I'm alive and well!

Hello, family, friends, and loved ones!

Big thanks to Mom for updating for me. This is the first opportunity I've had to use the internet for more than 30 seconds. It definitely is a luxury here in Abuja, at least from my perspective, since I really only go from home to school and back again. I am working on getting an international cell phone as my primary means of contact, and sending text messages are really really cheap from my end! It's the easiest way to communicate here - Jan's son Tom told me that it's more expensive to call a person sitting next to you in Abuja than to call from here to London! Texting is the affordable option, however.

It is a HUGE adjustment. Very little about my life now is similar to my life 2 weeks ago. But that is okay; the Lord is breaking me out of my box and I am experiencing a new life, a new home, and a new dependence on God, even for my daily bread. (No, really, my daily bread...my roommate Jan is on the Atkin's diet, so bread and carbohydrates are rarities at home, but I still buy them for myself!)

On that note, I am eating well. I am eating enough. I am satisfied. I am losing weight, but not dangerously so. Again, the Lord is preserving and sustaining me. This week, my roommate Jan and I went to the British Council building here in the Maitama area, where I had a Chicken Shawarma. The best way I have to describe it is like a burrito from Chipotle, with a thick, flat, Lebanese bread, chickens, onion, some more indeterminate ingredients, and about 5 times the spice. I'll be getting used the spice ASAP. Last night, Jan made us chicken wings fried in olive oil with cashews, green onions and mushrooms. It was delicious. You should be jealous. :)

I will never again take electricity for granted. I've already lost track of the number of times I've been without power in the last week. We have generators both at our compound and at the school, but even so, I've gotten used to feeling my way around in the dark. You know in that moment when the power goes out, when the lights go off, and Americans usually freeze, dumbfounded? Well, the Nigerians have absolutely no reactions whatsoever. They don't even blink. Seriously, it's just a part of their daily lives. And now it's a part of mine, too.

The Lord is so faithful. SO. Faithful. I love my home, complete with ants, fleas, spiders, and cockroaches. I love my fellow staff at ICS; they truly are a family that has welcomed me with open arms. I love the new culture I'm adapting to. I love the respect that everyone shows here: Muslim, Christian, Hindu, regardless. It's all about respect here.

School starts Monday. Please pray that the weekend would be fruiful work time for me. As it turns out, I'm adapting the existing curriculum for grades 6, 7, 8, and 9 and starting from scratch for 10, 11, and 12. We got new books this year, and I've had no training for curriculum planning. This is in addition to the standard lesson plans for each class (5 every day). But the Lord is equipping me. AMEN.

Blessings to you all from my little corner of Africa!