Today some of us went shopping at the market; one person from each family went shopping, and the other stayed at the guest house with their child. I shopped, Mike stayed back. I bought a traditional Ethiopian coffee pot (30 birr), ebony mortar/pestal (which Birtukan later told me was actually made in Kenya, since they don't make things like that from ebony in Ethiopia - Grr!), a doll (150 birr), ebony spoons (100 birr), ebony jewelery box (220 birr), and a few other things. While we were in the van, kids were trying to sell us stuff through the window, but guards would come up and literally beat the children away with long sticks. My heart broke! Angie and I started crying in the van; big surprise, huh??
It was a long ride back to the guest house! Birtukan Sinshaw had a traditional coffee ceremony waiting for us and they all changed into traditional Ethiopian clothing. We did the ceremony outside under the awning, and it started raining really hard and then hailed. I had no idea it hailed in Ethiopia!
Birdy jumped in a giant water puddle, and threw a huge tantrum when Mike took off her wet shoes and socks. We gave her a bath; which she hated and screamed through. She also wanted nothing to do with her new Princess and the Frog pajamas, until Mike put her shoes back on. We fed her an early dinner, and she finished an entire giant hamburger! Mike rocked her to sleep and put her in her crib at 1745.
Tegegan, Birtukan, Biruk, and AbushI have to admit, her cry really gets under my skin. I hope that some day soon I can learn to love her cry, but right now it really sounds like sick kittens being hurled into a rusty woodchipper. We're also really tired and getting snippy, so I don't think that's helping my nerves. Birdy's breath is also very bad (think dead animal smell...), and she is refusing to let us brush her teeth. Her gums are brown, teeth are caked with plaque, and I'm praying that she doesn't have massive dental work that needs to be done. Sometimes she doesn't even want us to hold her, I can't imagine taking her to the dentist and letting him dig in her mouth.
One day at a time....
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