Yesterday was interesting as we made it in to Addis and headed over to the SIM Guesthouse to get checked in. We had lunch at the guesthouse and then sat to discuss what some of our plan for the rest of the day was going to look like. Mrs. McGoo, Joe, and KC managed to run a few errands while I took a nap and came back to wake me up for dinner.
We headed out to a restaurant called the "Loyal Restaurant" and met some of Joe's friends there. I enjoyed it immensely as I am finding that I have a common language with many people here. Football (Soccer) has been a great form of communication and way of building trust and friendships with some of the folks here. They look at me as if I don't know what I am talking about, but as soon as I get in depth with players and teams, their eyes light up. I had a conversation last night with two of Joe's friends (and for the life of me, I can't remember how to pronounce their names...will ask Joe and fill this back in) about football. Only one of them spoke English and he told me he was a Manchester United fan. His friend, didn't speak much English at all, but when I said the word 'Arsenal' is who I was a fan of, I got an immediate smile and he shook my hand. Interesting how the beautiful game can make friends.
After dinner we came back to the guesthouse and sat around and talked for a bit. I was eagerly waiting to watch the US vs England match in the World Cup first round. I made my way into a room where four older ladies were sitting around watching "Finding Nemo" and I asked them if they would be watching the match. One lady said to me in an english accent, "Not if you plan on wearing that US shirt (I was wearing a US shirt for the game). She sort of grinned at me and I looked at her and said, "Yall are from England huh?", to which she replied, "You've got an interesting accent for a Yank." By the time the game had started, the room was full and divided in half with Americans and British fans. It was a great way to take in the match...which ended in a 1-1 draw. It certainly made up for watching it on a 18 inch screen. ;)
I came to bed around 11:30, as the game was shown here in Addis at 9:30 pm (12:30 pm Central time). I woke up around 5am to the sound of the Islamic Prayer call that went on for oh...say about a hour. Needless to say, this was my first experience with it and apparently will be use to it by the time we leave. The bed was actually quite nice and Heather and I got a reasonably good amount of sleep.
Right now it is 10:15 and we are about to head to church. I am desperately in need of a nap though because I have been awake since 5am, so I'm a little tired (probably some jet lag still). We plan on hitting up a cafe' for some lunch afterward and then most likely run some errands before the rest of our team gets in town tonight around7pm.
As always, I continue to thank you all for your support and prayers. This is already shaping up to be a life changing moment for us. God is definitely here...all around. Even in the ugly, he's here. We've met some very interesting people. More on that later, but God has his hand in what we are doing. It's awesome!
Love you all
2 comments:
Those English gals had obviously never met a Kentucky Yank before. :) Enjoying your posts.
It's a small world! I am also awakened every morning with a Call to Prayer... Allie starts babbling all happily to herself at 5:30 am, and I immediately start praying, "Lord, please make that child go back to sleep for another hour!"
Post a Comment