Visitor Number 2 and Daniel's thoughts on the first two months

So it has been a while since our quiz, and now the number of people interested in this has jumped from five to a whopping ten, leaving thirty or forty people who come just to look for the pictures (I’m just kidding. Or am I?) 

I’m typing this on Mom’s MacBook Air, looking at a backdrop of a picture of us shortly after arriving at the Addis Ababa airport. I can’t help but think about how that was now two entire months ago, and about how fast time has flown by. In these last two months, we have

Found a house and settled into it;

Welcomed our wonderful maid, Azeb, and her incredible cooking skills, into our home;

Hosted two overnight visitors, Aunt Tasha and Uncle Moges + Gabriel (more on that later);

Come up with an organized way to make sure that we make the most of our water when we have it, something you don’t have to worry about in the United States;

Cared for our first ever dog, Teddy Afro (that’s at least what I call him. Look up the name);

Gone on a spectacular trip including hiking to centuries old churches in the Gheralta Mountains, visiting the historic religious city of Axum, and seeing the village where some of our ancestors came from;

And finally, we have forged a connection like no other with the kids at Operation Rescue, the local center where we spend hours each weekday volunteering. 

Uncle Moges and our cousin, Gabriel, came arrived here last Friday (October 6th), and Gabriel was a pleasant addition. We were not aware that he would be joining us, and their visit made us all very happy. We took them to Operation Rescue, where the kids greatly admired Uncle Moges’ drawing skills, and then had dinner at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant, Geza Gerelasse. On Saturday the 7th, we visited the tall monument near our place that commemorates the struggle to liberate Ethiopia from the communist Derg regime of the 1970s and 1980s. Seeing all the black and white pictures of the people who fought to free the country during those years reminded me about how this dark era of Ethiopian history is a part of me, whether I like it or not. In the mid-1970s, when my mom was a little girl, her family was forced to flee to Kenya after it became clear that they could no longer live there safely. It was there where she met my dad when they were in high school, and if my mom hadn’t left for Kenya, well then I might not be sitting here today. 

Us with the guests at our
house

Uncle Moges at
Operation Rescue

Gabriel and Uncle Moges had a great time here, and getting to show guests around our city makes us feel more at home here. They had a great time here, and we had a great time with them. 

I just cannot believe that it has been such a long time since that chilly, dreary morning in the grim city of Addis Ababa. Take a look at the picture. All of us (except Micah, it seems) had no idea of what to expect here. We were fresh off of a thirteen hour flight from the United States, where we felt like we belonged, where we felt secure. Here, there is no doubt that life is difficult, and we have experienced that firsthand. Being a foreigner in a foreign country is the biggest obstacle I have ever encountered in my life, and I now have at least a tiny idea of what new immigrants face upon entering a completely strange country. From the Mayflower to the most recent flight into Dulles Airport, they all faced the same struggle: the struggle of how to fit in; of how to adjust to a new life. Living in the U.S. for my whole life, I had never known what it was like to face changing circumstances. Everything was the same every day and we were able to stick to a routine free of interruption. 

August 14th at the airport in Addis

Let’s go back to the picture. I was not ready for the stares, the yells, the power outages, the internet connection withdrawal, the water rationing, and much more. But now, through two months of adjusting, I have developed thicker skin, and I am feeling much more at home here. I’ve come to ignore the comments of street people; I’ve learned how to live without using the internet EVERY SINGLE DAY; and I’ve learned that for every rude person here, there are nine people who either are nice to you or could care less about you. I still can’t say that I “like” Mekele, but I can say that the dark days of those first few weeks are now behind me. After all, in less than a month, we’ll be jetting off to Kenya and Southeast Asia for six weeks. I have that to look forward to. 

-Daniel W.

P.S.: I will not be updating you on Mom's soap opera. It is a disgrace to our television set.