Visa Appointment

The driver was supposed to pick us up at 9 a.m. to take us to the HOH and then to the Embassy. In true Ethiopian fashion he did not. Uncharacteristically, he came early. When we arrived at HOH and met up with all the other families, we reshuffled into various vehicles. We road with the director of the HOH. Up until then, we had been riding around in Toyota minivans with fairly poor visibility for the passengers. This is a good thing given the Ethiopian driving habits, traffic and pedestrian congestion. This time, I got to ride up front in a small car, an opportunity I prefer not to happen again!

The good thing about the ride was learning a few important tidbits of information about the girls. They very much like music and in particular Christian music. The Director had a CD playing of a very popular Ethiopian signer and the girls were signing along especially Mihret.

The Visa appointment was everything we were told it would be, anti climatic. When we arrived at the Embassy, we were surprised..."This is it?". No flag, no military guard, just some small buildings behind some barricades. Apparently, the "real" Embassy was just beyond these buildings in a large walled off compound. When we all arrived (10 set of parents, 12 kids and 2 HOH staff) we sat on benches outside the building. There was some sort of process for clearing the first of two security checks but whatever that was, was a mystery to me. For some reason, I set off the security alarm at the first check, but they let me through without any question. At the second check we left our cell phones, batteries and other items of which we had only batteries for the camera (which was allowed!). I did not set of the alarm this time.

Once through security, we (all 34 of us) jammed into a small waiting room with another 30 or so Ethiopians. We waited for about 30 minutes until the first family was called upstairs to the "Clerk's" office (Clerk is just a name I'm using for descriptive purposes as I really don't know what the official title is). The Clerk's office really wasn't an office at all. Instead it was another waiting room with about 20 or so people. The room was lined with bank teller like windows. We were called to Window 7. We gave the clerks our forms, which she didn't even look at. We were only asked a few of the questions we were told to expect. Right in the middle of the process, the Window 7 woman started arguing with the Window 8 guy about proper protocol for copying others in e-mails. This lasted for about 5 minutes. Once she felt content the argument was done, she simply proceeded on with our paperwork without explanation or apology. One question we were asked at least 3 times was if the girls were siblings. No idea why three times though. She also asked us twice if we knew what happened to the birth father. Again no idea why twice. All other questions, like our citizenship, the girls citizenship, she only asked once. Then, after a brief period she stated there was something unusual about our files. Panic immediately set in and I managed to babble something the Clerk correctly translated into a question about the problem. The only explanation she offered was that there there were two of something in the file. For siblings, there is only supposed to be one of that something. Again, I'm sure everything will be fine??? With that said, there was a very vigorous flurry of various stamps that she placed all over the documents and then she stuffed them through the window and said the passports would be ready by 10 am Friday (two days away).

By the time all 10 families were finished, it was time for lunch. Lunch consisted of injera (the spongy, vinegary bread I mentioned before), spicy beans and salad. The salad was delicious.

After lunch we split into two groups. Our group went to the Ethiopian Cultural Museum. The museum is located on the Addis Ababa University campus. I enjoyed this more than the National Museum. The girls also got more out of it. The exhibits on display were items of every day use from past to present for many of the different cultural groups in Ethiopia. Many of the items on display were things that the girls were very familiar with. However, more important than that, the HOH assistant director in Ethiopia (who was leading our group) told us something Rediet had told him. Apparently Rediet was disappointed that we didn't pray before meals. This explained why the girls would just sit and look at me before starting to eat. Another useful tidbit for bonding with the girls.

On the way back from the museum we stopped at the Hilton Hotel. There I exchanged some more money. The Ethiopian currency is called the Birr. The exchange rate is 10 Birr for 1 US Dollar. We also took the opportunity to confirm our flight reservation home at the Ethiopian Air desk in the hotel. This was a very confusing event. When the Ethiopian Air agent confirmed our reservation, I asked if he could check the availability for the Friday flight (just in case we wanted to leave early). After a few moments, he announced that our flight had been changed with no additional charge and we were confirmed for two passengers. After some back and forth miss communications, I think we got everything set back the original schedule leaving on Sunday. It's our hope that it is safer to keep to the original plan....

By the time we got back to the Guest House dinner was already being served. We dropped our stuff and dug into a tasty rice dish (chicken carrots and a few other things). After saying Grace! We all went to bed happy.