Thanks a Million!

Jamie, Jen, and Kris here.  What a whirlwind these past 2 weeks have been!  We have traveled the country of Ethiopia in its ENTIRETY.  Every nook and cranny has been scouted out by yours truly.  Kris met Jamie and Jen in Addis (after sneaking/ walking real obviously past security approximately 2,976 times to find Jen) and we headed to Finote Selam early the next morning.  The next three days were spent in the Finote, highlights include:  Jamie’s (almost) birthday celebration, an emergency shunting program at 0200 for Jamie, an informational cheeseburger program, and no showering whatsoever. 

On to Addis for the Ethiopian New Year Festivities.  Happy 2002…again…everyone!  Highlights include: dancing to Whitney Houston with Ethiopians, watching hours of Ethiopian music videos, Jen being put in the spotlight by an Amharic-singing Ethiopian entertainer (and Kristen simultaneously being chest-bumped…by the same singer…she was good folks), joining hundreds of Ethiopians at midnight in the cold to watch fireworks- psych! (too expensive this year, but no one thought to tell the entire population of Addis), and New Years day spent with a wonderful Ethiopian family. 

Next we had the great pleasure of meeting the man, the myth, the legend:  Mr. Million (Million is his first name).  We knew he was to quickly become our 4^th partner in crime…literally.  He looked the part, what with his red wind pants and sleek fashion sunglasses.  Mr. Million had entered our lives to escort us on a 6-day tour of southern Ethiopia.  And man, did we tour that junk. 

Day One:  The Dorze tribe (elephant huts, extremely resourceful with the false banana tree)

Day Two: 8-hour car ride to Jinka (numb butts, reading, and sleeping)

Day Three: Mursi tribe (VEEEERY aggressive people, lip cutting to insert disc, goat blood and milk drinking)

Day Four: Hamer tribe (watched women being whipped and naked man run across the backs of bulls approximately 6 times as part of the traditional wedding ceremony…wow.)

Day Five: Abore and Konso tribes (sensory overload, get us out of the car… and out of the south)

Day Six:  Ganja and 9-hour car ride back to Addis (numb butts, reading, sleeping, brief illegal action encouraged and arranged by Million, arrive at destination in Addis: Mr. Martin’s Cozy Place)

Hanging out with a tribal woman, of course

So, overall a good time was had by all…even Papa Mills.  I, Jamie, look forward to welcoming home our little African travelers in a mere 2 months!!  Woohoo! 

One topic of our daily discussion has been the Thirty Travelers Blog.  As the founders, we feel it necessary to encourage the more consistent use of this tool for communication.  Jen was awestruck when she overheard Kristen and Jamie’s discussions of Matt and Erin’s recent engagement.  Kristen was likewise shocked to hear that Pat got new pants from Urban Outfitters 2 weeks ago.   I mean, how are we supposed to know these things unless you post about them? This is a crime and those found guilty of withholding such valuable information must be prepared to face the consequences.  So.  Be forewarned.  And light the fire…in my weary soul.  Fan the flame. Just do it people. On the blog.

Man who dances with bulls.  Bare butt.  Bleh.  Shun. 

There he is - bare butt in the flesh...well, not quite yet in the flesh, but we thought that may be a bit inappropriate for our family-friendly blog

This is so Americanized.

Yo, Jen and Kris here.

So Will and John came to visit us, too! And we are happy to say that they have adapted.

Exhibit #1: They assume the appropriate position in the presence of extremely powerful forces of nature. 

Exhibit #2: They respond appropriately when tickled in the jugular by various Rwandans, as demonstrated below.

But seriously, our mini family reunion was ridiculously awesome and served as a great reminder of how wonderful our friends are.  Jen and I are coming away from the past few weeks so refreshed and encouraged and just feeling really blessed to have such great people in our lives.  Neither of us have laughed so much or so hard (see above) in a long time... well, you know, since New Year's.

Watching the guys meet my Ethiopian family and friends was my favorite part of having them in the land that boasts of 13 months of sunshine.  They literally met all of Finote Selam and were champs about it. John and Will were able to have great conversations with two of my closest friends, Mame and Teshager. I'm excited to go back and see what comes of that! Also, the family I lived with loved them and commented on their "good behavior." I'm pretty sure that just means they were good at eating injera and drinking coffee, but this is quite the compliment.

All three of us were quite ready to head for Uganda when the time came, however! Jen put us right to work, taking us east towards the Kenyan border to pass out mosquito nets and check out a community center her organization is funding. It was such a neat opportunity to see the great projects Jen is working on and to see how appreciative the rural communities are to receive supplies that will protect the health of their families. We also took a short hike to a great waterfall (again, see above photo).  On our last night in Uganda we went to a birthday party for Lino, a Sudanese teenager that is being adopted by the people Jen is working with. Jen, John, and Will were schooled in volleyball, we got to meet Jen's people, and there was birthday cake... Uganda is awesome.

But Rwanda is even better! When you flush the toilets, water swirls in the opposite direction. Clearly good things are happening there... we spent a few days visiting with the sister church of Will's church in DC and their awesome pastor, Deo, who coined the phrase that is the subject of this post when we introduced him to the concept of group hugs.  We had good conversation with him, met others in the church and just had a really great time there.  Then we went down to Kigali, toured some of the genocide memorials there and soaked up our last bit of time with the guys before they headed out on Tuesday night.  

So here we are, back in Kampala, trying to regroup for the months ahead. We find ourselves excited about what the next four months have in store, feeling supported and encouraged, and yet ready to come home at the same time. Having that taste of community leaves us ready to be with you all! Jen and I will both be heading home the last week of November and will be showing up on doorsteps looking for somewhere to live, so get ready!