Day 4 - Addis Ababa

Day 4

Today we toured Addis Ababa. We were supposed to meet up with a local pastor, but it did not work out, so instead we headed out with a driver for a day. Our driver Girtma was recommended to us as someone who knew some English, however upon setting out we found out that our ability to communicate was going to be quite limited. We wanted to see St. George’s Cathedral and Museum. This is an Ethiopian Orthodox church built in the late 1800’s by King Menelik to commemorate his victory over the Italians in a battle, but in the 1940’s it was burned to the ground by Mussolini destroying not only the building but all of the artwork, too. It was reconstructed within a few years and everything was restored. It is a basilica style cathedral and has a great museum on the grounds, too. With our inability to communicate clearly we ended up instead at a Roman Catholic Church. We walked around experiencing the people of Ethiopia for awhile and then back to our driver. Fortunately we had a Lonely Planet Guide with us which had St. George’s listed in Amharic, so our driver could get us there. We had plenty of time to sit and explore the grounds at St. George’s. It was amazing to see hundreds of people come and pray. We got to climb a bell tower and tour the cathedral which was a great hit for Joshua who got to play a huge Ethiopian drum which is used in their church services. Afterwards we toured the museum which has a huge collection of artifacts from the history of the Ethiopian Church which dates back to the 4th Century AD. In addition we learned that it was an Ethiopian who first started using musical notation in church music. His name was Yared and he started notating music in the 6th Century. AD. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church still uses the same words and notes written 15 centuries ago as well as a liturgy written in Ge’ez which is a language that died out in the 11th Century everywhere except in the church.

After our tour we went off shopping. Shopping is always a journey. We first went to Halie Sylassie Market because the prices are fixed there in order to see what we could expect to pay, and then it was off to the shops and vendors where we had to haggle pricing. We had a great time and found some great things for decorations to help share with Hanna her heritage.

At night we moved from our first guesthouse to our second one, where we will stay for the rest of our time here. Fortunately it was only a 5 minute drive because we fit 3 of us plus a driver and 6 huge suitcases as well as 5 carryons and a couple of shopping bags into a Lada sedan. We were packed to the room, each of us holding bags and with the trunk tied shut. It was quite a sight (and sound as we bottomed out on every bump we hit!). The amazing part is we had a taxi for 7 hours and we paid him very well, but the total cost was $30. I’ve paid that for a 15 minute taxi ride before.

Late at night we got to meet the other birth families. There are 9 other families who we will be living with for the next week. They are from all over the place, however there is a family here from Baltimore and one from York. Its amazing to have these folks close enough that we could stay in touch since we are all using an agency from Minnesota. Tomorrow we meet Hanna. I can’t wait!