Finally, Eden was in her Daddy's arms. Again she didn't cry - just really looked him over good. I was amazed at the different emotions I felt seeing Mark holding his little girl. He was so, so pleased!!! We spent the morning playing with her and holding her. I also spent time running around outside and hanging out with some of the other kiddos. One of the traditions that is held dear in Ethiopia is their coffee ceremony. Knowing how much Mark and I both love coffee I was just excited for their coffee in general. I spent two afternoons outside with different of the house staff as they had their coffee ceremony. I couldn't understand anything they were chatting about but I just savored the smells, the wonderful sound of their language and just willed myself to never forget the experience. I felt honored that they would allow me to kind of intrude in their daily life. I asked the house staff on Friday if they would have time to do another coffee ceremony when Mark arrived. They said sure!! Saturday after lunch they held a traditional ceremony for us which meant the woman performing the ceremony dressed in traditional Ethiopian dress and they did fresh rose petals strewn around the floor.
These are three of the women that took care of me while I stayed at the villa and the woman in the middle is the one who performed the coffee ceremony for us. I don't have any real good pictures from this day but I will tell you what the ceremony entails. I do have pictures from a ceremony outside but this one was so pretty and elegantly done. They take fresh, green coffee beans and roast them on a somewhat contoured plate over a charcoal pit. Once the beans have that burnt smell (ummmm I love that smell) they take them off the pit. They remove a few charcoal/wood pieces and put them in another container. They put some sort of wood chips (I think) onto the pieces they removed and they start smoking. They then take a stick of incense and place it on the same pieces. The smells are intoxicating!!
This coffee pot is then placed on the charcoal pit and the water starts heaing up. While the water begins to boil they grind the coffee beans by hand into a really fine powder. The grinds then go into the pot and they start letting it simmer.
When the coffee is ready it is poured into little individual cups that you see pictured here on the little while table. Oh man.....the coffee is strong but out of this world delicious!! They also roast popcorn and you can snack on that while you wait for the coffee to be done. The whole process takes close to 45 minutes and it is co relaxing. I don't know how often I would make coffee if that was the process I had to go through. There are a few things I told myself not to complain about ever again after returning to the States. Making a pot of coffee was one of them and the other big one was laundry. You should have seen the amounts of laundry that was done EVERY day at the orphanage - and all by hand!!! And every day when I walked past the women doing the laundry they would wave and give me beautiful big smiles. Made me feel like a complete moron!!
These are three of the women that took care of me while I stayed at the villa and the woman in the middle is the one who performed the coffee ceremony for us. I don't have any real good pictures from this day but I will tell you what the ceremony entails. I do have pictures from a ceremony outside but this one was so pretty and elegantly done. They take fresh, green coffee beans and roast them on a somewhat contoured plate over a charcoal pit. Once the beans have that burnt smell (ummmm I love that smell) they take them off the pit. They remove a few charcoal/wood pieces and put them in another container. They put some sort of wood chips (I think) onto the pieces they removed and they start smoking. They then take a stick of incense and place it on the same pieces. The smells are intoxicating!!
This coffee pot is then placed on the charcoal pit and the water starts heaing up. While the water begins to boil they grind the coffee beans by hand into a really fine powder. The grinds then go into the pot and they start letting it simmer. 
When the coffee is ready it is poured into little individual cups that you see pictured here on the little while table. Oh man.....the coffee is strong but out of this world delicious!! They also roast popcorn and you can snack on that while you wait for the coffee to be done. The whole process takes close to 45 minutes and it is co relaxing. I don't know how often I would make coffee if that was the process I had to go through. There are a few things I told myself not to complain about ever again after returning to the States. Making a pot of coffee was one of them and the other big one was laundry. You should have seen the amounts of laundry that was done EVERY day at the orphanage - and all by hand!!! And every day when I walked past the women doing the laundry they would wave and give me beautiful big smiles. Made me feel like a complete moron!! In the evening our driver took us downtown to a traditional Ethiopian resteraurant. This was one of the highlights of our trip. The food was outrageous and the entertainment was breathtaking! They had a live band playing traditional music (of course) and there were four dancers who did different tribal dances from different parts of Ethiopia. It was amazing!!! I have no idea how they make their bodies move like that. So controlled and perfect. At one point Mark and I looked at our driver and another guide that was along and said, "How do they make their shoulders do that?" They both proceeded to make their shoulders do the exact same thing!!! So, we kindly informed them what they already knew - there was no way we could move like that!! The atmosphere in the place was relaxed and there was a woman doing the coffee ceremony on a much larger scale. In the middle of dinner the lights suddendly went out. Welcome to a third world country!!! There was no power for close to 10 minutes. Of course Mark and I said, "What happens next?" Wendi said, "You just wait to see if the power comes back on." Okay??!! It did return and we were able to pay our bill and leave.
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