I feel really blessed that I have been able to travel from Jos to Abuja! I had heard from many people that Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capitol Territory, is the premier place to be in Nigeria. I have been thoroughly enjoying it! The roads, buildings, street lights, road signs all made me reminisce about the US. Abuja was created as the capital 12 years ago in order to establish a more geologically centralized governmental location.
I think my favorite place that we visited was Millenium Park. It was established by the former president who wanted there to be a green place in the city that was owned by the government and could be utilized by the public. It was beautiful, clean, and well-patronized by many! It had tall trees, green grass, a natural stream, meandering walk-ways and decorative fountains. I have to admit that I did question the practicality of having a fountain flanked walk-way when there are so many places around the country that don’t have access to clean drinking water. Previously, I’d only thought about whether or not the situation allowed me to run through them! However, I decided that I would ponder the efficacy of the fountain situation later when I was surrounded by drab dirt roads and dead grass and bask in the beauty that results from nature being enjoyed by a community.
As I was being driven around Abuja was initially surprised that Nigeria has a National Mosque. Upon reconsideration, I realized that I have visited the National Cathedral of the US and that it seems logical that a nation that is 50% Muslim has a National Mosque. Interestingly, the National Ecumenical Center is located a few buildings down the same road. I feel that their close proximity in the Federal Capitol sends a peaceful and unifying message. I only pray that this symbolic peaceful co-existence can be transferred throughout the country.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Kurra Falls
Today was so much fun! It completely made up for a somewhat difficult (not that it was bad, I just missed home) Christmas!! My whole Jos family, Laitu’s niece, and some family friends all went to Kura Falls for a picnic! I LOVED being amongst the beautiful tall, green trees, a sprawling lake, and a variety of rocks! In addition to the picturesque location, it was the perfect weather: sunny, probably around 75o with a refreshing breeze. God is so real to me when I am in nature! We were able to eat by the water and then go and explore around the rocks and dam that was created to provide hydropower and constant electricity to this remote village. That’s right…Lagos and Abuja may not have constant power, but this small village 90 minutes outside of Jos has electricity all day, everyday because of water and gravity! CRAZY!
Tacos!
Laitu’s family had been asking me to prepare some American food for them, so I decided to “make” tacos since there are a limited number of American foods I feel confident making. I made 40 homemade tortillas (they were aghast at the lack of oil) , and removed the chicken from the bones (which they found so strange), I shredded some cheddar cheese (YAY!! but they thought it tasted like butter). We then cut up tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and peppers. They thought it was really strange that we weren’t cooking any of the vegetables but excited to try the new food. Without the taco seasoning spice packet from the grocery store, it really was more like a chicken wrap, but they didn’t need to know that! We packed it all up and took it on the picnic!
As I was explaining how to assemble the taco and they were practicing pronouncing t-a-c-o-s I related the pronunciation to the Hausa word for number 8 “takwas” (which I always thought was pronounced like the food). We were then all amused by the fact that we had nearly eight different ingredients to include in the tacos. Good times! The kids had fun making them and people really enjoyed them for the most part. They were definitely good sports!
As I was explaining how to assemble the taco and they were practicing pronouncing t-a-c-o-s I related the pronunciation to the Hausa word for number 8 “takwas” (which I always thought was pronounced like the food). We were then all amused by the fact that we had nearly eight different ingredients to include in the tacos. Good times! The kids had fun making them and people really enjoyed them for the most part. They were definitely good sports!
Christmas Customs
Before I write the main portion of this entry, I want to preface it with a realization that has been accentuated through my Christmas experience. I know that there are differences throughout American culture, but I’ve found that there are so many more throughout Nigerian. There are the 3 main cultures: Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. However, within these main groups there are multitudes of tribes or people groups that each possesses their own traditional dishes, cultures, songs, dances, and traditions.
I am going to describe the particular traditions that I experienced while staying in Jos. Despite Nigerian being a very family-based culture, Christmas isn’t nearly as focused around family as it in the US. The children where I’m staying went and visited “Father Christmas” in preparation for the big day. The big excitement for the children is to receive a new outfit, “Christmas clothes”! It isn’t a surprise, but instead they help to pick it out: new outfit, shoes, jewelry, etc.
Christmas morning, the children woke up, put on their new clothes and we all went to church. Though it was Christmas day, we still only sang one Christmas carol…and it was in Hausa…, the rest were typical Nigerian praise songs! (Luckily, I’d sung every carol I could think of in my head as I ran on Christmas morning!) It was neat at church to see everyone in their new clothes! Though it’s a special tradition for children, many adults participate as well! The church served everyone rice and stew (tomato sauce) with chicken and pop for lunch.
After church, we drove around Jos touring some of the main parts of the city. It was interesting to me that the city still seemed to be bustling. I feel this is due part in fact to the presence of Muslims in the city and partially due to the fact that here Christmas is a holiday to be out and about visiting people. Our next stop was to visit some of their family friends where we were given yet more fried chicken and chin chin (small fried pieces of sweet dough). Then, we returned home to receive visitors at our home. Children from the neighborhood came by to wish us a Merry Christmas bringing some traditional food items and in return, the children were given token amounts of money, fried chicken, and chin chin.
In summary, Christmas is not full of the same extravagance that it holds in the US. I’m sure there are much bigger celebrations in villages, but within the cities the big emphases are cooking large amounts of fried chicken, rice, stew, and chin chin and visiting friends and neighbors. I appreciated the reduced emphasis on gifts and increased emphasis on visiting friends and neighbors! However, I REALLY missed all the Christmas music this year, seeing my extended families and all the simple traditions from home that seem mundane at times, but in absentia they’re missed a lot!
Here is the link to some pictures practicing these customs:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49842&l=5db35&id=501312909
I am going to describe the particular traditions that I experienced while staying in Jos. Despite Nigerian being a very family-based culture, Christmas isn’t nearly as focused around family as it in the US. The children where I’m staying went and visited “Father Christmas” in preparation for the big day. The big excitement for the children is to receive a new outfit, “Christmas clothes”! It isn’t a surprise, but instead they help to pick it out: new outfit, shoes, jewelry, etc.
Christmas morning, the children woke up, put on their new clothes and we all went to church. Though it was Christmas day, we still only sang one Christmas carol…and it was in Hausa…, the rest were typical Nigerian praise songs! (Luckily, I’d sung every carol I could think of in my head as I ran on Christmas morning!) It was neat at church to see everyone in their new clothes! Though it’s a special tradition for children, many adults participate as well! The church served everyone rice and stew (tomato sauce) with chicken and pop for lunch.
After church, we drove around Jos touring some of the main parts of the city. It was interesting to me that the city still seemed to be bustling. I feel this is due part in fact to the presence of Muslims in the city and partially due to the fact that here Christmas is a holiday to be out and about visiting people. Our next stop was to visit some of their family friends where we were given yet more fried chicken and chin chin (small fried pieces of sweet dough). Then, we returned home to receive visitors at our home. Children from the neighborhood came by to wish us a Merry Christmas bringing some traditional food items and in return, the children were given token amounts of money, fried chicken, and chin chin.
In summary, Christmas is not full of the same extravagance that it holds in the US. I’m sure there are much bigger celebrations in villages, but within the cities the big emphases are cooking large amounts of fried chicken, rice, stew, and chin chin and visiting friends and neighbors. I appreciated the reduced emphasis on gifts and increased emphasis on visiting friends and neighbors! However, I REALLY missed all the Christmas music this year, seeing my extended families and all the simple traditions from home that seem mundane at times, but in absentia they’re missed a lot!
Here is the link to some pictures practicing these customs:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49842&l=5db35&id=501312909
Monday, December 22, 2008
Christmas in Jos!
I am so thankful that Laitu, my friend I teach with, was kind enough to take me to Jos with her family for the Christmas holiday! Since this holiday season had the potential to be kind of difficult, being away from all of my friends and family for the first time at Christmas, I'm excited to in a new place with new things to see and experiences to have! I'm still missing being home, but I'm staying busy and have many exciting plans for the next 2 weeks. While I would have liked to spend Christmas in a village, it would have been 1-2 days of experiences, and then I would have been at home alone in Jalingo (EVERYONE has left!) for the rest of the 2 weeks until school started. Laitu has said her church will have a big cultural celebration complete with dancing and traditional foods, so I'm excited!
I'll write more about the Christmas traditions, which I feel maybe start on Christmas day, after I've experienced them?! I'm just going with the flow and taking everything in! :) In the meantime, I'm LOVING the cooler weather, parks and welcoming people who are making me feel part of their family! I am renewing my resolve to reach out to internationals when I return to the US as so many people have made me feel so welcome and helped me experience Nigerian culture to its fullest. I will forever be grateful!
I'll write more about the Christmas traditions, which I feel maybe start on Christmas day, after I've experienced them?! I'm just going with the flow and taking everything in! :) In the meantime, I'm LOVING the cooler weather, parks and welcoming people who are making me feel part of their family! I am renewing my resolve to reach out to internationals when I return to the US as so many people have made me feel so welcome and helped me experience Nigerian culture to its fullest. I will forever be grateful!
Friday, December 19, 2008
"How are you preparing for Christmas?"
As I was walking along my regular route toward the internet, someone called me over to chat. After the compulsory pleasantries, he asked me “How are you preparing for Christmas?” Hmmm…I had no idea how I was supposed to respond to this question. I have been a little bitter about the fact that there have been relatively few signs of Christmas anywhere in all of Jalingo (I’ve seen 1 strand of lights…the only Christmas tree is a sticker one that my mom sent…no Christmas songs on the radio. Back in the US, I was the first person to complain about the excessive consumerism, but now that I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum I was really missing symbols season! In trying to gracefully dodge the question, I turned the question back to him to see what kind of response would be appropriate. He was reluctant to answer for fear of tainting my answer (completely warranted!), but finally answered with something to this effect.
“I’ve been praying that God would open my eyes to experience the birth of baby Jesus in a new way this year. I’ve also been reading and meditating on the scriptures that depict the birth of Christ.”
Yeah…don’t I feel shallow! All I could think about were the secular aspects of the season whereas I could have been using this time to focus on the real meaning of Christmas! I became determined to take my Christmas preparations into my own hands in my own way, which leads me to my Christmas cookies and cards extravaganza!
“I’ve been praying that God would open my eyes to experience the birth of baby Jesus in a new way this year. I’ve also been reading and meditating on the scriptures that depict the birth of Christ.”
Yeah…don’t I feel shallow! All I could think about were the secular aspects of the season whereas I could have been using this time to focus on the real meaning of Christmas! I became determined to take my Christmas preparations into my own hands in my own way, which leads me to my Christmas cookies and cards extravaganza!
Christmas Cookies!
One of my favorite childhood memories was helping dad bake, frost and sprinkle sugar cookies at Christmas time! Despite this being a favorite memory, I hadn’t actually attempted these in my independence. I decided why not make them for my friends around Jalingo to share the joy of Christmas?!
After getting the recipe emailed to me from dad, I was inspired and started with enthusiasm enhanced by the fact that I was listening to the 2 Christmas albums that I had on my ipod! I realized that cream of tarter, almond extract and vanilla were unattainable. Dad suggested lemon juice as a possible substitute, so I figured that orange was citrus too, so I added a splash of orange juice to replace these three ingredients. The mixed dough was then put in my freezer for a few hours in hopes that the temperature there would dip to the condition of typical refrigerators. The adventure of rolling out the dough commenced with the discovery of my nalgene bottle acting as the perfect rolling pin! I made a few attempts to create some cookie cutter shapes. I tried paper clips for stars and a tuna can with inserts for a tree. These failed miserably. I settled on a diet coke can to create a Christmas ornament…okay…really it was just a circle, but I was using my imagination!
Ruth astutely observed that I don’t actually have a cookie sheet, but instead I have found the broiler pan of my oven functions quite nicely! Then, I had to go find a calculator to convert the Fahrenheit baking temperature in the recipe to the Celsius temperature intervals on my oven. (Good thing I learned the conversion in chemistry class! :)) After estimating where 193.33 degrees Celsius was between 180 and 220, I was questioning how a gas oven relates to an electric oven in terms of cooking time….guess no longer…it cooks faster! After the 3rd set, they were getting pretty good!
Then, it was time to attempt the frosting. I ended up adding about 4x’s as much as the recipe called for in order to get it spread-able. Frosting without vanilla is a little lacking, but I reassured myself that the Nigerians won’t have frosting with vanilla to compare it with! I was slightly disappointed that though my parents had sent me food coloring, it was definitely at school for use in lab, so we had white frosting (though I attempted to add some of my new strawberry flavoring since it was red…it clearly didn’t have the right dye).
Despite the many adjustments, I was successfully able to bake 13 dozen little ornament cookies with joy and deliver them to my neighbors, local shop friends, outdoor restaurant cook, tailor, generator gas guy, grocery store people who find me milk, post office saints, tire repair guy who helps me carry my packages from the post office, internet friends, salon women I pass on the way to the internet, and colleagues from school. It was so much fun giving out cookies and homemade Christmas cards to all of the people who make up my friends and family of Jalingo!!!! Many of them had not tasted cookies like this before and all were surprised and grateful!
I can now say that Christmas cookies, though a secular representation of Christmas, have helped me to prepare my heart and mind for this blessed season! I hope all of you are able to “prepare for Christmas” in your own special way in these last few days before we celebrate the birth of Christ all over the world!
After getting the recipe emailed to me from dad, I was inspired and started with enthusiasm enhanced by the fact that I was listening to the 2 Christmas albums that I had on my ipod! I realized that cream of tarter, almond extract and vanilla were unattainable. Dad suggested lemon juice as a possible substitute, so I figured that orange was citrus too, so I added a splash of orange juice to replace these three ingredients. The mixed dough was then put in my freezer for a few hours in hopes that the temperature there would dip to the condition of typical refrigerators. The adventure of rolling out the dough commenced with the discovery of my nalgene bottle acting as the perfect rolling pin! I made a few attempts to create some cookie cutter shapes. I tried paper clips for stars and a tuna can with inserts for a tree. These failed miserably. I settled on a diet coke can to create a Christmas ornament…okay…really it was just a circle, but I was using my imagination!
Ruth astutely observed that I don’t actually have a cookie sheet, but instead I have found the broiler pan of my oven functions quite nicely! Then, I had to go find a calculator to convert the Fahrenheit baking temperature in the recipe to the Celsius temperature intervals on my oven. (Good thing I learned the conversion in chemistry class! :)) After estimating where 193.33 degrees Celsius was between 180 and 220, I was questioning how a gas oven relates to an electric oven in terms of cooking time….guess no longer…it cooks faster! After the 3rd set, they were getting pretty good!
Then, it was time to attempt the frosting. I ended up adding about 4x’s as much as the recipe called for in order to get it spread-able. Frosting without vanilla is a little lacking, but I reassured myself that the Nigerians won’t have frosting with vanilla to compare it with! I was slightly disappointed that though my parents had sent me food coloring, it was definitely at school for use in lab, so we had white frosting (though I attempted to add some of my new strawberry flavoring since it was red…it clearly didn’t have the right dye).
Despite the many adjustments, I was successfully able to bake 13 dozen little ornament cookies with joy and deliver them to my neighbors, local shop friends, outdoor restaurant cook, tailor, generator gas guy, grocery store people who find me milk, post office saints, tire repair guy who helps me carry my packages from the post office, internet friends, salon women I pass on the way to the internet, and colleagues from school. It was so much fun giving out cookies and homemade Christmas cards to all of the people who make up my friends and family of Jalingo!!!! Many of them had not tasted cookies like this before and all were surprised and grateful!
I can now say that Christmas cookies, though a secular representation of Christmas, have helped me to prepare my heart and mind for this blessed season! I hope all of you are able to “prepare for Christmas” in your own special way in these last few days before we celebrate the birth of Christ all over the world!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Pictures!
Internet in Jalingo is being much more cooperative lately...thankfully! Here are some links to trip pictures and chicken pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47701&l=7b459&id=501312909
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43972&l=d8541&id=501312909
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47701&l=7b459&id=501312909
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43972&l=d8541&id=501312909
Nigerian Time
My dear Jalingo friend, Laura, is moving back to her home state of Abia this weekend, (good for her, sad for me!) so I went by her house to tell her good-bye. She wasn’t there, so I called her and she told me she was at the market but would be home in 10 minutes. After 4 months of living here in Nigeria, I knew better than to really expect her in 10 minutes. Half and hour later at 4:00, she arrived. Ordinarily, the new Nigerian Carolyn wouldn’t have minded, but I was “scheduled” to attend a Christmas program at my church at 4pm and I knew I had to go home first to change into a skirt and cover my head. However, it was totally worth it to say good bye and see her one last time!
I rushed home, changed and hurried off to the church trying to make it by 4:30 (only a half an hour late). I arrived to find that since there was a choir practicing, the program was simply put on hold and didn’t start until 5:30. Ahhh, yes. African time.
Sunday morning, I was to meet my friend Ezekiel at his church at 9am for service. I believe his exact phrase was “Come for service at 9am. I’ll be there before that to meet you!” I was running a little late because I was trying to find the least wrinkled traditional outfit that I could since we hadn’t had electricity for a few days to iron. When I arrived at 9:05, I was all worried that service had already started. I looked around and didn’t see him anywhere, so I called him. Yeah, he was still at home and hadn’t showered yet, so I just went in and found a seat as service started about 9:15. He showed up around 10.
Needless to say, this weekend was a constant reminder that Nigerian culture doesn’t work on the same clock at the American one. I know this fact, but I still have a hard time internalizing it. I guess it takes more than 4 months to undo 26 years of conditioning! :)
I rushed home, changed and hurried off to the church trying to make it by 4:30 (only a half an hour late). I arrived to find that since there was a choir practicing, the program was simply put on hold and didn’t start until 5:30. Ahhh, yes. African time.
Sunday morning, I was to meet my friend Ezekiel at his church at 9am for service. I believe his exact phrase was “Come for service at 9am. I’ll be there before that to meet you!” I was running a little late because I was trying to find the least wrinkled traditional outfit that I could since we hadn’t had electricity for a few days to iron. When I arrived at 9:05, I was all worried that service had already started. I looked around and didn’t see him anywhere, so I called him. Yeah, he was still at home and hadn’t showered yet, so I just went in and found a seat as service started about 9:15. He showed up around 10.
Needless to say, this weekend was a constant reminder that Nigerian culture doesn’t work on the same clock at the American one. I know this fact, but I still have a hard time internalizing it. I guess it takes more than 4 months to undo 26 years of conditioning! :)
Missionary, hunh?!
As I’ve been enjoying my travels and some relaxation, I began to panic! Wait…this isn’t supposed to be vacation…I’m supposed to be here as a missionary! People have contributed so generously for me to be able to be here, and I don’t take that support lightly. It’s really easy to start questioning whether or not you are making any appreciable difference. Most of the people that I interact with on a regular basis are already Christians, so I haven’t knowingly converted anyone to Christianity. I’m not drilling any wells or building schools. I haven’t introduced any revolutionary agricultural practices or crops (though I’m trying to convince them to milk the goats…it hasn’t caught on yet!). So, I began to wonder, what is the advantage of me being here instead of simply donating the money that I require to live here for the year to one of them many worthy causes and drilling a well or building a school?
As I reflected on what it means to be a missionary, I remembered that during my training to become an Individual Volunteer through the United Methodist Church I formulated this definition:
I believe that mission is joining with persons of faith around the world in global partnership offering what I have to do the work of God which includes clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, and setting at liberty those who are oppressed as well as working to change the conditions that perpetuate poverty and oppression.
After reading it, I breathed a partial sigh of relief. I think that while I’m in school and teaching, I’m working toward this end. However, I still questioned my purpose outside of school amongst the community of Jalingo and beyond. Through significant periods of reflection and prayer, I remembered a portion of a book I’d read a few years ago called “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne where he referenced Jesus talked about how important it is to be present among the poor and live in community. It was a huge relief to recognize that in my everyday errands and going about I wasn’t in any position to nor any compulsion to rescue anyone from their current plight. Instead, we are called to walk, work, and dialogue together!
Showing my friend dental floss and how to use it, learning from a stranger how to signal to a taxi which direction I want to go, sharing my cinnamon rolls with people sitting outside my compound, learning the Hausa word for “2 days after tomorrow” (that’s right…there’s a word for that!) are all examples of interactions that take place on a regular basis. I believe that these simple, daily encounters are helping to build understanding, respect, tolerance and love. Though these qualities are difficult to assess and quantify, I think that they are necessary to achieving peace and unity. Directly depositing money into a project account can’t do that.
Feelings of guilt prompted by a 4-week Christmas break initiated this line of thinking, but I feel that it produced an expanded and evolved sense of purpose for the next 8 months…only time will tell!
As I reflected on what it means to be a missionary, I remembered that during my training to become an Individual Volunteer through the United Methodist Church I formulated this definition:
I believe that mission is joining with persons of faith around the world in global partnership offering what I have to do the work of God which includes clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, and setting at liberty those who are oppressed as well as working to change the conditions that perpetuate poverty and oppression.
After reading it, I breathed a partial sigh of relief. I think that while I’m in school and teaching, I’m working toward this end. However, I still questioned my purpose outside of school amongst the community of Jalingo and beyond. Through significant periods of reflection and prayer, I remembered a portion of a book I’d read a few years ago called “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne where he referenced Jesus talked about how important it is to be present among the poor and live in community. It was a huge relief to recognize that in my everyday errands and going about I wasn’t in any position to nor any compulsion to rescue anyone from their current plight. Instead, we are called to walk, work, and dialogue together!
Showing my friend dental floss and how to use it, learning from a stranger how to signal to a taxi which direction I want to go, sharing my cinnamon rolls with people sitting outside my compound, learning the Hausa word for “2 days after tomorrow” (that’s right…there’s a word for that!) are all examples of interactions that take place on a regular basis. I believe that these simple, daily encounters are helping to build understanding, respect, tolerance and love. Though these qualities are difficult to assess and quantify, I think that they are necessary to achieving peace and unity. Directly depositing money into a project account can’t do that.
Feelings of guilt prompted by a 4-week Christmas break initiated this line of thinking, but I feel that it produced an expanded and evolved sense of purpose for the next 8 months…only time will tell!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Gifted a Chicken!
After arriving home at 6:15am from my trip to Abia, I had to hurry up and grade my students’ exams and get the grades entered (by hand!) by that afternoon. Since one of my colleagues had taken the sheets home with him to the village, my friend graciously took me to the village to complete the information there. My colleague, grateful for our efforts, gifted me a chicken, not a frozen chicken, not a recently butchered chicken, a live chicken! I kind of laughed and didn’t know how to respond… “Thanks!”…however, I was eternally grateful when my friend, Asper, volunteered to tie it to his motorcycle handle as we rode 20 minutes to his brother’s house where he offered to teach me how to prepare it!
***WARNING*** If you’re content with simply believing that the chicken magically ends up shrink-wrapped in the frozen section of the supermarket, just quit reading this entry. However, if you want a little inspiration to become a vegetarian, read on, it just might push you over the edge! Everyone around me was astounded that I had never butchered a chicken before…they just kept giggling!
I was unable to participate in the actual killing. It was just too much, but after that, I was an active contributor! Boiling water is poured over the bird so that the feathers can be removed easily. After I stopped anthropomorphizing the bird and relating the feather removal to pulling out hair, the process was less disturbing. It actually became quite intriguing. The remaining skin was bumpy…just the way that uncooked chicken skin looks…imagine that! AND the feathers were hollow on the inside! I knew that feathers were used as ink pens, but seeing them directly plucked from the chicken made it real on a whole new level! WOW! I learned that you should look for joints in order to make the sectioning of the chicken easier. I was becoming more comfortable with holding limbs and cutting them off, but then we opened the torso and it was almost too much! There were eggs! Oh my goodness! I felt bad, but then rationalized to myself that many of the chickens that I’ve eaten over the past 26 years probably had eggs in them as well and I didn’t have any qualms about it before.
Luckily, we found the gizzard, and the excitement of cutting it open to find the “garbage can” full of sand distracted me! We cleaned it out and put it in the edible pile. Here in Nigeria, the gizzard is always given to the man of the house. I asked why the one half couldn’t go to the wife if it was so delicious?! They just laughed and said that it would completely disrespect the man to do that. Hmmm…after I taste it, I’ll decide whether it’s a battle I want to fight!
We finished cutting and cleaning it and I was able to take it home to season it, boil it and then fry half of the pieces! It actually turned out pretty well except for the fact I was so proud of my use of thyme, sage, and marjoram that I forgot to add salt. Whoops! I was thankful that I had some visitors stop by and was able to share my gifted chicken that I had personally, butchered, cleaned, and cooked! While I can’t say that I want to participate in this entire process for every chicken I eat, I feel that I now more intimately understand that process that takes place from the crowing rooster to the bag of frozen chicken breasts at the grocery store! :)
(When internet cooperates, there will be some accompanying pictures for the strong of stomach!)
***WARNING*** If you’re content with simply believing that the chicken magically ends up shrink-wrapped in the frozen section of the supermarket, just quit reading this entry. However, if you want a little inspiration to become a vegetarian, read on, it just might push you over the edge! Everyone around me was astounded that I had never butchered a chicken before…they just kept giggling!
I was unable to participate in the actual killing. It was just too much, but after that, I was an active contributor! Boiling water is poured over the bird so that the feathers can be removed easily. After I stopped anthropomorphizing the bird and relating the feather removal to pulling out hair, the process was less disturbing. It actually became quite intriguing. The remaining skin was bumpy…just the way that uncooked chicken skin looks…imagine that! AND the feathers were hollow on the inside! I knew that feathers were used as ink pens, but seeing them directly plucked from the chicken made it real on a whole new level! WOW! I learned that you should look for joints in order to make the sectioning of the chicken easier. I was becoming more comfortable with holding limbs and cutting them off, but then we opened the torso and it was almost too much! There were eggs! Oh my goodness! I felt bad, but then rationalized to myself that many of the chickens that I’ve eaten over the past 26 years probably had eggs in them as well and I didn’t have any qualms about it before.
Luckily, we found the gizzard, and the excitement of cutting it open to find the “garbage can” full of sand distracted me! We cleaned it out and put it in the edible pile. Here in Nigeria, the gizzard is always given to the man of the house. I asked why the one half couldn’t go to the wife if it was so delicious?! They just laughed and said that it would completely disrespect the man to do that. Hmmm…after I taste it, I’ll decide whether it’s a battle I want to fight!
We finished cutting and cleaning it and I was able to take it home to season it, boil it and then fry half of the pieces! It actually turned out pretty well except for the fact I was so proud of my use of thyme, sage, and marjoram that I forgot to add salt. Whoops! I was thankful that I had some visitors stop by and was able to share my gifted chicken that I had personally, butchered, cleaned, and cooked! While I can’t say that I want to participate in this entire process for every chicken I eat, I feel that I now more intimately understand that process that takes place from the crowing rooster to the bag of frozen chicken breasts at the grocery store! :)
(When internet cooperates, there will be some accompanying pictures for the strong of stomach!)
Please Pray for this Paradox!
I came back from traveling to find that all of the internet cafes in Jalingo had been shut down because they didn’t have a proper operating certificate. Really?! How can this happen? A capital city needs internet! One place is operating underground but since it’s a make-shift server, there are few systems available, it’s slow and they are limiting people to 1 hour. Internet is my connection to the US! No one can give me a definitive answer regarding when the situation will be resolved. Pray that it is soon!
Today, I went to the immigration office to check on my visa renewal situation and they told me that I may have to go home to the US in April. In light of the previous paragraph, I found it interesting that I was nearly in tears when they told me that! I also think it’s funny that I am seriously the only person in all of Nigeria who would be upset to be told I have to go to the US! After some more conversations with the immigration officer and some other church officials, I think that it can be arranged for me to stay until July as per the original arrangement, but things are never simple! Please pray that if it’s God’s will for me to be here until July, my visa situation will be resolved!
Today, I went to the immigration office to check on my visa renewal situation and they told me that I may have to go home to the US in April. In light of the previous paragraph, I found it interesting that I was nearly in tears when they told me that! I also think it’s funny that I am seriously the only person in all of Nigeria who would be upset to be told I have to go to the US! After some more conversations with the immigration officer and some other church officials, I think that it can be arranged for me to stay until July as per the original arrangement, but things are never simple! Please pray that if it’s God’s will for me to be here until July, my visa situation will be resolved!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Awkward Moment #5842
While I have running water in my house, I’ve gotten used to the fact that everywhere else I go, doesn’t have it. Therefore, I know to always procure a bucket of water prior to going. Laura and I are staying with a friend of hers in Owerri in a really nice apartment. I used to automatically think that would then imply running water. I’m no longer so naïve. Therefore, when I saw the bathroom without any buckets I got nervous. How was I going to flush?! I decided to wait until we came back to avoid the embarrassment of asking for water and someone having to go fetch it. However, when I returned, I saw some buckets and a 50L jug of water in the hall, so I figured that was to be used. I awkwardly poured water from the ridiculously heavy jug into a bucket to bring with me to the bathroom.
You can imagine how sheepish I felt when I realized that there was running water, and I could simply flush the toilet. I was really hoping that no one would see me putting the bucket back in the hallway, but there was no such luck. I decided to simply play it off as being an ignorant “onye ocha” (white person in Igbo…the predominant language of this new area). All you can do is laugh!
You can imagine how sheepish I felt when I realized that there was running water, and I could simply flush the toilet. I was really hoping that no one would see me putting the bucket back in the hallway, but there was no such luck. I decided to simply play it off as being an ignorant “onye ocha” (white person in Igbo…the predominant language of this new area). All you can do is laugh!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Nigeria beyond Jalingo!
Early on, I experienced a changing perspective as I transitioned from Boerne, to Wilton, to Lagos to Jalingo to small villages. In traveling first to Umuahia, Abia State and then to Owerri, Imo State for her convocation, I have gone back in the other direction. Jalingo has become my new “normal” and consequently, my new standard for comparison. Let me tell you, I am so glad that I have been given this opportunity to travel! It is helping me to understand why Nigeria is considered the place to be in Africa. Though there are still infrastructural challenges with running water and electricity, it is completely different from Jalingo! Here are a few of the most notable differences that I’ve noticed so far:
There are trash cans! That’s right, it took me nearly 4 months, but Abia and Imo states have public trash cans and encourage their populace to keep the city clean. It was delightful! Driving down the road in Imo State, I saw no less than 4 different buildings being painted while multiple others had messages painted by the government that it should be painted by the given date. Consequently, buildings looked good and were upkept! I saw sidewalks and paved roads…incredible! People were busy. There were not throngs of people sitting outside businesses watching the world go by. Other women, besides me, were wearing pants (trousers)! Businesses had Christmas decorations up!
Now, while these observations may lead one to believe that I am enamored by these more developed cities and now feel a sort of disdain toward Jalingo. That would be an incorrect conclusion. While it is exciting, refreshing and enlightening to see a new part of Nigeria, I still love my life back home in Jalingo. As I’ve found to be true everywhere, people are what make a place great and my friends and “family” back in Jalingo are the best in all of Nigeria! It’s been so heartening to be receiving calls, texts, and “flashes” (you call a person and hang-up when they answer…yeah…in the US, we’d call this prank calling…here they see it as a way to let a person know that you’re thinking of them without using much credit) from my friends back in Taraba.
I feel like I can appreciate Jalingo for the place it is, but the challenges come when Taraba is the only place that many of the residents have been exposed to. It’s difficult for people to strive for progress and development when they are used to their current conditions and aren’t aware of the possible benefits of alternatives. I really think that trash cans would be a good first step! :)
There are trash cans! That’s right, it took me nearly 4 months, but Abia and Imo states have public trash cans and encourage their populace to keep the city clean. It was delightful! Driving down the road in Imo State, I saw no less than 4 different buildings being painted while multiple others had messages painted by the government that it should be painted by the given date. Consequently, buildings looked good and were upkept! I saw sidewalks and paved roads…incredible! People were busy. There were not throngs of people sitting outside businesses watching the world go by. Other women, besides me, were wearing pants (trousers)! Businesses had Christmas decorations up!
Now, while these observations may lead one to believe that I am enamored by these more developed cities and now feel a sort of disdain toward Jalingo. That would be an incorrect conclusion. While it is exciting, refreshing and enlightening to see a new part of Nigeria, I still love my life back home in Jalingo. As I’ve found to be true everywhere, people are what make a place great and my friends and “family” back in Jalingo are the best in all of Nigeria! It’s been so heartening to be receiving calls, texts, and “flashes” (you call a person and hang-up when they answer…yeah…in the US, we’d call this prank calling…here they see it as a way to let a person know that you’re thinking of them without using much credit) from my friends back in Taraba.
I feel like I can appreciate Jalingo for the place it is, but the challenges come when Taraba is the only place that many of the residents have been exposed to. It’s difficult for people to strive for progress and development when they are used to their current conditions and aren’t aware of the possible benefits of alternatives. I really think that trash cans would be a good first step! :)
Road Trip to Abia!
After spending 3 months here in Jalingo, I had become stir crazy. I was so excited that I was able to obtain permission from approximately 8 different people to prepare to go to Abia State with my friend Laura for her convocation. Thankfully, the journey proved to be uneventful for the typical Nigerian, but it contained oodles of interesting experiences for me!
At 6am Laura came with her friend on motorbike to pick me up with my luggage to go to the motor park. This meant 3 people and 2 large bags on one motorbike, excellent! We found the appropriate van that would be traveling to Abia state and along with 12 other people and sundry atypical (lots of yams) luggage boarded for the long journey. We left at 9 am, not because that was the scheduled departure time because that was the time when we reached capacity and then proceeded across the street to wait in line for fuel and THEN departed!
As we were driving along, there were different crops that had been harvested drying along the shoulders of the road. There is no speed limit, but potholes instead dictate maximum speed. Cars are meant to drive on the right side of the road, as in the US, but again, potholes are more instrumental in dictating this than anything else. As we went along passing village after village, I realized that the thatched roof hut has become such an iconic symbol of Africa because it’s so ubiquitous!
Now I had come with a few snacks for the road because I know that Nigerians are notorious for the ability to go obscene numbers of hours without food or bathroom. I have adapted to the lack of bathroom but not the lack of food. I needn’t have worried. Every time we stopped, people were swarming our van trying to sell us the local produce of that village: date palms, figs, bananas, groundnuts. Multiple places had delicious oranges. I was able to get 4 for about 20 cents…total! I also had the delight of eating fresh cashews for the first time and learning that there is such a thing as a cashew fruit!
After 11 hours of driving, 4 different vehicles, and countless stops we arrived to Laura’s sister’s home to be royally greeted by her sister, brother-in-law and their three children. This road trip has begun!
At 6am Laura came with her friend on motorbike to pick me up with my luggage to go to the motor park. This meant 3 people and 2 large bags on one motorbike, excellent! We found the appropriate van that would be traveling to Abia state and along with 12 other people and sundry atypical (lots of yams) luggage boarded for the long journey. We left at 9 am, not because that was the scheduled departure time because that was the time when we reached capacity and then proceeded across the street to wait in line for fuel and THEN departed!
As we were driving along, there were different crops that had been harvested drying along the shoulders of the road. There is no speed limit, but potholes instead dictate maximum speed. Cars are meant to drive on the right side of the road, as in the US, but again, potholes are more instrumental in dictating this than anything else. As we went along passing village after village, I realized that the thatched roof hut has become such an iconic symbol of Africa because it’s so ubiquitous!
Now I had come with a few snacks for the road because I know that Nigerians are notorious for the ability to go obscene numbers of hours without food or bathroom. I have adapted to the lack of bathroom but not the lack of food. I needn’t have worried. Every time we stopped, people were swarming our van trying to sell us the local produce of that village: date palms, figs, bananas, groundnuts. Multiple places had delicious oranges. I was able to get 4 for about 20 cents…total! I also had the delight of eating fresh cashews for the first time and learning that there is such a thing as a cashew fruit!
After 11 hours of driving, 4 different vehicles, and countless stops we arrived to Laura’s sister’s home to be royally greeted by her sister, brother-in-law and their three children. This road trip has begun!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Birthday Parties
I’ve been to two different birthday parties here in Jalingo within the last few weeks. Birthday parties in Jalingo are much different from the birthday parties that I am used to back in the US. Let me describe my first experience to give you an idea of the differences.
My friend Gloria who works at “my” internet café informed me weeks in advance that her birthday was approaching and she would like me to attend her party. I promised that I would be present. It was held at a big meeting room above the café. I went upstairs to find the room decorated in cloth, streamers and balloons and lined with chairs. I took a seat and pretended not to notice that everyone had stopped talking to stare at me. I was graciously introduced to her family seated around me and was told that “the program will begin soon”. I thought, program? What will this program entail? I soon realized that there was an MC who proceeded to welcome, “family, friends, supporters and well-wishers of the celebrant”. Then, Gloria henceforth referred to as “the celebrant” also formally welcomed everyone. Everyone was then asked to introduce themselves and state where they were from.
Next, the “cake baker” was introduced and asked to say a word about the cake. I had NO idea what to expect this to entail, but before I could wonder any further, my friend Ezekiel, the cake baker, called ME up to say a word about the cake from a chemists perspective! Oh my goodness…first of all, I don’t like standing up and speaking in front of groups in the US…it’s even worse here in Nigeria because people are really all listening to hear what the white girl is going to say. Secondly, I had NO idea if I was truly supposed to talk about it from a chemist’s perspective or if he was joking. Since I was able to come up with something chemical to say about it, I took a chance after deliberating for the entirety of 5 seconds that it took me to walk up to the front of the room. I settled on “the purple frosting reminds me of potassium because potassium has a purple flame test” and “the white frosting reminds me of a white precipitate”. People seemed to readily accept that with smiles and applause. I took my seat as quickly as possible.
The ceremony progressed with a cake cutting ceremony, dance, formal pictures and food provided to her guests by the celebrant. It was quite the occasion. However, I was told by many that this was a very “low key” event. I’m not sure I could handle a fancy one! In support of this comment, I attended my friend Laura’s birthday party this past week and found a very similar program to be followed! Oh...I forgot, there was a lot of praying too. Praying is a good thing, but I was simply unaccustomed to so much praying at a birthday party! Faith here is something that is truly integrated into every aspect of their lives.
Here is the link to some pictures from the event as well as a random assortment of others:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43972&l=d8541&id=501312909
My friend Gloria who works at “my” internet café informed me weeks in advance that her birthday was approaching and she would like me to attend her party. I promised that I would be present. It was held at a big meeting room above the café. I went upstairs to find the room decorated in cloth, streamers and balloons and lined with chairs. I took a seat and pretended not to notice that everyone had stopped talking to stare at me. I was graciously introduced to her family seated around me and was told that “the program will begin soon”. I thought, program? What will this program entail? I soon realized that there was an MC who proceeded to welcome, “family, friends, supporters and well-wishers of the celebrant”. Then, Gloria henceforth referred to as “the celebrant” also formally welcomed everyone. Everyone was then asked to introduce themselves and state where they were from.
Next, the “cake baker” was introduced and asked to say a word about the cake. I had NO idea what to expect this to entail, but before I could wonder any further, my friend Ezekiel, the cake baker, called ME up to say a word about the cake from a chemists perspective! Oh my goodness…first of all, I don’t like standing up and speaking in front of groups in the US…it’s even worse here in Nigeria because people are really all listening to hear what the white girl is going to say. Secondly, I had NO idea if I was truly supposed to talk about it from a chemist’s perspective or if he was joking. Since I was able to come up with something chemical to say about it, I took a chance after deliberating for the entirety of 5 seconds that it took me to walk up to the front of the room. I settled on “the purple frosting reminds me of potassium because potassium has a purple flame test” and “the white frosting reminds me of a white precipitate”. People seemed to readily accept that with smiles and applause. I took my seat as quickly as possible.
The ceremony progressed with a cake cutting ceremony, dance, formal pictures and food provided to her guests by the celebrant. It was quite the occasion. However, I was told by many that this was a very “low key” event. I’m not sure I could handle a fancy one! In support of this comment, I attended my friend Laura’s birthday party this past week and found a very similar program to be followed! Oh...I forgot, there was a lot of praying too. Praying is a good thing, but I was simply unaccustomed to so much praying at a birthday party! Faith here is something that is truly integrated into every aspect of their lives.
Here is the link to some pictures from the event as well as a random assortment of others:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43972&l=d8541&id=501312909
Friday, November 14, 2008
HIV in Nigeria
Today, I was informed (by way of memo being physically walked around to all the teachers) that there was going to be an HIV Educational Seminar this afternoon…not for the students, but for the teachers! I was kind of surprised but interested. Since coming here, I’ve noticed that there are billboards, seminars and events all related to HIV prevention, but I hadn’t personally attended anything. At the onset of the program, I was reflecting on the fact that I don’t remember ever having any formal and specific HIV/AIDS education after 4th grade when the nurse came in to talk to us about Magic Johnson being diagnosed with HIV and explaining the condition to us. Certainly, it has been covered in various health classes amongst other STD’s in health classes but never again in isolation.
After some conversations, I was able to correlate the prevalence of HIV/AIDS here in Nigeria to the prevalence of cancer in the US. They were shocked that I didn’t personally know anyone with HIV and equally surprised when I said that I easily know 20 people who either have or have had cancer. They couldn’t find a single person that had been formally diagnosed with cancer!
I learned SO MUCH! I was definitely taking notes! Here are some of the tragic facts that I learned:
*Nigeria has the 5th highest prevalence of HIV in the world with at least 10 governors and senators living with the disease (only surpassed by India, South Africa, Uganda, and Botswana).
*Taraba State (my state) has a 6% rate of infection, and “in Jalingo it’s running rampant!”
*Barber Shops are a common place of transference because the clippers are rarely disinfected sufficiently.
*HIV is not automatically passed from an infected woman to her baby. If the baby is delivered by C-section and she doesn’t breast feed, they baby can be safe!
*If the breast milk is heated at 67oC, the HIV will be killed, but the important nutrients will be saved (I question the feasibility of “exactly 67”, but found it interesting nonetheless).
*HIV is anaerobic meaning it lives in environments depleted of oxygen. This is one of the prime reasons that it isn’t typically transferred through saliva and sweat…there’s an abundance of oxygen around!
*There are two types of HIV…Type I is more aggressive while Type II is more gradual which is why it’s important for those who are infected to continue to take caution. They could contract a more aggressive strain.
*HIV tests here in Nigeria (and most of the developing world), PCR and ELISA, don’t give instant results but instead give you your status as of 6 months ago and one has to get retested to confirm their negative status.
Then, at the end of the program, we were given the opportunity to be tested for free! I think that I was the only person who was being tested for the first time. Everyone was surprised that I’d never been tested. I tried to explain to them that since I wasn’t engaging in high risk-behavior I had never even considered it. Here in Nigeria, regardless of life-style choices, everyone is strongly encouraged to get tested on a regular basis.
In a private room, a man asked about any high-risk activities that I’d been involved in which I expected, but then I was surprised by the next question. What will be your thoughts if the test comes back positive? I hadn’t even considered it. It was harrowing to contemplate, but my initial reaction was that I would be shocked and confused. Then, he pricked my finger quickly returning my thoughts to the present. 5 minutes later I thankfully found out that I am officially HIV negative and will receive a certificate to prove it!
I've added some new pictures recently to some older albums. Here are the links:
UMCN Nursery Primary School; College of Education; Wedding Attire
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37892&l=661e1&id=501312909
JSS Faculty House Dedication Ceremony
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35471&l=4f4c3&id=501312909
After some conversations, I was able to correlate the prevalence of HIV/AIDS here in Nigeria to the prevalence of cancer in the US. They were shocked that I didn’t personally know anyone with HIV and equally surprised when I said that I easily know 20 people who either have or have had cancer. They couldn’t find a single person that had been formally diagnosed with cancer!
I learned SO MUCH! I was definitely taking notes! Here are some of the tragic facts that I learned:
*Nigeria has the 5th highest prevalence of HIV in the world with at least 10 governors and senators living with the disease (only surpassed by India, South Africa, Uganda, and Botswana).
*Taraba State (my state) has a 6% rate of infection, and “in Jalingo it’s running rampant!”
*Barber Shops are a common place of transference because the clippers are rarely disinfected sufficiently.
*HIV is not automatically passed from an infected woman to her baby. If the baby is delivered by C-section and she doesn’t breast feed, they baby can be safe!
*If the breast milk is heated at 67oC, the HIV will be killed, but the important nutrients will be saved (I question the feasibility of “exactly 67”, but found it interesting nonetheless).
*HIV is anaerobic meaning it lives in environments depleted of oxygen. This is one of the prime reasons that it isn’t typically transferred through saliva and sweat…there’s an abundance of oxygen around!
*There are two types of HIV…Type I is more aggressive while Type II is more gradual which is why it’s important for those who are infected to continue to take caution. They could contract a more aggressive strain.
*HIV tests here in Nigeria (and most of the developing world), PCR and ELISA, don’t give instant results but instead give you your status as of 6 months ago and one has to get retested to confirm their negative status.
Then, at the end of the program, we were given the opportunity to be tested for free! I think that I was the only person who was being tested for the first time. Everyone was surprised that I’d never been tested. I tried to explain to them that since I wasn’t engaging in high risk-behavior I had never even considered it. Here in Nigeria, regardless of life-style choices, everyone is strongly encouraged to get tested on a regular basis.
In a private room, a man asked about any high-risk activities that I’d been involved in which I expected, but then I was surprised by the next question. What will be your thoughts if the test comes back positive? I hadn’t even considered it. It was harrowing to contemplate, but my initial reaction was that I would be shocked and confused. Then, he pricked my finger quickly returning my thoughts to the present. 5 minutes later I thankfully found out that I am officially HIV negative and will receive a certificate to prove it!
I've added some new pictures recently to some older albums. Here are the links:
UMCN Nursery Primary School; College of Education; Wedding Attire
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37892&l=661e1&id=501312909
JSS Faculty House Dedication Ceremony
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35471&l=4f4c3&id=501312909
Popcorn!
I know that I’ve already written extensively about food, but it’s a big part of my world here! I’ve recently made banana pancakes, cinnamon rolls which were quite yummy. I’m pretty proud of myself considering I have no measurement tools…I’m not sure what they would be officially called in the culinary world. I’ve decided that my plastic mug is similar in diameter to a cup and my small cup is similar to the half-cup diameter and therefore estimate the heights that would be equivalent. These estimates would be easier had I cooked at all prior to coming to Nigeria, yet I seem to be faring quite well!
Upon suggestions from a friend, I brought some popcorn. Sadly to say, I had never cooked popcorn in anything but a microwave. Since it was popcorn from the US, it had instructions! I heated what seemed like an excessive amount of oil then popped what looked like a small amount of kernels into a surprisingly large amount of popcorn! I was shocked to see the excessive amount of oil was almost all gone! I know about the law of conservation of mass…that oil went into my popcorn. I decided to ignore the fact that I was consuming an obscene amount of cooking oil, added some salt and enjoyed some decadent popcorn!
As I was savoring each kernel, I began to think about the 100 calorie bags of butter flavored popcorn I used to eat back home. How can they make it pop with so little oil? What strange chemicals was I consuming to have it taste so good yet only cost 100 calories? This is the second time the question of additives, chemical preservatives, synthetic food has come to the forefront of my thinking. Back home, tomatoes would last for a week or so before starting to spoil. Here, if you get 2 days before spoilage it’s a victory! Maybe it’s the superiority of the tomato genes in North America, but I venture to bet that it has something to do with some artificial chemical added along the way. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I definitely enjoyed the fact that I got a bigger widow than 36 hours to use my tomatoes, but at what cost? It’s a quandary.
My final food reflection (for now) is that food that I consumed in the US must have significant amounts of sugar and salt and flavorings added to it because I feel like I add copious amounts of these condiments to everything!
Upon suggestions from a friend, I brought some popcorn. Sadly to say, I had never cooked popcorn in anything but a microwave. Since it was popcorn from the US, it had instructions! I heated what seemed like an excessive amount of oil then popped what looked like a small amount of kernels into a surprisingly large amount of popcorn! I was shocked to see the excessive amount of oil was almost all gone! I know about the law of conservation of mass…that oil went into my popcorn. I decided to ignore the fact that I was consuming an obscene amount of cooking oil, added some salt and enjoyed some decadent popcorn!
As I was savoring each kernel, I began to think about the 100 calorie bags of butter flavored popcorn I used to eat back home. How can they make it pop with so little oil? What strange chemicals was I consuming to have it taste so good yet only cost 100 calories? This is the second time the question of additives, chemical preservatives, synthetic food has come to the forefront of my thinking. Back home, tomatoes would last for a week or so before starting to spoil. Here, if you get 2 days before spoilage it’s a victory! Maybe it’s the superiority of the tomato genes in North America, but I venture to bet that it has something to do with some artificial chemical added along the way. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I definitely enjoyed the fact that I got a bigger widow than 36 hours to use my tomatoes, but at what cost? It’s a quandary.
My final food reflection (for now) is that food that I consumed in the US must have significant amounts of sugar and salt and flavorings added to it because I feel like I add copious amounts of these condiments to everything!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Central Market vs Super Wal-Mart
I feel pretty confident getting around Jalingo (that is my little area of Jalingo) on my own. However, I had yet to conquer the central market independently. For those of you who have been dedicated blog followers, you’ll remember one of my first market excursions with my friend Laura where we bought a live chicken. I have been back a few times since but always with a friend leading the way. It always seems so daunting while I’m there that I had decided to try to avoid it by going to smaller little markets that are closer to my home. However, there are certain things that are unavailable at smaller markets that I really wanted such as Diet Coke, knitting pins, and wheat (to make whole wheat bread). I decided that the only way to conquer my apprehension regarding the market was to face it head on. I figured that maybe by going alone I would be able to learn my way around it better as opposed to following a friend blindly similarly to how you can better remember how to get somewhere when you’re driving car versus when you’re only a passenger!
On the taxi ride home, I was likening a trip to the market with a trip to Super Wal-Mart. The market is probably the size of 4-5 square blocks, hence larger than a Super Wal-Mart. Both contain nearly everything you need. However, in Wal-Mart items are organized categorically. One may not agree with the particular section that a particular item was placed, but they’re all together. At the market, there seems to be some sort of organization, but really everything is mixed together. I’m not really sure what the difference is among the 35 (probably a significant under-estimation) different tomato vendors or whether it is better to buy tomatoes from one of the vendors that is clustered together in a group 10 or to buy them from the person that is placed amongst the fabric. I’ve yet to get a definitive answer about that. Back to the comparison…both places are jam packed with people. However, in Wal-Mart the aisles are indoors, tiled, level, and about 6 feet wide. The market walk-ways are outdoors, rutted dirt and sand with puddles and just wide enough for one wheel barrow to get through. Never mind the challenge that is presented when the wheelbarrows try to pass by throngs of people!
Wal-Mart claims to have a helpful smile in every aisle (okay…I’ve later realized it’s not Wal-Mart, but good old Hy-Vee in Iowa…nonetheless…), but I’m confident that the Jalingo market has them outclassed in customer service. While the market is significantly deficient in adequate signage (none exists), it compensates by having many friendly people who are willing to struggle through the language barrier in order to understand what I need and then often personally take me great distances through a congested labyrinth simply to help me find what I’m looking for.
At Wal-Mart, large carts are provided to ease your shopping burden. This is not so at the Jalingo market. I have my arms and my large canvas HEB shopping bag, which has proven to be invaluable, to carry all items from the market to my house. Due to a weight limit that I am able to carry, I am forced to thoughtfully weigh the benefits of buying certain things with the costs of having to carry them for the rest of the shopping excursion. There are certain things that can only be purchased at the market and therefore those are non-negotiable, but other things that they may be cheaper at the main market are not cheap enough to justify carrying them around all over creation.
Wal-Mart, as you all know, is set up so that one collects all desired items and then brings them up to the check out to pay one grand total of a bill typically by debit or credit card. At the market, each item is purchased from a different vendor as a separate cash transaction. Nigeria, as a country, is still very much a cash-based society. That was quite the change for a girl who has purchased everything on a credit card for her entire adult life.
The final hurdle is finding my way out of the market, back to the main road, securing a taxi, and adequately communicating where I want to be dropped. As I was riding home I was considering whether or not I had conquered the market. I came to the conclusion that I had. The main market is not my favorite place in all of Jalingo, but I am now confident that though I will never know my way around the prodigious place of commerce known as the market, I am able to navigate it with a reasonable degree of success. I managed to get all necessary items and a few bonus ones that I didn’t even know existed let alone know that I needed!
On the taxi ride home, I was likening a trip to the market with a trip to Super Wal-Mart. The market is probably the size of 4-5 square blocks, hence larger than a Super Wal-Mart. Both contain nearly everything you need. However, in Wal-Mart items are organized categorically. One may not agree with the particular section that a particular item was placed, but they’re all together. At the market, there seems to be some sort of organization, but really everything is mixed together. I’m not really sure what the difference is among the 35 (probably a significant under-estimation) different tomato vendors or whether it is better to buy tomatoes from one of the vendors that is clustered together in a group 10 or to buy them from the person that is placed amongst the fabric. I’ve yet to get a definitive answer about that. Back to the comparison…both places are jam packed with people. However, in Wal-Mart the aisles are indoors, tiled, level, and about 6 feet wide. The market walk-ways are outdoors, rutted dirt and sand with puddles and just wide enough for one wheel barrow to get through. Never mind the challenge that is presented when the wheelbarrows try to pass by throngs of people!
Wal-Mart claims to have a helpful smile in every aisle (okay…I’ve later realized it’s not Wal-Mart, but good old Hy-Vee in Iowa…nonetheless…), but I’m confident that the Jalingo market has them outclassed in customer service. While the market is significantly deficient in adequate signage (none exists), it compensates by having many friendly people who are willing to struggle through the language barrier in order to understand what I need and then often personally take me great distances through a congested labyrinth simply to help me find what I’m looking for.
At Wal-Mart, large carts are provided to ease your shopping burden. This is not so at the Jalingo market. I have my arms and my large canvas HEB shopping bag, which has proven to be invaluable, to carry all items from the market to my house. Due to a weight limit that I am able to carry, I am forced to thoughtfully weigh the benefits of buying certain things with the costs of having to carry them for the rest of the shopping excursion. There are certain things that can only be purchased at the market and therefore those are non-negotiable, but other things that they may be cheaper at the main market are not cheap enough to justify carrying them around all over creation.
Wal-Mart, as you all know, is set up so that one collects all desired items and then brings them up to the check out to pay one grand total of a bill typically by debit or credit card. At the market, each item is purchased from a different vendor as a separate cash transaction. Nigeria, as a country, is still very much a cash-based society. That was quite the change for a girl who has purchased everything on a credit card for her entire adult life.
The final hurdle is finding my way out of the market, back to the main road, securing a taxi, and adequately communicating where I want to be dropped. As I was riding home I was considering whether or not I had conquered the market. I came to the conclusion that I had. The main market is not my favorite place in all of Jalingo, but I am now confident that though I will never know my way around the prodigious place of commerce known as the market, I am able to navigate it with a reasonable degree of success. I managed to get all necessary items and a few bonus ones that I didn’t even know existed let alone know that I needed!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Africa's Reaction to the Election!
The United States has elected a new president! After months and months of endless campaigning, Barack Obama will be the new president. On Tuesday, afternoon I tried to find a radio station that was talking about the polls opening. The English stations weren’t talking about the election yet and the Hausa stations were definitely talking about it but all I could understand was blah blah blah Obama blah blah blah McCain. It was torture for a person like me who loves political commentary! Radio coverage on the BBC didn’t start until 11pm here. So, I went to bed and asked my friend back home to please text me as soon as there was a winner!
Now, over the past few weeks I had begun to recognize how interested the people of Nigeria were in the election, but nothing compared to the response on Wednesday. Everyone in Jalingo was “watching” to see who would win, not just the educated, well-off people but people who hadn’t finished high school and had never left Taraba state were aware and interested in the results. The people of Jalingo, Nigeria and all of Africa are ecstatic to have Obama, a person of African descent in the White House. It was the first time I fully understood what an effect the president of the United States of America has on the entire world.
Around 4am, I received a text saying that Obama had won! While I was getting ready for school Wednesday morning, I listened to numerous reports on the radio that gave snip-its of both McCain’s concession speech and Obama’s victory speech. I was so encouraged to hear Obama’s call for unity that people of all races, religions, economic backgrounds. I hope and pray that we, as a country, will be able to move forward in a positive direction amongst the many national and international challenges.
My friends and co-workers here were all congratulating me on a good election. Some of the comments I heard were, “It was such a civilized election!” “I can’t believe McCain simply conceded defeat!” “What a blessing to have such a free and fair election!” “I can’t believe a white country would elect a black man to be president!” After listening to these comments, I realized in a new way what a unique and special government and political system that we have in the United States. I guess it made up for feeling a little homesick that I was missing out on the election excitement and election parties back home!
Now, over the past few weeks I had begun to recognize how interested the people of Nigeria were in the election, but nothing compared to the response on Wednesday. Everyone in Jalingo was “watching” to see who would win, not just the educated, well-off people but people who hadn’t finished high school and had never left Taraba state were aware and interested in the results. The people of Jalingo, Nigeria and all of Africa are ecstatic to have Obama, a person of African descent in the White House. It was the first time I fully understood what an effect the president of the United States of America has on the entire world.
Around 4am, I received a text saying that Obama had won! While I was getting ready for school Wednesday morning, I listened to numerous reports on the radio that gave snip-its of both McCain’s concession speech and Obama’s victory speech. I was so encouraged to hear Obama’s call for unity that people of all races, religions, economic backgrounds. I hope and pray that we, as a country, will be able to move forward in a positive direction amongst the many national and international challenges.
My friends and co-workers here were all congratulating me on a good election. Some of the comments I heard were, “It was such a civilized election!” “I can’t believe McCain simply conceded defeat!” “What a blessing to have such a free and fair election!” “I can’t believe a white country would elect a black man to be president!” After listening to these comments, I realized in a new way what a unique and special government and political system that we have in the United States. I guess it made up for feeling a little homesick that I was missing out on the election excitement and election parties back home!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Daily Musings
These next blurbs are things that I think about or encounter on a nearly daily basis that I take note of or giggle about in my head but due to a lack of any American companions they don’t really come up in conversation. I thought I’d share them through this venue!
Showers
I realize that I’m incredibly blessed to have running water here in Jalingo and I really appreciate the fact that I can shower everyday! I feel like I have even adjusted to cold showers. In fact, on the mornings that I run, the cold shower actually feels good! It is a prime motivating factor that drags me out of bed in the mornings 3 days a week.
This past week there has been a marked change in weather. The nights have been refreshingly cool! So cold, in fact, that I have been sleeping in long pants and a sweatshirt, which is absolutely delightful! However, the colder nights, which produce much improved sleeping conditions, also make my shower water colder! It’s a quandary. This morning, I decided that some morning calisthenics were in order. That’s right, I was definitely doing sit-ups and jumping jacks first thing this morning for the sole purpose of getting warmer so that the shower would feel better…you may be laughing, but it worked! Next time you feel like laughing, take a shower with the temperature setting all the way on cold! :)
Moon
One thing that’s been interesting to observe is the changing phases of the moon. I can’t say that I’d ever really taken notice what phase the moon was in except on the rare occasions that the full moon looks extra pretty. Here, there is a significant difference in the amount of light at night depending on whether it is a full moon or a new moon. The extra light is welcomed when I’m walking at night because it makes the flash light, or torch light as they’re called here, nearly unnecessary. However, when it’s a new moon, the sky is so dark and the stars here are beautiful! Sometimes I just sit outside with my generator turned off and gaze up at the sparkling stars and the blur of the Milky Way…pretty amazing really!
Washing Clothes and Cooking
This past weekend I did my laundry for the second time by hand. It ended up being 3 weeks again since the last time I had done laundry. It wasn’t a good decision the first time I waited 3 weeks and it was an equally poor choice this time! Doing laundry the first time by hand was novel, this second time the novelty was wearing off. While it is a physically more demanding process to wring out every item of clothing once after washing and once after rinsing overall, it does takes less time! I was able to do all of my laundry in about 2 hours and have it all drying on the line for the day. At home, one must be around every 45 minutes or so to switch out the loads!
With cooking, I have developed a system and come to a few conclusions. I have figured out how to cook enough “soup” to last for 3-4 days and then I can fix either rice or tuwo of some sort to go with it each night. I much prefer cooking twice a week to nightly. I’ve also determined that my joy of cooking is inversely proportional to my level of hunger. That is, I detest cooking when I am super hungry! However, if I actually begin preparing food before being hungry, it’s not that bad. I grew up in a household where the household workload was shared. My dad cooked the meals and my mom cleaned up. My roommate and I had employed a similar system when I was living in
Band-aids and Neosporin
Since arriving in Jalingo, I have received and inflicted significantly more scrapes and cuts than I’ve ever had! Partly because I’m cooking more, partly because I haven’t purchased a can open yet, partly because everything is done with rudimentary tools and partly because mosquitoes love me and I lack self-control when it comes to itching their bites. These contributing factors equate to me having all sorts of skin impalements. Since I am avoiding infection at all cost, I am striving to keep these cuts covered with a band-aid and Neosporin! However, one day I cut myself at school and when I went to the clinic I was amused that they didn’t have any band-aids. Now, they were fabulous and able to disinfect me and put a piece of cotton over it covered by tape (essentially a band-aid)! But it made me giggle on the inside that something I take as common here is uncommon. I brought quite a few band-aids with me and now carry a couple in my purse. Live and learn! :)
Is it Tuesday?
Now, Tuesday was a special day for me in Boerne because it meant dollar mochas at Bear Moon Bakery, so I found myself asking “Is it Tuesday?” on a regular basis. Now that I’m in Jalingo, the question has been altered. Presently, I habitually ask myself “Is it malaria Tuesday?” Yeah, it doesn’t really have the same ring as “Is it malaria Monday?” a phrase that a friend of mine suggested, but the very first week that I was supposed to take my pill, I forgot on Monday and so I took the first one on a Tuesday. Thankfully, I haven’t forgotten since then! Sleeping beneath a mosquito net nightly is a pretty good reminder!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Hello, Taft Middle School!
I’m very excited to be saying hello to the 7th Grade Gold Team from Taft Middle School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa! I’m “Aunty Carolyn” to my students here in Nigeria (they address all their teachers either using “Aunty” or “Uncle” and their first name) and I’m from Iowa, but I’m here in Jalingo teaching science for a year. My JS3 (like 9th grade) Integrated Science students at JSS are looking forward to getting to know things about your school, Iowa and the United States.
These students live in Jalingo which is the capital of Taraba State in Nigeria. Since Jalingo is located near the equator, it’s pretty hot here most of the time. The weather now is changing from rainy season to dry season with Harmattan to be coming during November and December, which is their “winter”. This time will be cool at night and very hot, dry, windy and dusty during the day.
In science, they just got done learning about Living Things in their Environment including the five sense systems and they are now learning about chemistry, which is my personal favorite! They just learned a little chant about the 3 parts of the atom and are now practically chemistry experts! The students also take classes about Hausa, which is their native language, math, English, home economics, social studies, physical education (they love it here, too!) and art. Since they live here at school, they eat all of their meals here, play games, do chores, sing songs, and study all here on campus. They love to play football (soccer), volleyball and Badminton during games time and hang out with their friends. They don’t have any internet access at school, so communication will have to go through me, but you can email me cartercarolyn@hotmail.com if you would like to send the students in JS3 a message.
Thank you so much for your efforts to help us out with some supplies! We really appreciate it and are excited to get to know you! Please let me know if you have any specific questions you would like the students to answer.
These students live in Jalingo which is the capital of Taraba State in Nigeria. Since Jalingo is located near the equator, it’s pretty hot here most of the time. The weather now is changing from rainy season to dry season with Harmattan to be coming during November and December, which is their “winter”. This time will be cool at night and very hot, dry, windy and dusty during the day.
In science, they just got done learning about Living Things in their Environment including the five sense systems and they are now learning about chemistry, which is my personal favorite! They just learned a little chant about the 3 parts of the atom and are now practically chemistry experts! The students also take classes about Hausa, which is their native language, math, English, home economics, social studies, physical education (they love it here, too!) and art. Since they live here at school, they eat all of their meals here, play games, do chores, sing songs, and study all here on campus. They love to play football (soccer), volleyball and Badminton during games time and hang out with their friends. They don’t have any internet access at school, so communication will have to go through me, but you can email me cartercarolyn@hotmail.com if you would like to send the students in JS3 a message.
Thank you so much for your efforts to help us out with some supplies! We really appreciate it and are excited to get to know you! Please let me know if you have any specific questions you would like the students to answer.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
"I don't understand!"
Back in Boerne, when I heard “I don’t understand” it was a phrase that stirred mild disappointment that my explanation wasn’t yet adequate. Here in Jalingo, “I don’t understand” evokes feelings of excitement, hope and potential. While this may be counter-intuitive, it’s nonetheless true. One of my greatest sources of frustration with my classes has been that they would simply sit silently staring at me after I explained something and denied having any questions. However, they would then perform abysmally, by my standards, and I would be left feeling confused. They said they didn’t have any questions! I questioned my colleagues about this phenomenon thinking that it may be something to do with my accent or that they were scared of me. They assured me the same thing happens in their classes.
Hmmm…I decided that this must change! I began starting each class with the little mantra stating that “Asking questions indicates intelligence, not ignorance.” I then started providing ridiculous amounts of positive reinforcement for asking any question whatsoever. I felt like I did this to an extent in the U.S., but I took it to a whole new level here! I told them over and over again how important it was to ask questions and by golly, now in the 8th week of school they’re starting to do it!
The primary mode of teaching here is teacher lecture and so many of the students are used to sitting in their desks passively absorbing information. It is so exciting for me to see how their eyes have changed from glossy and disengaged to focused and confused! Granted, I ultimately want them to be engaged and glowing with understanding, but everything is a gradual process. Today, I was thrilled to explain how to draw the Bohr-model of a silicon-27 atom about 6 times in as many different ways as one can say the number of protons always equals the number of electrons in an atom! The next step is to help them to more accurately describe their lack of understanding, but for today hearing “I don’t understand” and “no capishe” (thank you Full House!) multiple times from a variety of students was a victory!
Hmmm…I decided that this must change! I began starting each class with the little mantra stating that “Asking questions indicates intelligence, not ignorance.” I then started providing ridiculous amounts of positive reinforcement for asking any question whatsoever. I felt like I did this to an extent in the U.S., but I took it to a whole new level here! I told them over and over again how important it was to ask questions and by golly, now in the 8th week of school they’re starting to do it!
The primary mode of teaching here is teacher lecture and so many of the students are used to sitting in their desks passively absorbing information. It is so exciting for me to see how their eyes have changed from glossy and disengaged to focused and confused! Granted, I ultimately want them to be engaged and glowing with understanding, but everything is a gradual process. Today, I was thrilled to explain how to draw the Bohr-model of a silicon-27 atom about 6 times in as many different ways as one can say the number of protons always equals the number of electrons in an atom! The next step is to help them to more accurately describe their lack of understanding, but for today hearing “I don’t understand” and “no capishe” (thank you Full House!) multiple times from a variety of students was a victory!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Importance of Education
Clearly, I believe in the importance of education. I grew up in a household where both of my parents are teachers. I became a chemistry teacher and have moved to Nigeria to teach science in hopes of creating positive change in a community. I believe that all change starts with education. Three Cups of Tea (www.threecupsoftea.com) is a book depicting the actions of one man who chose to further the cause of education for the children, particularly the girls, of Pakistan and Afghanistan by building schools in the remote areas that had previously been too isolated. Greg Mortensen believes that peace will only be achieved when communities have economic stability and that will only take place after the people of the region have received a complete and balanced education.
From my experiences here in Nigeria, I can attest to the fact that there is a significant difference between the numbers of men being educated vs the number of women being educated. I feel very blessed to have grown up in the United States with the benefit of receiving a strong education in science nonetheless. Many people here, girls specifically, haven’t had the same opportunities especially in some of the Muslim communities in the northern part of the country.
This book did an amazing job of illustrating how people of differing faiths can work together to achieve the common goal of education which will effectually be the only way that peace and progress can be achieved. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it. You will not be disappointed!
From my experiences here in Nigeria, I can attest to the fact that there is a significant difference between the numbers of men being educated vs the number of women being educated. I feel very blessed to have grown up in the United States with the benefit of receiving a strong education in science nonetheless. Many people here, girls specifically, haven’t had the same opportunities especially in some of the Muslim communities in the northern part of the country.
This book did an amazing job of illustrating how people of differing faiths can work together to achieve the common goal of education which will effectually be the only way that peace and progress can be achieved. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it. You will not be disappointed!
Living Sacrificially = Sharing Grandma’s Cookies
Romans 12:1 says that we are to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is our spiritual act of worship”. This was part of the introduction to my devotional book for the month of September. I had read this verse many times, but I was taken by the commentary that accompanied it stating that we are called to be a living sacrifice makes this decree much more difficult to heed. If we were called to be a dead sacrifice, we could make a one-time decision to sacrifice our lives and it would be done! Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, we are called to be a LIVING sacrifice! That means, as we are squirming on the altar, we have to make repeated decisions whether we want to stay on the altar by living and loving sacrificially or jump off.
I read this nearly two months ago and have thought back to it many times during my stay here. Living and loving sacrificially is as much about the little daily decisions as it is about the big ones. While leaving the US to go to Nigeria doesn’t initially seem to be on the same level as giving away some of Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies, I’m pretty sure the latter felt more sacrificial! The point is that each of us has innumerable times each day when we can choose to live and love sacrificially in worship to God or we can choose live according to selfish motives. (These can produce much more personally favorable results ephemerally, which is likely why, evolutionarily speaking, we would be inclined to yield to them….the science part of me can’t just be turned off!) However, in the end, choosing to live and love sacrificially not only pleases God eternally, but it also serves to edify those around us in the present!
I write this not because I have everything figured out, because I don’t, but because living sacrificially on a moment to moment basis is something that has presented itself to me many times throughout my stay here starting with the devotional and coming up in a variety of church services and Bible Studies. It must be important…God knows to be persistent with me!
I read this nearly two months ago and have thought back to it many times during my stay here. Living and loving sacrificially is as much about the little daily decisions as it is about the big ones. While leaving the US to go to Nigeria doesn’t initially seem to be on the same level as giving away some of Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies, I’m pretty sure the latter felt more sacrificial! The point is that each of us has innumerable times each day when we can choose to live and love sacrificially in worship to God or we can choose live according to selfish motives. (These can produce much more personally favorable results ephemerally, which is likely why, evolutionarily speaking, we would be inclined to yield to them….the science part of me can’t just be turned off!) However, in the end, choosing to live and love sacrificially not only pleases God eternally, but it also serves to edify those around us in the present!
I write this not because I have everything figured out, because I don’t, but because living sacrificially on a moment to moment basis is something that has presented itself to me many times throughout my stay here starting with the devotional and coming up in a variety of church services and Bible Studies. It must be important…God knows to be persistent with me!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Flame Test Lab Fizzles Out
Today I was so excited that I had remembered to bring my old Coke cans from home to use as flame-resistant receptacles for the flame test lab. Then, I used my hand pocket knife (that I’m pretty sure I couldn’t live without) to cut in half so I could use them as bowls that wouldn’t crack or melt. I then realized that I didn’t have any matches, so I went to the little hut outside the school grounds (I’m going to have to take a picture of this place because it seriously looks like it has nothing, but it’s come through for me multiple times now!) and purchased 6 packages for 30 cents. Then, I found some chemicals that would work to give some pretty flame colors and found the big bottle of ethanol. I thought for sure that I’d conquered all the challenges and was ready for the lab to be successful because I’d done this same lab nearly 10 times! Never underestimate the challenges in doing lab in Nigeria! J
I described the procedure, since I now balk at the idea of a lab handout, for making a 50% water 50% ethanol solution in the bottom of the can and adding their salt. They were then instructed to light the solution on fire and record the flame color. The kids did all of this and went to light it on fire (I was cringing and dying on the inside that they were going to be doing this without goggles on.) but it didn’t light. Now, I was certain that I’d used a 50/50 mixture last year when I demonstrated this method in AP Chemistry because we needed the water to help dissolve the salt, but I thought that maybe the water was causing the problem, so I had them start over and use all ethanol and their salt. Ethanol, the chemical that has “Highly Flammable” warnings on its label, extinguished the match as if it were being placed into water. Ethanol, the volatile chemical that is used as a fuel additive because of its combustion properties, didn’t even spark once in the consumption of nearly 3 entire boxes of matches. We probably could have stopped trying before consuming so many matches, but I was so incredulous that ethanol wasn’t producing a flame that I allowed attempts to continue past the prudent stopping point.
Grrrr…I was frustrated and dejected. I went to complain to Dajah and verify with another chemist that ethanol is in fact flammable, and this was crazy! After he chucked at my distress and disbelief and assured me that ethanol is combustible in air and told me (Iowa girl) that it’s used as a fuel additive, he told me that it must not be ethanol that I was using. I emphatically told him that I checked the bottle multiple times and it was ethanol! He then explained to me that there are many corrupt business people who simply put clear liquids in bottles and place fraudulent labels on them in order to sell them for money. Oh my goodness! He said that in the 3 years that he’d been the chemistry teacher he’d never used the ethanol to know that it was bad. After evaluating the lid that didn’t actually form any semblance of a seal, I became further convinced that it wasn’t ethanol since it had been around for 3 years and hadn’t completely evaporated in an essentially open container.
So, we started to discuss alternatives for the practicals on Friday. I asked him if one could buy vodka here (as it is an excellent source of ethanol). He had never heard of vodka and his pronunciation made me giggle. It was quite the turn of events to have me trying to explain a type of alcohol to someone! We left school with him promising to buy some gin and me in search of rubbing alcohol at a pharmacy (drug store). I definitely checked in no less than 8 different stores looking for rubbing alcohol using as many names and descriptors as possible to no avail. I think maybe 3 of them really knew what rubbing alcohol was but I visually search all 8 of these small 8’x 8’ stores and there was no alcohol to be found, but this one woman did show me this juice that may have been alcoholic, but it was imported from France and I know even less French than I do Hausa, so I gave up uncertain of what it was but certain that it wasn’t rubbing alcohol. I hoped that Daja would do better with the gin!
Unfortunately, the store was closed, so no gin. After more thought, I decided that we could maybe dip sticks (that they created by pounding branches with rocks) into kerosene, coat them with the salts and then light them on fire. So, with 1 film canister of kerosene we were able to get fire! Alas, the chemicals that I thought would be good really all produced orange flames except for the copper sulfate which was my redeeming blue flame. They were definitely not convinced that this lab is the “best lab ever!” but can’t fault me for lack of effort!
I described the procedure, since I now balk at the idea of a lab handout, for making a 50% water 50% ethanol solution in the bottom of the can and adding their salt. They were then instructed to light the solution on fire and record the flame color. The kids did all of this and went to light it on fire (I was cringing and dying on the inside that they were going to be doing this without goggles on.) but it didn’t light. Now, I was certain that I’d used a 50/50 mixture last year when I demonstrated this method in AP Chemistry because we needed the water to help dissolve the salt, but I thought that maybe the water was causing the problem, so I had them start over and use all ethanol and their salt. Ethanol, the chemical that has “Highly Flammable” warnings on its label, extinguished the match as if it were being placed into water. Ethanol, the volatile chemical that is used as a fuel additive because of its combustion properties, didn’t even spark once in the consumption of nearly 3 entire boxes of matches. We probably could have stopped trying before consuming so many matches, but I was so incredulous that ethanol wasn’t producing a flame that I allowed attempts to continue past the prudent stopping point.
Grrrr…I was frustrated and dejected. I went to complain to Dajah and verify with another chemist that ethanol is in fact flammable, and this was crazy! After he chucked at my distress and disbelief and assured me that ethanol is combustible in air and told me (Iowa girl) that it’s used as a fuel additive, he told me that it must not be ethanol that I was using. I emphatically told him that I checked the bottle multiple times and it was ethanol! He then explained to me that there are many corrupt business people who simply put clear liquids in bottles and place fraudulent labels on them in order to sell them for money. Oh my goodness! He said that in the 3 years that he’d been the chemistry teacher he’d never used the ethanol to know that it was bad. After evaluating the lid that didn’t actually form any semblance of a seal, I became further convinced that it wasn’t ethanol since it had been around for 3 years and hadn’t completely evaporated in an essentially open container.
So, we started to discuss alternatives for the practicals on Friday. I asked him if one could buy vodka here (as it is an excellent source of ethanol). He had never heard of vodka and his pronunciation made me giggle. It was quite the turn of events to have me trying to explain a type of alcohol to someone! We left school with him promising to buy some gin and me in search of rubbing alcohol at a pharmacy (drug store). I definitely checked in no less than 8 different stores looking for rubbing alcohol using as many names and descriptors as possible to no avail. I think maybe 3 of them really knew what rubbing alcohol was but I visually search all 8 of these small 8’x 8’ stores and there was no alcohol to be found, but this one woman did show me this juice that may have been alcoholic, but it was imported from France and I know even less French than I do Hausa, so I gave up uncertain of what it was but certain that it wasn’t rubbing alcohol. I hoped that Daja would do better with the gin!
Unfortunately, the store was closed, so no gin. After more thought, I decided that we could maybe dip sticks (that they created by pounding branches with rocks) into kerosene, coat them with the salts and then light them on fire. So, with 1 film canister of kerosene we were able to get fire! Alas, the chemicals that I thought would be good really all produced orange flames except for the copper sulfate which was my redeeming blue flame. They were definitely not convinced that this lab is the “best lab ever!” but can’t fault me for lack of effort!
I love "restaurants"!
I was excited that I didn’t have to cook on Thursday because I had leftovers from the night before. Now, I had used too much groundnut paswte to prepare this sour leaf soup, so it wasn’t good, but it was edible. I thought that I would “spice it up a bit” by adding some tuna! Now, I had forgotten from last week when I ate a can of tuna that these cans require can openers. I don’t have a can opener, so I had to use my multi-function tool to hack-saw into the can. We can be thankful that I still have all my fingers! I really need to invest in a can opener! Now the dinner that was edible the previous night, after sitting for a day was even worse (even with the tuna!) I ate enough to provide me adequate nourishment (don’t worry Mom!) but it was pretty gross. Thankfully, since my one portable light broke a few days ago, I couldn’t see how awful it looked in the pan before I ate it. When NEPA, which was finally fixed this week, came on as an unexpected surprise around 9, I went back to my kitchen with light for the first time in about a month. I was disgusted by the greasy concoction remaining in the pan. It looked horrible!! I quickly disposed of the remains and said a prayer of thanks that I had eaten it before seeing it!
As a result of this recent cooking disaster, I decided to call my friend Laura and ask her to come over on Saturday to help me cook tuwo masara and some soup. She listed off some ingredients to buy and said she’d be over. In the meantime, I was a little reluctant to try again without some guidance, but a girl has to eat so I decided to go to the little “restaurant” right outside my compound where the women who helped me shell my moi moi beans prepare all the food. When I first came to Nigeria, I had been warned about the dangers of eating “street food”, which is why it has taken me 5 weeks here “alone” and multiple botched dinners before I decided to try it. I rationalized it with the fact that I’ve eaten food prepared at JSS, which can’t be anymore sanitary than this restaurant, had my food partially prepared by these cooks with their utensils, and have had my food ground at the community grinder which is anything but clean, and I have thankfully stayed healthy. I figured I would give it a shot.
Oh my goodness! It was delightful! Many people laughed at me for going and I still need to consult Laura as to whether it’s because I’m a bature eating Nigerian food (which they all find intriguing) or whether it’s because I’m a woman who is eating prepared food (which is practically unheard of), but I don’t care! The food was delicious! The women were so excited to have me there. There were two other men at the table with me that provided excellent conversation and one of them who left before I was through even paid for my dinner (which I was oblivious to probably because the transaction took place in Hausa)! I asked how much the meal costs for future reference and they told me 100N…yeah…that the equivalent of like $.85! Now, I know I need to learn how to cook, and I will continue to press on but this is an exciting development in my culinary world!
As a result of this recent cooking disaster, I decided to call my friend Laura and ask her to come over on Saturday to help me cook tuwo masara and some soup. She listed off some ingredients to buy and said she’d be over. In the meantime, I was a little reluctant to try again without some guidance, but a girl has to eat so I decided to go to the little “restaurant” right outside my compound where the women who helped me shell my moi moi beans prepare all the food. When I first came to Nigeria, I had been warned about the dangers of eating “street food”, which is why it has taken me 5 weeks here “alone” and multiple botched dinners before I decided to try it. I rationalized it with the fact that I’ve eaten food prepared at JSS, which can’t be anymore sanitary than this restaurant, had my food partially prepared by these cooks with their utensils, and have had my food ground at the community grinder which is anything but clean, and I have thankfully stayed healthy. I figured I would give it a shot.
Oh my goodness! It was delightful! Many people laughed at me for going and I still need to consult Laura as to whether it’s because I’m a bature eating Nigerian food (which they all find intriguing) or whether it’s because I’m a woman who is eating prepared food (which is practically unheard of), but I don’t care! The food was delicious! The women were so excited to have me there. There were two other men at the table with me that provided excellent conversation and one of them who left before I was through even paid for my dinner (which I was oblivious to probably because the transaction took place in Hausa)! I asked how much the meal costs for future reference and they told me 100N…yeah…that the equivalent of like $.85! Now, I know I need to learn how to cook, and I will continue to press on but this is an exciting development in my culinary world!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Cultural Differences
There are many social rules and many of them aren’t given any thought…when you’re in your own culture! However, it requires a lot of thought, attention and effort when you’re in a new culture. I vividly remember in high school telling a foreign exchange student from Germany that it wasn’t socially acceptable to wear the same clothes two days in a row here in the US. She thought this was so strange and said that people do it all the time in Germany. I remember saying, that’s fine, but you’re in the US and people will think you’re weird if you do that here. That conversation has flashed through my mind so many times in the two months since I’ve been here in Nigeria.
A few social norms that I’ve had to adapt to:
1) When wrapping your wrapper (pronounced “wrappa”) the open side MUST be on the left…I asked why? I like it better on the right…they laughed hysterically and said if I was a woman, I MUST have the open side on the left…okay.
2) When entering a church for any reason a woman must have her head covered and wear a skirt…I asked why? I was told, “Haven’t you ever read that verse in the Bible?”…yeah…I’m trying to build up my scarf collection and still don’t really enjoy that…I wore capris the other day because I had worn them to school (where a student gave me a note with Deuteronomy 22:5 in it…check it out!)…and I survived.
3) You shouldn’t wear a shirt that isn’t the same pattern as your wrapper when you go to church. It’s considered too casual.
4) You don’t invite people over…they stop by to visit and you’re expected to go visit people “greet them” in return. I feel that I’m at a disadvantage considering I know where very few people live and everyone knows where I live!
5) There are no neutral places to meet people at. It is always at someone’s home.
6) Nigerians ALL (and I know that I am using ALL because it applies) comment on people’s weight/size. I have been told by innumerable people that I’m getting fatter or that I was fat in previous pictures. (I’m fully convinced this is because when I first started teaching at JSS I was gaunt. I am now “normal”) I have not gotten used to this. People often ask me to then assess other people’s weight. I have explained many times that I just can’t do this…it’s too weird.
7) When someone invites you to do something, they have to pay. Even in a group of friends. I don’t think this is fair because I still feel like I’m at the mercy of going where people invite me to go because I don’t know enough to initiate but I feel guilty that it means I never pay!
8) You’re not supposed to do laundry on Sunday, but it is acceptable to have a conversation with guys while doing laundry…underwear! They didn’t seem to think it was strange at all.
9) When you’re walking along and see someone you know, you’re supposed to stop and have a full conversation with them. Saying hello and walking past isn’t acceptable. This is fine except when everyone feels like they know you!
10) When riding a motorcycle (which I try to do as infrequently as possible), you don’t hold onto the driver…even though it seems as though it would be the most stable thing to do. I, instead, grip onto the rack behind me and say a prayer.
This is really just the beginning. There are so many “rules” and each one learned has involved a situation or multiple in which I have felt quite awkward! It takes extra energy and effort to simply not make a fool of myself or at least minimize the frequency! However, I feel that I will be much more mindful and seek out people to help once back in the United States as I have been grateful for many kind and patient teachers here.
I uploaded some new pictures...some are a part of old albums and some are in a new one...here are the links:
Mountain Climbing!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37892&l=661e1&id=501312909
Cooking and Home Repairs
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35042&l=d4f33&id=501312909
Colorful Columns Density Lab
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35471&l=4f4c3&id=501312909
A few social norms that I’ve had to adapt to:
1) When wrapping your wrapper (pronounced “wrappa”) the open side MUST be on the left…I asked why? I like it better on the right…they laughed hysterically and said if I was a woman, I MUST have the open side on the left…okay.
2) When entering a church for any reason a woman must have her head covered and wear a skirt…I asked why? I was told, “Haven’t you ever read that verse in the Bible?”…yeah…I’m trying to build up my scarf collection and still don’t really enjoy that…I wore capris the other day because I had worn them to school (where a student gave me a note with Deuteronomy 22:5 in it…check it out!)…and I survived.
3) You shouldn’t wear a shirt that isn’t the same pattern as your wrapper when you go to church. It’s considered too casual.
4) You don’t invite people over…they stop by to visit and you’re expected to go visit people “greet them” in return. I feel that I’m at a disadvantage considering I know where very few people live and everyone knows where I live!
5) There are no neutral places to meet people at. It is always at someone’s home.
6) Nigerians ALL (and I know that I am using ALL because it applies) comment on people’s weight/size. I have been told by innumerable people that I’m getting fatter or that I was fat in previous pictures. (I’m fully convinced this is because when I first started teaching at JSS I was gaunt. I am now “normal”) I have not gotten used to this. People often ask me to then assess other people’s weight. I have explained many times that I just can’t do this…it’s too weird.
7) When someone invites you to do something, they have to pay. Even in a group of friends. I don’t think this is fair because I still feel like I’m at the mercy of going where people invite me to go because I don’t know enough to initiate but I feel guilty that it means I never pay!
8) You’re not supposed to do laundry on Sunday, but it is acceptable to have a conversation with guys while doing laundry…underwear! They didn’t seem to think it was strange at all.
9) When you’re walking along and see someone you know, you’re supposed to stop and have a full conversation with them. Saying hello and walking past isn’t acceptable. This is fine except when everyone feels like they know you!
10) When riding a motorcycle (which I try to do as infrequently as possible), you don’t hold onto the driver…even though it seems as though it would be the most stable thing to do. I, instead, grip onto the rack behind me and say a prayer.
This is really just the beginning. There are so many “rules” and each one learned has involved a situation or multiple in which I have felt quite awkward! It takes extra energy and effort to simply not make a fool of myself or at least minimize the frequency! However, I feel that I will be much more mindful and seek out people to help once back in the United States as I have been grateful for many kind and patient teachers here.
I uploaded some new pictures...some are a part of old albums and some are in a new one...here are the links:
Mountain Climbing!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37892&l=661e1&id=501312909
Cooking and Home Repairs
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35042&l=d4f33&id=501312909
Colorful Columns Density Lab
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35471&l=4f4c3&id=501312909
Saturday, October 11, 2008
I GOT MAIL!!!
After mailing my ballot, I introduced myself and told them that I was hoping to be receiving some packages. They said I could leave my phone number and they’d contact me if they saw anything…5 minutes after I left they called me saying I should return as they’d found some packages!!!!
AHHH!!! YAY!!! I received my first letters from Mom and my friend Laura in Botswana which was so exciting and encouraging…and now I received an excellent package from my parents (so hopefully my printer will be able to be used now!), chocolate chip cookies (all in one piece and miraculously fresh) from my Grandma and a super-fun care package from Laura and Meredith!!!! The post office people were so happy that I was so excited!! I told them that the Jalingo Post Office is the BEST EVER! When I told them that I had been concerned that packages wouldn’t arrive and that stuff might be stolen, they said, “We have a very good and efficient mail system!” I said I would now boast as much! They promised to call me as soon as anything else arrives for me…I’m confident now that any package that gets even close to Jalingo will make it to me! :) They are fabulous!!!
I'm making a list of requests now that I know they just might make it! :)
AHHH!!! YAY!!! I received my first letters from Mom and my friend Laura in Botswana which was so exciting and encouraging…and now I received an excellent package from my parents (so hopefully my printer will be able to be used now!), chocolate chip cookies (all in one piece and miraculously fresh) from my Grandma and a super-fun care package from Laura and Meredith!!!! The post office people were so happy that I was so excited!! I told them that the Jalingo Post Office is the BEST EVER! When I told them that I had been concerned that packages wouldn’t arrive and that stuff might be stolen, they said, “We have a very good and efficient mail system!” I said I would now boast as much! They promised to call me as soon as anything else arrives for me…I’m confident now that any package that gets even close to Jalingo will make it to me! :) They are fabulous!!!
I'm making a list of requests now that I know they just might make it! :)
Voting in America!
Democracy is a beautiful thing. Free and open elections are a blessing. I have been a strong advocate for participating in elections big and small ever since getting interested in politics during my government class in high school, but I think voting in this election has been the most challenging and rewarding voting experience yet! It started by having to switch my residency from Texas to Iowa only to move to Nigeria. I had to convince the Muscatine County Auditor that I couldn’t receive mail (which I didn’t think I could at the time!) and she needed to email me my ballot.
When I thankfully received it via email, I saved it to my flash drive only to find out the file had been corrupted, so I had to do it again. When I found a USB cord to hook up my printer to my computer, it didn’t work. So, I went across the road to print it at a “computer service center” since my internet café was not working for a few days. Unfortunately, after he started up his generator, booted his computer we realized that he didn’t have Adobe Acrobat Reader so I couldn’t open all the documents. I tried to explain to him the beauty of pdf files and promised him I would try to copy the program onto my jump drive (which he’d never seen before…at a “computer service center”…I was a little confused by this, but I guess that people normally just type what they want there and then print it…so much for the idea of saving!) and bring it to him so he could have it on his computer. He was interested in this and therefore changed the price to print from the completely outrageous “white person price” of about $1.50 per page to a more reasonable $.50 per page. Later, I printed the remaining 6 pages at my internet café for a “special person price” of about $.15 per page!
Since I was ridiculously excited about having my ballot, I showed it to many people…at the internet café…around my compound…at school…really anyone I came in contact with! They were all intrigued that I was able to vote in an American election even though I was residing in Nigeria. Then, they were all amazed to see the names John McCain and Barak Obama that they’d all heard about on the news on my ballot!! I then was able to get into some interesting discussions with people at school about how elections in Nigeria are completely rigged and so people become disenfranchised and don’t want to participate in the process. I encouraged them to come up with a way to change this problem…but that’s a topic for another day…
After asking around, I discovered the location of the post office and was able to take a taxi (which I’m now quite adept at hailing myself!) there. I was delighted to discover no line and some extremely welcoming employees eager to assist me! I was able to purchase envelopes there and they even provided me with glue to affix the necessary documents the outside. I put it in the “International” slot and said a prayer that it would make it to the USA and that my vote would be counted!!! (Make sure you all vote!!!)
When I thankfully received it via email, I saved it to my flash drive only to find out the file had been corrupted, so I had to do it again. When I found a USB cord to hook up my printer to my computer, it didn’t work. So, I went across the road to print it at a “computer service center” since my internet café was not working for a few days. Unfortunately, after he started up his generator, booted his computer we realized that he didn’t have Adobe Acrobat Reader so I couldn’t open all the documents. I tried to explain to him the beauty of pdf files and promised him I would try to copy the program onto my jump drive (which he’d never seen before…at a “computer service center”…I was a little confused by this, but I guess that people normally just type what they want there and then print it…so much for the idea of saving!) and bring it to him so he could have it on his computer. He was interested in this and therefore changed the price to print from the completely outrageous “white person price” of about $1.50 per page to a more reasonable $.50 per page. Later, I printed the remaining 6 pages at my internet café for a “special person price” of about $.15 per page!
Since I was ridiculously excited about having my ballot, I showed it to many people…at the internet café…around my compound…at school…really anyone I came in contact with! They were all intrigued that I was able to vote in an American election even though I was residing in Nigeria. Then, they were all amazed to see the names John McCain and Barak Obama that they’d all heard about on the news on my ballot!! I then was able to get into some interesting discussions with people at school about how elections in Nigeria are completely rigged and so people become disenfranchised and don’t want to participate in the process. I encouraged them to come up with a way to change this problem…but that’s a topic for another day…
After asking around, I discovered the location of the post office and was able to take a taxi (which I’m now quite adept at hailing myself!) there. I was delighted to discover no line and some extremely welcoming employees eager to assist me! I was able to purchase envelopes there and they even provided me with glue to affix the necessary documents the outside. I put it in the “International” slot and said a prayer that it would make it to the USA and that my vote would be counted!!! (Make sure you all vote!!!)
Monday, October 6, 2008
Call me Chef Carter!
After this weekend, I'm pretty sure I can now add the word Chef in front of my name! I successfully finished baking and shelling and grinding my groundnuts into groundnut paste or Peanut Butter! I was nothing less than estactic when it came out of the grinder as future pictures will prove! After adding a little salt, sugar and some groundnut oil (which I learned will not be necessary next time when I cook them a few at a time like I'm supposed to) to make it less crumbly it was done! It was pretty darn good and my next attempt will only be better! :)
The peanut butter simply gave me confidence to try moi moi solo. I decided to trek down to the grocery store to pick up some american food and then hit a mini-market to get the final ingredients for the moi moi. This turned out to be quite the jaunt as many people stopped to greet me, I was able to stop and price a water tank for a future project, and I was able to scope out a picture printing place and let him know that I would not be paying $2.50 to print one 4x6 picture! :)
Having gathered all the necessary ingredients and confident I remembered how Laura had made it, I realized that I had not taken an active role in shelling the beans. I knew that she had soaked them and the shells just seemed to come off for her...clearly that was not the case for me! After attempting to shell them one-by-one and concluding that there must be a more efficient way, I went outside my compound where there are women who have a little restaurant and are always cooking food. I'd never officially met them, but we were definitely on a waving and "Sannu (hello)" basis, so I took my bowl of beans and a quizzical expression to them to request help. Now I speak limited Hausa and they spoke limited English, but they understood my problem and showed me exactly how to grind them in a giant morter and pestal then to put them in a bowl of water...the shells most definitely floated to the top (thank you density...this will definitely be an example I use in class later this month!) and in mere minutes, they were all expertly shelled! I figured out how to say "Thank you for helping me!" and promised I'd bring them some of my product.
I was a little disppointed to find out that the man at the market had given me dried pepper instead of dried crayfish, but I pressed onward! Then as I was filling the bags as Laura had done, I'd somehow purchased faulty baggies...yeah...every other one leaked out the bottom. That's okay...I was able to double bag! :) I wasn't sure how long to cook them, so I just kind of guessed when they looked done. I was more than a little nervous, but decided to go share my food, which had been a community endeavor, with those who had helped! The women who had helped me shell the beans were excited to try it, and I was excited to have new friends and kitchen mentors right ouside! Since the guards are always there to help me out, I decided I'd partake under the tree with them. They were very appreciative and complimentary of my first attempt! Now, there were defintely some chunks of spice that hadn't been well-distributed and a couple of the bags were kind of runny, but it wasn't bad! Even more importantly, I made a lot of great connections with people while making it which made it taste even better!! :)
The peanut butter simply gave me confidence to try moi moi solo. I decided to trek down to the grocery store to pick up some american food and then hit a mini-market to get the final ingredients for the moi moi. This turned out to be quite the jaunt as many people stopped to greet me, I was able to stop and price a water tank for a future project, and I was able to scope out a picture printing place and let him know that I would not be paying $2.50 to print one 4x6 picture! :)
Having gathered all the necessary ingredients and confident I remembered how Laura had made it, I realized that I had not taken an active role in shelling the beans. I knew that she had soaked them and the shells just seemed to come off for her...clearly that was not the case for me! After attempting to shell them one-by-one and concluding that there must be a more efficient way, I went outside my compound where there are women who have a little restaurant and are always cooking food. I'd never officially met them, but we were definitely on a waving and "Sannu (hello)" basis, so I took my bowl of beans and a quizzical expression to them to request help. Now I speak limited Hausa and they spoke limited English, but they understood my problem and showed me exactly how to grind them in a giant morter and pestal then to put them in a bowl of water...the shells most definitely floated to the top (thank you density...this will definitely be an example I use in class later this month!) and in mere minutes, they were all expertly shelled! I figured out how to say "Thank you for helping me!" and promised I'd bring them some of my product.
I was a little disppointed to find out that the man at the market had given me dried pepper instead of dried crayfish, but I pressed onward! Then as I was filling the bags as Laura had done, I'd somehow purchased faulty baggies...yeah...every other one leaked out the bottom. That's okay...I was able to double bag! :) I wasn't sure how long to cook them, so I just kind of guessed when they looked done. I was more than a little nervous, but decided to go share my food, which had been a community endeavor, with those who had helped! The women who had helped me shell the beans were excited to try it, and I was excited to have new friends and kitchen mentors right ouside! Since the guards are always there to help me out, I decided I'd partake under the tree with them. They were very appreciative and complimentary of my first attempt! Now, there were defintely some chunks of spice that hadn't been well-distributed and a couple of the bags were kind of runny, but it wasn't bad! Even more importantly, I made a lot of great connections with people while making it which made it taste even better!! :)
Friday, October 3, 2008
Other Weekend Happenings
I tried to buy wheat when I was at the market with Laura (I still haven’t ventured there alone yet…it’s way too daunting!) and was asked repeatedly, “What’s wheat?” We tried to explain that it’s used to make bread and that it’s a grain like rice, but all they could do was show us white flour. My goal is to make whole wheat bread, but it’s taking some time. I did successfully find yeast!
My baked ground nuts turned out amazing! They are by far my best “cooking” product to this point. I’m in the process of making peanut butter. Thankfully, the bishop’s son who lives in the house next door came over and helped me take the peelings off the baked ground nuts (which I definitely burned, but it’ll be okay) because it was taking me way too long. Tomorrow I plan to take them to the grinder and supposedly I’ll have excellent peanut butter! We’ll see…I think if I add a little sugar and salt it could be really good based on what I tasted of a friend’s, but the verdict is still out.
I was able to go running for the first time here in Nigeria over the weekend with my friend Helen! It was so exciting!!! I had missed running so much! We went at 6am because it seems that’s the only time people around here exercise and I was amazed that the entirety of Jalingo was already well into their day at this time. I had been worried to run alone this early thinking that it would be too desolate, not the case at all. I saw other runners who were very friendly (as all runners are!) and felt just as safe as I do walking around alone during the day. No sooner did I run one morning as I am now wondering if there are any races…probably not here in Jalingo, but maybe in Abuja. I think it could be so much fun to “compete” internationally! I need to get back into shape, but I’m now hopeful at the possibilities. J
My baked ground nuts turned out amazing! They are by far my best “cooking” product to this point. I’m in the process of making peanut butter. Thankfully, the bishop’s son who lives in the house next door came over and helped me take the peelings off the baked ground nuts (which I definitely burned, but it’ll be okay) because it was taking me way too long. Tomorrow I plan to take them to the grinder and supposedly I’ll have excellent peanut butter! We’ll see…I think if I add a little sugar and salt it could be really good based on what I tasted of a friend’s, but the verdict is still out.
I was able to go running for the first time here in Nigeria over the weekend with my friend Helen! It was so exciting!!! I had missed running so much! We went at 6am because it seems that’s the only time people around here exercise and I was amazed that the entirety of Jalingo was already well into their day at this time. I had been worried to run alone this early thinking that it would be too desolate, not the case at all. I saw other runners who were very friendly (as all runners are!) and felt just as safe as I do walking around alone during the day. No sooner did I run one morning as I am now wondering if there are any races…probably not here in Jalingo, but maybe in Abuja. I think it could be so much fun to “compete” internationally! I need to get back into shape, but I’m now hopeful at the possibilities. J
Nigerian Independence Day
Besides Christmas and Spring Break, 5-day weekends don’t happen in the US. I’ve decided that I like them! Monday and Tuesday were off because of Sallah, the end of Ramadan. This is a perk of living in an area with a significant Muslim population despite teaching at a Christian school! Then, Wednesday was Nigerian Independence Day. They didn’t gain their independence from Britain until 1960, so they’re a fairly young country! As part of the Independence Day celebration, Her Excellency (the wife of the governor) hosted an event to celebrate the rich cultural heritage within the state of Taraba in which students from the surrounding schools were asked to represent a particular tribe from the area and perform that tribe’s dance in appropriate garb. Students from JSS were asked to participate, so I was able to go and observe!
I was intrigued by how distinct the particular tribes were. As a couple of my co-workers were taking me around to view the different tribes, they could tell which tribe they were just by looking at their costumes. There are over 60 different tribes, each with their own dialect, traditions, and sub-culture within Taraba state. As I was watching the dozen or so different dances I was thinking about how neat it is that they have this special connection with this particular group of people. All of the people here can tell you what tribe they’re from. Then, when they run into someone, they can somehow tell if a person is from their particular tribe even if they’ve never met and they begin to speak in that specific dialect.
At the end of the performances, Her Excellency gave an address to the students and gathered audience about the importance of preserving cultural heritage. Dress is very important to Nigerians and she stressed if they leave the country they should dress in their Nigerian attire with pride. She also stated that though Nigeria has some challenges with poverty, they should be thankful that they have peace because many nations that are better off economically are at war. I thought that was an interesting statement almost implying that the two are mutually exclusive. Taraba is considered the poorest and most undeveloped state in Nigeria. Trying to move the country forward developmentally speaking while preserving its cultural heritage is an ongoing challenge everywhere and it is even more pronounced here amidst the rich traditions and stark amenities.
Here is a link to some pictures from the event:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36276&l=45e17&id=501312909
I was intrigued by how distinct the particular tribes were. As a couple of my co-workers were taking me around to view the different tribes, they could tell which tribe they were just by looking at their costumes. There are over 60 different tribes, each with their own dialect, traditions, and sub-culture within Taraba state. As I was watching the dozen or so different dances I was thinking about how neat it is that they have this special connection with this particular group of people. All of the people here can tell you what tribe they’re from. Then, when they run into someone, they can somehow tell if a person is from their particular tribe even if they’ve never met and they begin to speak in that specific dialect.
At the end of the performances, Her Excellency gave an address to the students and gathered audience about the importance of preserving cultural heritage. Dress is very important to Nigerians and she stressed if they leave the country they should dress in their Nigerian attire with pride. She also stated that though Nigeria has some challenges with poverty, they should be thankful that they have peace because many nations that are better off economically are at war. I thought that was an interesting statement almost implying that the two are mutually exclusive. Taraba is considered the poorest and most undeveloped state in Nigeria. Trying to move the country forward developmentally speaking while preserving its cultural heritage is an ongoing challenge everywhere and it is even more pronounced here amidst the rich traditions and stark amenities.
Here is a link to some pictures from the event:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36276&l=45e17&id=501312909
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Comedy of Cooking Conundrums
There were leftover greens (soup) from the day before, so I had told Mrs. Thomas that I could simply make some more semovita (starchy rice substitute that is kind of like cream of wheat) and eat that for dinner. My friend Helen asked me if I’d made semovita before. I asked her, “Really, how hard can it be? Add some of the powder from the bag to some water and heat it.” She just smiled.
I’ve now mastered the “off” position and the “on” position on the gas tank, so the gas was on when I tried to light the burner. One would think that Nigerian matches are the same as American matches…and they are the same with one minor difference…Nigerian matches don’t LIGHT! I’ve done some mini-scientific studies trying to isolate the faulty variable. Is it the fact that the wooden part breaks as I try to strike it along the box? Is it the tip that just maybe doesn’t have enough of the activated phosphorus coating? Is it the striking surface of the box that doesn’t activate the tip? My conclusion: all of these are contributing variables to exhausting half a box of matches every time I have to light a burner.
Since I was heating the greens and making semovita, I had to go through the match ordeal not once, but twice! I thought I had been successful when I realized that I hadn’t made enough semovita (but it was, may I add, a perfect consistency!) So, I innocently thought, I’ll just make the same amount again. Ha! I had to light the burner again because by trying to conserve fuel I had turned off the burner prematurely. Once I finally got the burner re-lit, I added more semovita and more water.
By this time, it was getting pretty dark, so I went outside to turn on the generator. As I tried to turn it on, it wouldn’t start. I confidently went over to the gas can (which I had checked earlier that afternoon) to add more fuel. It clearly wasn’t enough because it still wouldn’t start. No problem, I thought, I’ll just go buy more fuel right outside the compound. As the man was measuring out 3 gallons, (yep…Nigeria measures everything in metrics including fuel, except when you buy fuel from men on the street…then it’s in gallons…go figure!) I realized that I had left the semovita cooking on the stove…whoops!
When I returned, I hurried into the kitchen to check the status of my second portion of semovita. It was most definitely burnt, not that I could see this, but I used my sense of smell to detect this outcome. I grabbed my handy lantern, turned off the burner then went back outside to fill the generator with fuel. Once I came back inside and washed the gasoline from my hands, I realized that I had failed to cover my initial portion of semovita which had becoming quite cold by this point in the process.
Needless to say, my independent cooking endeavors are not overly successful, yet. However, I’m still going to try to bake my groundnuts tonight, and I looked up bread recipes on the internet as I found out from Mrs. Thomas this morning that I had initially misunderstood her and I can use gas to fuel the oven! I’m sure there will be more adventures!
I’ve now mastered the “off” position and the “on” position on the gas tank, so the gas was on when I tried to light the burner. One would think that Nigerian matches are the same as American matches…and they are the same with one minor difference…Nigerian matches don’t LIGHT! I’ve done some mini-scientific studies trying to isolate the faulty variable. Is it the fact that the wooden part breaks as I try to strike it along the box? Is it the tip that just maybe doesn’t have enough of the activated phosphorus coating? Is it the striking surface of the box that doesn’t activate the tip? My conclusion: all of these are contributing variables to exhausting half a box of matches every time I have to light a burner.
Since I was heating the greens and making semovita, I had to go through the match ordeal not once, but twice! I thought I had been successful when I realized that I hadn’t made enough semovita (but it was, may I add, a perfect consistency!) So, I innocently thought, I’ll just make the same amount again. Ha! I had to light the burner again because by trying to conserve fuel I had turned off the burner prematurely. Once I finally got the burner re-lit, I added more semovita and more water.
By this time, it was getting pretty dark, so I went outside to turn on the generator. As I tried to turn it on, it wouldn’t start. I confidently went over to the gas can (which I had checked earlier that afternoon) to add more fuel. It clearly wasn’t enough because it still wouldn’t start. No problem, I thought, I’ll just go buy more fuel right outside the compound. As the man was measuring out 3 gallons, (yep…Nigeria measures everything in metrics including fuel, except when you buy fuel from men on the street…then it’s in gallons…go figure!) I realized that I had left the semovita cooking on the stove…whoops!
When I returned, I hurried into the kitchen to check the status of my second portion of semovita. It was most definitely burnt, not that I could see this, but I used my sense of smell to detect this outcome. I grabbed my handy lantern, turned off the burner then went back outside to fill the generator with fuel. Once I came back inside and washed the gasoline from my hands, I realized that I had failed to cover my initial portion of semovita which had becoming quite cold by this point in the process.
Needless to say, my independent cooking endeavors are not overly successful, yet. However, I’m still going to try to bake my groundnuts tonight, and I looked up bread recipes on the internet as I found out from Mrs. Thomas this morning that I had initially misunderstood her and I can use gas to fuel the oven! I’m sure there will be more adventures!
Friday, September 26, 2008
I Love Lab!
I did my first “practical” or lab with my SS1 Chemistry kids this week. While it didn’t go perfectly, it was fabulous! J The kids were so excited to be doing lab!!! The groups were way too large due to limited supplies, but it worked out okay. There are about 36 in the class and we had enough supplies for 6 groups, so 6 kids per group is typically way too many, but they were so excited to be in lab that they wanted to participate and few were just observing which was good! We were doing a mixture separation lab with salt and sand (we canvassed Jalingo for iron filings unsuccessfully before we realized that we could get some from a welder but it was too late!) and I in my initial naiveté thought we could do a percent composition…yeah…not so much! It was their first hands-on experience with using a balance, so we were working on first things first. I was pleased that they had written a procedure beforehand and they were actually using them! They had to teach me how to light the kerosene burners that we were using as bunsen burners. The lab time allowed me to get to know them more and we built some great rapport! They were asking so many questions about different lab equipment that they saw. We had some minor issues like trying to use a 50mL pipette as a stirring rod, but they were trying and it was exciting!
My other favorite moment of the week was in my computer training class with the teachers. I was teaching them what the top three boxes in the right hand corner of every Word document do. When I had them minimize, they were devastated because they had just typed a couple of sentences using proper typing fingers and now they thought it was gone forever. Their looks of pure delight when they saw it the box at the bottom of the screen and then reappeared when they clicked it were priceless!
With that said, it’s been a terrific week except for the awful cockroaches at night! Thanks so much for the encouraging emails and photo comments and prayers! They are so much appreciated!! People in the internet café have told me more than once that I look so happy when I’m there and it’s because of all of you!
Here is a link to some pictures of my kids and co-workers:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35471&l=4f4c3&id=501312909
My other favorite moment of the week was in my computer training class with the teachers. I was teaching them what the top three boxes in the right hand corner of every Word document do. When I had them minimize, they were devastated because they had just typed a couple of sentences using proper typing fingers and now they thought it was gone forever. Their looks of pure delight when they saw it the box at the bottom of the screen and then reappeared when they clicked it were priceless!
With that said, it’s been a terrific week except for the awful cockroaches at night! Thanks so much for the encouraging emails and photo comments and prayers! They are so much appreciated!! People in the internet café have told me more than once that I look so happy when I’m there and it’s because of all of you!
Here is a link to some pictures of my kids and co-workers:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35471&l=4f4c3&id=501312909
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Frustrations and Blessings!
Most of my experiences here have been fabulous, but there are certain frustrations that I encounter here which are typically pretty inconsequential. After a few of them are compounded, I have to consciously look for the positives (which are always present) to keep the right attitude!
Frustration
I was really excited for computer training on Friday. The generator was to have been fixed, more computers had been found, tables had been scrounged and then NEPA even came on! It was a time of disappointments. The generator wasn’t fixed. Then, I had hoped NEPA would come on, but it didn’t for the first class at least. When NEPA did come on, it proved to be even more frustrating. The two new desktops acted like they had power because the monitor, speakers and mouse were getting power, but the CPU wouldn’t turn on, probably due to low voltage. Then, we realized that the charging cord of the new lap top I’d brought had been fried and would no longer charge the lap top that was completely out of battery. This makes me really nervous that the power strip we have is going to blow out other pieces of equipment. Then another computer that was plugged into the wall directly was receiving no power. I found out that despite the appearance of many outlets, a number of the outlets have no fuses, and therefore have no power.
Blessing
Habukuk, the maintenance person at school, said that he’d check the outlets for me. When he found one that worked, it was on the other side of the room so he had to make an extension cord by crudely wiring two cords together to reach, now one more computer has the potential to have power! (Today, Tuesday, we had training and the computers are now hooked up to a stabilizer and we had 8 functioning computers! So exciting!!!)
Frustration
When I got home, I was going to go to the little store right outside the compound to get some water, since we were completely out and return my pop bottle. Henry, the owner, wasn’t there. There are plenty of other stores down a little further, but I had bonded with Henry and like to frequent it!
Blessing
My friend owns the store next door, so it was nice to get to chat with her for a bit. A little while later, a friend of hers came to my house to let me know that Henry had returned. I got two big bottles of water from the store and then also got some biscuits (that taste just like shortbread Girl Scout cookies!) and little chocolates that he had purchased just for me!
Frustration
Then when I got to the internet café, the generator was out of fuel so I had to wait about 45 minutes for fuel to arrive. Then the internet was sickeningly slow and I wasn’t able to access my Facebook page during the two hours that I was there.
Blessing
However, I was thankful that I ran into Liatu and was able to chat with her while waiting for fuel. She spent 7 years in the U.S. and so she’s as close to an American perspective that I can get.
Frustration
When I got home, I tried to turn on the big generator to pump some water as the pressure was getting quite low and it was dark. Though the generator seemed to be running fine, it wasn’t giving my house any electricity! I tried troubleshooting the best I could and made 3 trips back and forth to see if it had worked and was unsuccessful. I had to turn on the little generator meaning that I had lights and charging power but no fans or water pumping.
I ran out of water on Sunday morning because the big generator still wouldn’t work. When Ronald came over to “fix” it, it appeared to work fine for him (I think it’s because NEPA was on when we were testing it), because again it wouldn’t provide me electricity on Sunday night. When I tried to turn on my small generator, it was out of fuel.
Blessing
I’m SO thankful that James was here to help me solve these problems the first 5 weeks! Now that he’s gone, I know that I’ll have to do more troubleshooting on my own as well as be more dependent on Ronald but thankfully, I feel settled enough and confident enough in my surrounding that while these situations are frustrating, I am in a position to deal with it and survive okay. I learned that NEPA (city electricity) has enough power to pump water to my tank when I shut off the other tanks in the compound, which is valuable information to know and should prevent me from running out of water again even if the generator doesn’t work!
Throughout these situations, “…we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28. As my shower trickled to a stop on Sunday morning, I can’t say that I was rejoicing. But when I was able to see the people of my church literally bringing their first fruits of the harvest…yams, ground nuts, eggs, chickens, goats…to the alter, it brought the scripture in Deuteronomy 26 alive in a way I could have never imagined! I was then able to praise God for such an authentic and spiritual experience. My paradoxical Nigerian experiences continue!
Here is a link to some pictures of my Nigerian home!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35042&l=d4f33&id=501312909
Frustration
I was really excited for computer training on Friday. The generator was to have been fixed, more computers had been found, tables had been scrounged and then NEPA even came on! It was a time of disappointments. The generator wasn’t fixed. Then, I had hoped NEPA would come on, but it didn’t for the first class at least. When NEPA did come on, it proved to be even more frustrating. The two new desktops acted like they had power because the monitor, speakers and mouse were getting power, but the CPU wouldn’t turn on, probably due to low voltage. Then, we realized that the charging cord of the new lap top I’d brought had been fried and would no longer charge the lap top that was completely out of battery. This makes me really nervous that the power strip we have is going to blow out other pieces of equipment. Then another computer that was plugged into the wall directly was receiving no power. I found out that despite the appearance of many outlets, a number of the outlets have no fuses, and therefore have no power.
Blessing
Habukuk, the maintenance person at school, said that he’d check the outlets for me. When he found one that worked, it was on the other side of the room so he had to make an extension cord by crudely wiring two cords together to reach, now one more computer has the potential to have power! (Today, Tuesday, we had training and the computers are now hooked up to a stabilizer and we had 8 functioning computers! So exciting!!!)
Frustration
When I got home, I was going to go to the little store right outside the compound to get some water, since we were completely out and return my pop bottle. Henry, the owner, wasn’t there. There are plenty of other stores down a little further, but I had bonded with Henry and like to frequent it!
Blessing
My friend owns the store next door, so it was nice to get to chat with her for a bit. A little while later, a friend of hers came to my house to let me know that Henry had returned. I got two big bottles of water from the store and then also got some biscuits (that taste just like shortbread Girl Scout cookies!) and little chocolates that he had purchased just for me!
Frustration
Then when I got to the internet café, the generator was out of fuel so I had to wait about 45 minutes for fuel to arrive. Then the internet was sickeningly slow and I wasn’t able to access my Facebook page during the two hours that I was there.
Blessing
However, I was thankful that I ran into Liatu and was able to chat with her while waiting for fuel. She spent 7 years in the U.S. and so she’s as close to an American perspective that I can get.
Frustration
When I got home, I tried to turn on the big generator to pump some water as the pressure was getting quite low and it was dark. Though the generator seemed to be running fine, it wasn’t giving my house any electricity! I tried troubleshooting the best I could and made 3 trips back and forth to see if it had worked and was unsuccessful. I had to turn on the little generator meaning that I had lights and charging power but no fans or water pumping.
I ran out of water on Sunday morning because the big generator still wouldn’t work. When Ronald came over to “fix” it, it appeared to work fine for him (I think it’s because NEPA was on when we were testing it), because again it wouldn’t provide me electricity on Sunday night. When I tried to turn on my small generator, it was out of fuel.
Blessing
I’m SO thankful that James was here to help me solve these problems the first 5 weeks! Now that he’s gone, I know that I’ll have to do more troubleshooting on my own as well as be more dependent on Ronald but thankfully, I feel settled enough and confident enough in my surrounding that while these situations are frustrating, I am in a position to deal with it and survive okay. I learned that NEPA (city electricity) has enough power to pump water to my tank when I shut off the other tanks in the compound, which is valuable information to know and should prevent me from running out of water again even if the generator doesn’t work!
Throughout these situations, “…we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28. As my shower trickled to a stop on Sunday morning, I can’t say that I was rejoicing. But when I was able to see the people of my church literally bringing their first fruits of the harvest…yams, ground nuts, eggs, chickens, goats…to the alter, it brought the scripture in Deuteronomy 26 alive in a way I could have never imagined! I was then able to praise God for such an authentic and spiritual experience. My paradoxical Nigerian experiences continue!
Here is a link to some pictures of my Nigerian home!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35042&l=d4f33&id=501312909
Friday, September 19, 2008
Food!
Over the past 5 weeks that I’ve been in Nigeria, I’ve had the opportunity to eat many delicious and authentic Nigerian dishes! I’ve really enjoyed almost all of the culinary experiences with one exception…kunu! It’s awful! Sorghum is boiled with water and supposedly sugar is added. It looks like watery chocolate milk and tastes like pickle juice! When I said this, they didn’t know what pickles were! I said that pickles were good, but drinking pickle juice that looks like chocolate milk isn’t favorable.
Two days ago at school, a Fulani woman came by with “no no”. I was told that this was milk. The Fulani tribe is nomadic and follows the cows around as they graze, milks them and brings the milk to the market daily. She came with a large bowl filled with bowls of this “milk”, sugar, and cereal to add. All of my co-workers were encouraging me to try it while I was a little leery. After asking about 10 times if it had been boiled, I decided it was worth the experience to risk it. It turns out the “milk” is really yogurt and surprisingly good! I hadn’t had any dairy products since I’d been here since questionable refrigeration and pasteurization makes it difficult and I was excited to try it. The next day, I decided to have a bowl of it and really liked it. They promised me this woman is very clean in her preparations. She said she would bring me milk that was extra boiled and extra clean in the future.
Moi moi is another traditional Nigerian food that I helped to make this past Saturday with Laura. I’m going to be a better Nigerian cook than American cook by the time I leave! We soaked and shelled white beans and then mixed them with pepper and took it to the neighborhood grinder to be run through with water to make a kind of soup. Then, Laura added an expert mixture of curry, maggi seasoning, chicken boullion, salt, dried craw fish, and peanut “groundnut” oil to the mixture while I was the stirrer. Then we poured this mixture into little bags or “leathers” with half a hard-boiled egg into boiling water for about 20 minutes. It was so good!!! I was very excited that I had even participated in the yummy result!
It’s amazing how central food is to culture! I’m thankful that I really do enjoy the food because my Nigerian friends are so excited when they see me willing to try the native food and actually like it! Everyone has been so thoughtful and kind in offering me food and sharing in the new experience with me. I’ve been very conscientious about trying everything while keeping the safety issue in mind! :) Also, I can now see the fun in preparing a meal as entertainment. There are no movie theaters or malls or parks or trails…well walking through the town is basically like walking trails…but cooking together is a lot of fun! Nigeria must be having an effect on me! :)
***I added some pictures of these food experiences to the picture folder...here's the link:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32625&l=ae61a&id=501312909
Two days ago at school, a Fulani woman came by with “no no”. I was told that this was milk. The Fulani tribe is nomadic and follows the cows around as they graze, milks them and brings the milk to the market daily. She came with a large bowl filled with bowls of this “milk”, sugar, and cereal to add. All of my co-workers were encouraging me to try it while I was a little leery. After asking about 10 times if it had been boiled, I decided it was worth the experience to risk it. It turns out the “milk” is really yogurt and surprisingly good! I hadn’t had any dairy products since I’d been here since questionable refrigeration and pasteurization makes it difficult and I was excited to try it. The next day, I decided to have a bowl of it and really liked it. They promised me this woman is very clean in her preparations. She said she would bring me milk that was extra boiled and extra clean in the future.
Moi moi is another traditional Nigerian food that I helped to make this past Saturday with Laura. I’m going to be a better Nigerian cook than American cook by the time I leave! We soaked and shelled white beans and then mixed them with pepper and took it to the neighborhood grinder to be run through with water to make a kind of soup. Then, Laura added an expert mixture of curry, maggi seasoning, chicken boullion, salt, dried craw fish, and peanut “groundnut” oil to the mixture while I was the stirrer. Then we poured this mixture into little bags or “leathers” with half a hard-boiled egg into boiling water for about 20 minutes. It was so good!!! I was very excited that I had even participated in the yummy result!
It’s amazing how central food is to culture! I’m thankful that I really do enjoy the food because my Nigerian friends are so excited when they see me willing to try the native food and actually like it! Everyone has been so thoughtful and kind in offering me food and sharing in the new experience with me. I’ve been very conscientious about trying everything while keeping the safety issue in mind! :) Also, I can now see the fun in preparing a meal as entertainment. There are no movie theaters or malls or parks or trails…well walking through the town is basically like walking trails…but cooking together is a lot of fun! Nigeria must be having an effect on me! :)
***I added some pictures of these food experiences to the picture folder...here's the link:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32625&l=ae61a&id=501312909
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