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tap tap.. is this on? I hope I didn't forget how to use this...
Casa Brillig is back from its Adventure To Africa! Kid Brillig 2, hereafter and forever known as K2 (K1 being the always & ever Original Kid Brillig), is settling in, and I'm glad to be back writing!
Before I left, I'd imagined writing a diary detailing our travels, but this isn't that diary. Rather, this is part of that diary... the experience was so profound, so transformative, that I can't fit it in one diary. So consider this part 1 of a series - an overview, if you will.
We left on our journey on Monday November 23rd, on a USAir flight from Boston to Philadelphia, and then on to London. We arrived in London Tuesday morning. Our luggage, however, did not. Oh, we had our carryons, and the 70lbs of infant formula donations for the orphanage that we'd packed in two large Rubbermaid containers made it. But our three checked bags with clothes and whatnot? Nope. Ahh well, maybe they'll arrive later. Let's go to the hotel then sightsee. And so we did, with a local friend of ours playing tourguide (and finding K1 somewhere to buy a jacket!).
We spent the next two days sightseeing, visiting with friends, and racking up very expensive minutes on our cell phone with the airline, who managed to cough up K1's bag on Wednesday but didn't deliver the other two until midnite Thursday. They'd gone to... Manchester. New Hampshire. We're just glad we got them before leaving Friday for Ethiopia, and now know we can in fact wear the same shirt and pants for three days.
Couple of pictures from the London part of our journey:
Spent nearly 3 hours in Westminster Abbey, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Yes, we were total tourists and went up on the London Eye. K1 had a blast!
We had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday with a friend of Mr. Brillig's, at this lovely little pub in Slough. K1 was surprised to see a curry on the kid's menu!
Other highlights were the British Museum, where we saw the Rosetta stone, and the Science Museum, and of course the Tower of London.
Friday evening we and our reunited luggage went back to the airport, and we boarded the Ethiopian Air flight to Addis Ababa. Long flight on small plane, and we got virtually no sleep, but I did wake to take this picture:
We landed, made it through customs and immigration in short order, and after meeting our driver, headed for the orphanage. We pulled in to the grounds, got out of the bus... and our son came running toward us! We've made the decision not to put pictures of recognizeable pictures into this diary, so I apologize for not having a picture of K2 here. Suffice it to say he's absolutely adorable, with bright shining eyes and a smile that melts the coldest ice.
The very next morning, we were scheduled to go on our 'birth relative' visit... which in our case meant traveling to Arbegona, in the Sidamo region where K2 is from. We were up at 4:30am for a 5am breakfast, and got to see the sunrise:
We traveled with another family whose children also were from near Arbegona. It entailed a 5-hour drive over paved roads from Addis to Awassa, where we met the agency social worker who would be our translator. This is a typical shot of what we saw once we left Addis, headed to Awassa:
After meeting the social worker we drove another 3 hours on unpaved rutted dirt roads to Arbegona, where we met the government social worker. This was outside the office where we met him:
Thirty minutes later we were standing in a field while the other family met with relatives of their children. At these meetings, the adoptive families may give the birth relatives a photo album, a letter, and may ask questions (and be asked ones in return!). As you may gather, this is a very personal experience, and the experience will remain with me forever. Casa Brillig served as a distraction for the local people who had gathered to watch the meeting; Mr. Brillig took pictures and recorded while the local children sang for us all, then was mobbed when everyone wanted to see 'their' picture:
At the conclusion of this meeting, I looked off and saw the most perfect rainbow I've ever seen. I could see both ends of it; and we all cried at the sight. Seems the Universe was smiling:
We then drove to our family visit, which took place at the house where K2 once lived with relatives. The pictures from this visit are on the other family's camera; but here's a picture of the cowherd's hut near the house. Whoever had duty each night slept here, next to the cows. For reference, the opening is just big enough for me to squeeze thru:
After our birth family visit we had a 3 hour drive back to Awassa (unpaved roads plus no streetlight equals slooooow going) and spent the night there. We slept on a boxspring but had free wireless, go figure. And at 5am, we were back in the car for the ride back to Addis. After getting stuck in a traffic jam that outdoes any I've ever seen in the US (here, we don't have craters in the road, plus people walking, plus donkeys carrying water trotting along driverless, like carrier pigeons!) we arrived - only to be told our group was late for the Embassy Visa appointment! Ten families plus kids piled into one minibus, and off we went. We all passed in record time, our kids were all approved for their US entry visas, and we went out to celebrate! This is what the table looked like just before Mr. Brillig, myself, our driver Mulat, and and two kids tucked into it. There were another 4 plates this big shared by the rest of the group, by the way, but we cleaned ours better than any other:
With the major events (birth relative visit, Embassy appointment) over, we had the rest of the week to relax, visit and get to know our son, and of course shopping! I didn't take pictures at the market, mostly because we were on a tight schedule :-). But it was an adventure and we came home with two crates full of stuff! We also went to the National Museum, where I saw this sign and immediately thought of you, my Kossack family (think we should send this to DC?):
On the last day (Friday), there was an elaborate Coffee Ceremony where our children formally came into our full care, and where the kids waiting for their parents to travel said goodbye to us, and vice versa. We cried, laughed, sang, and then it was time to finish packing. As we brought our luggage outside, we noticed the plant next to the guest house where we'd been all week. It was... coffee!:
Our trip home was long... 31 hours from arrival at the Addis Airport to arrival at Casa Brillig. The first flight was 18 hours long, Addis to Rome for a refueling, then Rome to DC. We arrived in a snowstorm, went through Immigration and Customs in record time, with all our luggage :-), then hung out until it was time to board the shuttle to Boston. On which we sat for three hours until we were de-iced. Apparently, as far as I can see, Dulles has one de-icer. This one:
We got home exhausted, in need of showers, shellshocked in the case of K2, and changed as a family. I'm saving an update on K2 til next week, I wanted to get pictures up before I let too much time slip by.
No matter what, we here at Top Comments never let the day's best slip by! Here's what I found in the TC inbox tonite:
From voracious:
This comment by juslikagrzly made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt. In an ant-pootie pic diary, this was truly LOL.
From Pam from Calif:
This comment from jjohnjj is perfect for the defeatest attitudes on DKos.
Another good suggestion from logsol.
From Yours Truly, brillig:
This one by Nulwee makes my list for the line Historical amnesia is not a reality-based approach.. Amen to that.
blueyescryinintherain started a thread in which trinityfly stated what so many of us are thinking right now.
Let's rev up the old Top Mojo Engine and see what the lists look like tonite. Kudos as always to cskendrick and sardonyx for making the magic happen:
Top 30 Comments excluding tip jars, first comments and stuff:
1) I am uninsured. FUCK THIS BILL!!!! by MinistryOfTruth — 267
2) The Democratic Style of Negotiation by JekyllnHyde — 208
3) Pass the bill. by psychodrew — 166
4) No killing the bill means by heart of a quince — 132
5) This bill puts ins. co's in permanent control by FishOutofWater — 112
6) Yeah, Howard Dean doesn't have... by Meteor Blades — 111
7) Yes it does. by dclawyer06 — 105
8) Great diary by Eclectablog — 102
9) OK, I'll pick apart your numbers by leftyboy666 — 101
10) I am tired by sharilynn — 99
11) Right there with you, MOT. by ebbv — 99
12) I stand by my comments from yesterday by kclala — 86
13) I think passing this bill by Jyrinx — 79
14) I was blown away by Nate Silver's Diary by FishOutofWater — 76
15) Free Trade Ain't Free by JekyllnHyde — 76
16) Don't you think a resolution stating that "health by grannyhelen — 75
17) I was originally in Silver's corner...you... by Thomas Paine Redux — 75
18) Here's the choice by poblano — 74
19) What a total clusterfuck by leftyboy666 — 74
20) No by bruh1 — 73
21) I wasn't going to vote in 2010, but by LindaR — 72
22) Thanks for taking a stand, Kos.. by dclawyer06 — 70
23) I'm telling you... it's not Progressives who will by tdaniels — 70
24) Excellent diary. Happy holidays from by blue jersey mom — 67
25) Reconciliation isn't some easy thing by Elise — 65
26) Hope - One Year Later by JekyllnHyde — 65
27) You fail to realize by leftyboy666 — 63
28) In the history of the progressive movement by dengre — 63
29) Millions of swing voters will feel the same way by RFK Lives — 63
30) You cut your own argument to shreds. by neroden — 62
Top 30 (plus ties) Comments with no exclusions, aka the Tip Jar list :-):
1) Tip Jar by grannyhelen — 366
2) Tip Jar by TomP — 355
3) Tip Jar by lonesomerobot — 347
4) Tip Jar by Devilstower — 326
5) Tip Jar by The Great Gatsby — 325
6) I am way past a boiling point by dengre — 314
7) Tip Jar by slinkerwink — 311
8) Tip Jar by poblano — 293
9) I am uninsured. FUCK THIS BILL!!!! by MinistryOfTruth — 267
10) free by Turkana — 256
11) Tips for becoming a less stupid aardvark by blue aardvark — 249
12) Tip Jar by bink — 247
13) please call your legislators and the Progressive by math4barack — 238
14) Tips for FACTS and help if you can by MinistryOfTruth — 214
15) The Democratic Style of Negotiation by JekyllnHyde — 208
16) You Want the Truth? by Pluto — 198
17) Today I will celebrate by reminding my students by teacherken — 169
18) Pass the bill. by psychodrew — 166
19) Tip Jar by Benintn — 153
20) Tip Jar by ericlewis0 — 151
21) Tip Jar by tassojunior — 143
22) No killing the bill means by heart of a quince — 132
23) This bill puts ins. co's in permanent control by FishOutofWater — 112
24) Yeah, Howard Dean doesn't have... by Meteor Blades — 111
25) Yes it does. by dclawyer06 — 105
26) Tip Jar by Haole in Hawaii — 103
27) Great diary by Eclectablog — 102
28) OK, I'll pick apart your numbers by leftyboy666 — 101
29) Agreed by jsamuel — 100
30) I am tired by sharilynn — 99
31) Right there with you, MOT. by ebbv — 99