And now for March 9th….

We had just landed in Asossa, a place, when mentioned on our plane ride over from America, native Ethiopians asked, “Why would you want to go there?  It’s hot!”  I wasn’t allowed to take any photographs of this airplane.  But for you airplane enthusiasts it was a Fokker 50 – aka REALLY STINKIN’ SMALL!  Normally I would snap a few photos & apologize later, but the large guns that the “airport” guards were carrying deterred my ambitions.  And I call it an “airport” in quotations because it was just recently paved…as in the runway was just recently paved.  I sure am a lucky girl to come the year that the runway was paved!

So after a whirlwind at the “airport” in Asossa, the loss of half our team’s bags, hugs & hellos between all the team members who went last year and the friends they had missed from Asossa, we loaded into three vans and rode off to our Bamboo Paradaise!  (Yes, I know I’m spelling this wrong, but wait til you see the hotel sign)

Here is another new friend, Sharon, enjoying some relaxation under the mango trees at the Bamboo.  This is where we typically sat to get our “coca” or Coke.  And they have REAL Coke in Ethiopia…the kind that comes in a glass bottle and has to be opened with a bottle opener, or your teeth if you’re really tough.

Here’s a renewed friendship that I was talking about!  This is Kristin & Mary.  Kristin is a Colorado girl with the Touching Africa team and in this photo she’s reuniting with Mary, the daughter of one of our contacts in Asossa.  It was so sweet to witness everyone reconnecting with friends they’d made last year!

This is the view directly outside of my hotel room.  Those trenches are for the rainy season, so things don’t get flooded.  They are precisely why flashlights are recommended at night!

Here we are trying to finish the longest recorded game in Phase 10 history!  It seriously isn’t over yet.  Mainly because all of the participants are now in Texas, California, and Maryland.  Maybe we can finish it in 2011?  What do y’all say?

Here is our hotel guard.  And I completely forgot to ask him his name, but he was there faithfully every day, all day, guarding us and our belongings.  At first, I have to admit,  I thought he was a little harsh with the children on the street who kept coming to the gate to see us.  But after I saw how they reacted when given things, I knew he was wise in handling them.  It’s very difficult to explain unless you see it for yourself.  There are a lot of homeless children begging on the street.  And when they see us, Americans, they come around in droves to see if we will give them something.  However, if you don’t have something to give to each and every one of them, and then to give to all the others that get wind of what’s going on and later show up, you will cause a mini riot.  Imaging having nothing.  Imagine having to beg & scrounge for all that you do have.  Imagine not knowing where your next meal is coming, or even when it is coming.  Imagine, then, your reaction at being given something by someone whose language you don’t understand.  Would you take it nicely and gently and wait in line to possibly be given something?  NO!  You’d fight for it, and probably fight for two of the things, just to know you’d be eating two meals or could get a meal for yourself and your friend.  It’s a tough life.  And these children are precisely the ones that John & Jana & Solomon are trying to get land and resources for.

Okay…enough on that rant…

On to our lovely hotel sign….

And this is how we ended the night…sorting more pills!