THE TRIP - Day 2-3

Man, SO much has been happening the past few days now that we're home, I gotta haul hiney here to finish up about the trip:

8pm Wed, ET time, 3/10/10
It's been really long since I journaled!
Here is what's been going on -
After getting off the plane we went to the visa line. We were probably one of the 7 people in line (the last ones, but still!). Took about 20-30 minutes to get through. Not bad at all! Then we went to immigration and got our ET stamps (yay!). Didn't take long either! Then a guy volunteered to grab our bags for us. So "mom" said it was okay. We exchaged our money to birr. 13.36 birr to 1 US dollar. We exchanged about $600 - which was A LOT of birr! I guess the guy saw us with the gignatic amount of money we had and he expected more than the 20 birr we gave him as a tip. This is what we were told to tip though.
I mean, yeah, that's cheap - but all he did was take our bags from the coveyer belt to the cart! I didn't want to get a guy; I would have done it myself. Oh well. Anyway, he put up a stink about it and I didn't care. I just ignored him, but Mom kept saying "No, this is what we were told to give." THEN she asked another lady! :) haha. This ET lady said "Yes, it's fine. - 5 birr per bag."
HA!
She even said he should have brought our bags to the xray (which he didn't). We waited in that line for awhile, because our donation tub had zip ties, and it took FOREVER for someone to come over and cut through the zip ties & "ok" them. We waited with another AAI couple (Joe & Lisa) adopting 4 1/2 year old boy/girl twins...they also had donations with zip ties. When someone finally came over to cut through them, the men asked Lisa what the pads were. I thought it was very funny and told her she should demonstrate them! :) haha.
Anyway, after we got through Xray, we met the AAI driver, Jemal. He said he'd take us all, but as we walked to the parking lot, he said his car was small & couldn't fit us all. Joe & Lisa went to Ritmo with another man & Mom and I went in another taxi with Jemal to the King's Hotel. It cost 100 birr to ride there.
The Kings Hotel is basic. They initially put us in a suite room, but it only had one bed, so I said, "No, sorry...we asked for 2 beds."
Now we have a smaller, less fancy room, but it gets the job done. A hot shower. 2 beds that are surprisiginly comfy. A toilet, big towels and it's generally quiet. The window in the bathroom stays open (it's their ventilation system here)...so at night it does get cooler, but def not bad. The windows & curtains are sheer, so we change in the bathroom.
The TV's broken & you can hear the cars going by, beeping at each other, but my convertor works, so the fan gets to stay on ALL night!!
When we got in and somewhat unpacked, we decided we'd take a 2 hour nap...and then shower, THEN go to layla to meet Megersa.
At first, even though I was dead tired, I couldn't relax my mind or drown out the outside noise (which is MUCH louder during the day) but I kept praying & I did eventually fall asleep.
I probably slept 1-1 1/2 hours. Then we showered and got a taxi to Layla. We were both feeling loopy and we were tired from dragging around that dumb tub, so we decided we'd haul it there and leave it.
As soon as we walked in Layla, we were met by Jessica (Gail's assistant who works for AAI) and she said, "Hi! Are you Megersa's mommy? Are you ready to meet him?"
WHOA!
I quickly saw Amanda Cadman and gave her a hug, then handed her the video camera. Mom got the camera and followed me in. Jessica went over, grabbed Megersa (who was belly down on the floor with his buddies)...then said "Megersa - Here is your mommy!" She handed him to me, and honestly - I was prepared for him to not make eye contact or arch his back or something, but I got a smile out of him, THEN he just nuzzeld into me. BLISS.
I REALLY couldn't have dreamed of it going so smoothly! He is a beautiful baby. I got so many smiles and giggles out of him in the next few hours. He seemed totally content to be with me! I changed his clothes (The size 3-6 clothes that I put on his are still a little big and the size 2 diapers are tightened as far as they will go - he's a SKINNY, long baby!)
I went around with my camera (and him) to take pics of all the other babies. The nannies are SO sweet. They kept asking me "Megersa's mommy?" and then they wanted to grab him to get a picture with him. I could tell they really love all the babies. I fed him a bottle, and just walked around with him, inside and outside.
Ivy gave us a tour of the compound and Megs fell asleep in my arms. I forgot my ERGO (if you can believe that!) and had to hold him, but it was soooo sweet!
After about 30 minutes I switched with Mom and she held him until he woke up.
By the way, the nannies think it's great that she's the grandma.
He took more bottle and then we played a little more, but it was about 6:45p, so we left. We were meeting Anna Faulker - a Cedarville grad that live in ET - at Kaldis (ET starbucks that also has some American style food) for dinner.
Amanda came too. She's GREAT! I ordered some sort of chicken club salad (which it wasn't...so I didn't eat it) and fries (yum!) and a chocolate milkshake. Double yum!
It was good to meet Anna and she said she'd love to take us shopping on Wednesday after lunch!
Leaving Megs wasn't as hard as I thought. That sounds bad, but he's still getting used to me, so I want the transition to be as smooth as possible. And, I want to experience ET while I'm here.
He watched me leave, and I looked at him to see if he was upset, but he wasn't. He knows his crib. He's familiar with the sounds, sights and smells of his room, and his world will be rocked soon enough...so I didn't mind.
He will sleep well and see me the next day.
I was totally okay with it...plus it was fun going out with the girls at night.
The walk to and from the King's Hotel takes about 15 minutes...some of it is uphill and that's not fun with a giant diaper bag and shopping stuff, but it's good for me. At night it makes me more nervous. But that's my nature.
When I can't understand the language, it puts me even more "on guard" - but the Lord has been SO good to us. No sickness, not really feeling jet-lag, EXCELLENT, AMAZING, ADORABLE little boy; and safety.
When we got home, we putzed around waiting for Tim and Dad to call.
It was great to hear Tim's voice.
He was SO happy to hear about Megersa! We chatted for awhile and I felt good knowing he was keeping Cale busy. After that, I got my bed ready, took 2 tylenol PM, put the fan on, covered my face and fell asleep.
7 am, Thursday, March 11
Backtracking here to yesterday morning. Hopefully I can get caught up - there's just SO much to remember!
Okay, so our first night here - I slept okay. Woke up 2-3 times in the early night. Was feeling "awake" at about 2-3am, so I decided to take a melatonin. Slept AWESOME after. The alarm actually had to wake me up at 7 am. Decided to hit snooze and fell right back asleep for 15 more minutes.
But then we got up, and ready for Embassy.
Ivy was having a shuttle bus pick us up and another AAI couple who are staying here at 8:15am. Since I showered late yesterday afternoon, I didn't wash my hair again and to my surprise, the flat iron worked! (Surprised because the day before the blow dryer wouldn't.)
I decided even with that to pull my hair back in a ponytail and wear a headband. Cute! :) I sorta dressed up for Embassy - though it's not required.
It just FEELS like an important event.
We got ready and went downstairs at about 7:55a. We went into the Kings restaurant, but decided we didn't really have enough time for a sit-down breakfast. I ate a B-bar and a fruit roll anyway.
We were then greeted by the other AAI fam in the foyer and chatted about AAI.
Not long after, Susan PD came in (who is AWESOME, btw) and said "Okay, let's go!"
I was second-to-last out the door, but could spot Megersa on Ivy's lap right away.
I sat toward the back and grabbed him to sit with me. Once he was in my arms, he seemed sorta wiggly and restless. I put more hydrocortisone on his cheeks (he's got BAD eczema) - but when I touched his cheeks, he was opening his mouth, so I put a binky in and he fell asleep in seconds. THEY dressed him in a long-sleeved red onesie underneath a blue and pink polo with khacki pants and red socks.
I'm glad he looked like a boy!
The first day I met him, I had to laugh at the onesie he was wearing - "all american girl"...and was hoping that he would be dressed more gender appropriate for Embassy.
We drove over as he slept and when we got out, I put him in the ERGO (I remember he slept for another 10 minutes, but when he woke up he seemed content to just observe and was generally happy in the ERGO.)
I decided to get him out of it in the waiting room. There was a small area for toys for toddlers/young school-aged children and a bunch of chairs - it was very full!
He still seemed squirmy and I thought he might be hungry. I got the bottle out and as soon as he saw it, he started wimpering. Poor baby! I went as quickly as I could but he was starting to get impatient. Never cried, but looked so pitiful!
I had Mom hold him. I'm not great at bottles yet..not much experience - the bottle, the drop-in, the nipple, add the formula & water, shake, screw it on. not hard stuff, but torturous I'm sure to a hungry baby!
He was JAZZED after his bottle. Smily and cooing at the other Ethiopians. There were about 4-5 families from AAI and several from different agencies. We just waitied our turn as we chatted. I went to the bathroom, then came back and put him back in the ERGO (to get ready). We waited probably about 45 minutes overall before our turn. When they called us up (actually, Gail came and got us) we had to walk upstairs.
It was about as anti-climactic as you can imagine. There was another waiting room upstairs, but I was told to walk to the open window with Gail standing beside me.
The American women behind the glass was friendly enough, though I thought it was so bizarre to have the entire thing (except the very bottom) covered in thick-walled plastic. Like at a bank. What's with the security?
Hm. I could barely hear her questions. I can't reember them all, but something like this:
Are you the person on these forms? Yes.
Is this the child you were waiting for? Yes.
Is this the child that was referred to you? Yes.
What happened to the child's parents? He was abandonded.
Who found him? I said a police officer and social worker. But Gail corrected me saying it was an individual walking and a PO.
Is your husband here? No.
Have you met the child before or after you passed court? After.
Do you know this adoption is final? Yes.
You know you must re-adopt him according to your state laws? Yes.
And there may have been one or two other simple questions, but nothing intense. Easy peasy.
She told me we'd get his passport on Friday morning and Gail handed me a red file with all his doctors reports and other paper (haven't opened it yet). Then we walked back downstairs.
Megs seemed kinda stinky, so I changed his diaper (and his outfit) and then we played in the little play area.
He really enjoys rolling around - moving in general. I was surprised the first day I saw him that he likes to be "wrestled with" or tossed around - totally makes him giggle!
He's also very used to being on the floor, so it makes sense.
I think when I hold him a lot, he gets really wiggly and starts to shake his body (partly also because he lacks back/neck/leg strength).
Even still - he was as happy as a clam.
Probably about 15-20 minutes later we left with our group. I had Megersa in the ERGO and he fell asleep again in the car. He slept the whole ride, then about an hour after that when we arrived at Layla. I decided to take more pics of the babies and toddlers. They're always readily available for pics!
The toddlers kinda just play around all day and it's the cutest thing to see them all eating in their cloth high chairs - feet dangling! :)
On Tuesday I heard some little one in one of the baby rooms that was empty. It was filled with broken or unused cribs. I peeked in there and there were these little hands and feet on the floor, and a voice, kinda wimpering. I quickly went to one of the nannies and guestered for her to come to the room. She said "no babies in this room." I nodded my head, but still pointed for her to look. She seemed shocked as she saw the scared little toddler come out from behind the cribs!
Seemed as though she and the other nannies were asking questions (maybe pointing fingers, who knows! :) He's fine though.
Okay, so, I gave Megersa some more bottle when he woke up. He doesn't eat much. Maybe a couple oz at a time. He's a slow eater too - which is fine with me. I've been offering him a bottle a lot. I want him to know I am Mommy and can give him food and comfort.
We played a little then at about 1pm, I gave him to the nannies so we could go out shopping.
We were meeting up with Anna Faulker and Amanda Cadman. She was going to take us to some good places and help us haggle.
She was running late, so we walked to Kaldi's again and ate some quick lunch. This time I took no chances and ordered the french toast Anna had the night before. It looked good. I also had a chocolate shake again. Yum. Amanda got a carmel mocha frap which I fully intend to get before I leave on Friday!
After lunch, we went with Anna and her taxi driver to the shops.

And if you can believe...that's all I journaled by hand while in Ethiopia. I will try my best to remember the specific details from that point on!
Until tomorrow...Thanks for reading!