Like I Never Left

It's a great feeling to walk into a place and feel like you never left. Flying yesterday went very smoothly overall and I arrived in Addis @ 4:00 AM. Rick's son Duke, Mount Sinai first-year med student Stuart, and rising Middlebury sophomore Tom were waiting to take me back to Rick's. It was such a great feeling to walk into Rick's dark home, open the door to the living room and see 12-15 sleeping children scattered on the furniture, on mattresses, and on the floor; I felt like I had never left. I couldn't sleep so I stayed awake listening to everyone's breathing and then watched Donnie Darko on my ipod.

The house came alive around 7:00 AM when all the children got up to go to school, our bedroom suddenly transformed into Grand Central. I joined everyone for breakfast and received very warm greetings from Bewoket, Zewdie, Dirige, Tesh, Dejene, Mohammed and all of Rick's boys. Around 9, Stuart and I went for a walk to find a bank and some coffee/pastries. Luckily I still know my way around Addis and we sipped guava+pineapple chemaki (juice) on a balcony overlooking Bole Rd. We returned to Rick's and juggled a soccer ball w/Rick's son Addisu (an awesome baller), Dejene, Mohammed (he plays well for a kid with one leg), and Dirige. It's great to have found someone who loves soccer as much/more than I do (Addisu) and I am waking up in 4 hrs to go play pick-up in the street outside of Rick's. Rick got back from Gondar around 2, I took a short nap, and then the 4 faranjis (white dudes) went to the Mother Theresa Mission for a short visit. When I got out of the car, the first person I saw was Sewy - a boy who had Hodgkins lymphoma last year and was completely healed after a full series of ABVD chemo - he didn't let go of my hand for the next 15 minutes :-). I saw many familiar faces over the next 20 minutes and it was exhilarating to watch people look at me, take a double-take, and then break into a broad smile and come give me a hug; again, it feels as though I never left. We found Redi - a 16 year-old boy I spent a lot of time with last year, he has/had a rare subtype of MALT lymphoma - and went off for some mango chemaki and a macchiato...just as delicious as I remember! Rick then went for a swim at the Sheraton and Stuart, Tom, and I indulged ourselves in the luscious hotel lobby with the NY Times Daily Digest and luxurious trips to the bathroom.

I know I haven't written too much about my thoughts on the day or how it truly feels to be back (what has changed, what hasn't, what I missed most, etc...) but I promise it will come over the next few days. Rick's entire cadre watched the Euro 2008 Russia-Spain game tonight and most all exalted in Spain's great victory. I am looking forward to 4 AM soccer (assuming I can rouse this jet-lagged body of mine) and then hopefully a morning of work @ the mission and move into
the Taitu Hotel in the afternoon. The adventure has begun...