change of pace

Kenya just recently elected their new president. Uhuru won. Because of the elections we were advised to flee the country due to the chance there might be an out break of violence. Obviously there was little to barely any but we still took it as an opportunity to visit Ethiopia. 

I have been told multiple times that Ethiopia is an incredible country that I need to go to. I was all about it. I have been ready to go there for years and just needed the excuse. Kaleigh really wanted to go south to Tanzania but she didn't fight or talk loud enough and we got our tickets to Ethiopia. 

The plane left at 5 in the morning. We got to the airport at 3. I am so thankful for the Abilla family being willing to let us stay at their house even with all these crazy times. 

Luckily we have a distant relative that lives in Ethiopia that was SO gracious to let us stay at their not so humble abode for the week. 

We get to the Ethiopia airport with no Birr or Dollars. All we have is Shillings. In Ethiopia they don't exchange Shillings. Luckily Kaleigh was in the right place at the right time and someone heard her plea. A random lady gave Kaleigh enough dollars to buy a visa for the two of us. That was a tender mercy.

My Aunt Tammy's niece's husband picked us up at the airport. We get to Ethiopia just in time for the end of sacrament meeting. Church is all in English and Amharic. Church is held in a house. We went to primary with Nadine. After church we came home and fell asleep. Nadine made pizza. It was so delicious. They had a get together of all the white Mormons in Addis and that was our Sunday. Lots of sugary treats. It was great. 

The next day we woke up early. Took a hot shower and Jeru was there to take us on our first adventure. I made a list of all the things you can do in Addis Ababa. Jeru was our personal tour guide and translator for the week. She is a YSA from the ward that Nadine and Warren hooked us up with. We hit the street. I don't remember the order of everything we did but we went to a bunch of museums, the American embassy and the lion park. We saw Lucy... the oldest person ever. That was sweet. We also learned a lot about the history of the Rastafarian king that ruled Ethiopia that people believe is the rasta god because he brought rain to Jamaica. Sweet? Yes. We saw a lot of lions too. Their roars are so cool. Also... how can you go to Ethiopia and not eat injera. I had it for lunch. 

That night we met up at the church with a bunch of the YSA and the elders for an FHE. Someone shared the spiritual thought and all the sudden I was in charge of the game. We played two rounds of telestraions. Let's just talk about the awkward elder next to me that thought "ven diagram" was a good idea of something to draw. I doubt "ven diagram" even translates into Amharic. It was so much fun. The highlight of the day. At the end of this day we had already done almost everything on the list that I made of things to do in Addis.

Tuesday we woke up. Jeru met up with us at the mansion again. We went to Entoto. This is a huge hill where a church is at the top. I guess it used to be the capitol of Ethiopia. There is also an old palace. At the bottom of the hill there is a lot of touristy shops. We went to the top first and then made our way down. At the church there was a museum. We had a tour guide. He was speaking English but I could not understand a word he said. 

Trying to bargain for things was so hard. Ethiopians are not aggressive like Kenyans and Jeru felt so awkward asking for a lower price. We had to have a translator do it for us because no one speaks English. Kaleigh and I refuse to pay the "white price." We could tell Jeru hated bargaining. And of course we had more injera for lunch. 

We went home and it was a day. 

The next day we woke up and went to church. We went to the Saint Trinity Church. 

It was incredibly beautiful. Because we are white the unlocked the doors and let us inside. This cute old priest took us on a tour of the inside. This is where the rasta king's tomb is located. 

That is all we did that day in town because we needed to head back early to make Kenyan food for 16 people. It was a success but it took forever to crank out that many chapatis. 

On Thursday we woke up and went to work with Nadine. She works at an international preschool. It was really fun and it was weird to be surrounded by so many tiny kids who spoke English. We went back to the house. Jeru met us up there. We went to a couple of bazaars and called it a day. 

On Friday Jeru came to the house. We went to the Mercato. It is a huge open air market in Ethiopia. We got two things and walked a lot of it. I loved it. Ethiopia is a lot more expensive compared to Kenya. It was just hard to spend money there except when it came to getting things for other people. After that we called it day. Kaleigh and I came home and washed all our clothes and started packing. Warren took us to the airport and we got to Kenya at 1:30 in the morning. 

When we got the the airport we were asked for our yellow fever cards. Of course we do not have them. The person I had to talk to about it behind the counter would talk to me in between falling asleep. She threatened to keep us in the airport until 8 and have to get the shot in the airport clinic but then fell asleep again and said we could just pass through but bring it with us next time. I was so nervous. 

We took a taxi to the Abilla's house and got there around 2:30 am. We were home and safe.

We stayed with Nadine and Warren. Warren works for the embassy. The government house they live in was a mansion. It was 5 stories, 7 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms. It was so different then the view we saw out of the window. Nadine and Warren were so nice and I am so grateful for their generousness to let us stay with them. 

Ethiopia was so different from Kenya. The people are lighter skinned. Their hair is different. There are beggars everywhere. No one speaks English. The food is different. I love Kenya so much. I am so thankful for the opportunity that I had to travel to Ethiopia and the experiences I had there.