When we arrived at the Riviera Hotel we were greeted by guards. Before we walked into the lobby I saw that the guards were doing full body searches on other guests, mainly Ethiopian guests. It made me feel a bit uneasy as you could imagine. I wasn't about to let some stranger pat me down, so I played dumb and just walked passed. Fortunately, I was able to slip by without the full body search. Although I have to say that I felt a bit violated as they unzipped our luggage and started rifling through our belongings. Satisfied with their search, our bags were cleared to go. Our four bags were set upon a cart and whisked up to our room in the elevator. Steve and I and the other American couple waited for the elevator to return for us. We stepped in and watched the door slowly close shut. A perfect way to work up another panic attack, I thought. I don't normally have a fear of elevators, but this one for some reason had me in a little panic. We arrived at our floor and learned that the other couple was our neighbor. That brought some much needed comfort.

We entered our room and were pleasantly surprised. The room was very nice. It wasn't the Drake or anything, but it did impress for a third world country. Steve plopped on the bed and I didn't know what to do. I had so much nervous energy. I thought I should re-organize the luggage now that we were here. Back at home I packed some of our things in each bag just in case we were to lose one. I was eager to get things in order. But the room was stuffy and I was tired. I also plopped on the bed and tried to rest. Five minutes passed and I was up shuffling things here and there. I felt uneasy. I felt lost. I felt scared. I was so far from home and I just now realized how far I was. I realized how far Alexa was. I was worried sick that some protesters would storm down our door and take us hostage. I should probably explain that one. We arrived in Addis the day election votes were to be announced. Rallies and protesters were geared up for, well....protesting. Before leaving America I made the mistake of checking the Ethiopian Newspaper and learned that Americans were being targeted in different areas. I want to say that we were never threatened and never harassed the entire time we were there. You know how your mind just gets the best of you sometimes. Anyways, I was feeling depressed at the time we arrived. I am sooo not the world traveler.

Steve was great at reassuring me and I felt a tad better. We got ourselves situated and took a little power nap. Once we woke we felt motivated to venture down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. I must say that the food offered at the Riviera was very good. They served a lunch and dinner buffet, but also offered meals from their menu. That evening we saw the other American couple we met earlier and ended up having dinner with them. It was nice getting to know them and a great distraction. I wasn't adventurous enough to try the buffet so I ordered from the menu. I ordered lasagna and it was quite yummy. A little history for you...many years ago, Italians settled in parts of Ethiopia and shared their cuisine with the Ethiopians. I won't bore you with details about food. I will say this, we unfortunately never had the opportunity to experience a traditional Ethiopian dinner. I'll explain that later.

We went back to our room and realized that nine o'clock in Ethiopia meant one o'clock in Illinois. Sleep or lack of, was a big issue. Many nights were interrupted because our bodies wanted to wake up at 2:00 a.m. That was about the time we did most of our emailing. The following day would be a Sunday. That meant another day spent at the hotel. We were not scheduled to meet Derartu until Monday. We could have used that Sunday to do some sight-seeing. But like I mentioned before, we are not that adventurous, well at least not in Ethiopia. We opted to hang out at the hotel on Sunday and waited patiently to meet our new daughter. We were getting anxious and excited. How would it all unfold...well, some of you already know...



pictures of our hotel and room...sorry about the unmade bed...it pretty much stayed that way after the first night. They did offer housekeeping, which we took advantage of once. The second floor window on the left with the plant in the window was our room, pretty cool,huh? You can see that we cracked the window open. No fear of Malaria (from mosquitos) in these parts. If you click on the photo, you will get a larger view. You will even notice some native Ethiopians looking in Steve's direction. Probably wondering why the white guy was standing in the street. lol!