*The photos in this post were taken when we got home. Unfortunately, all of my pictures from this day (including some really cool ones of the market!) are gone, because one of our boys grabbed my camera at HH and deleted two days' worth of photos! :-(
Today was our shopping day! After breakfast, Wass picked us up at about 9:30 and we headed to the market. We bought all kinds of cool stuff: traditional Ethiopian outfits for our family, 2 traditional coffee pots, ebony animals for the twins' bedroom, bracelets for Shana, a doll for Malia, authentic Adidas Ethiopian soccer jerseys for the boys, scarves, a table runner, a map of Ethiopia, 2 drums for the twins, a nativity set, an Amharic Bible, and spices. Shana shopped with us for awhile, and then climbed back on the bus and played Uno with Yohannes and Wass while Chris and I did some more shopping. Everything was extremely low-priced, but Wass informed us ahead of time that we should never pay full price for an item. Instead, we were supposed to negotiate, which we are not good at, but did a bit anyway. I'm sure we still paid the "ferengi" (white people) price on quite a few items. Here are some photos of the items we bought:
We went to the Makush Italian Restaurant and Art Gallery for lunch, and then back to HH for the afternoon. The boys were sleeping when we got there, but one of the special mothers told us to go ahead and wake them up. I held and snuggled "O" for a bit, while Chris played with "U". After we helped them with their baths, "O" saw everyone gathering by the gate and knew it was time for us to go. He grabbed onto my hand and held it very tightly. Finally the gatekeeper came along and took him to go play, and we headed back to the Riviera.
We ate dinner at the hotel with several of the other families. During this time, the power went out (the first time it happened all week!), which is a very common occurrence in Ethiopia. Thankfully, the hotel had a generator - no problems! After dinner, we went to another family's room to see their purchases from the market, and then it was time for bed.
Tomorrow is court!!!
Thx for sharing!!! We've been following you for some time now, have been checking in daily to read of your trip, in particular, love the details regarding how your daughter managed the trip, as we are trying to decide about bring our now 12 yr old daughter when the time comes.
ReplyDeleteYou have given us many ideas, regarding shopping, the Nativity Set will be at the top of the list. Bringing Coffee (thus food) back into the US is not an issue? Will hold on tight to our camera, sorry you lost your pictures:( Did you notice if anyone had luck find or looked for children's books?
Again thx for sharing! We are holding you all in our prayers. Esp, for Fri (this Fri?) for court.