Happy Millenium Ethiopia!!

It is the year 2000 here in EThiopia!! The streets are filled with "Happy Millenium" banners and an array of red, yellow and green lights and flags. It's the millenium because Ethiopia goes off of the Orthodox Christian calendar. So while today for you is November 6th, 2007, the day here is Tikemt(February)25, 2000. :)

AFter 30 hours of travel, Kevin and I arrived safely in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. While the country itself has 98 million people, the capital city is home to more than 7 million people. Beline's SMILING face was at the airport to meet us!

Beline's family is incredibly HOSPITABLE!! Her aunt and uncle are like parents to us and have welcomed us quite warmly. We are staying in a home owned by them, though no one lives there right now but the Beline, Kevin and I. The property is right in the heart of the city and is surrounded by a tall cement wall, topped with electric razor wire. We have a guard, Ababa, who stands watch all night. His daughters come in every week to clean. Beline's aunt and uncle bring us breakfast every morning and have just hired a gal to cook snacks for us in the afternoon. Their driver, Wegayehu, has been driving us around town to show us the sights and take us places we need to go if they are far away. It was surprising to me to have so many people doing these things for us, but I've realized that it as a job opportunity for people and that is a good thing for them.

This week we have been exploring the city, walking for many miles each day. We visited the biggest Christian church in all of Africa, which i will post pictures when I get a chance. This morning we went for a run, but due to the car pollution and altitude (6000+ft)our lungs were BURNING!!

This weekend we will be taking off on a roadtrip through the northern part of the country to visit all sorts of interesting places!! More on that to come...