Salaam to all my family and friends,
It is so nice to be back in Ethiopia. I can't tell you how good it feels to see the sisters and the workers at the Silus Guest House (place where we stay while in Addis). I arrived in Addis around 10:30 last night exhausted. The trip from Amsterdam to Addis was a long one. First the flight was overbooked, then we were delayed getting on the aircraft because of the previous flight before ours was running behind. Then we had to walk out to the tarmac and get on a bus and drive way out to nowhere to catch our plane. I was tired, hadn't slept in a day and had to carry my heavy suitcases up the flight of stairs to get on the plane.
After settling in I immediately fell fast asleep. I woke when the plane was taxying to the runway strip. I looked at my watch and it read 12noon. My departure time was at 10:15. We taxy for what felt at least 30 minutes to the farthest air strip in Shilport and the captain came on the speaker to tell us that the air crew accidently forgot to remove a piece of luggae from a passenger who chose to take a later booking. So we had to taxy back 30 minutes, then wait for them to unload, reload our luggage and get permission to get out of Amsterdam. It was well after 1pm before we finally took off.
We arrived at Kartoum late, had a large amount of luggage and passengers to unload and then the aircraft had to be refueled. This took another 1 or so. If anyone who is reading this will know that by the time you are leaving Amsterdam to take that final flight to Africa you are exhausted. It seemed like forever before I finally landed in Addis.
The lines to get through customs stretched back into the airport. about 1 hour later I finally got through, got my luggage and proceeded through the final check point to get into Addis. I was stopped by customs because of the flutes. I knew this would happened but this time, one of the officers was not wanting to let me go through with the instruments. I had to once again beg the government that I'm here to teach the children in Adigrat and this is the sole purpose of bringing in the flutes. Once again the officer had not ever seen an instrument such as this and so he first want to know why I'm only bringing in just this type and then wanted to know how one could learn such a thing. It was very hard to speak to him in English because he really didn't speak English he spoke Amharic and I'm not good in this language at all. He got his supervisor, she came over to look at the instruments, looked at me, smiled and asked "are you a music teacher?" "yes" I answered. "I'm here to teach the orphans in Adigrat." She smiled again and said "thank you and welcome to Ethiopia" and sent me on my way. I was relieved.
I met up with my sweet sisters and went to the guest house. I welcomed my more than anything and crashed.
I leave for Mekele in just a short time. I wanted to update everyone. I hope Ethiopian Airlines will be an easier flight than the first time around. I'm prepared if it isn't.
I love everyone at home and hope to you write to me on facebook, cferland00@gmail.com, and this blog.
Love,
Celine
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