Notes from Nigeria

So I'm becoming much lazier. I'm going to resort to posting pictures and explaining the rest in bullets :)

• Last week, we took an expedition to the market to buy more fabric for clothing. Blessing took us, which was a good thing! Never have we felt, while walking around, weird or threatened. But we did in the market-- JB definitely got harassed for being a "white man" wanting to take photos of what seems to have been shady stuff. Hmm. It was difficult to maneuver around all the people and cars, but we seemed to have done it. Here are some "snaps."

Me with Wendi and Blessing

Blessing in her Sewing Shop. We love this woman! She, with her students, is making us all kinds of stuff-- clothes, purses, quilts, you name it! Today, she quickly took in my linen pants so that they are actually wearable instead of falling off all the time (yes, I bought them because they were cheap!).

• We have discovered that, despite the heat, it is possible to exercise here. There is a stadium near where we're staying and I've been able to go running a couple of times around a courtyard where people are madly playing soccer. Kelsey and I have gone together once, but I feel I might be deserted from now on because Kelsey and Ajit have also discovered pick-up basketball games nearby and are having fun teaching the Nigerians a thing or two :). JB says, "run outside?! I don't think so." Wendi just mentions that she's lost 10 pounds not even attempting to exercise.
• On Saturday, we attended the graduation of students from the Faith Alive sewing, knitting, and computer schools. They were so excited for our presence and kept wanting to be in pictures with us! Here are a few-- first, Ajit and the ladies!

  The Group

  

  "Big K" (Kelsey) and "Little T," as Kels has started calling me. I seriously feel like a midget in this group of travelers. Wendi has to keep telling people that no one looks like her and Kelsey (over 6-foot blondes!)
  

Charlie's Angels posing with Blessing :)

• We went to an impressive Easter service on Sunday. We headed out after about 3 hours in there (Kelsey before the rest of us, as she'd gone to early morning mass too!)! People worship forever here! It was fun to get dressed up again in Nigerian garb and we had a beautiful, restful day.

Some boys who hang out outside our apartment

• Goats: We pass goats (tons of them) every day to and from the clinic (see pic below). The other night, some doctor gave Ajit a dish of some meat for our dinner. JB and I tried it-- we were told it was goat. It was BAD. It didn't even taste like meat. But Rebekah, a lawyer visiting town (her husband Toyin is on the board of trustees for Faith Alive) said it was a delicacy. I tried some more. It was still bad. Then we learned it was goat head. Ick! I think we might have eaten some eyes, brain, and ears. Although we have, for the most part, been adventurous (except for our retreat to AfriOne, a more western-type restaurant, the other day), I am not sure how much experimentation I will do here. I'm certainly going to stay away from goat head.

Goat on the plate
Wendi reacting to the smell of the goat head

• Ultrasound Excitement: When our luggage arrived, we got the expensive hand-held ultrasound sent by Dr. Dunn at Mayo! It came in really handy today, when I spent the morning in antenatal clinic. We busted it out when one woman came in complaining of decreased fetal movement. When I ultrasounded her, we couldn't detect any fetal heart activity and it looked like an intrauterine fetal demise at around 34 weeks. Tough stuff. We had to refer her to JUTH. But what is striking is that, even though many pregnancies go as planned, there are many childhood deaths, so that the patients' prior pregnancy histories mention "pregnancy 2004; child deceased." It's kind of shocking. In any case, after we used the ultrasound once, everyone wanted us to ultrasound them (and asked me to determine the sex of their baby!). I'm not that good with ultrasound, but it was really neat to try and try to do measurements to predict gestational age.
  

Here is JB showing off the Ultrasound on Dr. Chris

OB Ultrasound

Other novelties worth mentioning:

• Wendi and John have taught us spades. A fun, although stressful, game!
• I gave a devotional talk the other morning-- the first time I have ever really spoken in front of a group of people on faith. Although scary, it was a good experience. I even sang some hymns for the group-- my favorites, Be Thou My Vision and Great is Thy Faithfulness.
• We currently have power! This is a rare thing! I better run up and enjoy it! :)