Africa Update

So. Nigeria.

So far, my experience at school hasn’t quite been as scary as I thought it would be. It’s been slightly frustrating but still good. Firstly, I’m not the tallest person in the school. Somehow I got the impression that I was going to be monstrous compared to the other students at Hillcrest. BUT lucky for me there are many very tall people at the school so I don’t feel quite so weird. Plus the people at the school are really nice. It took me a while but I actually feel like I’m starting to become an accepted member of the senior class. Since the school is so small, it was a little hard to get settled in because each class is like a family. School is a little frustrating though because in most of my classes I’m learning things that I’ve already learned at Columbia River. In my English class, we’re reading some of the same books I read as early as my sophomore year in the states. Plus, my biology class uses the same textbook as the course I took last year only the two year course I was in has been rolled in to a one year course here. So it will be easy for the first half of the year, but after that it will get to be a little harder.

Outside of school, we’ve been having a lot of fun. This past week we’ve gotten to know two Irish medical students named Gary and Gemma. Gary is a country boy and has a very strong Irish accent so he’s been the butt of many jokes, jokes of affection of course. He uses all of the stereotypically Irish sayings (his “wee sachets of porridge” have been particularly popular). Gemma is really cool too. We’ve even talked about maybe stopping in Ireland on the way home and visiting them and seeing the pretty landscape. I hope we do. The pictures that the Ardill’s showed of their trip were really pretty. Oh, and we got to know Hanna, the Swiss medical student here. She’s pretty cool too. Dad found out she spoke German and immediately started talking up a storm. It was pretty funny.

Also, this past weekend we went to the wildlife park here in Jos with the Taits and the Gils. That was definitely a new experience. You could get in to most of the animal cages fairly easily. One example was the elephant cage that you could just unbolt the door and get in to the pen with the elephant. Being that the cages were so unsafe by American standards, you could touch and interact with most of the animals. I had a roaring contest with a male lion that was two feet away and only separated by a double layer chain link fence. Oh, and we got to feed chimpanzees. That was fun. If you waved your hands around they would break dance as a trick for the treat.

Well, it’s time for my nightly homework session. But keep us in your prayers. Pray for our safety especially. Between my dad’s driving, my roaring contests with lions, and all the other hazards, we need it.

(Hannah, 17)