The trip to Ethiopia

We had smooth sailing (or flying) on the trip to Ethiopia. The trip included a 2 1/2 hour drive to Chicago, a 2 hour flight to D.C., then a 15 hour flight to Addis, with a touch down in Rome, plus all the waiting in between, about 28 hours total. In Dulles airport, we walked around, ate and saw many Ethiopians working and walking around in the airport. In a small shop, an Ethiopian woman asked us where Yabi was from. When we told her that he was Ethiopian, she grabbed him and hugged and kissed him while speaking to him in Amharic. Later as we were walking back to the terminal Yabi, with a hesitant smirk on his face, asked why that woman kissed him????

As was expected, within minutes of taking off on Ethiopia Air, we were served drinks and crackers followed by a full course meal. The kids were served first with the option of chicken or fish. Once the cabin lights were off, the kids slept fairly well. We had 3 middle seats across from two window seats. Yabi continued to sleep all spread out into the morning. He was nauseated and had the opportunity to use a handy dandy puke bag and ate very little the rest of the flight, passing up breakfast and then lunch.

The last 3 hours of the flight were the longest. Yabi was wide awake and surfing the backpack. We enjoyed playing musical chairs, shuffle songs, IPOD games, and playing/sitting with another little 4 year old Ethiopian boy, Yofta, who was adopted 2 years before and returning to Ethiopia with his family for a second

adoption. This was a very nice diversion.

The hardest part of the trip was waiting in line for our visa, gathering luggage, exchanging money, etc. Difficult not because of the process but because 3 kids were ready to be done traveling, and our 13 year old was the most difficult.

We were greeted by the Adoption Advocates International (AAI) driver and Saron (who had lived with us), then wisked off to the Ritmo Guesthouse where we unpacked and readied ourselves for bed.