Alphabet Soup, Anyone?

Today was my first real packed day of work... we had some super important Department of State head come and do site visits in Abuja--technically she is the Deputy Director of the Global Health Initiative, if that means anything to you--and our mentor had us accompany her and the rest of the embassy and USAID to two local hospitals to tour the HIV prevention and treatment clinics that are being funded with US taxpayer money (PEPFAR, President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the only good thing that W. Bush did during his reign of terror... although some may argue that it isn't actually that great because it makes developing countries dependent on foreign aid... a whole 'nother topic for discussion). It was pretty cool to see the hospital teeming with people, particularly the antenatal wards, just rows and rows of mothers and their babies... I noticed that African babies are a lot smaller and punier than American ones... must be the HIV+malnourishment or something... so tiny! Like baby kittens... and they mew like kittens too. O_o One of the really interesting programs that one hospital is implementing has HIV+ women who have successfully given birth to HIV- children (they call them "mentor mothers") go out into the community and talk about their experiences with other women who may be HIV+ and are pregnant. There is a huge stigma against people who are HIV+ and so they are trying to decrease that negativity and push people at risk to seek treatment so that they can prevent mother to child transmission (in acronym speak, PMTCT... starting to get the hang of speaking alphabet soup, since all the US gov agencies use acronyms for every program and phrase out there.
After the site visits, I had a one on one meeting with my secondary mentor--I'll probably be working with him directly, since he is the epi team lead for the CDC office. I'm super stoked now, since there are lots of projects I can get onto, and I think with the various projects that I don't have a strong background in, I will have just cause to go to trainings wherever... I could care less where I go (as long as I get out of the office), since I have training funds available. We have a field epidemiology training program too, and they go out and investigate outbreaks around the country; I'm not wishing any terrible outbreak on Nigeria, heh, but definitely will jump at the chance to go and experience an outbreak investigation firsthand...thankfully got the ok on that, so yay, excited! Don't feel as lost now, and it's only day 3 of work!
Jess and I decided to try and walk to a supermarket near our apartment after we got home from work, took us about 20 minutes to get there. We looked around, decided to eat dinner at the cafe in the market, and both ordered what turned out to be the weirdest sandwich concoctions we have ever ordered. She got this frankfurter (read: hot dog!) panini pressed sandwich thing, with corn and coleslaw inside and a few stray french fries (they call them chips here, British influence), and I ordered a chicken shwarma, which I thought would just be in pita, but they wrapped it up and pressed it on a sandwich grill thing too... turned out mine also had french fries in the wrap. So weird. It's also making my tummy feel funny right now. Oh Africa. We each bought a loaf of bread and walked home from the market... only to encounter pouring rain and lightening/thunder... thankfully I had the foresight to bring an umbrella, but it was so windy my umbrella kept getting turned inside out! Not to mention, there are no street lights, so I could barely see what was in front of me. And let me preface with the statement that I am not racist, but dude, I could not see any Nigerian walking towards me if my life depended on it.... just can't see them in the dark! Yeesh. Kept looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was following us.
Tomorrow I will go and check out the Taiwan Embassy... my aunt had a best friend in middle school whose brother was really good friends with this one guy now based in Nigeria. Turns out he actually lives in Lagos, the commercial center of Nigeria, but his brother in law put me in touch with the folks at the Taiwan Embassy so I will go and see if they have any tips on living in Abuja and if there are any good Chinese restaurants around (doubtful, but gotta give it a shot). Then off to the fruit market next door...maybe a quick run around the "crescent" that I live on (Abuja has weirdly shaped streets...)
Weekend plans might include shadowing a trauma doctor I met at a house party last weekend, going to the local market to practice my haggling skills, trivia pub night, or other tomfoolery. :) Trying to integrate, socialize, be fun! It's so tiring though, haha. Oh, and did I mention that the girl I was rooming with in ATL, her friend here in Abuja is a Senator's son, and his family graciously decided to "loan" us living room furniture for an entire year, free of charge! So awesome. And our 3rd roommate is moving in this weekend too... we're just subletting a room to her until she finishes up at the end of the year. Maybe her Nigerian friends will take us out and show us a good time. Also parents and friends sending care packages to me soon, yay! Now, an episode of Glee before I turn in...