Ethiopia: Day 3

Well I slept pretty good last night, but it was a rough morning! Woke up at 1 and 2 am and then got up for good at 6:30.  I went to the bathroom...and still no running water! Nothing - not even to flush the toilet. So I went down to the lobby to check my email... and no Internet either! Welcome to Ethiopia! ;) Susan was down there too, and she was really desperate to get through to her husband who she hadn't talked to since she left home, so I let her use my phone to call and just let him know she and their daughter were okay.  You could hear the excitement in their voices, and she cried when they hung up. I felt so bad for her...

We told the lady at the front desk about the lack  of water, and she said we could go to another guest house down the street to shower there!  So I woke up Julie and Susan got Linda and we set off on foot with one of the "guards." It was still pretty early - and it was the weirdest thing...there were probably 20 people working out in street!  I mean running up and down the hill, doing high-knees, push-ups and sit-ups... It was just hilarious. And IN the street... Not on a curb or anything!  The guard was getting hollered at alot  by the guys...probably  because we looked pretty funny: four white girls in pjs with towels walking with one Ethioian guy!

The first guest house was just down the alley and up the hill a couple blocks.   It had Internet, but only two showers, so we went to the next one farther down the street where they said there were four showers. Well, there  were only three, so Julie tried to use the internet while she waited on me. I can't even describe how amazing a shower felt. And the water was even hot! Maybe a little too hot but it was better than ice cold that the other two had. Linda only washed off her body - she couldn't get her head in there. And Susan only washed her hair and then her hands were so numb she got out!  Everything seems to be pretty hit or miss here... You just never know what you're going to get! 

Once we were done showering (seriously, I felt like a new woman!) and found the Internet didn't work at that guest house, we decided to stop again at the first one just in case. And sure enough, WE GOT INTERNET! It's the little things now that get us so excited! ;) I was able to log on to hotmail and reply to one email...and that alone probably took 10 minutes. It's painfully slow...

Susan and I finished first so we walked back alone and left the guard with the other two  girls.  (It kind of felt great to finally get to do something on my own! Everyone here is SO great, but I'm just not used to the big group scene while traveling yet!) The walk back to our guest house was peaceful and calm and just beautiful! I really wish I would have taken my camera with me! We're kind of on the edge of town I think and there are some really cool hills and country side nearby. Hopefully I'll remember to get a picture of it one of these days...

The other guest house is the tall off-white building in the middle of the picture.

The other guest house - the one with internet!

View while walking back from guest house (another day)

When we told people back at the house that we had just got showers AND Internet, I don't think they were too happy.  Early bird gets he worm, right? ;)  No one was actually mad, but you could tell most of them were a little jealous. All of the kids are just filthy and they are ALL sick - for real.  I don't think there were more than a few kids who didn't either have a snotty nose or horrible cough - or both - so everyone was feeling pretty gross and wanted to clean off, of course! It will be nothing short of a miracle of we don't all get sick after this week!

Breakfast was at 8:30 and it was scrambled eggs and some really good bread. Oh, and fresh squeezed orange juice! A lot of the girls were shying away from the eggs, but they were really good!  And since I've been taking pepto before every meal, I'm not too worried about it! 

We loaded up the vans for the long haul back out to TOG, and that's where I'm at now... It's a windy road once we get out of the city and I get motion sickness pretty easy, so I'll write about the rest of the day when we get back tonight.  (SO excited to get to give Mita her things today!!)

(These kids were playing in the alley outside our guesthouse every single morning...)

Side note: I don't remember if I wrote this yesterday or not, but the bathroom at TOG is a hole in the ground that you hover over. It's a nice one though - not just dirt. Anyways, I had my phone - my brand new iPhone - in my back pocket yesterday when I went to use it.  I pulled my pants down and out of the way, and about half way down I felt my phone sliding out of my pocket. I don't think I've ever jumped up so quickly in my life, ha! I got it before it fell, but just barely! Ugh - that would have been awful! So here's a pic of where my phone almost went! 

Sent from my iPhone