Shopping Day in Ethiopia

Okay, in my "flashback to Ethiopia" world, it is Wednesday. Wednesday was a fun day for us. I made it over my emotional, kind-of homesick day on Tuesday & felt much better. OE stayed at HH to play while we shopped. We got lots of goodies & treats (I think I've already shared about my "favorite customer gift" I was given in one of the shops...I wanted to make sure I had no regrets about not having bought enough ;-) ). After shopping we went to buy our coffee & then on to Mukash for lunch (the art gallery place). We had a great time there & enjoyed the yummy food. The paintings there are done by students from the Addis Ababa Fine Arts Academy. I struck up a conversation with one of the artists by asking him what his inspirations were for his paintings (if you know me personally, you know this does not sound like something I would ask). He shared all about his work & I enjoyed myself (N didn't hang around for the conversation...I didn't give him any warning about my question & once I asked it, he had to walk away b/c he was about to crack up). When I went back to the table, he said I had morphed into some crazy art person...hey, anything can happen when you're trying to take in every thing you possibly can from your daughter's birthcountry. Our entire travel group was very delirious at this point & we laughed so hard that afternoon the muscles in my stomach hurt (I would share the story about N giving the woman on the street a bag of leftover rolls from Mukash, but no one gets it....at the time we thought it was hilarious...oh, well). Then, we went back to the hotel to drop off our purchases & headed back over to HH to get OE & receive our immigration paperwork & OE's passport. She was very glad to see us & had to give each & every one of her friends several kisses before we left for the hotel. Back at the hotel, we gave her the traditional dress we bought we her. She loved it, but kept looking for the chammas N had promised her. We were so disappointed that we never found them. We found a pair that worked for her but not the exact ones. Future travelers, please, please find my daughter a pair of these shoes. I will be your best friend forever. Last night, we even noticed that her cousin had them on at our meeting. This girl NEEDS a pair of these chamas (see picture above). We turned in early that night, she was exhausted...late, late night at the Traditional meal the night before. After she went to sleep, N & I packed & laughed about all the funny things that happened that day. We could hear the family in the room below us laughing, as well! After we settled into bed that night, I enjoyed the quiet & savored the sounds of Ethiopian nights...barking dogs, religious chanting, & mekinas (cars)...have I mentioned that I love Ethiopia!?!

Me & the girls at my favorite shop!

Loved watching them do the coffee at the place where we bought our bulk coffee!

Our lunch at Mukash...we also had the most amazing Focassia & COLD Cokes!

The painting we purchased...can't wait to get this baby framed...it's on my to-do-list...somewhere!

Our sleepy girl before she hit the sack!