Thursday, July 20, 2006

Why was this place so great for us?
The head of our agency really liked this home because it was so close to the agency. He also liked that it was a Christian Home and that it was so clean and the staff was so loving and the fact that it was a lot less money- especially for meals.

It was by far the cleanest place I was in Ethiopia- because there are no carpets or over between families- it makes it actually cleaner than most hotels I have ever stayed at here in the United States. Especially the bathroom!

It made our transition with the boys easier- for instance when Maren was crying in the middle of the day for 30-90 minutes- Mark could take him into our room to cry- (this was at nap time) and I could take the baby in the living room to play or feed a bottle- giving them both some space from eachother and also space for Mark and I to interact with the kids alone and meet their needs. This was also the case when the baby needed a nap - but Maren wanted to play- I could put the baby to nap in the room and then we could still play outside with Maren-this was so nice and not something you could do at a Hotel. We never felt "cooped up."

It was great to have the boys playing outside or in the living room while we made a meal - or while the staff made it for us. It was so nice to have a place to keep food and warm up bottles and disinfect nipples so easily! Having a kitchen was so great.

And you can take walks outside and get a taxi easily that does not charge the hotel rates which were double the rates we got. so from the guest house the taxi cost 30 birr- from the ghion or Hilton it cost 70 birr. Consistently.