They compile all the medical material, and the adoption agency sends everything on to the embassy later that morning.  We submit the packet and get an appointment for a visa late Thursday, or early Friday.

If all that happens, we might be able to depart for home Friday afternoon!

And as best we can tell, a lot has to fall into place rightly in order for all that to happen.  And so far, stuff does fall into place, but with some anxiety for us.

Today, for instance.

Yesterday, we had all agreed that we'd meet at the TB place today at 9.  When our driver got to our hotel at 8:30 this morning, he told us that we had to stop by the adoption agency office first, to pick up the staff person.  Then we'd go to the place where the TB test used to be, so we could ask them where it moved (just this week).  They didn't know where it had moved.  This was all news to us.  We had thought our driver would take us to the TB place straightaway.

We were already 5 people in Toyota Corolla, so I imagined a cramped sedan traipsing all over town...and I could feel the seams straining...not yet bursting, but under pressure, no doubt.  Turns out, the old place wasn't too far away, and the new one was just up the street from that.  And then when we got there, we went right in.  After all that, Elyas got the injection at 9:35.

So now it's back to the TB place at 9:35 Thursday, then on to the rest of that stuff.

If the remainder is like everything else, it won't go as planned (which is really more like not as I expect or wish it should)...and it always works out.

It would be great to be home for Christmas, but let's none of us count on it.

A manic Monday, but not just another--one like we've not had before

Monday, December 19...

We were hoping to get Elyas' passport in time to get over to the facility that does the TB test.  Then all we would need is a brief medical exam and everything would be ready to submit to the embassy for a visa.

Things worked out well, but not in the way we expected.  The local agent got to immigration to pick up the passport, but they told him to come back in the afternoon.  The TB facility only operates until noon, so our plans were going to have to change.  We asked several times if we could go do the medical exam today, after getting the passport, and it was clear that was not what anybody else was thinking.  In fact, they suggested that we go to the medical exam Tuesday morning, then go get the TB injection.  Sandy had a better idea and we finally all saw the wisdom in going to the medical exam today, so we could be at the TB facility (a different office from the medical exam) first thing Tuesday morning.  We were at the hospital almost 2 hours today, so it would have been very stressful to try to fit both into Tuesday morning.  And it's critical that we get the TB injection, of course, so we can wait the two days to get it read, and still have a chance to get all this material to the embassy by Thursday afternoon, which is important because....

[Inhale!]

Of course, this all involved much waiting.  We waited in 3 different waiting areas in the hospital, and we visited three different offices, one of which involved waiting while the nurse went to figure out why Elyas' file did not exist yet.

And I'm still not as good at Just Waiting as I need to be.

All these details are important because we've asked the embassy if they could expedite the visa and give us a chance (slim though it is) to leave to be home in time for Christmas!

And if we don't make it this week, it's all the way to next Tuesday, since the embassy will observe the Christmas holiday on Monday.

After getting this done, we went over to a little shopping area.  While Yosef took Sandy shopping for Ethiopic things, I took the boys to a barber.  Elyas wanted a haircut--like Nani, a ManU player.  Peter redid his coloring.

 Elyas getting his Nani cut.  He also got some very subtle coloring.

 Peter getting his hair washed out.

This particular portion was probably my least favorite thing we've done so far.  This group of onlookers wasn't just watching...they were sort of gawking.  The young lady in the blue skirt sat for some time talking with Elyas, and I could tell she was asking him about Peter's hair...and mocking it. She was kind of loud (in voice and personality) and she drew others in as they passed by.  Elyas confirmed that she didn't like Peter's hair, and her persistent staring and laughing became somewhat annoying.  Ultimately, it was harmless--and Peter didn't mind, but I struggled with it all.

Oh...a cut and two colorings:  $7, including tip.

Some Random Photos

I finally got hold of Sandy's pictures, so here are a few that I didn't have.

Peter and Yosef, as we wait for our agency contact to arrive at court.  Depending on the angle, Yosef looks like either Denzel Washington or Michael Jordan. 

The judge, reviewing our file.

At lunch, after court.  That's injera, there on Yosef's plate.

Elyas' class on his last visit.

Waiting to give the teaching talk at Addis Ababa Bible College.

About 6 students were present at the beginning of class...about 6 more trickled in 3-7 minutes later.

I mentioned "international institutional" help (in the building projects).  The UN is not helping with that, but is involved in a lot of other things.

The Chinese built metro, on the left.  A couple of other things to note.  The person standing to the left...it's not unusual for foot and car traffic--both--to behave in ways that we'd deem risky in the US.  Also, you can see that the cars travel in bunches...the rhyme and reason is getting familiar to me.  I still wouldn't want to drive myself, but it's making more sense as we ride around more.

We've stopped for cattle crossing more than once.  We've also passed a lot of goat herds along the side of the street.

Our balcony.  I turned around 180 to take the shot of the building under construction.  

Building!

I haven't seen construction like this since we visited Shanghai at a time when they were using more cranes than the rest of the world combined...or something ridiculous like that.  Not many cranes here...eucalyptus logs instead.

This is the view from our balcony...across the street.  Those eucalyptus are used both to build scaffolding and to support the construction of the cement floor.

 This is the view one-quarter turn from the prior view.  This new building is about 3 feet from the edge of our balcony.  I can't even imagine how the construction workers will get in there to do the exterior finish.  Of course, they don't have quite the safety requirements that the US does...as you'll see a couple pictures down.

 This is the building of a new Addis Ababa Bible College facility. 

 You can see the eucalyptus log network that will support the construction.

And here you can see Peter blithely walking through the construction site.

And here, one of our number blithely photographing us...from the second story of the construction.  Can you believe...she didn't have to wear a hard hat!?

Apartments or condominiums under construction.

Large buildings....

In big complexes...all over town.

Yosef tells us that the government is undertaking a massive building project--with international institutional help.  They want to put up these condominiums and get rid of the shanties.  Apparently, they're going to help the folks living in the shanties muster the resources to move into the condominiums.  The building process is slow...a modest building, like the one across the street from our hotel, might take a couple or three years to build.  

Addis Ababa Bible College

Before we left, Sandy off-handedly mentioned our trip to another parent--Lisa W.--at Peter's school.  She said that her cousin was teaching at Addis Ababa Bible College, and she'd introduce us. Well, her cousin--Delta--has been a remarkable blessing.  She connected us to this hotel, where she stays (it's right next to the college).  She's given us tips and guidance.  And she invited me to make a short presentation about teaching to her class.  (The students are Ethiopian pastors coming to college...in the case of her class, to learn about teaching methods, style, practices, etc.)

I could go on about the social capital connectedness achievable in the church body, but I'll leave that for now.  Instead, I'll just say it was great fun and a real privilege to spend half an hour with these folks.  I know some of you will be particularly interested to hear that we talked about using stories in delivering content.

A few other details...

...from our time at Yosef's house.

Before the coffee ceremony (detailed below), we ate a wonderful Ethiopian meal.  Most Ethiopian meals are taken with injera, which is made from a cereal called tef.  The injera is somewhat crepe-like--thin, and fried on a pan of the same characteristics, though the best injera is a bit sour.

You use pieces of injera to take up food.  In other words, no utensils.  Our meal consisted of a modestly spicy lentil stew, fried potatoes and carrots, and an injera already mixed with a spicy sauce.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Sandy and Peter were eagerly willing.

A local beer to wash down the meal.  The injera is rolled up on the left side of the plate.

Sandy, doing a great job trying new things!

After the meal and the coffee ceremony, the youngsters went outside.  Eventually, they fell to playing soccer.  

It was great fun to hear the other kids call out, "Peeturrr, pahhsss!"

And it was a marvelous pleasure and privilege to spend our afternoon with this delightful family in their very nice home.

Yosef and his family.  

The two boys to the left are neighbor kids that spent a good part of the time with us.  Peter is next to Yosef, and Elyas is next to Peter.

All the above...plus Sandy.