Coffee Ceremony

Well, after yesterday's deep thoughts I thought I'd post something a little more fun today. My friend Ruth really eloquently wrote about her experience with Ethiopian coffee. I won't be able to match her writing ability, but I thought I'd write a bit about the Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

I have not been a coffee drinker until very recently. People kept telling me "Oh, wait until you are in University, then you'll start"...didn't happen. Then people said, "Oh, wait until you start work, then you'll start"...didn't happen. Then people said, "Oh, wait until you have kids, then you'll start"...didn't happen. What did it? Having the kids start school full-time (not only did I have to make myself presentable, but pack lunches, organize 2 kids and get out the door so early)! Of course, having a weekly coffee get together with good friends at Starbucks sped the addiction along quickly. My problem was that I didn't like coffee...I liked lattes. And lattes are more expensive, and more fattening...especially when it's a Starbucks mocha with whipped cream! I confess that I was very addicted before we left...I had received some gift cards at Christmas, and might have had 4 or 5 the week before we left for Ethiopia. (This was an exception).

Anyway, I'm digressing again. While in Ethiopia, we were privileged to participate in some coffee ceremonies. Basically, a coffee ceremony is done right in the living room of the home. They take some green coffee beans and roast them right there on some coals. Once the beans are roasted, they crush them (done by hand in the villages, by coffee grinder at the guest house), they add the water and bring that to a boil. While all of this is going on they burn incense, and offer you popcorn, and sometimes barley. The coffee, once boiled, is put into a traditional clay coffee pot called a Jebena. We bought one in Ethiopia for $2 and actually managed to bring it back in one piece!

After a few minutes, the coffee is served in tiny little cups. The "buna" or coffee, is very strong, but very good. It is basically like an espresso, but you add a lot of sugar. Well, not everyone may, but I do. :-) Once everyone has finished round one, they add more water to the grinds and have round 2, then round 3. The whole process takes about one hour. Our guide at KVI, Solomon, told us that in the villages they do this up to 3 times a day. Wives will often make it for husbands before they leave for the day, then it's done two more times with the ladies and kids - sounds like our version of a playdate, but we pick up Starbucks or Tim Hortons on the way!

At our guesthouse they performed this coffee ceremony every time someone left to return back home. Fortunately, we were the last to leave so we were able to enjoy this three times (we missed a few while we were traveling in northern Ethiopia).

The problem is, now that I've returned home, coffee just doesn't taste as good. I have had a few lattes and they just taste so milky. And regular coffee tastes so watered down. We have a cool coffee machine at GE so I had some espresso there the other day...when I added a package of raw sugar it tasted as close as I could get.

Thankfully, we purchased some Ethiopian green coffee beans (round one was a disaster - I don't think we roasted them long enough. Sorry D&B and L&E) and roasted coffee beans and we're starting to work on bringing back the taste...although I have a feeling that it will never taste as good as the coffee we had while on vacation.

Anyway, that's enough rambling for now...I need to keep up my addiction of scrolling through the various Ethiopian adoption forums to see if there is any news on the latest regulation.





Green coffee beans, roasted right over coals in the living room.















The finished beans












Everything you need at a coffee ceremony
















The ground coffee, not as dark as you'd think











The finished product. YUM!

And the rollercoaster continues

Well, it's official. We heard rumors of it, but the US state department has confirmed it. MOWA (the ministry who needs to approve each adoption case before it is official) has decided to reduce the number of adoptions it is approving to 5 each day, effective March 10. This is a reduction of up to 90%. See more info here: http://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia_alert.html

What does that have to do with us? We're not entirely sure, but I can assure you that I am pretty apprehensive. There were 3 other Canadian families who did not pass court with us the first time, and we all had our next court hearing rescheduled to March 21st. (No, we do not have to go to Ethiopia for this - our adoption agency handles any subsequent court dates for us). So there are already 4 on that date, and I'm aware of at least 1 other American family...so that's already 5, and who knows how many others? If they only approve 5 each day, there is a definite chance that we won't all be approved.

The other concern is that if we're not approved then we'll need another court date. Seeing as the second court date was 5.5 weeks after the first one under "normal" circumstances, this change could mean our next court date (if we need another one) could be very far away.

I'm trying not to worry, but I can't help it just a little bit. I am tired of the roller coaster. Things were looking so good there, for a while. Right now I feel disheartened, frustrated and done! I just want this up and down to end...I just want to bring her home.

I have to admit that I also wonder how often God intervenes. I know He has a plan, that He was aware of this before it happened, that He can turn even this to good...but I'm a planner, a Type A personality, and this is not how I would have planned it at all. :-) And it's so hard to see right now how this can be for good. As Arvid has pointed out to me, people still have free will on this earth and God won't dictate our every move...so sometimes things go differently than we hope or pray. I do appreciate all of the prayers right now that we would pass court on March 21st, but I can't claim any outcome that I want. What I can claim, is that God will be with us and help us through this - so after you're done praying for court, we'd appreciate a prayer of peace and contentment for us and the other 3 families who are waiting.

Posts

Hi everyone. I just wanted to say how thrilled I am when people say they have been reading the blog. I have always enjoyed writing and have kept journals since I've been 11, so this is kind of a fun way to journal...but I'll try to spare you the more intimate details of my life. :-)

Thank you to everyone who has clicked on being a follower of this blog (I LOVE that), to those who are reading this and keeping updated on our journey, and especially to those of you who comment when I've posted something. I'll admit, I love comments so much I sometimes just want to post so that I'll get a comment. :-)

If you've recently tried to comment and are still having problems, let me know. I did change the settings when we got back from Ethiopia so I hope it is all good now.

KVI Guesthouse

KVI Guesthouse




View from our window into the courtyard of the houses below






Zenaba, the cook, with a special breakfast she made for all of us









Doro Wot, traditional Ethiopian food with rolled up injera (a sour, pancake-like bread), and the spicy (red) doro wot and non spicy (yellow) version. It is a chicken stew with lots of red onion, and a boiled egg thrown in just because. I hate to admit it, but I'm not overly fond of Ethiopian food, but I'm working on it. This, however, was the best doro wot I've had!










Since we were the last to leave the cook must have had more time...we got a special farewell drink. Yum!






I thought I would show some pictures of where we stayed - the KVI Guesthouse. Although I had seen a few pictures before we went, I still wasn't sure how this whole trip would go. I was a bit scared of bed bugs, and wasn't sure if we would have hot water, etc.

When we got there at 7:30 am we were absolutely beat after traveling for around 30 hours. I was so exhausted - I just wanted to sleep. We walked in to the main area and saw about 10 people sitting around and having breakfast. Although we "knew" a lot of them from the yahoo group, it was still a bit intimidating to be the last ones to get there. Arvid and I are also both introverts, and I wasn't sure how we would handle having people around the whole time.

Thankfully, we were shown to our room pretty soon. I don't think I took one picture of the room, which is quite ridiculous. I was pleasantly surprised, though. We had a double (?) bed, two night tables (one with a TV but we never turned that on), a large closet, small table and chair and attached bathroom with its own hot water heater! The shower actually worked pretty well, but due to an odd configuration, the shower curtain doesn't reach to the floor so when you get out the floor is soaked with water. Oh well, having that as the biggest pain was not so bad!

After a short nap (and, I'll admit, an exhausted, emotional cry where I just wanted to go home and be with the girls again) we went downstairs to chat with everyone. I have to say that the people we met were fantastic and really made our trip. The staff there was so friendly and helpful, and being together in a house full of Canadians was so much fun. We were all in various stages of the adoption process (4 families there for court, 2 picking up their kids), but all going through such similar things. At home, we don't want to bore our friends and family with hours of adoption talk, but it was so cool to be going through the same thing and to be able to talk about attachment, bonding, court, referrals, adoption agency, etc. all day long.

Aside from just adoption, though, we found we had so much in common. We all got along so well - Arvid summed it up pretty well when he said it seemed like youth camp. :-) One of the coolest times was before court, when the 2 other families who had picked up their kids already, and the 3 other families going through court with us all joined in a circle and prayed together before court. Although the outcome for us wasn't as we had hoped, I know it's due to the prayer and support of the others there that we were able to pick ourselves up and enjoy the rest of our trip.

Tim, Flora (even though we were only together for one day), Naomi, Terry, Nicole, Bobby, Jasmine, Dennis, Joanne, Gwen, Usko, Liesl, Drew, Ruth, Geoff, thanks for making it such a wonderful trip. We have been blessed to get to know you and hope we can continue our friendship across the miles. And we really do need to schedule a reunion once we all have our kids!!

THANK YOU for the donations!

Food Processor - I'd like one of these!

What we brought

Some of what we bought

Yes, that is a Calgary Flames shirt on a worker at the teff grinding mill. We'll have to bring them some Oilers shirts next time :-)

This was only a bit over 100kg...there were 2 more bags.

We were really overwhelmed with the support that so many of you gave us. From donating items to our garage sale, purchasing things you probably didn't need at our garage sale, giving money, to donating items for the orphanage, etc. we were so impressed by the generosity of our friends and family. With your help, we were able to donate the following to 3 different orphanages:

• 300kg of teff (teff is the staple grain in Ethiopia, used to make injera)
• 35L of oil
• 10 cans of baby formula
• Cereal (Corn Flakes and oatmeal)
• Food Processor with blender (they have over 60 kids to prepare meals for each day)
• Tons of clothing in all sizes
• Blankets
• Sheets
• Over 40 pairs of crocs and shoes
• Children's Medicine (various items donated by a kind soul in Edmonton)
• Medical supplies we bought there - gauze, Q-tips, hydrogen peroxide, stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, etc.
• 100 bars of laundry soap
• 2 digital ear thermometers
• 1 box of photocopy paper
• 2 large bags of rice

Thank you sooo much. I know this will make a difference in many lives!

Thoughts on our trip

I was just hit with the flu so I haven't updated as much as I've wanted to but I'm on the mend now. I've had some time over the past while to think about our trip...and about Ethiopia in general...here are some things I've learned:

• I really like Ethiopia. This probably sounds dumb, but I was scared that it would be smelly and that the food would be gross and that I'd get sick...but it was nothing like that. Sure, there were some obviously bad smells near certain gutters, or by garbage dumps, but mostly it was a pleasant smell. It reminded me of camping (which I like), since there are so many little fires being used for cooking, etc. The food was quite good - we had traditional Ethiopian food twice and it was actually pretty good, and there were always good pasta options at every restaurant. The food at the guest house was great and I didn't get sick at all.
• They have great fruit in Ethiopia. I wasn't expecting to have such fresh pineapple, mango, papaya, bananas, etc. all grown in Ethiopia. The fruit we get in Canada has been picked before it's ripe, and doesn't have as much flavour - the fruit in Ethiopia was great. I had a huge fruit salad every day at the guest house, and enjoyed the 100% fruit juices at various restaurants
• I love their coffee ceremonies. I don't really like coffee...unless it's a latte, but Ethiopian coffee with some (OK, a lot) of sugar is actually quite good. The whole process of roasting beans and drinking the coffee takes at least an hour - but I really enjoyed the 3 times we were able to have this. It certainly beats the drive-thru coffee mentality we're used to here.
• The people in Ethiopia are fantastic. The staff at the KVI guesthouse were amazing - we all felt like family. I'm looking forward to going back and seeing them all again. People we didn't know were great, too. I thought we might feel unsafe or stick out like sore thumbs, but the majority of people either ignored us or just said a friendly hello. The kids, especially, loved coming up to you and saying "Hi" and shaking your hands. There were a few nights we walked down a street in Addis after it was dark, no other "faranji" (white person) in sight, yet we felt perfectly safe and at ease. Granted, in the tourist/souvenir shopping areas people were a little more assertive, but at no point did I ever feel unsafe.
• The weather was great. It was unseasonably warm in Ethiopia (from what I understand). Most days were in the low 30s, but it always cooled down at night. The guesthouse never got hot, which was also great for sleeping.
• The people are very modest. Ethiopians are gorgeous - they have beautiful, big eyes, and a huge percentage of people could be on the cover of magazines...yet they are very modest. The women ensure their shoulders and knees are always covered. Although there were times I would have loved a tank top because it was so hot, I really appreciated that they could be beautiful without having to bare it (almost) all like North Americans do. When we were there we all put out our magazines to share with the other families. Another family had adopted siblings and requested to remove some of the magazines. Although these were all "appropriate" magazines by North American standards (fashion magazines, etc.), I couldn't help but be embarrassed by them when I saw them through the Ethiopians' eyes.
• The travel and time change was really hard. I have traveled a lot in my life - to Europe, around North America...but going to Africa nearly knocked me out. I felt tired all the time, and the fact that I got sick when I got home is probably due to my body going on strike after what I put it through. I absolutely DREAD the flight and time change again...and have minor panic attacks thinking about doing it on the way home with Mebira. I almost lost it when it was just two of us, but having to look after a child on the way home who is going through so much...it really terrifies me! I will fully be relying on God during that trip...and maybe a few drugs as well. :-)

Well, those are enough deep thoughts for today...more posts to follow soon!

We're back

Well, after 27 hours we made it home! The last 3 hours were difficult for me again...I was having some intestinal issues (likely from the malaria medicine) and let's just say that having the bathroom 20 rows back was not a pleasant thing! :-)

We arrived home at 1ish and were so excited to see the girls (and my parents) at the airport! We came home for about an hour, then drove to a lawyer's to get our updated undertaking notarized, then we couriered it off...there goes another $350 for lawyer, courier and embassy!

We managed to stay awake until 7, then fell asleep the second our eyes closed. I woke up at 3, but managed to fall asleep again until 6:15. I am happy to be home and to have slept so long - we were getting used to sleeping with so many sounds (dogs, cars, cats, Muslim call to worship, etc.) that it is so nice to have silence again!

Anyway, we are so glad to be home and so thankful for your support over this time. I will be editing posts to include pictures and provide more info on our travels up north. I will also update it when we get info on our court dates...so check back again sometime! :-)