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Welcome to Ethiopia!

2/7/2014

4 Comments

 
Picture
Friends and Facebook.  Say what you will about the social media site, but we have Facebook to thank for allowing us to experience this amazing country. 

Back in August 2013 I saw a post from a high school friend, Leelie Selassie. She was announcing the appointment of her husband, Reuben, as the new US Ambassador to the African Union and they would soon be moving to her home country of Ethiopia from Virginia.  Africa had not been a selection on our original list of destinations but I thought I would reach out just in case we could make something work.  We already had plans to be in Dubai for a few days and would then travel on to India, but no tickets had been booked.  Most people would have received my email and politely agreed to meet us for lunch while we were in town. Not Leelie.  Plans for us to stay at a hotel were rebuffed with an open invitation to stay at their home. A couple of days has turned into a week. This amazing soul has shared her home, family and her country with us and we couldn't feel more blessed! :)

The Selassie-Brigety family has only been in the country for 5 months, but seem like natives to us. This connection has allowed us a light into areas of the city of Addis Ababa that we would never have seen staying at the Sheraton. Mike and the kids visited the National Museum and saw 'Lucy.'  You know, that 'Lucy.'

Staying in the Ambassador's home has allowed us a few of the comforts of home that we would not have had otherwise.  We have a driver that knows the city like the back of his hand and does his best to keep the ride on these crazy streets as smooth as possible. The kids are making themselves at home and Maddy and Redda are now the best of friends. As we wait for our tourist visas for India to be approved we are getting a true taste of Ethiopia. 

4 Comments
Tom Counts
2/10/2014 08:52:43 pm

good luck with those tourist visas to India -- my India business visa renewal just took 2 weeks (was supposed to take 3 days) and I ended up missing my trip

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Suzanne
2/11/2014 03:35:39 pm

Don't say that!!! The guy at the Indian Embassy said to come back at 4:30pm on Thursday and they would be ready. We rescheduled our flight to Mumbai for Thursday at 9:30 pm.
We will probably get there and it will be a different government employee and they won't have any idea what we are talking about. They keep your passports too so we can't go anywhere else now until we get them back. It's not a bad gig here though. We have a driver and my friend doesn't care that we are here an extra few days. We are going to the African Union tonight to see the Harlem Quartet perform. Could be worse.
Hope you are staying warm and tell Susan and the boys we said Hello.

Reply
Sarah Rivera
2/12/2014 09:43:59 am

That is so awesome that you could meet up with your old friend in Ethiopia -- Facebook certainly makes the world smaller! Hope those visas await you tomorrow and safe travels!

Dana Tocco
5/5/2014 06:03:31 am

Suzanne,
You and your family are my heroes! I had written off FB, but recently went on their to check a neighborhood thing, only to find a post from your blog and realized you are doing what our family dreams of doing in about 8 years or so! I had to check out your trip to Addis, since my son was adopted from there. Looks like you had an amazing time and the pictures just brought back so many memories. I hope your time there was as amazing as ours was. I found the spirit of the people and their generosity to be such a breathe of fresh air from our culture. And do I even need to mention the coffee????? Can't wait to go back. Enjoy the rest of your adventure!

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