Saturday, July 3, 2010

Monkeying Around


Hello again out there! Thought we'd put another update out while we had a chance. Yesterday (July 2nd) afternoon we went and visited Tigist, Mikias & Yohannes' relatives. It gets pretty crazy in their neighborhood when we show up and usually quite emotional as relatives and neighbors show up in waves. Seems like each time we go there,... more relatives and neighbors that heard the 3 of them are in town show up. It's great to see them all recognize each other though. Mia helped us write down everyone's name and how they are related/ know Tigist and the boys. Tigist also did a little video interview with each person so that she could make sure and put names with faces. Now that I think about it, I don't think we posted about what went on earlier yesterday, so let's back track a little. First thing in the morning, we picked up Emebet (it's been great having her with us every day, she's such a good kid and really meshing with everyone). Then headed over to the Drusilla School to meet up with Fitsum again and take more pictures of COEEF students and help them put together postcards for their sponsors. Fitsum made sure the second girl we sponsor, Beza was there, so now our little crew is fairly complete. After the COEEF stuff we headed to Beza's house to see if she could hang with us. We talked to her mom and grandma for a minute and were off to Lem Lem School to have lunch with some of the administrators and teachers. BTW, the food was amazing...traditional Ethiopian stuff and the whole sha' bang! It's crazy how the food and coffee at people's homes are so much better than any restaurant. Well, I guess Lem Lem School isn't a home, but it was all home made. Today (July 3rd) the part of tourists were played by...US!!!! We picked up Emebet & Beza and headed south...through Nazret and to the Sodere Resort. It's a really cool natural hot spring...with freakin' monkeys EVERYWHERE!!! On our way into the resort we stopped and fed monkeys for a bit and had a lot of fun. They're beyond cute and took the food nice and gently. The cutest are the tiny little babies that are clinging to the underside of their mama's. Oh those little faces! All the kids swam for quite and a while and Tina & I started learning what a real pain in the butt those little monkeys could be. Ugh, thievin' furballs! You can't pull the tiniest piece of food out with being swarmed and they're pretty bold too. One flipped a little baggie of stuff out of Tina's hand as she was getting into her purse on our table by the pool and another took a dive for Sierra's purse later, but wasn't successful either. Tina wasn't feeling good towards the end of the excursion and was laying in the van...she heard a thud on the roof of the van and then saw a really big male monkey crawling into the window. I guess she started yelling at it and it went away pretty quickly. On the way home we stopped in Nazret at a nice hotel (Adama German Hotel)...sat in the A/C (Tina and Sierra both needed that...Tina with not feeling well and Sierra's sunburn...that's what we get for assuming that the weather down by Nazret is just as crummy as the weather every day in Addis) and had some really good food. The drive down and back was pretty long in the crammed Toyota Hiace van, but it was a lot of fun. Our drivers Berhanu and his brother (I cannot for the life of me remember his name) always take great care of us.Tomorrow it's up early for a Lem Lem School end of school year performance/presentation for families. I think Tina, Mia and I are expected to say a few words...oh boy. Probably go see Rafe's brother Musay again and maybe just hang at the guest house with Emebet and Beza...low key like. HAPPY 4TH EVERYONE!!! We'll miss the festivities!!!See More

The Hale Family Returns to Ethiopia Photos

1 comment:

  1. What a great journal to have for the future. It sounds like you are having quite an interesting time 'monkeying' around! Continue to stay hydrated, safe and keep documenting these great adventures! Happy 4th of July!

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