Ethiopia Court Trip: Day 3 Thursday

By the third day we have kind of a routine going in the morning.  Get up around 4:30 or 5:00, Skype with my parents and the boys, get ready for the day, eat breakfast, and then visit Yema.  Today we just played with Yema and her roommates for a couple of hours.

Here we are practicing our puckering.  The pictures really don't do her lips justice.  They are adorable little heart-shaped things and are seriously adorable.

Here she is showing Dad how to play with her rattle.

This is one of Yema's nannies.  We think she is Yema's favorite because her face always lights up when she sees her.  This nanny was hiding in the hall and then popping through the doorway to get Yema to smile.  She's our favorite nanny, too.

How cute are these two together?

While at the orphanage we were able to ask the director some questions about Yema's history.  One really important place in her history is the Lideta Orthodox Church which we knew was located somewhere in Addis.  One of our goals while in country was to visit that church.  Not only did the director know where the church was, but she gave us directions on how to get there!  She even drew us a map containing all the major intersections or roundabouts between the orphanage and the church which was helpful just in an overall orientation sense of this part of the city.  

After saying goodbye to Yema we set out to find the church.  It was actually really really easy, but for two foreigners who didn't speak the language, we thought we were pretty cool to go somewhere in the city on our own.  (At least I did.  I'm sure it was a piece of cake for Zack. :)  )

We took a bus from Lebu Mebrat square up to Mexico Square.  We knew which buses were going to Mexico square because a boy would lean out of the bus and yell "MESCO!  MESCO!"  Meaning, Mexico Square.  I think it cost us 20 cents to get there.  Once we got to Mexico Square we headed down one of the streets toward the church.  It was a little bit off the main road and though we could see it eventually, we didn't know how to get to it.  We got directions from a shop owner and found it.  

Here's Zack at what we now know was the back entrance to the church.

Here's the view behind him.  The pathway up to the church.

Here is the street we walked down to get to the church.  Note the scaffolding on the building.  Lots and lots of logs tied together.

We called Abebe and had him pick us up near the church.  I think he took us back to Oziopia.  We were supposed to go see the Silk Factory and then do some shopping, but Elena, our liaison of sorts from AAI, couldn't make it.  So we didn't get to go.  We were also supposed to go to a Jazz show/dinner thing.  We didn't get to go to that either (but I was okay with that one).  We were kind of bummed that we didn't get to see the silk factory.  I don't remember what we did the rest of the night. I think we played cards, had dinner at Oziopia and then went to bed.  The good news that night was that we learned we got an appointment with the judge for the next morning!  Woot!