Trip Highlights (Week Four)

May 4th-10th
Monday
I decided that it was time to go back to work. I went to school in the morning but there wasn't much for me to do so I headed over to the medical clinic. I meant to take a tour sooner but the only time I was there, it was as a patient. So Prisca gave me the full tour of the waiting room, the lab, the consulting room, the patient ward, and the pharmacy. It is a small clinic but it provides good health care at low cost to mostly poor villagers. Monday afternoon the girls have sports so I taught them Simon Says and Red Light, Green Light.

Tuesday
I went to the JSS1 class and talked about the United States. It struck me how different our lives are, when I tried to explain the four seasons, especially winter. Then I went to Ilorin with Sr. Fidelia. We went to the market and to a shop that sells imported goods like peanut butter. On the way home Fidelia bought me a real ice cream cone to "flag my birthday". That evening I made glumpky (stuffed cabbage) for dinner and it turned out pretty tasty.

Wednesday
I asked for more work and Cordis suggested that I teach the Introductory Technology classes, since the teacher quit. In JSS1 we are discussing different building materials and in JSS2 we discussed force, work, and power, complete with some physic formulas that I learned in high school. In the afternoon I coached (tutored) some students in maths.

Thursday
I celebrated my 25th birthday, Nigerian style. During the morning assembly the students sang happy birthday for me. I only had one class to teach so I spent most of the day relaxing in the house. In honor of my birthday, I planted two pineapples (you can cut off the green top of a pineapple, bury it, and a year later you can pick a pineapple). After school the Sisters took me to Asa Dam which is the closest thing to a tourist spot in Ilorin. The Asa river was swollen from all the rain and the surrounding forests were thriving. It was really beautiful. On the way home we stopped at Royals for real ice cream. We ate our dinner of fried rice while watching the final episode of Super Story. Then we ate birthday cake and drank wine. I was touched by everything the Sisters in Amoyo did for my birthday. I have been here for only three weeks yet I am completely at home here and the Sisters treat me like family.

Friday
I taught two classes today and helped the Sisters type up a schedule for the third term. In the evening I hung out with the students, swapping songs and answering questions about life in America. Sad as it may seem, I was beat by 8pm so I went to bed early.

Saturday
I have been hanging out at the house for most of the day. I helped Fidelia in the garden and I showed some of the Sisters the basics of Power Point. But other than that I have just been relaxing.

Sunday
For the past week, we have had a ram tied up in our garage. The school's chaplain brought it to celebrate the start of term. Originally I felt sorry for the poor animal that had to be killed for our supper. However, after a few days of listening to that sheep's constant bleating and putting up with the petting zoo smell, I has ready to eat. On Saturday, the driver Steven slaughtered the ram and today we finally ate it. It was nice having meat, which is a commodity here, even if I found a couple unidentifiable organs in the stew.

Trip Highlights (Week Three)

April 21st-May 3rd

Monday
The third term started today and classes resumed both at the Primary school in Awkunanaw and at the Girl's Academy in Amoyo. I was a little sad that I missed the kids at Awkunanaw but I was interested to see how a boarding school is run. I went to the morning assembly and then I headed up to the computer room. Three students came and asked if I would help them with Maths. Eventually more students wandered in until the entire JSS1 class was doing math problems with me. I doubt that all of them wanted to do some practice problems, rather I think they wanted a chance to talk with the Oyibo. Later in the afternoon I showed the students how to use Word and Excel. Very few of the students know how to use a computer, even typing is a laborous task for them but they are eager to learn. After school I helped some students review today's notes for Home Economics. I was going home to the convent when a couple of girls asked if I wanted to join them for Sport. I agreed and so we played soccer and volleyball. Unfortunately, our game was cut short when a storm rolled in and we got caught in the rain.

Tuesday
I spent most of the morning at the school and around noon Sr. Cordis and I went to Ilorin. First we ran some errands like paying the electric bill and going the the Ministry of Education. Then we stopped at an internet cafe so I could check my email and use the internet. The computers were incredibly slow, the keyboard had more Japanese characters than English letters, and the three emails I typed did not get sent. Although I did read some of the emails in my inbox so that was nice. After the internet cafe, we went to the market to pick up sheets for the students' beds and some fresh fruits.

Wednesday
I continued working at the school where I do several things, including typing up the list of library books, showing students how to use the computers, and tutoring the girls in a variety of subjects from the geometry to snakes to fatigue. I like working with the little kids in Awkunanaw but it has been nice having conversations with the older girls in Amoyo. They constantly ask me about the US and they were thrilled when I taught them the song Yankee Doodle.

Thursday
Tuesday night I had a horrible headache and since then I had been feeling punky. After vomiting this morning, I went over to the medical clinic. After reciting my symptoms, Sister Prisca called the lab tech to draw up some blood for a malaria test. It is official, I have had malaria twice in two months. The good news is that I did not wait until I was really sick to get tested and hopefully this time it will not be so bad. I must say it is nice that I live with a nurse and I didn't even have to leave the compound to get my drugs.

Friday and Saturday
May 1st is a national holiday so there was no school on Friday. Which was good because I was too sick to go any way. So I spent the day in bed cursing mosquitoes. Saturday was more of the same.

Sunday
I managed to get up for church but I went straight to bed as soon as I got home. The good news is that I started feeling better by Sunday night.

Trip Highlights (Week Two)

April 20th-26th

Monday
Even when school is not in session I try to help out where I can. Often times that means showing one of the Sisters how to use a certain program or typing something up for them, so today I typed up the Student Handbook. After that we went to town, where we stopped at the market and bought Indomie (gotta feed the oyibo) and fruits and veggies, bought mattresses for Stephen the Nigerian Youth Corp volunteer (which is sorta like Americorp), and finally we stopped by the Novitiate and another SND house in Ilorin.

Tuesday
We ran out of water. I take my showers in the morning and by then the water was gone, so I am feeling very dirty. Oh well, I knew it was too good to last. The good news is that in an hour or two the above ground tank should fill and we will have running water again.Today I used Excel start making a card catalog for the library. Brother Vincent who is an engineer came to work on the drainage system around the house and school. He will be staying with us for several days. He took us to Royals, a Nigerian fast food restaurant and we ate real ice cream and bought pizza to take back to the house. It was almost like being home.

Wednesday
I didn't do much work because NEPA wasn't cooperating and that makes computers useless. I took a siesta in the afternoon.William, who is a friend of the Sisters came for dinner. He is Nigerian who has been going to school in California and it was nice to hear stories about the US.

Thursday and Friday
I worked on the card catalog some more, it now includes several hundred books. On Thursday we ate dinner in front of the tv and watched Super Story.

Saturday
I did laundry, because it is always nice having clean clothes. Most of the day was spent hanging out, reading, and watching movies. In the afternoon I helped Fidelia plant corn, pumpkin, and watermelon with a machete.

Sunday
It was a typical Sunday, begining with Church and then a big lunch of rice. Students started returning to school for the start of term. The school has roughly fifty students between the ages of 10 and 14.

Road Trip Highlights (Week One)

I have been gone for a while and it has been an eventful couple of weeks and a lot has happened. Here are some of the highlights:

April 13th-19th
Monday
We (three nuns and I) drove five and a half hours to Edo state. We had to stop at four police road blocks in the first hour and after that I stopped counting. Sometimes the roadblocks are to check for safety violations, such as not using a seat belt or not having a fire extinguisher, but more often than not it is a chance for cops to earn twenty niara from drivers who do not want to be delayed. We stopped on the way and I used a "toilet" that was a cement stall with a hole in the ground. I will never complain about gas station bathrooms again. I ate a cricket: it was flavored with ginger, was crunchy, but not as bad as I expected. I saw pineapples growing and no, they do not grow on trees. I spent the night at the SND Central house, where all the Nigerian SNDs are meeting for their annual assembly.

Tuesday
I met a bunch of nuns who were coming for the assembly, the final head count was around seventy. I also saw five white people in Nigeria at the same time (prior to this the record was four) I ate cashew fruit (we could eat all the fruit we wanted but not the nut at the bottom because the nuns sell it for a profit). It sort of reminds me of persimmons and the juice is so acidic it will permanently stain clothes.I then went to Fugar, where the postulate house is. Fugar is about 25 minutes from the Central House.

Wednesday
I was given the grand tour of the postulate house and their farm including the yam, groundnut, and cassava fields. My entire life flashed before my eyes when the okada (motorcycle) I was riding on nearly crashed. I doubt if I will be getting on one anytime soon. I went to the Fugar market and bought pineapple for super cheap, small ones were less than 40 cents. Visiting shut ins is part of the postulates' ministry SO in the afternoon Edith and I trekked to the home of an elderly man and we stayed for a nice chat. I enjoyed twenty four hours of constant electricity AND running water. The last time I was able to enjoy that luxury was when I was still in the US sometime in January.

Thursday
It was raining when I woke up and so I was able to go back to sleep until the scandalously late hour of eight o'clock. Sr. Annette (the British nun at the John Nwodo House) is celebrating her golden jubilee this year so I typed up the program for Friday's mass and then spent the afternoon hanging out at the Central House.

Friday
I went back to Central House and helped cook the feast for the last night of the assembly. Christopher and Amos (two SND drivers) took me to Agene Bode to see the Niger River. Three times a week there is a floating market where fresh fish and crops are sold and ferried across the river in long skinny boats. We took a boat ride up the river the scenery is crazy beautiful. I befriended the central house dog. It is the first dog I have seen up close in three months. I pulled the name of one of the winners of the SND raffle. The sisters have been selling raffle tickets to raise money for a new school in Abuja. The Sisters gave me a glass of wine to drink on the way back to Fugar (with all the pot holes I was surprised that I didn't spill it all) since the drivers wanted to go before the party was over. So I can actually say I went out drinking on a Friday night.

Saturday
I went to stay with Srs. Cordis, Prisca, Fidelia, and Maureen in Amoyo, Ilorin which is north of Edo. We left around 9 am and even though the trip was supposed to be four and a half hours we didn't arrive until 4 pm. Part of the delay was because we were in my second car accident in Nigeria (vehicles often tap each other but it doesn't count as a real accident unless the drivers stops and gets out). It was pouring down rain and the bus behind us ploughed into the back of our van. The good news is that no one was injured; the bad news is that the SND's van while drivable has seen better days. Without seat belts in the backseats, it was a miracle that no one was hurt. The nuns start off every journey with a few prayers and those prayers paid off that day.

Sunday
We went to a tiny little church in the village with an oyibo Irish priest. I enjoyed it for three reasons: we drove there so I didn't have to stumble around in the dark, it was almost entirely in English with a few songs in Yoruba, and it was only an hour and a half which is very short by Nigerian standards. When we got back I was shown around my home for the next couple weeks. The nuns in Amoyo run a boarding school for girls and a medical clinic. This is the school's second year and the Sisters are trying to come up with funding to build another wing and buy other materials, still I see a lot of potential. My projects for this week will be cataloging the books in the library and teaching the nuns to use Excel and Powerpoint. That night a woman was in labor at the clinic and the nuns were with her, so I ate a solitary dinner of rice with goat stew and fried plantains. Between the running water, the abundance of pineapple, and the dairy products, I am totally getting spoiled this week.

Back Home

I am soooo excited to have the internet again. I managed without the it for a whole month but I was disappointed when I arrived in Awkunanaw on Thursday and it wasn't working. It made me want to cry. But the good news is that it is working now.

So I am back in Enugu. It was strange coming home because everything was the same yet it somehow felt different. But I was excited to see the Sisters again and they seemed to have missed me as much as I missed them. I plan on staying put in Awkunanaw for the next 34 days until I leave for Kenya.