Dawit picked us up in the morning for shopping. On our list was a traditional millennium shirt and wrist and head band for Biniam. We found these at our first stop along with a beautiful, lavender traditional dress for Emma, beaded necklace for Emma, and a silver cross necklace for Biniam. Next we went to the fixed price store Dawit had taken us to back in January where I found a beaded necklace for myself, and Biniam picked out a children’s story book written in both Amharic and English. Brian and I also grabbed an Amharic phrase book – better late than never!
For lunch we went to the Blue Tops restaurant which serves western-type food and appeared to have mostly foreigners dining there. We finished our meal off with yummy ice cream cones and crème caramel. We can never get Dawit to join us for a meal, as he claims he is always “full”. So instead Brian ordered an ice cream cone and ran it out to Dawit at his car, where Dawit lit up with a huge smile. Seems we found his weak spot.
After lunch we headed back to Layla to drop off the welcome bags we carried over with us and to pick up a copy of Biniam’s passport and birth certificate (ID for the plane ride to Bahir Dar). Biniam spent some time playing soccer and poking around the classrooms which were in session. One of the younger groups had PE so Emma settled down to watch them and socialize with them. There are times when Emma gets overwhelmed by all the attention the kids give her, but for the most part she does really well and really enjoys the kids. She even enjoys all the attention the adults all over town give her, and is always ready to stick out her right hand and say “nice to meet you” to anyone who greets her. The staff here at the hotel are pretty smitten with her.
We ordered dinner in our room, and with the language barrier Brian somehow managed to order Biniam a cheese pizza with no sauce. Biniam wasn’t too thrilled with that, so we ordered a new pizza, but to Brian’s dismay Biniam fell asleep before the pizza arrived and wouldn’t wake up. We were all pretty grumpy and over-tired by the time we went to bed so we vowed we would do better tomorrow night.
For lunch we went to the Blue Tops restaurant which serves western-type food and appeared to have mostly foreigners dining there. We finished our meal off with yummy ice cream cones and crème caramel. We can never get Dawit to join us for a meal, as he claims he is always “full”. So instead Brian ordered an ice cream cone and ran it out to Dawit at his car, where Dawit lit up with a huge smile. Seems we found his weak spot.
After lunch we headed back to Layla to drop off the welcome bags we carried over with us and to pick up a copy of Biniam’s passport and birth certificate (ID for the plane ride to Bahir Dar). Biniam spent some time playing soccer and poking around the classrooms which were in session. One of the younger groups had PE so Emma settled down to watch them and socialize with them. There are times when Emma gets overwhelmed by all the attention the kids give her, but for the most part she does really well and really enjoys the kids. She even enjoys all the attention the adults all over town give her, and is always ready to stick out her right hand and say “nice to meet you” to anyone who greets her. The staff here at the hotel are pretty smitten with her.
We ordered dinner in our room, and with the language barrier Brian somehow managed to order Biniam a cheese pizza with no sauce. Biniam wasn’t too thrilled with that, so we ordered a new pizza, but to Brian’s dismay Biniam fell asleep before the pizza arrived and wouldn’t wake up. We were all pretty grumpy and over-tired by the time we went to bed so we vowed we would do better tomorrow night.
Emma loved using our camera to take pictures, so here are two pictures she took of one of her "admirers" at the hotel. You can see the first attempt didn't go so well (he thought it was pretty funny).
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1 comment:
Hey, I was in Ethiopia the same time you were, meeting my 4 year old son. I'm enjoying your blog, and your Biniam looks wonderful, hope all is going well at home.
June
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