We're In!

6/20/13-6/21/13

     Wow.  I'm no stranger to late nights, early mornings, or long-distance travel, but I had not prepared myself mentally to lose a day.  Because of my unique sleep schedule, I don't consider 4 AM on Monday to be Monday yet if I haven't gone to sleep for what's left of the night.  In my mind, it would still be Sunday.  So, then, imagine how my brain would short circuit if I were to not sleep Wednesday night and then travel, albeit for twelve hours, to somewhere where it was Friday morning.  It was a bit of a rough transition, to say the least.
     But enough about time.  We arrived at Dulles International Airport with twenty-three bags we wanted to check and two carry-ons apiece.  Now, before you get any ideas, the luggage was filled with all different kinds of thhings we brought specifically to donate to THARS, the organization we're travelling to help.  We plan to leave it all here, including the suitcases we packed all of it in.  The clothes, the printer and ink, the sports equipment, the office and art supplies, we're going to donate all of it.
     It took three trips to get all of our luggage to the check-in area, but once we did, our team suddenly developed into a finely tuned, well oiled machine.  The slowest part of each step was at the hands of the man checking our passports and weighing our luggage.  Which, if you ask me, is the way that it should be.  Our team was so cohesive and efficient, we checked all twenty-three bags in about a half an hour.  From there, we had just enough time to get to our gate and board our flight.
     All things considered, it was a very good flight.  They ran out of Coke about twenty minutes in and my audio port for watching movies was broken, but I brought enough things (books, laptop, Chris, Lizzie) to keep me occupied all twelve hours.  Sleep, I'll admit, was a huge part of passing the time.  We arrived in Addis Ababa early, and had a four hour layover to endure.
     Addis Ababa Bole International Airport is a very unique blend of cultures from most corners of the earth.  Westerners huddled in pale groups; men and women, African and otherwise, bowing toward Mecca and washing their faces, hands, and feet in the bathroom sinks; Asians perusing the selection at gift shops; western-dressed black men and women speaking Swahili and Afrikaans and Kirundi; and all hurrying to get to their gates and trying not to lose the little ones they have in tow.  Addis Ababa Bole International Airport has a distinctly different flavor from another great melting pot we all think of, and we were only a part of the bigger picture.