Thursday Feb 11th, The Memorable Day Cont.

Yonatan was on his day off so we are not going to the Fistula Hospital. We met one of the Italian gentlemen who are here working on helping to build a farm. His English is so so, he understands more than he speaks. Phillipe, I think, I don't seem to have that written down. He wrote down several things that we said. Yohanna is spitting up most of what is fed to her. I am worried that she is not getting enough but she doesn't really cry and she has dirty diapers. Gretchen says that children in orphanages often do not cry out because they learn that their needs won't necessarily be met. The doctor told Gretchen when we got home that she will learn just what we teach her. If she cries and we pick her up she will understand that and cry more to get that reaction. Funny how we already knew that but needed to be reminded, that our kids are what we make them. I think that Yohanna is an exceptional baby as far as crying goes, because it was 1 nanny to 2 infants and I know that Yohanna was getting lots of love. It's sunshiny here today. We sent laundry to the ladies. I took a lot of pictures so far I hope that I remember what they are when we get home. One building yesterday was several stories high, wrapped in torn blue tarps. When you got closer the sign on it said "Waterproofing", ha that's a laugh. We went by the FBI building, NO PICTURES, but Terri got on off before Abel could tell us. I think the driver would be the one who got in trouble if we were caught. Stray dogs run the streets, I heard a cat yowling most of the night, kind of like home. Gretchen saw some guy dressed in a Bengals Shirt just like Bill has at home. A little boy came to beg for food when we were stopped at one of the few street lights in town. There really aren't many street lights, you know red/green/ yellow and if they are there they aren't working. I don't think the drivers would pay attention anyway. It's first come first serve or who every is daring enough to stick his nose out first goes. I told the driver through the guide that we would never be able to drive like this in the states and if I was driving the van I would have already gone through all my pain killers, new script, 90 pills because my neck would be so stressed. We are only on day 3 in Addis. Where ever we went there are fresh roses. There are Calla Lilies right outside the door. But then again there are trash heaps outside the compound gates. The guest house is very clean but very plain. Metal doors and latches, the metal binds and there is a loud clank. The guest house is very similar to Shalom where Yohanna was. Similar layout. There are 2 small lean 2 type buildings in the compound. The green space inside the compound is about the same size as my side yard between the house and garage but not nearly as long. The manager lives in one room 5 or 6 days a week and the ladies live in 1/2 of one of the lean 2's. I think the other lean 2 is 1/2 office and 1/2 storage. There is a motel behind us, Yonatan says he never sees anyone staying there. My lips are so dry and peeling even with chapstick. I made it worse by biting off a piece of skin and now they hurt too. The altitude here doesn't seem to effect us as much as I thought it would. Maybe climbing the stairs puts us out of breath but that might be because I am old and fat. Can't say that about Gretchen though. This morning I didn't feel very well but that could have been because my pain killer hit my stomach before the poptart. There is a fire burning somewhere I can smell it. The exhaust here is so bad. I know I said that earlier but unless you have been here you can't imagine how bad it is. I think that that is what is effecting Gretchen, she seems to sleep a lot. Chicago rush hour traffic is bad but this is 100 x worse.