Saturday in Ethiopia

Saturday was a morning spent at the care center. It was fun to play with the kids and to see their faces when we all showed up again. We were coming back. It is a challenge to play for hours with a child you barely know. We had lots of little toys but things always came back to games of hide and seek, balloons, bubbles, drawing...things the kids were familiar with. Terefech definitely responded to Rich's playful side and they were an item all morning. It was also fun to see all of the other kids in our group. Terefech wasn't particularly friends with any of the other kids but their presence gave her comfort. We left the kids before lunch and then headed out shopping for the afternoon. Rich and I had done some shopping before we joined the group so this was just additional shopping for us. We are taken to an area "by the old post office." It is where tourists are taken. When we had gone previously, we had started getting the hang of bargaining for things. It is a strange feeling, trying to bargain down the price of an item when it costs so little already. But that is what they tell you to do. When we went with the adoption group, no one would bargain. You would turn to walk out of the store (which had previously gotten, "what price do you want to pay?") and they would watch you go. A little maddening but we rolled with it. Now I wish we had bought more but you always have regrets. After shopping, the whole group went out for dinner. All of our meals were provided for us at the guest house but one of our group members was celebrating a major birthday so we headed out to a great restaurant for dinner. Rich and I had actually dined there when we were on our own so we recommended it. A little pressure but we hoped we were on the mark. Everyone in our group went and it turned out to be perfect. The restaurant is called Serenade and serves Mediterranean food and caters to westerners. We had a lovely dinner, delicious food, wine, appetizers, dessert, and a toast to the birthday boy. I think it was a great bonding experience for all of us. Relaxing and tasty as well! Thankfully, we had an accountant in our presence which makes dividing up the bill all that much easier (she got the job several times)! Thanks Kami!!!