I HATE

Packing
The Chinese commenters that are spamming my blog
PACKING
Trying to fit all of your stuff BACK into the luggage it came out of
Saying goodbye to THEboy at the end of the night
Waking up ALONE in bed
When I can’t sleep at night and don’t have my Ashley around (as she is usually wake at all hours of the night)
Job hunting
Needing a pedicure
Cold hands
PACKING
Dull razors
Missing guards
Cars without CD players

♥ Single Girl

Dear Edna Mall Parking lot,

I mastered you last night. NO CRYING, no fighting. Just a clean park job baka. Life in the big city is MUCH easier when you are rolling around in a corolla with excellent stearing & AC. AMAZING job Babeye.

Dear Kolo,
You are addictive and I think you might make me sick.

Dear Yodi,
I will miss your tibes and salad, my favorite hand washer boy and the popcorn Adam asks for everytime.

Dear Ambo,
I will miss stealing your from THEboy when my mirinda is gone.

Dear DUCE BAR,
You make ONE GOOD BURGER! I felt like I was back in the US. It will be especially amazing if Shane really brings s’more fixings for the camp fire. Oh and bartender, I liked how you called my baby girl ;)

Dear Fanta Annanas,
I LOVE YOU

Dear Ethiopian Traditional Clothes,
You make ADAM look like a rock star. Seriously who knew all white could be so sexy on a man?

♥ Single Girl

REWIND: Our first Date?

So iM not sure what THEboy would say was officially our first date, but to me its Car Tibes.

So one of the [interesting/weird/hard/nice] things about our courtship was that we spent so much time together in nontraditional settings. OK that doesn’t really make sense.

It went like this.

I would see Adam every day at work.

The for profit company he works for is friendly with the NGO I work for. So his for profit company allowed us NGO workers to use their resources while we were in Addis (which was a lot as the first few months we were working on licensing issues and government meetings in Addis).

We would sit by each other.
We would talk&laugh&talk&laugh&flirting&work&email&talk&flirting
I had a friend who I went to lunch with almost every day. He would go with some of the guys from work.


We would return from lunch and resume talking&laughing&flirting&talking&working&flirting.

Then I went to the Village for a few days. And even though we weren’t together every day we got in a schedule of talking every night around 8pm, getting and early morning text or phone called and usually a sentiment around lunch time.

SOOOOO by the time the boy and I {FINALLY} went out, we were already really comfortable talking and had established a good friendship.

Ok so one day while sitting in the office at work, THEboy asked me if I wanted to have lunch with him. I of course said yes.

Then we debated where to go. My friend Carolyn & her BF Biya said come get car tibes with us.

So we did. We headed to a famous tibes house in Addis and ate in the car (it is kind of like their version of drive through). The only challenge is, eating with your hands in a car gets kind of messy. Oh and there isn’t somewhere to wash your hands. Oh and it gets hot in the car. Oh and your coke spills because there isn’t a real flat surface to put it on.

It was a berbere mess.

With laughing, a dead lambs head outside Adams window & a spilled coke.

At one point in time THEboy had sweat beads rolling down his face.

Me: are you ok, you look really hot?

THEboy: yeah I am fine

Me: if you are hot roll down your winder

THEboy: I would but that dead head outside smells and I don’t want to gross you out.

Me: wow a real gentlemen

THEboy- insincere smile.

Then Carolyn took a picture of the two of us the first one….HIDEOUS, the second… STILL not THAT pretty.

Then I promptly went home and emailed my mom and Auntie Diane the picture I PROMISED to get them of THEboy that I was spending all my time with/talking to.

I KNOW can you belive he fell for me when I was a camping mess all the time?

They approved- with a caveat that our children would have either GREAT or terrible hair.

From there it became easy to see each other outside of work.

♥ Single Girl

Dear virtual Friends

iM not dead simply because my facebook went down. It was hacked, I got an email notification that it was going to be deactivated until I could verify my identity.

So I had to respond to some silly email about my birthday, email address, listed phone number and identify several of my friends based on their profile pictures (which isn’t as easy as you would think it is).

As soon as iM “APPROVED” for being myself, I will be up and running!

{PROMISE}

♥ Single Girl

The kiss me game

July 11, 2010
The other day we were snuggling on the bed bed….not like that on bed (Literally my house is a bed and a cement floor, so we either sit on the floor or on the bed. Hence why we spend sooooo much time out in public) and Adam said KISS ME. Then I gave him a nice peck. Then he said KIS ME again and I did it again. I put my face back on his chest when he yelled KIS ME again, when I started laughing and Adam said: You lose.

So I was prepared for this little game.

I put my head back on his chest waiting….and waiting…and waiting…then I got bored until he yelled: KISS ME!

And I laughed and he laughed and we laughed, until we regained composure.

Me: HEY I was prepared this time

THEboy: I know that is why I had to trick you

Me: NOT FAIR (in my fake winy voice)

THEboy: KISS ME!

And so it went.
And kissed
And laughed
And laughed
&laughed


♥ Single Girl

Don’t cry, you are just parking a car

So was renting a car for my first week here in Ethiopia. I was supposed to go down to the village and stuff. More on that later, however things have not exactly panned out that way. It is nice however to have a set a wheels to get around in.

So Monday THEboy and I relished some MUCH needed and appreciated time together. We left work and headed to the movies.

Ok so DRIVING here is insane. There really aren’t any rules. There is never any parking. There are GIANT pot holes that could swallow your car. The underground parking is so miniature it makes the Avenues (my old college apartment complex) parking feel spacious and roomy.

We were driving, I was getting used to a new clutch &the crappy steering on the 4 runner. Then I attempted to park, in an underground lot with a 58 point turn. To say the least I got a LITTLE bit flustered.

I mean there is nothing worse than being in a new car, that you aren’t used to trying to park in a spot so small a mini cooper would have a hard time. Oh and having your boyfriend telling you: calm down its going to be fine, I wish I was driving, you aren’t going to hit that and on and on and on.

IN MY DEFENSE: ONE- THEboy doesn’t drive so he realy does have NO IDEA about parking and what not. TWO- I am a good driver, surprisingly good for the driving conditions in Ethiopia. THREE- the parking in this country is that all TIME WORST EVER. I Promise if you ever come to visit me, you will be shocked at how [little/small/crappy/non-existent] the parking lots are.

After about 10 minutes I was PISSED.

Adam: don’t cry baby its only parking a car <---I WAS NOT CRYING


Me: you don’t drive. You don’t know how FRUSTRATING THIS IS

Adam: let’s go home then, come on-no need to get this upset.

Ok so he WAS being nice, I however felt like it was adding salt to an open wound.

So We left, and I found a better parking spot in the next lot. So we had to pay 6etb to park which is a TOTAL rip off, but whatever I didn’t wreck the car. Or yell at THEboy. Or CRY… I wasn’t going to cry. I just wished I was in a better [car/different lot/better designed city], that’s all.

We watched Death at a Funeral. Drank fresh mango juice and had popcorn. Followed by a nice tibs dinner.

The movie: SURPRISNGLY hilarious. We laughed the entire way through. I loved it MINUS the creepy midget (you know my phobia, this only added to it).


Dinner: funny because there were these weird noises coming from the butcher house and THEboy joked that maybe they were killing people and that is why the meat was two different colors. Then we saw random cats running to and from and decided it was most defiantly cat meat.


The car: it was a sign I should have turned it in, it had terrible steering and ended up blowing up the next day.


The night: All in all a {PERFECT} date night.


♥ Single Girl
- 7/5/10

Then there was the time I got OFFICIALLY engaged

Sunday August 1, 2010

I had a rough morning- nightmare, not sleeping, freaking out about you some major changes coming up in my life.


I got ready for church. Saw THEboy- he had to work at the office building across the street from my little guest house. We talked a little bit. I was being FREAKOUT Celina. He was ummm I think a little [surprised/scared/shocked] at the new person I had instantly become. (I never claimed to be sane…)


I went to church in Addis. Heard a much needed lesson about counseling with our husbands- which was nice because it reminded me that after 27 years of trying and attempting to be brave and strong and take care of myself, that I now have a partner. It humbled me to remember that I needed to think about OUR needs not just my own.


This whole NOT being selfish thing is going to be a learning curve. I guess I never realized how self centered you become when you are single. Not that I would say I am a totally selfish person. Just that my whole world has revolved around ME. I make all my decisions; I am responsible for the fall out. So now I have Adam. He is soooo good to be attentive to my needs and I am learning to do the same.


Ok so back to the story. After I got smacked down by the good word of God, I felt a lot better. The things I was freaking about didn’t seem so insurmountable. The worries I had about OUR plan seemed to go away. I just needed a reminder to be more faithful.


I came home, the Good Celina. The one he fell in love with. I was sooo happy to see him. To apologize. To feel close to him again.

Then we were just laughing and snuggling and laughing. He commented that I was HAPPY me again. I laughes and said yeah, church will do that to me!


He was staring at me and said:


You know I love you very much. You are like an angle to me. You came into my life and you changed it. Meeting you was like standing in a dark room and suddenly someone opens the door and there is light shining everywhere. You are that light for me and I love you.


Celina will you marry me? Will you be my eternal companion?


I was ALL smiles at this point. I giggle and said yes!


Then he kissed me and slipped a beautiful ring on my finger.


After that he told me how he was going to take care of me and protect me and make me laugh for the rest of my life.

As long as he is standing next to me, I know we will be ok.


Just me and him VS. the world


♥ Single Girl