Hello from Abuja! So we arrived in Abuja at about 4:15 Nigeria time this morning. We stayed back on the plane and let others get off first, so by the time we collected out stuff and got off, we were the last ones in line to go to the long!!!... did I mention hot?...immigration line...so we are standing waiting our turn and we saw Turner stroll over to us and we greeted him and soon after Miriam and then another man came over to us and greeted us and told us to give him our passports and immigration forms and shortly after we were whisked through the admission process and bypassed everyone else...talk about being well connected...we were wicked impressed. So we got into the two cars complete with drivers and drove the 30 minutes or so to the Isoun's house. Couldn't tell much about the scenery because the sun had not come up yet, but did see many, many Muslim men on the side of the highway walking to go to morning prayer.... they were mostly wearing the traditional Nigerian dress of loose fitting pants and a large collarless shirt with rounded hem in light monochromatic colors and short headwear that look like Middle Eastern Kippahs to me...but what do I know...I'm Jewish. Turner was attired in the same style of clothing minus the hat and Miriam was dressed in a long shiny brown skirt and patterned shirt. I don't know what I expected the terrain to look like, but it is different. There are lots of hills and we are in the "dry season" so it's not as green as it usually is, but coming from Monson at this time of year, it looks pretty green to me. They have some really cool vegeataion including trees in the backyard that have vibrant orange blossoms ...it's called "flame of the forest" and a mango tree in the backyard that is loaded with fruit...can't wait to pick some. We arrived at the house and were given a quick tour and then went to rest. Matthew actually took a nap immediately, but Tariye came to see us on the terrace and then we got to talking...imagine that... and had a cup of coffee and then John went to take a rest too. I stayed up and upacked and got the presents together and had a shower...whew...after 2 days on the road, it felt great. The house is on a hill overlooking the city and is huge...very modern construction with lots of tiled floors which are cooler and of course fans in all the rooms. There is a/c available but I think it is used sparingly...mostly for sleeping. ..plenty of room for all of us. Matthew and John got up around noon and we had a brunch of fried sweet potatoes, fried plantain, and scrambled eggs with spicy hot peppers and cheese.

While John and Matthew finished up their brunch, we girls went to check out the wedding dress with the hair and veil etc and me to try on my dress to see that it fit. While the dresses that have been made are beautiful , all beaded and shimmery , it won't matter at all because once everyone gets a glimpse of Tariye in her dress, the whole place will be in tears. She is the picture of elegance and beauty. Those Isoun women...

Then we all got ready to head to a couple of places that Miriam thought would be interesting for us. Ilse, Diseye's wife came along as well. Our first stop was to a funiture maker's "shop". I use the term shop because it's not like any other that I've seen. Ola is a man in his mid thirties or so who has set up shop in a half constructed school ....4 stories of concrete floors and posts with no walls and no roof who constructs any kind of furniture one could want all without the use of power tools. He has about 16 other guys working for him and he does large and small orders from everything from wooden chairs to custom designed hospital cabinets. His work comes from word of mouth referrals and he says that he is busy all of the time. He appeared to really haved a good handle on not only the design and financial stuff, but also the management details. He was incrediby generous with his time and just shows what you can do if you have a game plan.

We then went to visit a government run arts and crafts center...very interesting group of shops selling all sorts of things from appliqued handiwork to clothing made with batik cloth to jewelry and masks to djembe drums to woven baskets and wall art....Don't have any naira...the local currency, but when I do...watch out. Then we went to a local fish market to get fish to smoke. It was next to a vegetable and fruit market which had papayas that were huge and Ilse bought us a sour fruit that we are going to try later...then back to the house. We are just hanging out a bit until Tariye finishes her power meeting with the wedding planner and others and then...not sure what we are going to do. Hope to see Ilse and Diseye's daughter soon and meet Ilse's mom who is visiting from Holland too.

So I'll sign off for now...Glad to be here!

Melinda