Day 5: A slow day

If you haven't read the first few days, scroll down!


Eric and I were both up all night with a stomach bug, so we took the morning off and just stayed around the guest house. We took a little walk and got some pictures of the flowers that grow here, then came back for a nap. I was so worried that we would be sick all day and not get to do anything, but luckily after the nap we both felt better. Vivi did develop a cough though. Little Boy and Journey both have coughs (along with most of the kids at the orphanages) so it didn’t surprise me. The siblings sharing their sicknesses starts now!

In the afternoon we called a driver to take us out to the Hilton to reconfirm our flight. Apparently if you don’t reconfirm, they might give away your seat. Luckily our seats were still there. The Hilton was in downtown Addis, it was so busy, even in the middle of the day. One thing that is so different here is the traffic. There are no street names, no speed limits, no traffic lights. You basically drive and honk if someone gets in your way. But a HUGE difference is that nobody gets mad about it. Road rage is not a thing here. If someone honks at you, you get out of the way. If there’s a traffic jam, you sit and wait. They have traffic circles with no yield signs, you just go, or if there’s a car going faster than you, you let them go first. There are no crosswalks, people cross the street wherever they are, even in the middle of a busy road. They just walk, and cars don’t slow down. They honk if a person isn’t getting out of the way fast enough, but the people seem pretty unfazed by the honking. Even the animals understand the traffic here. I saw a dog look both ways, wait for a couple of cars to pass, then trot across the road. People walk goats and donkeys down the sidewalk without any lead lines and they never stray. One of the other families had to move out of the way for a herd of cows just walking down the sidewalk. 

Anyway, we got back to the guest house and hung out for a little while until dinner was ready. Eleyhu’s wife (can’t remember her name, but she’s super sweet) made a yummy stew with beef, potatoes, carrots, and onions. It was so good to have a home cooked meal. We ate with another guest, a retired surgeon who was there doing surgeries on kids with cleft lips and palates. 

After dinner, one of the agency drivers picked us up to take us to see Little Boy. Again when we got there the big kids ran to the driver and asked who we were here for. He said “Little Boy family” and they started running around and cheering. A girl took my hand when we got out of the van and asked “Little Boy to America go?” I said yes but not today, and she looked very happy for him. She kissed Vivi’s hand, then started calling to the other kids, and I thought she was instructing them to kiss her hand too, until I realized that they were smelling her hand! I had put vanilla scented hand sanitizer on awhile before, and I guess her hands still smelled like it. The kids  He did a lot better this time, he was only shy for a couple of minutes before playing with us. A volunteer came in to meet us and ask whose family we were. When she learned we were Little Boy's family, she said “you must see him dance!” One of the nannies said something to Little Boy, and he went and turned on the tv to some kind of music channel. He and the other kids started dancing, and of course Vivi joined in too.

After leaving Little Boy, we had our driver, Abraham, take us to a grocery store to pick up some things. I got a couple big bags of shiro; when I asked our agency group what they bought, a lot of people said they wished they had gotten more shiro. With Eric going back at least one more time I can get him to pick up more if we really love shiro wat. We were also looking for shelf stable milk because Vivi went through it faster than we expected, but couldn’t find any. 


We went back to the guest house and looked through our souvenirs a little before heading to bed.