June 6, 2013 - The day I went golfing....

We woke up this morning, with plans that I would be picked up at 9:30, and that Hilary and Eli would meet up with B&I at some point in the late morning.  Eli was mostly a happy camper in the morning, and we completed our morning routines.  Eli went down for nap at 9:30 or so, and slept for about an hour and half.  I went downstairs to meet my ride.

Who knows, maybe it'll be a Jets movie :)

"A" and I were driven by Markos to the Addis Ababa Golf Club.  We are both avid golfers, so this was a cool experience.  We were not sure what to expect of the golf course, and whether there were even clubs for us to rent.  After a bit of discussions at the golf course, we found that there would be clubs for us to rent, balls, and tees for us to buy, and of course, a caddy.  I have never had a caddy before, so it was a bit odd.  He was very knowledgeable, and if we followed his advice, it seemed we always either hit the shot we wanted or sunk the putt.  Anyways, this was not the nicest course either of us has been on, but also probably not the worst.  The greens were not in very good shape, and we were able hit the ball pretty hard to get it to go far enough.  My round was not very good ("A"'s was much better), as I just could not figure out the clubs (the driver had a much more flex-y shaft than I'm used to, so I sliced a lot).  At any rate, we both had a great time, and it was fun to share in our passions of the game of golf in a foreign country.  Once I get home, and play a round in Canada, I will have golfed in 3 different countries in 2013 (Belize, Ethiopia, and Canada).  Not very often I could say that.  We only golfed 9 holes today, and we may attempt another round next week if both of us are still in Addis.  What a great experience.

This ended up not being a very good drive, any pointers?

Arnie & I

Arnie and the caddies

While we were golfing, the ladies were caring for the boys.  They both had pretty good naps, and after the naps, they went to the Former Women Fuel Wood Carrier's.  This is a place where the ladies who used to do the trek that I talked about yesterday at Entoto Mountain, now weave scarves, which isn't quite as hard on their bodies.  Hilary bought a few souvenirs here, and enjoyed watching them weave.

After both of these events, we all met up together to go for lunch at the Radisson here in Addis.  It appears to be a very ritzy place to eat, and there was a buffet for us to enjoy.  The food was delicious.  Eli wasn't terribly gung ho with this place, and made a bit of a ruckus again.  He had to be taken out a few times to settle him down, but as soon as he was back in again, it seemed he was not happy.  It was late, and he had not had his afternoon nap, so as soon as we got home around 3:30, we put him to bed, for a short nap.

He woke up from this nap, and we did not have a very good evening with him.  He cried and cried almost all evening, and would not eat.  We spent most of the evening trying to calm him down, and it was not generally very successful.  As a result, we put him to bed at 7:00, and it took him almost till 8:00 to fall asleep.  He was trying his hardest, it seems, to keep himself awake, but finally, he succumbed to the sleep that his body needs.  Hopefully this sleep will be good and long, and will make him a bit happier tomorrow.

Relaxing, but not falling asleep!

It was a good day, with some challenges scattered throughout the day.