Food Friday: Homemade noodles for chicken soup

You can use these noodles for any meal, really, but since you've made your homemade chicken soup, why not make the noodles to go along with it?

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 45ml water (3 tablespoons)
• 5ml salt (1 teaspoon)
• enough flour to make a stiff dough

Directions

1. Mix the eggs, water, and salt well, then add enough flour to make a stiff dough.
   
2. Knead well. Divide dough into 2 pieces and form into balls.
3. Roll out each ball until you have a very thin sheet (the thinner the sheet, the finer the noodles).
   
4. Lay sheets on the table and let them dry out for an hour or so, until a bit hard but not brittle.
   
5. Cut the sheets into strips the width that you want your noodles to be long. Stack several strips on top of each other and cut in fine pieces (the narrower the cuts, the finer the noodles).
   
6. If you're not going to eat all the noodles right away, let them dry a bit longer and put into a plastic bag. Store in the refrigerator until you want to use them. (If you let them dry very thoroughly you can store them in the cupboard.)
7. Take the amount you want to eat and cook in salted boiling water until done. Drain and rinse. Return to pot and stir in a small amount of butter to prevent them from sticking.
   
8. Place in soup bowl and ladle hot broth overtop. Enjoy!!

Some people cut their noodles into long thin strips without letting them dry first, then hang them over a chairback or over dowelling for several hours until thoroughly dried out. Once dry they will keep well for a few weeks.

Child-proof ... ?

Mustang has been home from school all week so far with a bad cough and, for the last couple of days, a bit of a fever (though it was down this morning).

Last night, on the way hom from Button's skating lesson, I stopped in at the drugstore and picked up some childen's Tylenol and cough syrup.

The cough syrup came in a bottle with one of those child-proof lids - the kind you have to push down while unscrewing.

I hate those things. I don't have strong hands or wrists so I find them difficult to open. Plus, for the past couple of days I've had a "kink" in my elbow that's made me unable to exert much pressure through the arm. When I buy pills that come with those kinds of lids, I open the bottle once and then throw out the lid and keep the bottle with no lid. Thankfully my kids are really good about this kind of thing and know not to touch medicines unless Mommy gives it to them. I've never had to worry about leaving bottles around open. They're not at kid-level, so it's not as though they're sitting around looking tempting, but still, all it would take is for someone to climb on the countertop and they could get at them if they wanted. But the kids know not to. A good thing, 'cause I'm sure there are enough medications floating around our house to kill a horse.

Anyhow, the cough syrup bottle utterly defeated me. I could not get it open. My wrist and elbow just wouldn't cooperate.

I had to call Button, my five-year old, over to open the bottle for me.

(That kid is strong!)

Magical Monday

Food Friday: Chicken Soup

This is very good for cold season - or any time of the year!

Ingredients

• chicken (a whole chicken cut into pieces, or a bunch of legs or wings, or a bunch of chicken feet, or the carcass that's left over after you've carved up a whole chicken and cooked the meaty parts, or if you've roasted a whole chicken the bones and bits that are left over after you've eaten all the meat, or a bunch of hearts, livers, and gizzards, or...)
• water
• salt
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 4-6 star anise (this is essential to give this soup its unique flavour)
• parsley (dried or fresh)

Directions

1. Put all ingredients into a large stock pot. (Salt to taste; enough parsly to cover the surface of the broth.) Bring to a boil and simmer for an hour or two (or three).
2. If your chicken included bones (in otherwords, if you're using anything other than a package of hearts, gizzards and livers), remove meat from broth and take all the bits of edible meat from the bones. Discard the bones, skin, and gristle and return meat to the broth.
3. Serve with cooked noodles.
4. Optional: serve with a shaker full of hot chili peppers on the side so people can add a few to their soup to spice it up a bit.

(You can also make this with turkey, such as the remains of the Christmas or Thanksgiving turkey carcass after you've carved it up.)

Food for All

Help Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) respond to the millions of people facing hunger because of food shortages and rising food prices. MCC’s Food for All campaign seeks $1.5 million in contributions to provide emergency food assistance in Ethiopia and other countries. A severe drought and rising food prices in 2008 left about 12 million Ethiopians in need of food assistance. As escalating food prices push more people into poverty, MCC is working with local agencies throughout the world to monitor the impact of the crisis and to respond. Learn more at mcc.org/foodforall.

Magical Monday

One year ago today...

... we arrived in Canada after a long trip home from Ethiopia. Button was not impressed with the cold - he didn't want to leave the warmth of our friend's van (in which he had fallen asleep during the 2-hour drive from the airport) to enter the frigid January air, even just for a rush into the warm house. So Laoye carried him in, and we pretty much fell into bed (it was about 8 pm local time, 2 am Ethiopian time!). The next morning, though at first saying it couldn't be possible to go outside (or at least communicating it without words!), after seeing Mustang get all bundled up in her snowsuit, boots, mitts and hat, he was happy to do the same and go have fun outside. Hasn't looked back since!!

Food Friday: Fruit Platz

Sort of like a fruit pizza...

Ingredients

Base:

• 500ml flour (2 cups)
• 15ml baking powder (1 tablespoon)
• 60ml sugar (1/4 cup)
• 30ml margarine, butter, or shortening
• 250ml cream (1 cup)
  
• 1 egg
• fresh fruit
  

Topping:

• 60ml sugar (1/4 cup)
• 60ml flour (1/4 cup)
• 5ml baking powder (1 teaspoon)
• 30ml butter (2 tablespoons)
• cream (optional)
  

Directions

1. Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar together.
   
2. Add shortening and mix with fingertips until you have fine crumbs.
3. Add cream and egg. Mix well and pat out onto a large greased baking sheet, pushing up the sides a little.
   
4. Cover with a layer of your choice of fresh fruit: appleas, peaches, cherries, plums, apricats, or anthing that's in season (or on sale!) or that you like.
5. Prepare topping by mixing the first three ingredients (sugar, flour, and baking powder) and then rubbing in butter and enough cream to make coarse crumbs (or just butter if you prefer).
6. Sprinkle topping thickly over the fruit and bake in a 375 degree (F) oven for 25-30 minutes.
   

Button update

He did it... The "tasks" I had appointed him to be allowed to go to skating lesson (one of which was to give Mommy a big hug when I got home and say sorry). So Mustang & Button both had fun skating and then played on the snow mountains around the parking lot (under my watchful eye) for a few minutes before we came home. All forgiven and hopefully some lessons in emotional control and consequences learned...

The Great Ethiopian Run

This from an article in the Telegraph (UK):

The Great Ethiopian Run is a 10km race, which started with an idea from the team that set up The Great North Run in the UK, and was supported by the British Ambassador to Ethiopia at that time, HE Myles Wickstead.

Registered as an NGO, it uses the event to promote running in Ethiopia and health and social issues such as education for girls and safe sex. With so many young people taking part in one event, it's an ideal time to raise awareness and promote these issues.

It also hopes to raise the profile of Ethiopia and remind everyone that there is so much more to the country than famine and Aids.

All kinds of people get involved – people who have never run before in their lives take part, and there were quite a few people running in jeans.

But after all, this is land of long distance runners, and as far as I can tell, Ethiopians barely need to train to be better at running than us.

Read the full article.(published on 1 December 2008)

What's up...

Routines
Back into the school routine… Kidlets started skating and skiing lessons. Really enjoying both! I’m back into work routine… first week back was really slow but picking up again and likely to get quite busy by late January and into February. We may end up switching our home movie-watching night to Saturdays and use Friday nights to go swimming, which both kids love. Mustang has homework as before; still quite reasonable. Need to find a different approach to spelling work, though, the “exercises” teacher sends home are useless for her. But reading continues to improve.

Nanny issues
Not satisfied with Nanny’s performance in terms of taking care of children. Not that they’re neglected, just not actively engaged with, no stimulation, no management, no sense of authority/ control on her part (which, with Mustang in particular, is essential!). And no real “safety” sense. Example: in November she took the kids for a walk in the woods near out house. They didn’t want to come home despite her telling them it was time. So she came home on her own, leaving them there. (They didn’t stay long, and came back on their own very shortly thereafter, but nonetheless…) Example: in fall I would often come home and find the kids not there; they were playing at a friend’s house. Fine and good, but which friend? What house? What time were they told to come home? She cannot tell me; she doesn’t know. (I found kids easily, as there are just two likely places, but even so…) Example: Just yesterday I came home and kids weren’t there; neighbour and friend had taken them sliding. Okay, I say, I’ll go find them. I go looking in the usual spots; no kids, no neighbour. No answer at the neighbour’s door; no car in their driveway. Well, I’m not really concerned because Mustang had told me that neighbour had said he might take them sliding to a special hill a short drive away, but I don’t know which hill or where. I go back inside, ask Nanny what time they left and if neighbour said where they were going. About 4:05; they left by car [so why didn’t she tell me that right away??!!??] and no, she doesn’t know where they went other than “sliding.” AARRGGGH! Of all the basic questions! Still not really worried; I trust neighbour and I figure they’ll be back soon (it’s now 5:15) but I need to know WHERE THEY WENT!!! (If Laolao had been the one talking to neighbour you can bet she would have asked all those questions before letting them go!) I tell Nanny that no one is to take the kids away by car without my express permission (exceptions: Laolao/Laoye and good friend L). If Nanny had been able to answer my questions I might not have had to set this rule, but seeing as she NEVER asks any questions of any sort and NEVER provides any information unless explicitly asked, I have to take control. Frankly, I have no real confidence that if a complete stranger showed up and said “Mommy said I could take the kids to do X, Y, or Z” that she wouldn’t let them go without asking who, what, when, where, why, how and verifying with me!!! (The kids would probably have more sense. Mustang, in particular, has a pretty good inherent sense of caution and would likely not go with a stranger, and if Mustang didn’t go Button would not likely go. Though if Nanny said “go, stranger says he has Mommy’s permission” it might override Mustang’s good sense…) [Note to self: tell Nanny that if a stranger – or ANYONE except L – shows up and says they have my permission to take the kids somewhere and I haven’t already informed her of it, she is to check with me before letting them go. If she can’t reach me, they don’t go. Otherwise, she is likely to take stranger’s/ person’s word for it that they have permission from me.]

I have started looking around for replacement nanny, working on a few fronts to try to find someone that I will be confident is more suitable. Even starting now, replacement is not likely to arrive until May/June at the earliest. So for now Nanny will stay…

Altercations
I had been a bit concerned that there might be more bad moods/ misbehaviour/ arguments after Laolao and Laoye left and kidlets were on their on with Nanny for part of the day. So far it doesn’t seem to have had a major effect, they seem to be just as contented as before for the most part.

Exception (and I don’t think it’s really an exception; I don’t think it has much to do with Laolao/Laoye’s absence; it’s just Button being his stubborn self): this morning Button had another Button-style shutdown. He left his red mittens on the bus coming home from Kindergarten yesterday; he needs to wear some other mitts. Seeing as it’s –25 or so outside today, I deem that gloves (of which we have numerous pairs) are not satisfactory; he needs to wear a pair of thick mitts. Problem: nothing to his liking to be found. One pair of bright pink mitts; one pair of mismatched purple/blue mitts (blue one with flower design on back). He refuses to wear them.

I tell him I’ll put them in his backpack and when his hands get he you can put them on. He goes into shut-down mode. Nothing will get him to budge or to talk. Not even telling him that if he misses the bus he’ll have to walk to school and will not be allowed to go to friend L’s house after school with Mustang. Eventually, after about 10 minutes of me talking at him, he blurts out that the available mittens look like girl mittens. (Hello?!? This is a kid who willingly wears a pink t-shirt, pink shorts, bright pink socks, and a blue sweatshirt covered in butterflies and doesn’t care one whit about looking like a girl…)

I get mitts and show him: one is purple which is fine for both boys and girls, the other is dark blue and I offer to cover the offending flower design with some tape so it can’t be seen. He does not respond. In the end he does miss the bus and it is only the threat that if he doesn’t get out the door and get walking he will not be allowed to go to skiing lesson on Saturday either that gets him moving (half an hour after beginning of altercation). Nanny walks him to school.

I call later from work, after Button is home from school. I offer him a chance to “redeem” himself so he will be allowed to go to skating lesson, and tell him what he has to do. He asks if he can go to L’s. I say no. (There has to be some real consequence; he has to know when I say something I mean it.) He starts crying; he really wants to go to L’s. Sorry. No. (Sigh.) I’ll check back before going home to see whether he’s met the conditions for skating; I hope so but I’m not counting on it…

Traffic
On a slightly happier note, traffic seems to not be so horrible these days, despite the continuing bus strike. I’ve actually made it home in 30-35 minutes once or twice, and to work in 25-30, which is almost normal! And I’ve got a monthly parking pass now, so even if I get to the parking lot late I can still get a spot.

Only eight weeks and two days until the spring equinox!

Successful teens

"A Columbia University study looked at successful teenagers (defined as those who get As and Bs in school and have never tried cigarettes or drugs by age 17). The common thread, regardles of such factors as socio-economic status, was family dinners three to five times a week."
- from "Taking a Bite out of Mealtime," by Julie Cohen, in the fall 2008 issue of TogetherFamily magazine.

That is not to say that eating family meals will help your kids to get As and Bs in school! But families that eat together probably do a lot of other things together... It's a valuable time of connecting to each other, reviewing the day (if you can get your kids to stop talking about their stuffied! - ed.), talking about plans, projects, and ideas, and just generally being there for each other.

We had family dinners when I was a kid and now my kids have family meals too. (Plus we often have company for Sunday dinners after church - another legacy from my childhood that I am passing on to my kids.) I wouldn't want to eat any other way!

Magical Monday

Tea Party:

Taking down the Christmas tree:

(We had to get the angel down from the top of the tree. I couldn't quite reach, even with a chair, so Button climbed onto my back and could just reach to get it down. I told Mustang to get a picture, but it took a minute for her to run get the camera and turn it on. By then my back was getting tired so even though Mustang cut Button's head off, and you can't see the angel, I said "enough!" rather than try for a better second picture.)

Food Friday: Plumi Moos

aka Fruit Soup - more of a compote than a soup, really.



Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dried apples
  
• 1/2 cup prunes
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup dried peaches
• 1/4 cup dried apricots
• 1 litre water
• 125ml sugar (1/2 cup)
• 3ml cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon)
• pinch of salt
• 15ml cornstarch
  

Directions

1. Cut larger bits of fruit into medium-sized pieces and cook in water until very soft.
   
2. Add the cornstarch, sugar and salt to a bit of water and stir to make a paste. Add to the cooked fruit and stir well. Bring to a boil and cook a few minutes until thickened.
   
3. Serve hot with cream.

(You can use different kinds of dried fuits if you wish; enough to make 2 cups in all.)

The Twelve Days of Christmas

It has long been a tradition in my family to leave our Christmas tree and decorations up until 7 January, which is my birthday. Now we have an added reason to do so: 7 January is also Ethiopian Christmas!

This year I decided to add another “layer” to the celebrations. Similarly to how we have preceded Christmas Day with the celebration of Advent, we are succeeding it by celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas, leading up to Epiphany or Three Kings Day on 6 January.

There are two ways of counting the “Twelve Days.” The first is to make Christmas Day the first day, with the twelfth day falling on 5 January (Twelfth Night), the eve of Epiphany. The second begins counting on the evening of 25 December with the “first day” continuing until the afternoon of the 26th, so the twelfth day begins on the evening of 5 January and continues through the afternoon of the sixth.

What we’re doing is closest to the second tradition: since there are twelve days between western Christmas and Ethiopian Christmas (my birthday), we are starting to count on 26 December and the twelfth day falls on 6 January: Epiphany/ Ethiopian Christmas Eve. We then have a final celebration on 7 January (Ethiopian Christmas/ my birthday) and then the celebrations are finally over.

This provides a bit of an extension to the season, which helps to avoid the big post-Christmas-Day-letdown, provides a bit of a gentle wind-down to Christmas, and means you don’t have to do “everything” on Christmas Day. If there’s something celebratory you want to do, it can happen during the following twelve days.

What I’ve instituted this year, to help “guide” the celebration, is a “Twelve Days” calendar, similar to the Advent calendar. This one is composed of twelve small bags I sewed to a long banner. A small surprise or clue leading to a surprise is contained in each bag, and one bag is opened each day.

Again, to minimize the amount of “stuff,” most of the surprises related to activities or events rather than more gifts. This year we hosted a tea party on Sunday 4 January, so at least half of the surprises related to preparations for the tea party: the first day we prepared invitations and mailed them out; one day we made decorations; on three days we baked treats (tarts, Rice Krispie squares, and scones) and then one day’s “surprise” was, of course, hosting the tea party!

Laolao also told us about the Mexican tradition, one they experienced while wintering in Oaxaca a couple of winters, of baking a King’s Cake with a coin in it, and whoever gets the piece of cake with the coin has to bring the cake to the next party! I managed to find time to do that, too.

The remaining days’ surprises have related to celebrating Button’s Family Day (another reason to extend the season!) and New Year’s (a “scavenger hunt” to treats for a late-night New Year’s Eve movie-watching evening), and, on the first day back to school, they each received a little gift.

We invited about eight friends to our Tea Party and spent the time chatting and playing games by the fireside and Christmas tree. It was a lovely last-day-before-school afternoon!

Magical Monday

Note: Yesterday was my second blog-iversary, and this is my 200th post.
You'd almost think I planned it that way!

Food Friday: Portzelkje

aka New Year's cookies (though they're not really a cookie). This recipe makes about four dozen.

The dough

Frying

Cooked

Coated with icing sugar

Ingredients

• 5ml sugar (1 teaspoon)
• 65ml warm water (1/4 cup)
  
• 1 package dry yeast (5 ml or 1 teaspoon)

• 375ml water (1.5 cups)
• 375ml milk (1.5 cups)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups raisins
• flour

Directions

1. Dissolve the 5ml sugar in the 60ml warm water; sprinkle yeast on top and let stand 10 minutes.
   
2. Add remaining ingredients - including enough flour to make a fairly thick batter.
   
3. Let rise in a warm place (such as an oven with the oven light turned on) until double in bulk (roughly an hour).
4. Drop by spoonsful into hot, deep fat and fry till golden brown.
   
5. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve (or serve as is with a bowl of icing sugar for people to dip in their own).
   

Happy New Year! - And an Ethiopia retrospective

Last night we stayed up late watching movies, with special late-night movie-watching treats (popcorn, cheesies, chips, etc). We started at about 7:00 pm and watched two Pooh Bear movies the kids picked, then one called Far From Home - a Canadian movie about a boy, his father, and their newly adopted dog whose boat capsizes off the BC coast in some rough seas. The father is rescued but the boy and his dog are washed up on shore and have to survive several weeks before being found. That took us to 10:00 pm and when both kids said they didn't want to go to bed yet we watched one more short kids' movie. At 10:30 we all went to bed and even Mustang fell asleep in about five minutes. Maybe in a few years they'll make it to midnight!

As noted yesterday, it was Button’s Family Day. Some of you faithful readers may remember that way back last year, in Ethiopia, and after our return to Canada, I promised to add pictures to my Ethiopia adoption travel blog posts eventually. I am happy to report that "eventually" has arrived. It only took a year. How about that.

To go back over my travel blog posts and see the beautiful pictures, all you need to do is to follow the links below. (Each post also has a link to the next post, in sequence, so you can just go from one to the next if you wish, rather than returning to this page. But if you want to jump to a particular post, they’re all here.)

2007
14–16 Dec: Hello from Addis Ababa!
17 Dec: Bahir Dar – Blue Nile Falls
18 Dec: Bahir Dar – Lake Tana
19 Dec: Gondar
20 Dec: Lalibela – churches galore
21 Dec: Lalibela – A relaxing day
22 Dec: Back to Addis (sorry, no pix with this one)
23 Dec: Christmas Party in Addis
24 Dec: A little boy on Christmas Eve (lots of pictures with this one!)
25 Dec: Unto the least of these
26 Dec: Awassa
27 Dec: A hot and dusty, rattly day
28 Dec: Arba Minch – A good day after all
29 Dec: Wondo Genet – A hilltop paradise
30 Dec: Back to Addis again
31 Dec: Family Day!!!

2008
1 Jan: A new year for a new family
2 Jan: Swimming in January
3 Jan: Transit Visa
4 Jan: Around and about Addis (**new)
5 Jan: Meserete Kristos College
6 Jan: Meserete Kristos Church
7 Jan: Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday - A challenging day
8 Jan: Museum Day 1
9 Jan: Museum Day 2
10 Jan: Orphanage (**new)
11 – 15 Jan: The last few days (**new)
16 Jan (and beyond): Home!!!

A quick note...

Just to say that the next six posts relate to our adoption trip to Ethiopia in Dec 2007 - Jan 2008. The first one and the last two are NEW!!! - didn't get around to them last year. The middle three are just individual posts that used to be combined in one big long post; the days are now separated out.

Around and about Addis

Friday 4 January

Our friend JN picked us up after breakfast and we headed out, all six of us piled into her little red car (only in Ethiopia - or at least never in Canada!). She had a free day and wanted to take us to see some of the NGOs and humanitarian projects she's worked on in Addis. Her husband is an employee with the UN and while he's about his official work, she finds things to do - paid or volunteer, or a combination of both, I'm not sure - with whatever NGOs are in need and that she has a skill to work with.

Our first stop was a pottery studio, located (as were most of today's visitations) in one of the poorer areas of Addis. The potters are all women, and I believe many of them are either HIV+ or have husbands or family who have died of AIDS.

The studio was very dark. We met two women hard at work building some wares and watched them work in the dim light. Another woman was examining the finished products for workmanship.




We examined some of the unfinished pieces, then went into the sales room and picked out a half dozen items or so to buy. It is not hard-baked, so still rather fragile, but I've managed to bring even brittler stuff home from Mexico without incident, so I think with proper packing these should survive too.

Our next stop was just at the top of the same hill - a small weaving studio. Here the weavers were men. Again, we examined the wares and bought several shawls, scarves, and a tablecloth, all at a very good price for very fine workmanship.

From there we proceeded to another, larger, weavers studio: a spacious room with twenty or so looms set up in rows, both men and women operating them, making cloth for traditional clothing.

We stopped in a nearby shop to look at some of the outfits, and I bought a traditional dress for Giggles and outfit for Poppet. These will be reserved for special occasions, as the cloth is so fine any rough wear at all will wear right through it.

Next we visited an artist JN had gotten to know, in his studio. He is a very well-known artist whose paintings sell for quite a bit. He didn't have any work available at the moment (and I'm not sure whether we'd have been able to purchase any if he did!) but we looked around his small space at the samples on the walls. He was currently working on a bust of a young woman who had died; her family had requested the piece in her memory.

After that it was lunch time. JN took us up Mount Entoto to a hilltop restaurant where we enjoyed the view over the city as well as a fine meal. The restaurant had a garden with a playground, so while the grownups talked, Giggles and Poppet went and played. There was even a person to watch over the children!

After lunch we went to a rug-weaving studio. This place employs handicapped people to weave woolen rugs. Some of them were blind, even! Imagine weaving a patterned rug without vision! But they managed to do so, with some assitance. Others were missing limbs or had other disabilities that made them hard to employ otherwise. Here, I bought one small and one fairly large rug, while Laolao and Laoye purchased a medium-sized one. These will be a bit of a challenge to cart home, but seeing as we are down seven suitcases it should be manageable!!

Our final stop of the day was Selam Children's Village, where there is a school, a restaurant where older children and their parents can learn baking and cooking, a greenhouse (I think) and a few other things that help to provide both employment and education. Unfortunately it was mostly closed, but we stopped in and bought some ice cream and a few buns or sweets at the restaruant.

From there JN took us home, tired but very pleased with our day's excursion and all that we had seen (and purchased!). Frankly, I'd rather buy things from places like this, where you know it is going to support very needy people, than at the touristy shops.

(Continue to 5 January: Meserete Kristos College)

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday - A challenging day

Monday, 7 January 2008

We started off the day by having the kids check out their Christmas stockings we'd set out the night before, in honour of Ethiopian Christmas. Not that Ethiopians do stockings, but I'd promised Giggles three Christmases this year (before leaving home, western Christmas, and Ethiopian Christmas). Plus I'd wanted to have some sort of a Christmas celebration with Poppet, not that he knows what it's all about yet. Anyhow, I'd brought along a few little gifts for the kids, and Laolao had picked up a small bubble-blowing kit for each child the day before, as well as a few balloons.

Giggles, of course, knew what was up, and pulled Poppet into the living room to open his bag. Poppet was quite taken with his elephant stuffy and the bubble-maker, and especially the balloon. He also seemed interested in the music CD I'd brought along to give him, perhaps taking it for a computer CD. But one of the best prezzies was a little bag, meant perhaps to be a lunch bag, that Giggles had bought at home to be her Christmas present to him. It is special because it has become his little treasure box, where he puts all his own prized possessions. He very carefully tucked elephant into it, as well as a few other little things he's collected, and stashed it in the closet. (He's since accessed it many times to take things out for playing, but is generally careful to put them back in once he's done.)

Right after breakfast, the kids went out back to see the sheep, now headless, before the slaughter was complete.

Despite it's being Christmas (again), Giggles still had schoolwork to do, so she and I spent the morning slogging while Poppet went out with Laolao and Laoye. They came back to report that many of the stores were open, whereas we'd been told that most things would be closed for the holiday. The small shops were all closed, but the larger stores were open, including the pastry shop where we'd taken care to purchase our cake the day before, to be sure to have one. The maid even showed up, though she left early. We gave her a Christmas present of 50 birr.

Lunch was simple, but topped off with a birthday cake (inscribed "Merry Christmas"!) and a candle, for my birthday. (Not sure what Poppet made of the fact that it was clearly me the Happy Birthday song was sung for, but he and Giggles who got the presents in the morning - whether he even associates presents with birthdays...)

We had a fairly lazy afternoon. The kids played with their bubble-makers, their balloons, and the ball. We took a stroll down the road and stopped for our usual ice cream.

All in all, it was a fairly relaxing day, except that Poppet had some trying times. It actually started last night. The kids had been watching some television before brushing teeth and going to bed. Then, for some reason, Poppet started crying, refusing to go to bed and not wanting me to sit with him. (Bedtime has so far been the one time he's most open to receiving and giving affection with me.) With little language, he couldn't explain what was bothering him and we couldn't figure it out. I ended up calling Laoye in, hoping that might help as he usually responds to Laoye, but it made little difference. We finally got him settled, after at least half an hour. I really have no idea what triggered it, except perhaps that he's starting to get over the novelty of everything and missing his caregivers and friends.

Today, then, he had several periods of sulking and tears. One came when his balloon popped. He had been playing with Laoye on the porch when it popped, and Laoye sat down and pretended to cry. That set him off. (Ooops.) A couple more times during the day, when he didn't get what he wanted, he would go off to cry or sulk. In the afternoon, when we went off for ice cream, at first he didn't want to go, so Laolao and Giggles and I set off, leaving him with Laoye. After a second short crying jag, Laoye got fed up and told him to stop - and he did. At which point they came and joined us at the ice cream shop.


In the meantime, Giggles has been experiencing some jealousy over sharing me. She wants special time with Mommy, time just for her and Mommy. (Of course, the fact that she spends half the day just with Mommy doing schoolwork doesn't seem to factor into her equation!) We'd talked beforehand about the need to share Mommy, but the reality of it is not easy. At least not today.

It's hard knowing how to handle some of this. I want to comfort Poppet, but he resists comfort - from me or from anyone else, when he's sulking. I wish I knew how much was sulking at not getting his own way, and how much of the tears are from loneliness or missing friends. One wants to give him a bit of leeway, as his whole world has been turned upside down, but at the same time one can't give in to every whim or want. Especially with another child in the picture, some sort of "fairness" must be maintained We can explain to Giggles, but she is still a child, too, and her world has also changed, though not as drastically. At times she is generous and willing to share and give him extra things, or let him have what he wants. (At those times I tell her she is being a good big sister.) Other times she just wishes him gone.

It has also been a time for Giggles to reflect on how it was when we went to China to adopt her. She remembers little of that, but she has asked a couple of times "Did I do that?" or "What did you do when...?" and I've been able to relay some of her story back to her and relate it to how Poppet is now behaving. Sometimes it helps her to behave generously and with compassion, but it's easy for her to forget, too.

And so we continue.

(Continue to 8 January: Museum Day 1)

Museum Day 1

Tuesday, 8 January 2008

This morning was the usual - breakfast, a bit of play time, then schoolwork with Giggles. Poppet sat with us for a bit, drawing, until he started being too much of a distraction. So Laolao and Laoye took him off for a walk and some shopping.

We figured that it was high time we visited some of the museums and sights of Addis, beyond just the few blocks around our house. So Giggles worked hard to get everything done by shortly after noon, then we ate a quick lunch and headed off.

The taxi driver we found didn’t know where the National Museum was. Thankfully, Laoye had figured it out and was following along on the map in the guide book. So when the fellow stopped at the Addis Ababa museum, we said no and directed him to the correct place. (According to the book, the Addis Ababa museum is the scruffiest of all and mostly filled with portraits of important historical figures. We figured we could pass on it.)

The National Museum ended up being worth a visit, but easily accomplished in an hour or two. It is located in a four-storey building, but each level is small with not much to see. The lowest level is the one people will be most interested in, and the one with the most interesting exhibits. This documents the paleontological discoveries in Ethiopia, including that of Lucy (here known as Dinkanesh), the first and earliest humanoid, found in the Afar region in northeastern Ethiopia. It contains other fossils and bones, too, making for a relatively interesting display.

As Laolao and Laoye were interested in reading the information (presented in both Amharic and English), I herded the kids. They zoomed through the bottom floor, exclaiming over some of the skeletons and pictures, but were quickly done with it and up to the main floor. All I recall of that floor is that it featured a four-sided TV/video screen showing a short film on the evolution of humans and highlighting Africa as the birthplace of humankind. That held the kids’ attention for a while. Then it was up to the second floor, home to many paintings depicting religious and historical scenes; and the third floor, an interesting one, with displays of tools and clothing from traditional Ethiopian life. All in all, we spent a little over an hour in the museum, and Laolao and Laoye managed to read most of the displays in that time.

Seeing as the afternoon was yet young, we decided we’d hit another museum. The Ethnological Museum was about a kilometre up King George VI street, so we walked. It is located on the grounds of Addis Ababa University, within the Institute of Ethnological Studies.

This museum is definitely worth a visit. Its displays are much more extensive than those of the National Museum, and if one has the time and inclination to read all the information, one would come away with a fairly good understanding of traditional life among some of the many ethnic groups that comprise modern Ethiopia. The information is laid out according to the life stages, beginning with childhood, progressing through various aspects of adulthood (such as marriage, religion, traditional medicines, housing, and so on), and ending with death (funeral practices, grave markers and beliefs related to death and what happens after death).

We had about two hours at the museum and saw perhaps half, if that. Here, I was quite interested in the displays, so Laolao and Laoye shared kid duty. Giggles was interested in some of the information, so we all took turns reading to her from various panels, until she got bored.

The museum closed at five, so we caught a taxi home. Poppet fell asleep on the way home. We had wanted to try out Aladdin’s, one of the restaurants at the end of our road that had been recommended to us, so we had the taxi drop us off there. It turned out that Aladdin’s didn’t open until 7:00 and there was no way the kids were going to last until then - Giggles was hungry! - so we found a different restaurant right next door and ate there.

After eating, I left with the kids while Laolao and Laoye settled the bill. Walking in the dark, Poppet was quite happy to hold Mommy’s hand, though he’s refused it otherwise when we’re out walking. Once home, it was the usual bedtime routine. And that was Tuesday!

(Continue to 9 January: Museum Day 2)

Museum Day 2

Wednesday, 9 January 2008

Today was very similar to yesterday. Schoolwork in the morning, museum in the afternoon.

We’d thought last week that we might head out to visit the orphanage yesterday or today, but it turned out that several families have court dates tomorrow and Germatchew, the KL driver, was busy collecting birth families to ensure they would show up. This was an indication to us of how much effort goes into ensuring the success of the court hearings the first time around. Germatchew popped in to tell us this himself (he lives close by, apparently). He said that, since it is the Christmas season (and despite this not appearing to be a big deal, at least not here in Addis), some of the families he needed to find might not be at home. Most of the birth families live in or near Adama (also known as Nazaret), a 100 km drive SE of Addis. Germatchew said some of them might be visiting relatives in Debre Zeit or other places, and if he could find out where they were and it was not too far away, he would go to those places to track them down and bring them to Addis. (So all you KL families, rest assured that everything possible is being done to see that you get through court successfully the first time!)

So we weren’t expecting to get to visit the orphanage or Poppet’s birth family today or tomorrow, but I called Solomon to discuss our options, and he worked it out that they will hire a van and driver and take us and another family out tomorrow.

Today, then, we were on our own again, which is fine. We’re used to getting around and doing things that way! After lunch we hopped a cab to the Natural History Museum. This one, while small, is well worth a visit, especially if you have children over about four years of age who like animals. Giggles most certainly does, so she was very interested in visiting this museum. She even asked in advance if Laolao could read some of the information to her while I watched Poppet.


The displays begin with some information about natural history, the importance of observing and documenting wildlife, and the various types of habitats in Ethiopia. From there, you move into several rooms filled with stuffed and preserved creatures. Many amphibians and small reptiles are preserved in jars of formaldehyde, while other creatures are represented by skins hanging on walls. But the fourth room from the beginning has several impressive, if small, dioramas, displaying a variety of animals in their natural habitats. Many of the species on display are endemic to Ethiopia - i.e., they are not found anywhere else in Africa or in the world. Past the dioramas is a hallway with a stuffed leopard, a lion skin, and the mounted heads of a variety of deer and antelope. Off to the other side of the hall is the bird display. This features one diorama-type display and six or so glass cases with mounted birds. Over 400 birds are on display, about half the 800+ species found in the country.

We spent about an hour and a half at the museum and got a fairly good view of all the displays. As we went through, a museum curator followed us and responded to questions. He was obviously very knowledgeable about Ethiopian animals and the specimens in the collection. He identified the v-tailed bird we frequently see in the skies as the black kite.

(I’d recommend, to anyone interested in doing museums, to combine the National Museum and the Natural History Museum in one half-day excursion, and to give a half-day or even a full day to the Ethnological Museum on its own.)

We were done by 3:00 and decided to stroll down King George VI back in the direction we’d come from, just to pass the time and see some sights, perhaps stopping for tea or ice cream at a suitable establishment. So off we went.

This section of town had some small shops lining some of the streets, but other sections of road were devoid of such establishments. We kept on going, turning on Menelik II Avenue when we reached it, and heading down towards Meskel Square. By the time we got to the square we were tired and no eateries seemed to be in the vicintiy, so we found a taxi to take us to our favourite haunt on Bole Road close to home.

After ice cream, Laolao and Giggles went to buy some eggs at Fantu’s, while Laoye and Poppet and I headed home. As usual, Poppet refused to hold my hand, so I decided to force the issue and made him. He was not at all happy about that and cried most of the way home. Once home, seeing as he had yet to stop crying, I took him into the bedroom and shut the door. I figured he needs to understand that (a) I am not poisonous and touching me will not hurt him and (b) Mommy is the most important grown-up in his life, not Laoye or even Laolao. It took a while, and some even more vigourous crying, but in the end we seemed to have reached some sort of an understanding. It remains to be seen how it will weather over the coming days. When we emerged from the bedroom the rest of the family had about finished eating supper and discreetly disappeared for an evening walk, so he had to deal with me some more. At first he refused to come eat, but when I gave him some “decision room” he did come, though he ate sparingly.

After supper I was going to read stories to him, but he indicated that he wanted to play on the computer, which I was willing to do. He was quite content to sit on my lap and explore some of the CDs I brought along. He started to cry again when the computer was turned off, but just then the others returned, providing some distraction, and he went off to bed willingly enough with Giggles.

It is starting to feel like high time we got home to Canada and into our normal routines. While being at the house here is comfortable and almost like home, it is not quite normal (for one thing, at home I won’t be sitting with Giggles half the day doing schoolwork). Once we wake up tomorrow, we will have only five more sleeps to go. Then comes a long trip, after which the real adjustment can begin.

(Continue to 10 January: Orphanage)

Orphanage

Thursday 11 January

This was a day full of emotions; a day I'd been anticipating for some time. We were going to visit the orphanage where Poppet had spent the first four years of his life and meet his birthmother.

This involved a drive out to Nazaret (Adama), about two hours down the main highway towards Djibouti. We piled into the van with Solomon, Germatchew, Meseret (the head nurse) and another couple who had just picked up their baby girl.

The drive was long and slow, as usual, but we finally arrived in Adama. First we stopped along the side of the road where Solomon got out and spoke to some people waiting there. They were birthfamily contacts of the other adoptive family. They got out and went with Solomon while we continued on with Meseret.

We drove directly to the orphanage school grounds, where the workers called two young boys out of class. These were Poppet's brothers, 5 and 9 years old. The five-year-old looked enough like him to be his twin (though on even ground he was a little bit taller than Poppet.)

We stayed there about ten minutes, then Meseret and the worker at the school sent the boys off to fetch their mother. We couldn't go with the car and they didn't want us walking over the rough ground, so called her to come meet us at one of the orphanage buildings.

While they were off, we drove to another building where we were able to see some of the older children (not sure why they weren't in school, or whether they went to the afternoon session, or what...) These were mostly older children, the youngest being maybe two or three; the oldest likely ten or eleven (or more). They showed us the bare-bones rooms where they slept - apparently, prior to the adoption agency's involvement, they slep on the floor; now they had bunkbeds to sleep in.

Another fifteen or twenty minutes later we were called to go across the road to another building. Here a woman of indeterminate age was waiting for us - Poppet's birthmother. We talked for about half an hour, with Meseret acting as translator. I asked her some questions then told her I promised to love Poppet and care for him well, making sure he received a good education and plenty of opportunities. I gave her some pictures of Poppet with me and Giggles so she could remember him and his new mother. I also gave her my e-mail address, though seeing as she is illiterate and very poor, it's unlikely she will be able to use it to contact me. It was emotional but rewarding to meet her.

Then, seeing as the other family was still busy with Solomon and their birthfamily, Meseret invited us to have lunch at her house. She lives in Adama and "commutes" on a weekly basis to Addis to work at the Transition House. She, too, had a very nice house with nice furniture and a maid who cooked for the family. Her husband is a lawyer and they have two adopted children.

She gave us some papayas from the tree in her garden, which we will enjoy. And then it was back into the van for the drive home. That excursion took the better part of the day; by the time we got home it was late and we were tired. A quick supper, some TV and bed.

(Continue to 11-15 January: The last few days)

The last few days

For our last five days in Addis, we mostly stayed close to home - taking walks, playing in the garden, going out for ice cream, doing schoolwork, and just generally enjoying the sun and warmth. We picked up Poppet's transit visa from the Dutch Embassy - only to find they had given him an airport transit visa after all, not a regular transit visa. So that scuttles any plans of heading into town for the day. It will be a long nine hours in the airport...

Sunday 13 January

Today we went out for a walk about the neighbourhood , a bit further afield than before. We walked up Bole Road, turned left on one of the (major) side-streets, stopped for an ice cream cone (not at our usual haunt), and leisurely walked back.

We passed a bridge that we'd hardly noticed before, where Bole Road crosses some mostly dried up river. The gorge was fairly deep and very rocky, and heaps of garbage were scattered along the slopes. In fact, as we were looking down into the gulley, a man walked past and heaved a sheep's head - or some such piece of carcass - over the edge. Giggles was not impressed. (Neither were the rest of us.)

Tuesday 15 January

Departure day! We leave late tonight - our flight takes off at about 11:00 pm, and we need to be at the airport by about 8:00.

This afternoon we went back to the Hilton pool for another swim. Unfortunately, all the pools had been drained for maintenance. The grown-up pool was being refilled, and was not yet so deep as to be beyond the kids' depth, so we stayed and played there for an hour or two. It wasn't as hot (so not as nice!!) as the kids' pool, but we still enjoyed it.

While we were there some dark clouds formed in the sky, there was distant thunder, and it actually rained for about five minutes - the only rain we've had since the middle of December!!!

We had arranged to meet K&M (from out west) with little K at the complex. They weren't there initially, so I wondered if they'd forgotten or not been able to make it out with little K, but after a while they appeared and we sat together for ice cream and some chatting.

And then it was time to head home, finish packing the last few things, have a bite, and head off to the airport to begin the long trek home...

(Continue to 21 January: Home!!!!)