Day 7 - Thursday

The girls slept well last night. We all did. I think my body has finally adjusted to the new time zone. Too bad we leave tomorrow. I'll have to start the process again.




We’re learning a lot about Neti and Meke. Neither of them like to use pillows. They’re both very polite. Even though our hotel room is full of snacks they don’t eat without asking us permission first – even candy. They say “thank you” and “you’re welcome”. They have a chant that they sing together. I'm guessing it's something they learned at the orphanage. They can say their numbers from 1-100 (skipping 20-99 - we'll have to work on that), their days of the week, months of the year (including Aprily), most colors, and a couple other words we're trying to figure out. They know most of the major body parts you would teach to a toddler and names of a few animals. We're off to a good start. Every now and then I'll pull out my English-Amharic Dictionary to communicate but it doesn't have the words "Sleep" or "Nap" in it. What's up with that?


Both of them can really eat – especially Meke. She shoves food into her mouth with both hands almost as quickly as we can bring it to her. This morning Rhonda gave Neti and Meke some crackers and pretzels to hold them over until breakfast. Then 20 minutes later we went down to the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. Meke had a full bowl of cereal, a pancake, a big bowl of fruit, and at least 2-3 rolls. She’s 3!

This morning we made our way to the Piazza, a shopping area in Addis where you can find gold and silver for a good price. (There also happen to be lots of dentists in the area.) We wanted to get the girls a ring and necklace from their homeland. Silver is only 8 birr per gram in Ethiopia. That’s less than $1. The rings in the picture below were only about $6-7 for both!

We’re continuing to bond as a family. While Rhonda and the 3 older girls looked at necklaces I spent time playing and talking with Meke. She taught me one of the little songs she sings. I’m not sure if she learned it in the orphanage or it’s just something she made up on her own.