The Coy Pond

August 6, 2008

Goodbye Dubai, Hello Addis Ababa

Goodbye beautifully clean city, full of dreamers and wealth...

Our first impression of Ethiopia, the airport. We waited over an hour to get through the Visa line and immigration. Then the driver and operations coordinator were there to meet us, holding up a sign to greet us. We were surprised when Tamirat told us we would get to meet Etame the following day! We had assumed we would have to wait for the other families to get there which would make the next day very difficult.

Hello Addis Ababa, and friendly warm people...

I really do feel like a sense of peace has come over me. I can just see a change in myself in this picture. We are truly happy...

Big brother is doing surprisingly well. He went through an angry spell when we returned home but is coming out of that. Here is James swelling with brotherly pride...

And this one makes me laugh. They both seem to be thinking the same thing, "What do we do now?"...

August 5, 2008

Land of Superlatives

Here are some pictures of the major construction happening in Dubai, and the Ski Dubai slope built at the end of the mall, indoors and in the middle of the desert.

The first picture is of the tallest building in the world (and it's not even finished!) and they are planning another to be taller than it. The next one is planned to be three times the height of the Empire State Building.

So much construction, we weren't surprised of the estimate of as much as 20% of the world's construction cranes are located here.

Ski Dubai was fairly small but they are planning a bigger one to be completed soon. The ski run was short enough you could get down in a minute. It still was fun to see people sledding and skiing and having a good time. The mall is the biggest in the world outside the US. They are making it the biggest. It is a land full of superlatives.