(Continued from here)

Friday, 18 June 2007

Since the visa approval process took so much time (1 ½ hours), the consular officer visited with me quite a bit. She told me that the terror alert here was “critical” and if I felt in any way threatened or at risk, to “get the hell out of Dodge” (her quote). Part of me was thinking “I've been here a month and you're telling me this now?!” and the other part was glad I didn't know it was as bad as that. I can't leave without the kids though.

She also said – especially now that Greg is gone – not to go outside after dark, that rape is a national sport... more

(Continued from here)

Friday, June 18

The darn roller coaster ride continues. I got up after a sleepless night. I had a really bad headache last night and debated about taking an Excedrin Migraine, as I knew it would affect my sleep. But, I also knew the headache was bad enough to adversely affect my sleep, so I took the medicine. I slept from 10 pm to midnight, then was awake until around 6, then slept for one more hour.

I went to the Embassy at 9:30 and waited at least an hour with a whole flock? Herd? Gaggle? of butterflies in my stomach. I finally got called to the window... more

(Continued from here)

Thursday, 17 June 2004

After dropping everything off at the Embassy, we went and had lunch. Aaron barely ate one bowl of soup, poor guy. We brought him back to the hotel while we did some more souvenir shopping. We have gotten most of what we want, I think.

Aaron is just so, so sick. I keep trying to get him to even take a little Sprite and especially this evening have not been successful. He is coughing until he throws up and is nauseated anyway. He is really pale and can barely stand, he is so light-headed. I am worried for him, so far away from US medical care. We just saw a baby die for lack of medical care, and while he's much sturdier... more

(Continued from here)

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Another day with some big emotional swings – someone on one of my email lists called it “Space Mountain”, not just a regular roller coaster ride. Up and down and jerk you all around – IN THE DARK! So true . . .

Anyway, Greg called just before 9 am – almost midnight in Utah – and told me there was a BIG problem with getting the credit card here. He said the tracking showed it was in Frankfurt and had no movement all day, so he called FedEx and they told him they didn't even offer 3-day service to Addis – it would be one week and I would have it Monday morning. He was furious and upset – I think it's way harder on him... more

(Continued from here)

Wednesday, 16 June 2004

Today was a day with some pretty big emotional swings. It started off with the Sheraton refusing to let me withdraw cash on Greg's credit card. They said it was a mistake that someone let me do it on Monday. I still hadn't heard from Greg and had tried probably a dozen times to get a call to go through with no luck.

Aaron is still sick and was at the hotel when I came back to get cash to pay for the blood tests (another 800 birr). I got $300, but it was out of our visa “stash”, so now I don't have enough for the visas. Sigh. We went to the Embassy without changing the dollars to birr and after waiting, oh, almost... more

Some Americans are concerned because things are, well, just so DIFFERENT in Africa. It's hard to get their questions answered, it's hard to actually set and keep an appointment, cell phone calls are abrupt. They wonder if people are just rude, or what the problem is.

It's different because it IS different! "Talk time" on the cell phone is expensive - hanging up before saying goodbye will end up saving you money in the long run. Sometimes there is nothing new for them to say to you.

Sometimes they'll contact you if they need to and sometimes... more

Never Give Up: Vignettes from Sub-Saharan Africa in the Age of Aids I expected from the word “vignettes” that this book would be a collection of individual stories about people living and/or working with HIV/AIDS in Africa. However, it is not. They are the experiences of Kevin Winge who is also the executive director of “Open Arms of Minnesota”. He makes frequent trips to South Africa, where he works with people living with HIV/AIDS. He... more

(Continued from here)

Wednesday, 16 June 2004

After spending all morning just to draw a little blood, we went back to the hotel and got Aaron to go to lunch. We went to the Habasha restaurant, but the food didn't taste good to me today and Aaron has no appetite. The other kids ate fine though. We dropped Aaron back off, then went to try and get that last signature on the contract of adoption. We did that, then went over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the authentication. It was another 324 birr just for a simple rubber stamp with a signature.

We then had some free time, so I got to check email and Greg had posted several times, including that the visa... more

(continued from here)

Tuesday, June 15, 2004 (cont)

Greg didn't call but he did make it home. My friend who was watching the kids called me about 11 pm Utah time to see if I knew where Greg was! He was supposed to be home at 8! She said his flight was delayed, but according to airline personnel, it had landed an hour late and they were on the flight but Dave couldn't find them anywhere. She called me shortly thereafter to tell me they had come on a different flight and had just landed. I knew something funky had happened, or Greg would have called them to let them know they had been delayed.

He said later that they made it to Newark, then waited around all day... more

(Continued from here)

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

After we picked up the children's new passports, we went to the Dr's office where they had their Embassy physicals. The baby is about 7 ½ pounds and 52 cm long, or 20 ½ inches long at 2 months old. He told me she was malnourished. Yup, I coulda told you that. Remember, she was the one who seemed to be the sicker of the two babies – then the other one died. I just want to get her home and get her healthy.

Anyway, Beti seems to either have problems with her eyes or she just couldn't understand what they were wanting her to do with the eye chart. She basically missed everything. Because of her skin condition – vitaligo... more