Sunday night, after we returned from Etoto, was the funniest thing I've experienced in a long time. We decided to go to the Zebra Grill for supper and then go see Knight and Day again because Uncle Dennis and Aunt Judy hadn't seen it yet. Rachel, Lori, and Jessica rode in a taxi to get tickets for the movie and I rode with Uncle Dennis and Aunt Judy straight to the restaurant. On the way, Aunt Judy kept falling asleep and acting weird. I said, "Look how many people are out tonight." She said, "Oh, are you talking about Jane Eyre?" I got really confused and then she started saying random words like "dog." I tried too wake her up when we got to the restaurant and she acted normal for a minute and then fell back to sleep. I woke her up again and she got out of the car, but she couldn't walk well so Helped her onto to the elevator to ride up to Zebra Grill on the 9th floor. She fell asleep on the elevator too. Uncle Dennis and I didn't know what was going on and I was kind of worried until we sat down at the table and she said something about a sleeping pill. After we knew the cause of her crazy behavior, we just sat back and enjoyed it. Apparently she took a sleeping pill before we left for supper. I have no idea why. She tried to explain, but it was just funny. We laughed so much. I think she asked Uncle Dennis what he ordered about five times and we laughed every time. Pretty much nothing she said or did made since and she kept laying her head on the table and saying "goodnight." When the others finally joined us, it took them a second to figure out what was going on and then we had a dinner of endless laughter. On the way out Aunt Judy looked at the guard and said, "Hello, I'm being abducted!" It was hilarious. Uncle Dennis took her back to the guest house and then came to the movie with us. We decided that if we ever want some entertainment we should just give someone a sleeping pill.
Emma

(7-11-10) So the mountain we went to this afternoon was called Entoto. Tesh and DJ, two guys who we have become friends with went with us. It was one of the prettiest places that I've ever seen. It was really nice to get out of the big, crowded city for a while and see some green. There is a small town on the mountain and all of the people we met where very nice and welcoming. We gave some of the kids silly bands and they seemed to like it. I even saw a boy wearing a UK sweatshirt! The landscape up there is indescribable. Looking out from the mountain we saw lush, green valleys and hills with grazing donkeys, sheep, and cows. There was also a spectacular view of Addis. It's a huge place. On the back side of the mountain there was a giant forest of eucalyptus trees so dense and beautiful that it felt like another world. We hiked down the steep slope through the woods to find another great view and when we stopped, Rachel got swarmed with ants. There were ants everywhere and she freaked out. She took off her pants and long sleeve shirt and jumped around and stuff. Don't worry, she had shorts on because we were running on the mountain too. Running at Entoto was quite an experience. It is the highest elevation I've ever been at and breathing while running puts major pressure on your lungs. It is where the Ethiopian marathoners go to train. No wonder they're so fast! Despite the altitude, I loved it up there. I think it would be awesome to live in a place like that one day.
Emma

(7-11-10) Hey! Sorry we haven't posted anything in a while. At the end of the day, no one really wants to write stuff and most of the time we cant get internet anyway. Over the last couple of days we have seen two movies at the cinema, gone to the Cherokee house for taco night, visited Dr. Rick Hodes' house, shopped for souvenirs, baked cookies, and taught more English. Uncle Dennis and Aunt Judy arrived Friday morning. It's nice to have them here. We have shown them around and yesterday we all attended Parent's Day at Destiny. All of the kids from nursery to 8th grade performed and the kindergarten graduated. It was long and extremely crowded, but it was cool to watch the kids sing and dance. Today, we are going to IEC with Abraham then going on some mountain that I can't spell so I'll tell you all about that later. We have had a lot of good experiences and it is eye opening to see the way the majority of the world lives. One thing that is very hard for me to comprehend is all of the people that just sleep on the side walk covered in plastic bags. We walk past them when we go out at night and it is a difficult sight to see. I can't imagine life like that. There are so many beggars that swarm us and ask for money. Some are disabled and don't really have another option, but a lot of them seem like they should be working or trying something besides begging. There are tons of women who come up to our van holding babies. They use their babies as a way to cause people to give them more money. Our driver, Haile, gave us some meal tickets for a feeding program to offer people when they beg. It is really annoying when people just walk away when you try to give them one and they walk away because that means they aren't hungry. Addis is a big change from the little town of Danville and I think all of our lives will be different after this trip.