28+ hours of transportation

We took our car to Hobby airport and parked it so my mom would be able to use it to come to our house on Saturday. Then we rented a car (yes, it was cheaper than a taxi!) and drove to Bush airport, and got there nice and early for our noon flight. We then flew to Newark for a couple of hours, and then across the ocean to Frankfurt. In Houston and in Newark we relaxed in the "President's Club" or lounge or whatever it is called: think laptops, leather chairs, business travellers... all ver calm and serious. Until USA scores against Slovenia and the crowd goes wild:). Because I am more of a backpacking/hostel-staying traveller, I was not used to being so comfortable in an airport! Now I know why Tonio travels so much! (just kidding Ton:). At every stop we talked to the kids and grandparents- I already miss them and was almost crying just hearing their sweet little voices telling me how much they love me- and that they already were using the "kisses" I gave them in their little palms. After waiting forever in security in Frankfurt, we flew to Addis Ababa! It is a little chilly here- and rainy- and you could smell the humidity as you left the plane. The airport is clean and organized, and not very crowded. We first went to get the $20 required visa, and then changed money (we had been told the rates were the same in and out of the airport). We went through customs and immigration, and found all of our bags right away. We must have gotten off the plane first because the line to get visas was enormous when we were already leaving the customs area. Our guide was supposed to meet us at the airport with a sign, and there we saw our name! Yohannes (from the travel agency) and Yosef (our driver and guide) are extremely nice, speak great English, and helped us get to the hotel. On the plane we met a guy our age from Sudan, who was sent to Kenya at age 12 and then to Tennessee as a 14 year old refugee during the civil war (think Lost Boys). He was so interesting- telling us how he is from a small village and now works in DC as a computer engineer. When he was a kid, he used to be in charge of not letting the baby calves drink all their moms milk, because the families needed the milk for themselves. Anyway, he didn't know where he was going to stay tonight so I told him to come with our driver and he could see if our hotel had a room (he did and they did). The 10 minute ride from the airport to the guest house the 3 guys talked all things World Cup. That Nigeria doesn't deserve to play because they aren't playing with passion, that at first they hated Mexico for tying with S. Africa in the first game, but then loving them when they beat France 2-0, that Cote d'Ivoire is their favorite African team, and that Germany and England are doing terrible. They were joking and laughing and saying we will find TV's somewhere to watch more games on our camping trip- should be interesting! We are settled in and should go to sleep now so that we can get up early. Just wanted to let everyone know we got here safe and I will post more in a week!