Day 5 Saturday 6.25.11

I woke up to my alarm today with chiming church bells. I told Michael I would go on a run with him before breakfast but the water still wasn't on. We didn't want to get sweaty and stinky if we weren't going to be able to shower. So instead we slept a tad bit later and then went to get eggs for our pancakes we were going to make for b'fast, and also for a girl on our team that is allergic to gluten. She can't eat anything with wheat, oats, barley...etc. and there is a LOT of it in everything we tend to make. It's really hard to keep her in mind when planning meals, so we usually get her something separate. It's kind of annoying but I understand because she can't help it. I'm sure it's really annoying for her as well.

We also have two vegetarians on the trip which I got super annoyed at because I would hear them every once in awhile make snide comments if we forgot to take that fact in consideration, and had no intention of excluding them of meals. I think this is something that I struggle with because I've never really had to deal with anyone that has been a vegetarian and easily forgot that fact about them when I cooked dinner last night....

Anyways, Michael, Danielle, and I went to the market down the "street" to get eggs to make pancakes for breakfast. It was so nice because it was a chance to get outside the house gate walls and walk around without a bus taking us where ever we go. It was good to be in the rawness of the everyday life. Paved roads are a rare sight....except for the main city roads.... and we're in the capital of Ethiopia!

Danielle and I helped cook breakfast and Julia made the coffee..... and holy crap it was strong coffee too! :/ Since the water was still off we piled all our dirty dishes in the sink and left it while we headed out to the bus for the day. We went to a Bazaar this morning which is a market that the Women At Risk sell some of their goods. It was at the Kings College in Addis that Sammy (another one of our translators) goes to. Sammy is almost done there studying seminary. He is super sweet with a shy nature about him.

At the market I bought a beaded bracelet that caught my eye. I usually don't care for market beaded jewelry but this one caught my eye with it's color combo and design. They had some pretty good stuff! I also got a sling purse that is reversible. One side is black and the other side is striped with thick white and blue stripes. The material is flowy.....loved it! I don't know what it is but it feels really good and it was only 55 Birr (55 Birr divided by 17 = U.S. Dollar amount) Everything is pretty cheap here. We looked for the Women At Risk area for quite awhile and never found it. As we went back to the middle area, which is where we started, we ran into Barrett (the founder of Mocha Club) and he helped us find the Women At Risk room.

Barrett is one of the coolest dudes I've met. He is so fun and outgoing and love talking to him. I asked him if they had any jobs available with Mocha Club but there weren't any openings at the moment. Oh well.... just curious! He said although they don't have any openings he still loves to have that conversation with trip members. So we talked a little bit and we are totally going to chat it up more when we meet up with him again. Even though there is not a job opening at the moment, it will just be really nice to have someone to talk to about what I hope to do for a living in the future. He has a passion for helping others and making the world a better place and it will just be good to talk to someone with similar passions. Not that there isn't anyone else I know that has that same heart... but... I don't know.. It'll just be good.

After shopping around at the Bazaar we headed to Little AHOPE (I think for the last time?) for about an hour and a half, and had a scavenger hunt for the kids. While they were having their scavenger hunt, I snuck into the toddler room to spend a little more time with them. Again one of the children came straight up to me to pick him up. It was the same baby that laid that big kiss on my cheek yesterday. He was so precious. He sat on my lap for awhile just chilling out, got down to play with something, and then another child came and sat on my lap. The cycle continued, and eventually one of the girls in there who came from Germany to volunteer passed this 5 month old precious baby for me to hold. Oh my gosh! It was the sweetest and most sad thing today. This little baby had the snots and could hardly breath. It was having a hard time breathing and felt a little feverish. Poor thing, there was a moment where I couldn't hold him anymore because of how sad it was, but then I had to remind myself that the best thing for that child is not to be sad for him, but to love on him and hold him.

(5 mo. baby Joseph)

After awhile, I handed him over to Danielle and went outside to play with the other kids. Eventually, I ended up sitting next to a boy named Emanuel who is 6 years old. He was naming the colors of my bracelet and teaching me to Amharic words of them too. I just sat there next to him just he and I watching the other kids play out in the driveway area and play yard. I think he was just enjoying sitting there with the comfort of my arm around him. We didn't stay but only an hour and a half and headed back to the house to chill out and relax until dinner in which Surafel cooked. It was SO GOOD!

It was traditional Ethiopian food like we had at that restaurant we went to earlier this week. I have noticed a pattern with their food though. It gives me GAS! The kind that hurts! It's really good food, but man! Watch out! I've been writing in my journal since we got back from Little AHOPE, and Christy came to get me for dinner when it was ready. When I came out of my room for dinner I saw some new faces I'd never seen before. Surafel brought over some friends of his including his girlfriend Kat. It was Kat, Tiffany (who is from texas), and another Ethiopian named Sammy (not our translator sammy.). I enjoyed talking to them and really got along with Kat.

After dinner we all sat in the guest house's living room sitting and chatting. Some played the guitar and some kicked the soccer ball around to each other. I had the bright idea of taking out one of the whoopie cushions I brought and hid it under the blanket that was covering me. I waited for a quiet moment to let one rip. Success! Tiffany thought it was Surafel because apparently it's pretty common for him to let one rip, and he was standing up showing some dance moves. HA!

Sitting around awhile we decided to go to the movies further into the city. Surafel and I thought it would be a great idea to bring the whoopie cushion to the theater and use it during a quiet or awkward moment. So we brought it. We ended up seeing "Bad Teacher", and I think we all regretted that decision for many different reasons. Surafel and Kat sat behind me, Alex and Carrie were to my right, and Steve and some others to my left. Kat wanted to use the whoopie cushion to trick Surafel so I snuck it around to her. She ended up not doing it and fell asleep during the movie.

After that we all came back home and crashed.....