Ethiopia 2015 Day 3

As we slept on Saturday night, Devin and Cherie were on their long flight to Addis.  We would meet them there on the morning of Day 3.  We woke up early on Sunday morning to the sound of chanting and when we glanced outside we saw hundreds of people dressed in their white Sunday clothes walking up the hill to the Orthodox Church.  It was quite a sight to see.

 

On another note, this was literally the loudest place I have ever stayed.  The guest house we were in was new and very nice as far as the accommodations, but it was located on a main road (and I mean on the edge of the road).  I contemplated several times getting up in the night to record the level of noise, but I don't know if that would have done it justice.  All night long, dogs were barking, chickens were clucking, music was playing, cars and trucks were honking and then the chanting started early in the morning.  I finally got up and put in some ear plugs (also very handy on the airplanes).

Now this busy street life is something that I actually like about Ethiopia.  Because most people don't drive their own cars, there are always people walking around and so much interaction on the streets. I always notice how quite our streets are and how few people are walking around when I return.  That hustle and bustle on the streets of Ethiopia helps build community that we just don't have in the suburbs. 

Anyway, back to day 3.  We packed up and headed to the airport.  It had been a whirlwind couple of days.  In some ways it seemed like we had just gotten there and in others like it had been a much longer of a time.  I think we were all a little sad to leave all we had experienced behind, but also excited for the next part of the trip to begin.

After a (thankfully) uneventful flight back to Addis on a larger plane (Rahel had prayed for no "bumpy air" and we all believe God heard her prayers and sent us a nice big sturdy plane and good flying weather), we landed in Addis shortly after the rest of our team touched down.

The whole team together in Addis.  Yeah, we made it!

Once reunited in our taxi with my favorite driver Dawit and our guide Fekadu, we got a little burst of energy and headed to the guest house for what would be a much needed day of rest. 

 

 By rest, I mean we had some down time, so these girls sorted our 330 care packages, art supplies, games and donations and prepped for our buys week ahead while I tried to make contact with my family at home who I had been unable to reach to this point.

 

We did a little shopping for fruit, cookies (Addis has legit bakeries now with pastries, cakes, cookies and even donuts) and bread for the kids at Hope for Korah,  and then we headed out for a super fun cultural dinner experience.

 

And this was officially the last time we all looked this put together.  For the next four days we were covered in children and loved every (well pretty much every) minute of it!

 

Out to dinner with Joe and Leah, Dawit , the girls and Fedaku (taking the picture).