Ethiopian Culture Camp

Culture Camp adventures.

Lucy and I started our culture camp adventure on Friday morning. First stop (after coffee) was picking up the two Ethiopian teenagers that we offered to drive to camp.

The two teenagers and Lucy hit it off immediately. The girls were really sweet and a lot of fun to have along on our road trip.

We left at 10 a.m. and after driving in circles (it felt like it) and vowing to remember to mapquest next time (or at the very least LOOK at where I am going on a map) we arrived at camp around 5:30 pm. Lucy chomped at the bit to dive in the lake and to be honest I was ready as well. We managed to put the tent up and get our sleeping arrangements sorta laid out before Lucy hit the waves.

We ate dinner and got our bearings. Discovered that the bathrooms were WAY the heck up two hills. Ran into a couple of familiar faces but for the most part realized that we do NOT know every single family who have ever adopted from Ethiopia, and frankly realized that we really don't know anyone at all. After dinner we almost literally ran into Wendim. Lucy and Wendim rekindled their love ... and ran off up a trail into the woods. Diane shouted off such warnings as "be sure to bring Lucy back" and "no going into the lake" which of course had me pretending to be cool and laid back, and I held myself back from running into the woods for about 23 seconds. I am just not as cool as her even though I want my kid to end up as nice as hers are.

Friday night we got to bed late ...

Saturday morning started with great big smiles. Lucy literally woke up smiling, I saw her ... I was awake and sort of just laying there when she opened her eyes and had a huge smile. I wonder if she does that every morning or just in the tent with her momma right there. After waking up and hitting the bathroom/showers we were off to get coffee. 8:00 a.m. we were back at camp with a coffee and a cookie, Wendim was all over that cookie ... Saturday was a pleasant mix of child chasing, swimming, eating, and hanging out with friends. On account of the wild child/single mom mix I was unable to attend many of the educational activities. Time went fast since it took us about 1/2 hour to walk to the bathroom each time we had to visit. Lucy was all in her glory, being outside, near water, sand and people to talk to. She met a lot of new friends. Saturday afternoon we drove up the hill to buy ice, we didn't even get out of the driveway and Lucy was sleeping in the car. We pulled over into a shady neighborhood, opened the windows, turned off the car and we both slept (I even had a dream). Saturday evening we enjoyed traditional Ethiopian food and admired all the beautiful children in their traditional Ethiopian clothes (except Lucy cuz I forgot hers ... she did have her beautiful Amharic tshirt on).

Sunday was pack up day, more play opportunities for Lucy, Wendim and Irmao and time to say good bye. We left our two teens to say good bye to their friends and got real directions from the neighborhood gas station man, we returned to camp and picked up the girls and headed home. Sunday was the drive from he**. Lucy fell asleep in the first 5 minutes and slept for two hours which left about 4 1/2 hours for her to flip out about being trapped in a carseat. Fun stuff.

We'll totally be back next year.