First steps

August 28^th 2014

Yesterday was our long awaited departure from Seattle.  Our eight bags all weighed somewhere between 49.9 and 50.5 lbs  and our carry-ons slightly less than 15lbs.  Our house, ready to pass on to tenants was sparkling and uncluttered and we had said our last goodbyes to family and friends.  Each member of our family anticipated our upcoming 30 hours of flying differently.  Liam and Micah eagerly awaited limitless screen time, Bill said “I like flying because people bring you peanuts and stuff.”  I was wearing two pairs of compression socks to prevent DVTs and hoped to learn all about practicing medicine in Malawi.  As it turned out, Liam and Micah had a fill of movies, Bill ate airplane snacks to his hearts content and I did not get a DVT.  The boys were amazing, carrying bags, walking when they were tired and continuing to emote with happy noises and wrestling. 

Arriving in Washington DC at 4:30AM, I got into a line to receive our boarding passes.  Though I was the 12th person in line, it took me 2.5 hours to get to the front of the line. I was aware that the enculturation process was commencing for me. "We are sorry but out entire computer system is down" he told me as he wrote out a hand written boarding pass and called into command central for confirmation that we (and everyone else on the 737 jet) were confirmed on the flight.   The reader board reported the flight to be on-time (3 hours after we were supposed to board) and there seemed to be very little concern from the airline personnel about the ramifications of the delayed departure.  After a 12.5 hour flight we missed our connecting flight to Malawi by about an hour.  Because we could not wake Micah, we were the last to get off the flight and the last in line at the customer service desk.  To our surprise, we were given hotel vouchers and made our way into Addis Ethiopia to the "Top Ten Hotel" for the night.  It was an amazingly smooth transition. 

The taxi honked and swerved through the traffic as we all starred out the window.  Though tired, Micah’s eyes were taking it all in, Liam had his nose covered and Bill was making small talk in the accent he uses when talking to those whose first language is not English.  Burning garbage, exhaust and a familiar licorice smell that belongs to a tree that we have previously encountered on this continent filled my senses. We had arrived in Africa and I felt my amygdala--the part of the brain that associates smells with memories--turn on.  The feeling of strong emotion was present but the exact emotion was not identifiable at the time.  I knew that sleep had to come first and then I could try to bring the contents of the amygdala to the frontal cortex.  The amazing feeling of being able to lay flat when you've tried to contort your body into a sleeping position in a 2 ½  ft wide space for  24 hours made the unexpected layover a blessing.  We all followed Liam—who was giddy at the thought of being able to wash his stinky feet—into the cold shower. 

Micah’s first impressions. 

“Lots of buildings made out of sticks” – scaffolding made out of logs ~ 5-6 cm in diameter, precariously scaling unfinished 10+ story buildings.

“Many people are making bad decisions!”—He points to people walking in front of traffic and in the street, horns honking at bicycles inches away.

“No lines in the street, are these even streets?”  

“People speak a language that I don’t understand”

“A lot of people like the Oregon Ducks in Ethiopia” – referring to the green and yellow painted corrugated fences

“What is tribal” (Micah) – It is the people who are your close family and friends, your community. (Elizabeth).  “Who is our tribe?  Gramma, Grams, the Swanson’s, the Huffs?” (Micah)  “Sort of but we don’t really have a tribes like that in our country” (Elizabeth)  “But if we did would these people be in our tribe?” (Micah).  “Yes I suppose.” (Elizabeth)  Oh good.” (Micah)