If It Stings It Means Its Working

Hello guys and girls, men and women, blue fish and green fish. As the sole remaining member of the contingency who has yet to share his intimate thoughts, I decided to give all of you readers from around the globe a glimpse into the culture (i.e. food) of this sub saharan adventure into the proverbial jungle of the unknown.

Our first day in Nigeria was spent in the capital of Abuja as discussed in Jason's earlier post. The food there was an interesting mix of western influence and Nigerian persuasian. Our first Nigerian meal was in a small bistro reminiscent of a sidewalk cafe at which two of us ate the middle easter delicacy known as shwarma and two others ate beef and chicken, relatively tame as we would soon discover. Our breakfast the next morning was the local delight known as the meatpie. Essentially meat, gravy, and vegetables in a pastry, this was a whole new kind of breakfast. After arriving in the rural town of Jos, lunch was served in a local appartment which consisted of boiled eggs and lamb in a curry and turkey gravy over a bed of mixed rice. Jason tells me there was a ceviche but i'm skeptical. Surely amused my bouche. Dinner consisted of a long noodle reminiscent of a negotiation of spaghetti and angel hair, with an interesting gravy reminiscient of strogonoff.

Jos has proven to be quite the experience so far. Goats in the street. Minimal electicity. Intermitant water. After dinner each night is somewhat of a community time with some of the other volunteers. We also had some late night munching (Jason: raisins and almonds; Joe: peanut butter and crackers; Kristin: starburst jelly beans which she hides from us; Bob: straight peanut butter out of the jar) Jason is learning the local language of hausa and we have met some very interesting locals. We were invited to the house of the chief doctor of the hospital last night and met his family and children. As I walked down the streets today, children flocked and hung on my legs, guess I didnt smell as bad as Joe told me. This morning we woke up to no electricity, no water, and rain outside.

We proceeded to devotions, a prayer service that takes place each morning at the hospital with the patients awaiting treatment, during which a close american friend of ours spoke. This was followed with tours of the hospital that is being built and then some personal time with various patients and doctors. Each group member was separated and spent time with a variety of people seeking outpatient therapy and scheduled treatments. The rain has let up and the sun is coming out. Thats all the news thats fit to pring kids. Off to eat more peanut butter.

- Bob "ilikeachallengeandfoodisoneofthem" Barczak