Right now this very minute sitting the Washinton DC airport, I watched as my blog registered its 10,000th hit! Hurray! Party! Seems fitting to get there on my final leg home from Ethiopia to reunite (finally) with my beautiful family. Thanks to all who've faithfully read and given feedback. (Not like I'm keeping track, though I do have a secret competition going with my wife who's consistently a couple thousand hits ahead of me!)
Speaking of party!! I could not possibly convey to you how it felt to be IN Ethiopia during the Africa Cup when the Ethiopian team slammed the ball into the goal post bouncing it narrowly into the net. I was in the hotel lobby about to drive to the airport when screams erupted from the bar area and over a hundred Ethiopians pressed into the lobby shouting, cheering, leaping into each other's arms! "Uh oh. Time to go." On the drive to the airport, shirtless mobs chanted, sang, danced, and sprinted through the streets, cars honked and honked, total strangers greeted and congratulated each other. The streets filled and our car slowed to a crawl, barely making it to the airport before the authorities closed the roads. I couldn't help grinning at every overjoyed Ethiopian we passed. One hollered from his car, "the nech och (white guys) need to be dancing for our team!"
I suppose I was also grinning at the thought of coming home, bags full of fresh Ethiopian coffee to a sweet family, a swinging bed, my own home with new stories to share, new friends to make, new futures to dream of. Yes I'll be happy to be home. Even with oversold planes and the post-inauguration throngs heading home, it would take a lot to bump this homesick fella!
Speaking of party!! I could not possibly convey to you how it felt to be IN Ethiopia during the Africa Cup when the Ethiopian team slammed the ball into the goal post bouncing it narrowly into the net. I was in the hotel lobby about to drive to the airport when screams erupted from the bar area and over a hundred Ethiopians pressed into the lobby shouting, cheering, leaping into each other's arms! "Uh oh. Time to go." On the drive to the airport, shirtless mobs chanted, sang, danced, and sprinted through the streets, cars honked and honked, total strangers greeted and congratulated each other. The streets filled and our car slowed to a crawl, barely making it to the airport before the authorities closed the roads. I couldn't help grinning at every overjoyed Ethiopian we passed. One hollered from his car, "the nech och (white guys) need to be dancing for our team!"
I suppose I was also grinning at the thought of coming home, bags full of fresh Ethiopian coffee to a sweet family, a swinging bed, my own home with new stories to share, new friends to make, new futures to dream of. Yes I'll be happy to be home. Even with oversold planes and the post-inauguration throngs heading home, it would take a lot to bump this homesick fella!
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