I found out why the horses and donkeys stand in the middle of the road--the cars driving by them quickly creates enough wind that the flies don't bother the animals very much!
Thursday, March 5, 2015
A few days in Ethiopia
It has been a busy few days for us in Ethiopia. We were able to spend a few hours each day playing with Theo's new sister and also spent some time driving around the city and shopping for gifts for our friends back home. Ethiopia has a number of shopping malls, but many people buy their goods from small stalls on the street. Some stalls sell fruits and vegetables while others sell shoes and some sell household items like buckets and mops. We also spent an evening at a cultural restaurant that served Ethiopian food and also had music, dancers and singing from the different regions in Ethiopia. The music and dancing were really amazing!
I found out why the horses and donkeys stand in the middle of the road--the cars driving by them quickly creates enough wind that the flies don't bother the animals very much!
Everywhere you look in Addis there is construction going on--mainly of apartment buildings. The population of Addis is 3 million with some of those people living in not-so-good housing made of tin. The government is trying to build about 1 million new apartments for people. The problem is that many of the buildings are unfinished because the builders have run out of money. Hopefully in a few years they will get enough money so they can complete the apartments.
I found out why the horses and donkeys stand in the middle of the road--the cars driving by them quickly creates enough wind that the flies don't bother the animals very much!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Isabel - Can you send a picture of Theo's sister?
ReplyDeleteMatthew - How many building that were under construction that you see?
Jules - How many days for you in Ethiopia?
Kai - What kind of dance were the dancers dancing?
Julia - How does Theo's little sister's clothes look like?
Sebastian - Don't forget to do captions.
Luke - I hope you can send a picture of Helina.
Django - How does Theo's sister act?
Kina - Did you get to pet the horses?
Elsa - What's Helina's middle name?
Theo - Can you ask Helina who her favorite friend is in the orphanage?
Atticus - Can you send more pictures of the donkeys, horses in the streets?
Hugh - What does you apartment look like?
Great questions guys! I'll do my best to answer them all.
DeleteI would love to send a picture of Theo's sister (she is super cute) but we have been asked not to send pictures until we are finished with this process. We're getting closer, but still not quite there.
There were easily a couple of thousand of new buildings being constructed. It's pretty crazy--hopefully in a few years many of them will be done.
We have been in Ethiopia since Tuesday morning--but it feels like a lot longer!
I'm not sure what kind of dance they were doing in the picture, but during the time we were there they danced 6 or so different dances from the various regions in Ethiopia.
Theo's sister's clothes look like the clothes you would wear. Most of the clothes the kids wear at the orphanage have been donated by people like us--those adopting from the orphanage. In the past 6 months we have sent clothes, toys and pictures to Hlina probably 5 different times.
Sorry, but I don't know how to do captions!
I'll try to send a picture of Hlina soon.
Theo's sister is a bit of a wild woman. She is very independent and likes to get involved in what everyone else is doing. She runs everywhere and talks a lot. We will have our hands full!
We didn't get to pet the horses as we were driving in a car, but I don't know that I would try to pet them--they're pretty dirty and probably haven't been petted by many people.
We haven't decided on Hlina's middle name yet, but one name we like is Hlina Hope Lufkin.
Theo, Hlina says that Nati is her favorite friend in the orphanage. They play together all the time.
I will try to send a few more pictures of the animals in the streets. Today (when I didn't have my camera) we saw 5 cows running down the hill and run right across a busy street (they were all fine because the cars stopped for them).
Our apartment is nice. It has 3 beds, a small bathroom and a small sink. It has a lot of windows and we get to see the sun rise over the mountains.
Ask more questions if you would like-and hopefully soon you will see Theo with his little sister!