Clinton High School...here I come!

After applying to LOTS of schools and harassing many districts with regular phone calls and emails I ended up interviewing at Clinton High School in Clinton, IA and Downers Grove outside Chicago. I can confidently say that I am certain I am supposed to be at Clinton HS! I went to the interview as "practice" for my Downers Grove interview and ended up LOVING it!

I will be co-teaching 3 sections of Physical Science with a special education teacher and teaching 1 section of Biology. They are on a trimester schedule where they have a 5 - 70 minute periods and get a new schedule each trimester. I've never heard of anything like it before, but I'm excited to have the longer periods like I had with block scheduling in Boerne! The science department seems fun, motivated and really cares about kids which is encouraging (and I was promised that they'd try to get me some Chemistry next year...I hope!)

Clinton is a community of about 25,000 people located about 30 minutes north of the Quad-Cities along the Mississippi. It's a blue-collar community with a lot of generational poverty. Now, I know that normally isn't a big selling point, but I'm pretty excited about working in a community like that without having to be in an inner city. I know there will be plenty of challenges but it's so comforting to feel so at peace about this next transition (especially when it's SO not what I was expecting/wanting: 1 hour from home, in a smallish Iowa town, co-teaching physical science)! Thanks for all the prayers as this transition is nearly complete, logistically speaking...now I just need an apartment! :)

Endings...and waiting for new beginnings...

Being back in the US again is shocking...culture shock is real! Everything uses electricity...garage door openers, phones, escalators, automatic doors, garbage disposals...the list could on indefinitely. No wonder the US is a top consumer of natural resources!

Here are some random observations about being back in the US:
***Radio is a wonderful thing! Free music...lots of it...24/7!
***Hot showers are not in the least bit over-rated...AMAZING!
***Americans own a lot of STUFF. (I'm doing a much better job cleaning out my room in my parent's house out after living in Nigeria for a year!)
***Decorating one's environment is more highly valued than one's dress. (People in Jalingo are much more concerned about being dressed very well!)
***People wear short shorts here...out and about everywhere! How did I forget?!
***I love the entertainment opportunities...art museums, concerts, restaurants!
***People live indoors here. I miss being able to see people everywhere I go. (Granted I'm coming from a city of 150,000 to a town a 2500...that's part of the difference.)

Currently, I'm living in Wilton with my parents and still applying for a ridiculous number of high school science teaching jobs. I honestly didn't think I would have this tough of a time getting hired in the midwest. I've applied to so many places throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa and am still waiting. Yet, the God who has been with me through my childhood, college, first job in Texas, and now serving for a year in Nigeria will surely continue. He will not forsake me! I'm hanging on to Psalm 27:13-14:

"I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

Yeah...I'm not sure if you know this about me...I'm not good at waiting for the unknown. I am an action person. Give me a task, a goal, an idea I will work hard to make it happen, but to be still and wait is very hard! In fact, being in this position right now is MUCH SCARIER than leaving for Africa to spend a year "alone". I'm trying to be content in all situations instead of wishing away this time before getting a job (I'm not being very successful).

I'm missing my day-to-day friends in Nigeria a LOT and looking forward my new beginning whereever that may be and whenever it may begin. Right now I'm in between an amazing experience I had and being excited for the new beginning that awaits me...waiting.

Good bye, Jalingo!

I have clearly been in denial about being home. It's as if by not posting my "I'm home" post, it wouldn't be real! Obviously, not the case.

The last few weeks I had in Nigeria were filled with so many friends! I'm SO glad my roommate from Texas, Angie, came with the group of missionaries from Iowa to work at the UMCN Primary School because she was able to meet many of the people who are so important to me in Jalingo and get a sense of the life that I'm missing during this transition.

My school had a "Send Forth" (going away party/ceremony) for me where the kids sang some songs, did a skit and there were many kind words of appreciation spoken both by them and me with an awesome meal afterwards. There were multiple other occassions where people had spent hours preparing amazing food to share with us as a show of their gratitude for my time here. While I continued to try to find ways to show them how much I had appreciated them.

It was tough in the last few weeks trying to make sure to see everyone one last time. I feel so blessed to have been in such a kind, loving and accepting place for the past year. It's really hard to describe the feelings associated with leaving so many people. I like to speculate that the difficulty I found was because when you are in an intense/high stress situation with a group of people tight bonds are often formed. From my perspective, life in Nigeria was really intense, especially in the beginning, because everything was SO DIFFERENT! However, these people, taught me how to survive in my new environment. While I tried to contribute in my own way, I had to trust them for EVERYTHING! Thankfully, they were ridiculously helpful, dependable and giving of their time, resources and friendship. Hence, I left a part of me with my friends back in Jalingo and definitely brought a part of them with me back to the US.

Transitions are tough!

I'm dreading leaving Nigeria in 10 days! While it should feel like returning home it's weird to feel like I'm leaving home behind. I'm leaving a place where I have an address (even if it is "UMCN Mission Compound, next to ECWA Hospital"), a phone number, a job and friends. I'm returning to the US where I thankfully have a loving family providing me a temporary address, no phone number, no job...yet (though I'm trying to pray with the same confidence that I used when I was stuck in the bathroom earlier this year!) and so many uncertainties.

While I get a little excited when I think about the food, amenities, and National Parks that await my visit upon my return to the US none of those things really make it seem worth leaving Nigeria (not that I really have a choice now!) However, when I start to think about all my fabulous family and friends back home I get super excited to see all of you! You're the best!

Pre-Cursor to Reverse Culture Shock

As the team of missionaries from the US came, I realized that I’ve entered this strange place of existence, no longer fully American but not yet fully Nigerian. It’s a unique feeling. I think it’s a good transition to have them here and will help ease the inevitable reverse culture shock.

Here are a few observations that I’ve found myself thinking as a Nigerian:
1. Is that all the rice you’re going to eat?
(I now realize why I have to run twice as far as what I used to and trek all over creation…from eating so much!)
2. You’re walking so fast!
(For the first time, walking down to a little shop, I felt like I was being dragged along.)
3. You’re taking so many pictures!
(I know I still take a lot of pictures, but it’s definitely interesting how certain things don’t seem “photo-worthy” anymore.)
4. Americans are so free and friendly with everyone.
(Compared with meeting Nigerians, Americans that are here visiting Nigeria are so open and “free” with everyone!)

On the other hand I still have my American thoughts as well:
1. Why can’t things be better maintained? It’s like they don’t care…
(It’s not that they don’t care, it’s that maintenance isn’t as simple as it is in the US.)
2. Didn’t we say we were meeting by _________ time? Why aren’t they here?
(I’m not sure my scheduled brain will ever adapt to Nigerian time!)
3. We gave you this thing, isn’t it being used?
(Gifts and donations are so necessary, appreciated and valued. However, sometimes when something isn’t being utilized to its fullest potential, it’s not that it hasn’t been attempted. Oftentimes, there are constraints that are unimaginable.)

Just as adjusting to Nigerian life was challenging at times, I know that readjusting to American life will provide its own tests. I’m thankful that the enlarged perspective that I’ve gained and many lessons that I’ve learned make everything else worth it! :)

Frozen Moments

As my time is winding down, I'm trying to freeze certain moments in my memory so that I can recall them someday to add a little joy to my day!

*Man walking down the street selling bras…and wearing one over his shirt as advertisement
*One man standing across the drainage ditch tossing crates of empty glass bottles through the air to another man who was loading them on the truck…they said they never miss
*Being watched as I peeked around a semi-truck to see on-coming traffic and decide to squeeze between the drainage ditch and the side of the truck and tip toe precariously along until I reach the other end…the on-looker celebrated with me when I made it successfully by.
*Women roasting corn over charcoal fires inside old tires along the side of the road, constantly fanning it to keep it from burning
*A mother alerting her child that baturia was passing so that the child runs out to the road to greet me
*People greeting me by name that I’ve never met before.

This all happened as I was walking home from being ridiculously frustrated with the internet. It's how I forget the frustration and remember the good stuff!

Aerobics...in Nigeria!

While there is a group of us that run early in the mornings here in Jalingo, exercise isn't a high priority for most people. However, I was recently informed of a group that meets on a handball court in the morning 3 times a week for aerobics and encouraged to come and participate, so after my friend and I did our normal morning run this morning, we proceeded to aerobics class!

Now, I've done a variety of exercise classes back in the states at UNI, and in San Antonio, but doing aerobics here in Jalingo was a whole new experience! :) First of all the typical demographic of participant was a 45 year old male in high ranking governmental positions. Then, all exercises were done to Nigerian Praise music outside with many people stopping along the dirt road to watch the spectacle (I'm not sure how much of that was normal and how much was due to my presence.) When we did floor work, we used woven mats made from palm branches, and I was defintely the ONLY person who couldn't touch my "legs" (toes) during the stretching which no one could understand.

It was an enjoyable, energizing, and thoroughly entertaining experience that I plan to do for my remaining Saturdays in Jalingo! :)

Tadpoles!

The JS3 students are being required to stay for a 2-week extension past their national exams and I was tasked with teaching them during that time. That’s right…9th grade students thinking that they’re going home for a 3 month break and being told, they’re actually staying for 2 more weeks of classes taught exclusively by me. Though I was skeptical of the possibilities of success, it hasn’t been that bad and it’s even been pretty fun at times!

I recently discovered that my school has a stream less than a quarter mile away from it…exciting! Some colleagues and I went and explored and then I decided during the topic of pollution we would take a field trip down to the stream. Thanks to my extensive experience with environmental field-based excursions during grad school I was comfortable with what data could be collected, observations made, and questions asked.

It was awesome! I had so much fun, the kids LOVED being amongst nature. They asked so many questions, collected temperature data, water samples, drew conclusions about habitats locations and observed adaptations of plants and animals. We were able to see so many tadpoles (only located in the clean, running water), leeches (in the more polluted water), figure out that the thorns on the acacia tree were to protect it from animals and the small leaves were to prevent loss of moisture. We saw the taller and greener grass in the stream bed and saw the tree-lined path.

After the adventure, the students learned about Microsoft Excel during our computer time and entered their data into a spread sheet data table. It was pretty exciting! Every once in a while in education, idealistic plans actually come together and when they do, it more than makes up for all the other times when they don’t.

Here are some pictures from the excursion as well as some others:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=77981&id=501312909&l=fcef6b6668

Computer Class

During the JS3 extension, I was told that I should teach them computer for a few hours per day. Overall, it has been a positive and beneficial experience. However, at one point the 7 different computers were going out like popcorn: as soon as power would get restored and rebooted another laptop would run out of power or a desktop would lose power from a partial connection in the power strip. Then, I realized (again) that using Microsoft Word 97, 2003, 2007 and Open Office Word without a central computer to demonstrate on isn’t ideal. Finally, there were about 6 kids per computer. Needless to say, we weren’t operating at optimum efficiency but the kids were thrilled to be on the computers and didn’t complain at all about the number of people per system, power outages or having to sit on the floor due to lack of available tables and chairs. They simply wanted to have free time at the end to play games and listen to music…just like kids in the US! :)

I Love Handball!

Before arriving in Nigeria, I was under the false impression that handball was like raquetball, but with your hand. No. Handball is like a cross between basketball and ultimate frisbee, and it's my game! I was on duty on Thursday and after the students close from classes, eat and siesta, they play games. I had the opportunity to embarrass myself on the soccer field, show my semi-competence in ping pong, enthusiastically participate in volleyball and most excitingly discover my love for the game of handball!

It's a 6 on 6 game where you can take 3 dribbles, but it's mostly all about passing and throwing the ball into a soccer-like goal. It's fast-paced and so much fun! All the fun of basketball without any of the pressure of shooting! :) It's my mission to watch a game of true players before I leave and then try to find the game when I return to the states!

(Side note: If anyone knows anyone associated with Madison Metropolitan School District, I'd love a connection!!) :)

Toilets

As I was talking with some of my friends at school today, they asked me which of the states is the "least developed" in the US. Hmmmm...I thought...they're all developed.

I tried to use the example of toilets. Now, in my house at the mission compound, the toilet is basically like a toilet back in the US (it's not recommended to flush toilet paper, but still...) However, the rest of the toilets elsewhere I've encountered in Nigeria require a bucket of water to "flush" them. Then, there are plenty to be encountered at motor parks, school, etc that consist of a hole in the ground. I explained in the US, that the "worst" toilet one experiences is a porta-potty and proceded to explain.

Now, I can't say that I'm going to miss going to the bathroom in a hole (pit toilet) with flies. I can say that I don't really think about the fact that I'm going to the bathroom in a hole with flies anymore. It's great learning about what everyone views as normal...the Nigerians and I have certainly broadened our perspectives and understanding throughout the past months! :)

Updated Pictures!

Finally, I found a cafe that would allow me to upload my Kano pictures and some that show me working...I do go to work on a daily basis (when school is in session!) As always, check out the captions to better understand what's going on. Enjoy!

Catching Fun in Kano
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76049&id=501312909&l=c49bad7d03

May Moments
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=77981&id=501312909&l=fcef6b6668

A Time for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.” Recently, insects have really made this idea come alive for me. As the predominant irritation has changed multiple times during my year here, so has my perspective on Nigeria.

When I first arrived, the mosquitoes assaulted me in full force. They died as the rain ceased and massive amounts of dust descended on everything which eventually began swirling into dust devils and descended as a haze. Like any living being, cockroaches desired to take refuge from these harsh conditions and felt that my house was a good location. Killing 4-5 per night was common. When the rain finally decided to return on March 30th, massive amounts of flies decided to join me in my celebration. Flies…everywhere! As the rain continued, the flies calmed down and reduced to an acceptable population. However, the mosquitoes have regained their moist breeding ground and are once again feasting on my blood.

Now, after detailing these delightful natural companions that have accompanied me in my stay in Jalingo (in addition to the epileptic power, spotty phone networks, and unreliable internet), it may be hard for people back to fully grasp how hard it is going to be for me to leave in less than two months. Jalingo has become my home and like all homes there are mix of frustrations that come with the good stuff!

I’m going to miss the children screaming with shrill delight “Baturia!!!” I’ll miss seeing the joy on people’s face when they are able to teach me something they consider simple (like tossing groundnuts on a tray to separate the nut from the thin covering or knitting) but I find difficult. I’m going to miss sleeping outside and hearing critters all around but knowing I’m protected in my mosquito tent! I’ll miss seeing the ridiculous improvements of my students in their lab skills and their amazement regarding the simplest demonstrations!

After talking with my brother (who was never a huge advocate of me coming to Nigeria), I have realized that I really enjoy and appreciate living in Jalingo, a pedestrian society, because of all the acquaintances and friendships that it has enabled me to make. He has encouraged me that I think I can move to a community in the states that has many of these qualities. While that is hopeful, I am really going to miss my Nigerian friends a LOT! I’ve taken consolation during my move to college, Texas and now to Nigeria in the fact that I can keep in touch with most people via the internet. One of the hardest things for me to face in my closing weeks is that I’ll likely not be able to keep in touch with many of these dear people that I’ve come to love. While I hope that I’ve left a positive impression of Americans in people’s lives, I KNOW that their friendships, like many back home, have changed my life forever.

Just as there was a season for each disturbance, there was a season to say hello to Nigeria, get to know the people and places and foods here, and develop a love for them. Now, it is the season of wrapping up projects, saying good-bye and praying for a job and my new season of life back in the states. Someday, I hope to be back certainly for a visit and who knows what else, but for now I will enjoy the end of my “Nigerian season” and know that just as God has kept me here, He’ll be with me in the next season also!

Chinese, really?!

As I was walking down the road one day, I heard some boys greeting me with "me-how!" repeatedly. I knew it wasn't English and I was pretty confident that it wasn't Hausa, so I decided to go ask them what language it was! At first they giggled and then they told me it was Chinese because "aren't you from China?" they asked. It cracked me up! They explained that it's Chinese for Hello. I asked them if they wanted to learn Hello in Spanish. They were pretty excited about that, so I taught them Hola. They dutifully repeated it over and over again. When I passed by a few hours later they greeted me by shouting "Hola!" :)

Then, a few days later someone else yelled at me "Hey, China!" later that same day someone rode by on a bike yelling "Italiano!" So funny! :) I'm entertained, but can't be too critical because just as people here think all white people look the same and can't easily distinguish between the different ethincities, I'm always intrigued by the way that they can tell a Nigerian from a Liberian by look.

I once read somewhere that people are much better at distinguishing characteristics among people of their common race and have found that to be totally true. When I first arrived I had a really hard time telling people apart, but I've improved significantly after making a lot of mistakes. I guess I'll cut them a little slack for thinking I'm Chinese! :)

Final Kano Observations

1. I had electricity all day everyday with only 10 minute outtages a few times per day...(only because there's some important person living in the neighborhood)...the rest of Kano has normal Nigerian electricity.

2. I found an some Obama comic books in a bookstore and was interested to see that it looked at the life of Obama's father prior to coming to the US as well as Obama's childhood...it was really pretty interesting!

3. I loved riding in the little motorized tricycles around the city...safer than a motorcycle...less safe than a taxi. The purpose is so that the Muslim women can go places that a motorcycle would take them while being "hidden". (I definitely opened the little curtains completely so I could take everything in!) :)

4. Seeing ancient city walls gives a new meaning to the walls of the city falling down after being marched around 7 times in the Bible!

5. Kano internet=terrible! For a huge and relatively developed city, Jalingo's internet was better!

6. All compounds have high walls around them to maintain privacy (and prevent adequate ventilation!)

7. The reason why the northern part of Nigeria is primarily Muslim is because when the British invaded, the north already had an established government and struck a deal with them to rule indirectly and allowed them to keep their religion and culture. However, in the south, it was less developed, so the British came in and exercised direct rule while strongly influencing their culture and religion converting many to Christianity. (History can be interesting when it explains some present realities!) :)

All in all, my trip to Kano was a success! There will be pictures once the internet decides to open facebook. School starts on Monday! I'm excited to get back! :)

Kano, Kano

My friend from school, Laitu, has graciously offered to let me tag along to her trip to Kano to visit her sister over our spring break (which lasts 4 weeks). Kano city is the capital of Kano state and is considered to be the largest city in Nigeria and one of the largest cities in Africa. It is located in the northern part of the country where the population is predominantly Mulsim. Though I’ve only been here for one day, I’ve already made some interesting observations.

Our 550 km/343mile journey from Jalingo to Kano took us 10 hours despite relatively good roads for the second half of the trip due to some bad fuel that we received causing us to go along at a snail’s pace for a few hours. I was kind of surprised when we stopped to get better fuel around 3:30 that everyone piled out of the vehicle and began their washing ritual prior to going to the nearby mosque. All of the passengers except for my friend and I were Muslim and observing their afternoon prayers.

When we arrived at the motor park, we had to take a taxi to get to her sister’s house. Though they still pack the taxis with four people in back and two in the passenger’s seat up front, here they try to prevent women and men from sitting next to each other. In fact, later, there were two women in the back and a woman up front, the woman moved to the back, so that the man would be isolated up front. Then we stopped to pick up another man and he shared the front seat instead of doing the common thing elsewhere which is to make 4 in back before making 2 in front. Interesting!

Finally, we arrived and there was electricity…NEPA! It went off around 6:30pm, but then came back on 10 minutes later…and stayed on until morning! Then it went off for about 15 minutes and came back on. This is by far the most constant power I’ve had since coming to Nigeria. I’ve been here almost 24 hours and had power for over 23 of them. Wow!!! We’ll see if it lasts! I’m sure there will be further adventures, experiences and stories before the week is over and I’m excited!

Multicultural Education...for real!

When I was at UNI and at OLLU, I had to take a Multicultural Education course. It was always compulsory to define culture. Frequently, we think of culture primarily relating to the food, dance, music and traditions within a particular people group. However, over the past few days, I’ve realized (again) that culture, which is instilled during one’s upbringing, permeates everything that we do.

After Aunty Kema’s birthday in the compound, there was a lot of trash on the ground. Since this doesn’t seem to affect people in Jalingo in the same way that it bothers me, I decided to take some initiative to have it picked up while having happy childhood memories at the same time! When I was a child visiting my Grandma and Grandpa Carter, they had an apple tree that would drop apples prematurely and result in apples scattered all over the yard. Grandma would pay my brother and I 1 penny per apple. We were excited!

Arthur and his friend LaToy are 4-5 years old and I tasked them with picking up trash and for every 10 pieces, they would get 1 naira. Since the smallest denomination that exists in circulation is 5 naira, I was probably underpaying, but they were excited to be earning money and I was excited that the trash was being collect. It was a win-win situation that I’m fairly certain had never been employed in Jalingo before but instead was a product of my American culture.

Later in the day, I decided that we needed a field trip down to the river which isn’t far from the compound, but I’d never been to that part of the shore. On the way, they had fun jumping in and out of the drainage ditch. We identified trash, talked about mango pits being seeds, looked at how seed pods from the tree drop into the ditch and dry out. We named the letters on signs, counted steps, and looked at the clouds in the sky. When we arrived at the river bed, we saw the how it was completely dry and how they bore down to pump water.

After the fun excursion, I started thinking about how I had never seen any adults go on little “outings” with kids around town. This was something that had not occurred to me either prior or during the fun but in hindsight found interesting. Believe me, there will be more field trips before I leave!

Happy Easter!

As a Christian, Easter is pretty much the most important day of the year! If Jesus didn’t really get crucified, die and rise from the dead that kind of ruins our entire premise for salvation. Needless to say, as far-fetched as it sometimes seems, I believe it and appreciate commemorating the process! This year my Holy Week celebration was more diverse than most.

I attended Maundy Thursday Service with a friend from work at the Catholic Cathedral. This was very “high church” including many bowing rituals, spreading incense with a series of three shakes of a small cauldron in many directions, the bishop washing the feet (actually only the right foot…I feel this would lead to unbalanced cleanliness) of various congregants, singing without dancing (the first time I’d experienced this in Nigeria) and significant kneeling on a hard tile floor. The church was beautiful in its simplistic design with extremely high ceiling, long uniform screened openings as windows. I also really valued the meaningful liturgy. Certain phrases that everyone there had clearly recited hundreds of times were so beautiful, profound and powerful, I had to really consider whether I was willing to make the commitments that came along with them.

For Good Friday, I attended United Methodist Church at Mayo Gwoi in my neighborhood, which I consider my “home” church. Now, this service analyzed the seven words that Jesus said from the cross. I don’t remember being through a service like this before and I’m not sure I can say that I’ve been through it still because the entire service was conducted in the common language of Hausa. The appeal of this church is that I know many of its members because they all live in my neighborhood and conduct business there. Also, the order of service is comforting because a United Methodist Church in Nigeria has the same basic worship service as a United Methodist Church in Iowa (with longer prayers and more special music).

Finally, for Easter Sunday, I went to Life and Destiny Church, a Pentecostal church, with a friend. It resembles in the environment and worship style of the big non-denominational churches in the US. This church had hundreds of people in it, with lots of very enthusiastic singing and dancing and praising of the Lord for 3.5 hours. I really enjoyed the sermon and learned a lot from the scripture that was used as it was non-traditional references the resurrection. However, everyone felt very anonymous as there wasn’t a feeling of community because people were coming here from all over the city. Also, everything was so spontaneous and emotion driven that there was little time for quiet reflection.

These three experiences summarize my year of church service attendance thus far in Nigeria. I’ve been opportune to attend many different churches as guests of different friends and acquaintances and in the process experience the different modes of worship of the various Christian denominations (all with a Nigerian flair). I think my understanding of these experiences has been deepened through reading “A Generous Orthodoxy” by Brian Mc Laren, which examines the practices of the different denominations and shows that we can worship, commune with and understand Jesus Christ in a more complete way through the diverse methodologies.

There is a really unifying feeling in knowing that all over the city of Jalingo, country of Nigeria and all over the world people are rejoicing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. While there may be many ways of expressing that joy, thanksgiving and adoration, the sentiment remains the same, Jesus died, but now He is risen! Praise God!

Informal Islamic Lessons

Growing up in Iowa and then living in Texas, I’ve had very little first-hand experience living in an area that has a substantial Islamic community. While Jalingo is predominantly Christian, there is a definite Muslim presence and I have had the opportunity to learn a lot from random observations as well as from a few of my Muslim friends.

Yesterday, I was walking home from the internet and wanted to get a pure water to replace some of my fluids however, when I approached the shop, I realized that it was closed. Never mind, that I knew the shop owner was a Muslim and I had walked by numerous mosques prior to reaching the shop where I had observed people praying their final prayer of the day during sundown, I am still not programmed to think about the day in terms of the 5 Islamic prayer times. However, it’s very common to find shops closed, fruit stands vacated and wheelbarrows abandoned while they stop everything to pray.

While I have to admit it can be slightly inconvenient when I want to buy oranges, it is helpful to hear the call to prayer at 5:00am every morning as it encourages me to get out of bed to run (and pray!) I figure if thousands of people in Jalingo can get out of bed and go to their mosque to pray, I should be able to get out of bed to have my own devotional time with God as I run on the dark and quiet streets.

After living here for about 6 months, it randomly dawned on me that I only see men praying at the mosques! Wait a minute, where are the women?!? I discovered that women are required to pray in their homes so as not to distract the men or cause them to sin. This is the same rationale that is the basis for the women wearing the long veil-like head coverings. Yet, the men are allowed to have four wives. While I respect their faith and ways of seeking to honor it, I question why the men can’t simply control themselves to allow the women to live more freely. Why must the women make all the sacrifices? I think my new mission is to befriend a female Muslim as my only first-hand sources of information now are men and a copy of the Koran that was given to me. I am confident that I will be able to get a better understanding from a woman!

Mosquito TENT Superiority

Back in February my friend, Anne, came from the US for meeting in conjunction with the Rural Health project in Zing and she brought with her the most amazing mosquito “net” and left it here for me to use until her return. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to adequately explain the wonderfulness, excellence, perfection that is contained in this mosquito tent, but I’ll try!

When I was a small child, I received a bed tent one exciting Christmas. Then, there was no particular function for a bed tent other than novelty and adventure, but now there is utility. It started out as a barrier in my room between me and the ever-present cockroaches. I could hear them scurrying across the floor and roll over in my bed with confidence knowing that I was safe….AND it didn’t present the same tangling as the previous net.
Now, the new bed net allows me to relocate! For the past month, it has been ridiculously hot (110 degrees F+) therefore the closest thing I can get to air conditioning or fans at night is to sleep outside! I have suggested before that living in Jalingo can be compared to camping, but this development has made it even more real. Each night I drag my mattress and mosquito tent outside and enjoy a much more enjoyable sleep than anything that could ever be achieved inside my house!

I must admit that I actually really enjoy sleeping outside and was recently considering if it would be considered socially acceptable to continue this practice when I return to the US during the summer. (This transition back home could be tough!) Last night as I was trying to fall asleep I was simply taking in everything around me and feeling blessed: the moon is almost full and high in the sky, the stars were shining brightly while there were clouds and lightning closer to the horizon. There were bats flying above me from tree to tree making a high pitched squeaking noise. There were cats mating at a far corner of the compound. (I was convincing myself that my mosquito tent would provide a protective barrier against cats too!) The dogs all over town were sending messages back and forth in true Lady and the Tramp style. Crickets were chirping, and frogs were croaking.

While it’s true that none of these things are really unique to living in Nigeria, sleeping among them every night without the hum of air conditioners, refrigerators, computers or fans and actually taking the time to stop and really experience them, for me is unique to living in Nigeria!