bodhi tree swaying » Ethiopia

My 5c worth

bodhipaksa — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:42:59 +0000

Well, it’s an Ethiopian coin, so it’s really my 0.45c worth. Just me playing with the macro function I hadn’t realized my camera had.

Another monkey

bodhipaksa — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:00:44 +0000

Monkey pictures seem to be popular, so here’s another one I took in Awassa, Ethiopia. Related posts: Wordless Wednesday: Baby Monkey Wordless Wednesday 9/26/07 Wordless Wednesday 11/07/07 Related posts:

Ethiopian Art Deco

bodhipaksa — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:34:16 +0000

I love the faded Art Deco ambiance of this bar in Ethiopia, where we stopped for refreshments on our way back to Addis after birth family visits down in Sidama. Check out the coffee machine!

Addis flower

bodhipaksa — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:42:48 +0000

I was really just playing with the macro setting on my camera here.

There’s a lame pun in the title of this post: Addis Ababa means “new flower” in Amharic, “abeba” meaning “flower.”

Doing coke in Addis

bodhipaksa — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:30:20 +0000

I loved this Coke sign near our guest house. I found myself drinking Coke for the first time in ages and really enjoyed it. It tasted exactly like the Coke of my childhood, unlike Ethiopian Pepsi, which was like nothing I’d ever tasted (and not in a good way). Unfortunately each bottle contains about 10 spoons of sugar, so my pancreas is probably scarred for life.

A touch of the surreal

bodhipaksa — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:19:54 +0000

Spotted on the ladder of a fire engine on a carousel in the grounds of the Ghion hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Wordless Wednesday: Baby Monkey

bodhipaksa — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:17:04 +0000

Colobus monkey. Taken at the fish market in Awassa, Ethiopia.

Some pics from our Ethiopia trip

bodhipaksa — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:15:06 +0000

This is the window of Malkias’ aunt’s house in Aleta Chuko, south of Awassa. She had a lovely, spacious house, with a bamboo floor and a large garden to the rear.

In Oromia province, south of Addis, I saw a lot of men plowing with oxen. It was hard to get pictures because by the time I’d spotted them we’d have zoomed past.

There are loads of these storks at the fish market at Awassa. It’s hard to get decent pictures of them; every time I would point a camera at one, some “helpful” young boy would throw fish at it, hoping for a tip. It’s hard to photograph a stork when it’s running to get a piece of fish.

They have fish at the fish market too!

Maia and Malkias.

These are some of the kids who gathered outside Malkias’ aunt Yeshi’s house.

back online in Addis

bodhipaksa — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:18:51 +0000

I’m typing in an internet cafe on Bole Road in Addis on one of the world’s oldest and most rickety keyboards, so please excuse any typogaphical anomalies.

We moved in to Horizon house on Friday and took charge of malkias on Saturday. BY that time he knew us quite well since we’d been visiting him every day for two weeks, and we’ve had no problems with him accepting us. in fact he’s very calm and happy with us. By the time we moved in he was smiling broadly when he saw us.

He’s well, but is cutting a tooth (top left) and the excess salivation is causing him to cough, especially at night. This has caused some lack of sleep, but we’re all doing fine.

Maia’s showing some signs of jealousy, but she also loves him. She’s learning which way his body doesn’t bend.

We had our trip to the US Embassy yesterday (monday) and Malkias now has a visa to enter the US. We had a long wait, but the actual interview was painless.

Sadly, a baby died at the orphanage this morning. She’d been sick and was on a drip. I don’t know if this was a child who had been matched with a family.

I think I’ll call it a day here. Next time i’ll try to upload a few photographs.

Moving today

bodhipaksa — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:21:41 +0000

We’re at the end of the stay at our funky guest-house, which means we’re moving to a lovely suite at the orphanage guest-house and won’t have to schlepp across town anymore. Hurray!

Yesterday we went to visit a shop that sells goods made by former women wood-carriers, who have very hard lives lugging wood from the countryside into the city to make pitifully small amounts of money. We also visited Entoto market. So we’re now well stocked on souvenirs. We took Maia to the Ghion hotel, where there was a fairground. And then we walked over to Horizon House to spend some time with Malkias.

Maia’s getting very good at football.

She loves holding her little brother.

So do I.

And here are some lovely ladies we met at Entoto market.

Malkias is doing very well. He’s babbling like crazy and trying to roll over, but his arm keeps getting in the way. He seems healthy and very bright.