Arrival

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We have arrived safely in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Yay! After traveling for 28 hours from Chicago via London and Aman, Jordan, we arrived in Ethiopia at around 3am. It is amazing how the video entertainment can shorten the feeling of the long travel time. Our kids were thrilled with their individual travel consoles and watched about 6-8 movies, slept, and ate.

At the airport we were greeted warmly by the Volunteer Services Overseas (sponsoring organization) staff and driven to the training center where I (Ruta) have been in training since arriving. Upon leaving the airport and stepping into Ethiopia, Rytas' first words were 'Wow, the pollution!" Yipes - we quickly shushed him to be polite, but truly the air quality is very poor. There are mountains surrounding the city Addis Ababa and lots of trees and birds. It is surprisingly cold - 40-50 degrees and raining almost every day. We will certainly be wearing our same sweatshirts and jackets day in and day out.

On the drive from the airport, the driver chuckled as Vasara excitedly exclaimed, 'Look, an Ethiopian dog!" There are many stray dogs and cats. When morning came, we quickly saw many, many more animals in the streets - stray dogs, cats, donkeys, goats, chickens, herds of sheep - some wild, some serving their masters. Our kids are under strict orders not to touch the animals, but still yesterday I was walking in the street with Rytas when he joyfully stated "Look how close I am to this donkey!"

The first morning (Sunday) after waking up, we were greeted with a solemn coffee ceremony. Coffee is an important part of Ethiopian culture and is their main export. The coffee ceremony had incense burning, served cake and popcorn and the strongest, tastiest coffee I have ever had. Beautiful women in traditional costumes served us the coffee. The Ethiopians truly are very handsome people.

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