day 11? hump day

i know it's nearly impossible to see, but this is the famed italian cow. if you look just at the fence post with the blob around it you will see a small blurry thing which is the cow. we were driving really fast and it was cloudy and my window had dark tint. excuses, excuses. so today was sort of different. dooshima gave a class on male and female condoms to the office people and it was really funny. we had to come up with 5 rules before starting (like "be respectful" and "turn phones to vibrate") and then came up with a penalty if any were broken (pay N500 to the accountant) and then a "spokesperson" had to sign off showing that the group agreed. it was interesting. and then we started talking about condoms. and i was surprised at how little everyone really knew about how much protection they offer, the manufacturing standards, how to store and use them properly, etc. and there were lots of comments about social/religious implications since polygamy is traditional, historically, among the tribes (and still practiced amongst muslims; check out this link for evidence... http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2007-09-19T122758Z_01_L19141837_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-NIGERIA-WIVES.XML) but is still "practiced" by christians in the manner of taking mistrisses. so there was lots of talk about how to get rid of the evidence without anyone finding it later i.e. best to flush in the toilet or throw on the ground in a busy alley, like by a hospital. i thought that was really weird. and in general everyone seems to speak really loudly with lots of exagerated motions and wide pitch fluctuations. it's really very dynamic when people are "discussing"; a cacophany more or less. but it was fun to be a part of and dooshima was really funny trying to act out how to use a female condom. and then there was another fairly boring meeting about upcoming events and budget issues. and then we ended up working too late and couldn't go to the market because it was about to close! :-( apparently it closes around 5pm (rather early!) so there's no way we could have made it after the meeting. so i came back to the room and pretty much packed up my stuff and then dooshima and gayathri came and picked me up to go for dinner at a new cafe called sadamanders. and it was really fun! the place was really cool and trendy with fun decorating, kushy chairs and couches, a library and internet. we ordered dinner and desserts. i had a spicey chicken pepper soup and a chocolate almond cake. it was delish. but the best was the caupccino!!! it was incredible! especially since i haven't had one for like 2 wks! but it was a really nice evening and we were there for almost 3 hours! very fun. and gayathri and susan may fly down to lagos for the weekend to go out with us after the health fair. i have to get up early tomorrow to check out and go to the airport. then when we get to lagos we'll run around until we're sure the fair is all set up to go and we'll go check into our hotel on the island. and that's about it. i guess i'm just really too drained to think much right now. more later. and hopefully i'll have internet at the hotel there and can keep up with this. otherwise there will be a lot of reading to do on sunday! until tomorrow...