Back-Blogging: Ethopia, Monday

I wasn't able to get many emails home during the time we were gone due to power outages, but I did journal some...here is my journal from Monday morning:

"Well, if the clock is right on this laptop it is 1:30 a.m. here, and I'm wide awake. I'm tired, but there is so much happening in my heart and head that I just can't sleep. It's amazing to me that my sons are sleeping in the room right next to me! I forgot to tell you that they can both identify all of their English letters! They are very proud to show off their skill as well. They are very good colorers, and it's amazing to see the competition between them to show off their skills to Mommy and Daddy. When one calls us to show off, the other is sure to be right behind them! I think at moments they are trying to prove to us how 'good' they are, and at others their true colors shine and we see what little stinkers they really are...true 6 year old little boys!! They sat very well behaved at dinner last night. Sintayehu ordered fish and ate almost two whole fillets, plus some cooked carrots, potatoes, and rice. Bizayehu ordered a chicken / egg salad sandwich and fries. He LOVED the fries, but not ketchup. At first he didn't like the salad part and was only eating the bread, but after the waitress came over and explained to him what was in it and basically force fed him a bite off the fork, he seemed to enjoy it and ate much more.

(side note: I'm amazed at how all adults here in Ethiopia just kind of claim authority over children. It doesn't matter if they have never met or seen the child before, they are very quick to correct their behavior, even without the parent's permission. In some ways I love this here, it's much more like a village raising a child than it is in the US, and in other ways it makes me feel incompetent as a parent...I know this is just my pride getting in the way. I think we could all take a lesson from this culture in this aspect.)

Lincoln had chicken stir fry and I had spaghetti carbinara, and we had two huge bottles of water that we all four split and out total bill (after tax and tip) was a little less than 20.00. I am amazed at how much they can eat! We're definitely going to have to go to the store and get some things to 'supplement' the meals served here at Ritmo. We had injera here yesterday afternoon and there was nothing left after the 6 of us ate. The boys are very good at eating injera, they can give us all some lessons when we get home!

Today Gail is coming at 9 a.m. Another family arrived last night, after we went to bed sometime, so she will come this morning for us to fill out our Embassy paperwork and to pick them up to meet their kid. Sheryl says their room has bunk beds in it, so maybe they're getting older kids too! It would nice for the boys to be able to play with some other kids while we're here this week. We'll take the boys to school today, they seemed to do fin yesterday when we went back together as a family, although I don't know how they'll do if we leave them there...I guess we'll see today! If they are good to say then we'll go shopping or sight seeing, something. I think we'll probably eat lunch out (either at Layla or while shopping ) and eat dinner here. I'm going to film the Ritmo today and Layla, but not the walk between because there are far too many people on the streets and I don't want to offend anyone (or get my camera stolen from me)! One kid yesterday on the walk to Layla said "hey, what's up?" we all just died laughing. We've only had one kids ask for candy, and one kid say he was hungry...it's heart breaking, but because we're going to be walking back and forth on the same path for so many more days I don't feel like I can give hand outs because I'm afraid they will come looking for us and expect something every time we see them.

Hunter and Graysen - wait until you hear the boys say your names! It's too funny! :0) We've been looking at lots of pictures of you and praciting "Brother Hunter, Sister Graysen". They both say "Grayna". They've both got Papa down, but Grammie and Grandma are harder words for them to say. The boys also "know" Itsy Bitsy Spider, Rain Rain Go Away, ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Ba Ba Black Sheep, and Head and Shoulders.. When I say "know" I mean they know the actions and tune, but the words are slurred...obviously no one has taken the time to stop and make sure they are pronouncing the words correctly!

Monday afternoon:

We got up this morning and ate French Toast for breakfast. We met Kim and Ken Dewey...they got in after we went to bed last night. Then Ivy came and we went to Layla for a bit. The Dewey's met their baby girl, Tizita. We hung out with some of the older kids, sat in the KG class while they played a game. Ivy passed out letters and I took some pictures of that. We got the boys school notebooks and the cameras that we sent them in their welcome bags. We paid for their visas and filled out the necessary paperwork for the Embassy on Wednesday. We walked back to Ritmo and ate lunch. Now the boys are playing outside. In about 1/2 an hour we are going to take them back to Layla and head over to the Leprosy Colony.