June 25, 2013 - Packing Day

After the hoopla of yesterday, we were busy packing today.

We woke up at the regular time, and due to a misunderstanding between us and F,C&L today, we went to meet them, only to discover, that the plans we had made were for tomorrow.  It was a good excuse, though, for us to go for a walk, and soak in Ethiopia as we near the end of this journey.

I also needed to go and do a little bit of last minute shopping for some clothing for myself.  I love t-shirts, and I thought it might be time for me to get a few with Ethiopian colors on them, as well as a soccer jersey, and a little bit more coffee, cause the other bags we had bought smelled absolutely delicious.  We made arrangements that I would be picked up around 2:00, and Markos and I would go and do this shopping.  At around 1:30, Hilary received a phone call from a friend from her work in Winnipeg, who has been in Addis for a few weeks now.  As a result, Hilary and Eli went out with this friend and her husband for lunch.  They had a great time, and as usually is the case, it was a good experience to meet up with Winnipeg friends here in Addis.  They also gave us some beautiful traditional clothing.  It will be fun to wear this clothing all together as a family in the very near future... (There's a picture of what is for Hilary, but I can't get the picture isn't uploading)

Markos and I went shopping, and spent a very long time looking for a soccer jersey.  We were having a difficult time finding one that would fit me.  Markos and I had a good laugh many times during the day, as we would stop at a shop and ask if they had one that would fit me, and every single one said "Yes of course, let me go look".  They would go to the back, and come out with one that looked like it would fit, but it was always a bit tight... This may be a sure sign that I still have some weight to lose, but every single one was a bit tight, except for one.  Of course this shop was asking 7 times the price what the others were asking, and it was a little rich for my blood.  So, I ended up buying one that is just a tad tight, and maybe this will be my kick in the pants to exercise to lose a little bit more weight.  On that note, it will be interesting when I get home on Friday, to figure out exactly how much weight I have actually lost.  Early in our trip (I think it was after week #2), I had a bathroom scale, and found I had lost 20 lbs.  I'm not sure I've lost much more than that, but it does appear that I could be as light as I have been since high school almost 20 years ago.  

Finally, Markos and I returned to the guesthouse, and I thought Eli would want to say goodbye to his dear "Gorkos", so I ran up to get him before Markos left.  I was right.  We were walking into the courtyard, and as soon as Eli set eyes on Markos, he was just about jumping out of my arms.  He was ecstatic to see Markos again, and get another chance to sit in his blue Datsun.  Here are some pictures of them together as they were saying goodbye.

Finally, once we had been able to get Eli into bed, Hilary and I began packing everything.  Our room was chaos, as we had to try and get everything we had bought, and everything we had brought into the luggage that we had, and to keep it underweight.  In the end, we succeeded, with one small exception.  We had 5 checked bags, and 7 carry-on's (although one of the carry-on's was one of the paintings that we had bought, rolled up in a tube).  We were a little nervous about whether this would be allowed tomorrow when we travel home, but decided to just leave it alone, and deal with it at the airport if needed.

We finally went to bed around 11:30, and were exhausted, but found it difficult to sleep due to the fact that we are leaving tomorrow...  What a feeling.  We're coming home!