Kids’ Doc in Jos

Yesterday, I mentioned that we had unpacked our boxes after finally arriving home. This time, we only had our normal luggage allowance (no excess pieces), and since Barb had come from the UK where prices are high, she didn’t bring much.

I, however, had crammed a lot into my two pieces. Probably too much, since it meant that I had spent too many precious hours shopping on-line, trying to convince companies to take my credit card, and so on. Anyway, here is a list of most of what fit into my two boxes (one 50 pounds, one 70 pounds), carry-on and laptop bag.

Barb and I headed home over the weekend, she from Oxford and I from Wisconsin. We were to meet back at the airport in Frankfurt and fly from there to Abuja. I made the overnight flight from Chicago all right, but her flight from London was at least an hour late. She still might have made it to the Abuja gate, but being Frankfurt, she had to deplane on the tarmac, wait for other passengers to board the shuttle bus, take the bus to the terminal, and then start trying to find the connecting flight in the Frankfurt maze.

I decided to wait for Barb, as we hadn’t discussed this contingency, so we were both stuck. Lufthansa, reasonably enough, was willing to pay for Barb’s hotel and a new flight the next day on KLM, but wouldn’t pay for me and wouldn’t let me transfer my ticket to KLM. They also charged me $200 to rebook my flight. So, instead of leaving the next morning, we had to stay 2 nights in Frankfurt since Lufthansa doesn’t make the trip on Monday.

It was an expensive hassle, but once we got over the price shock we actually had a restful time. We stayed the first night in the hotel where Lufthansa puts up their passengers, and enjoyed really great dinner and breakfast buffets. The second night, with dinner since there was nowhere else around to eat, would have cost us $260 (!) so I found a much cheaper hotel on Priceline and booked there.

That one, the Albatros Airport Hotel, was delightful with more of a family atmosphere. I’d recommend it for anyone needing overnight accommodation near the airport, when your airline isn’t making the arrangements and footing the bill. It’s clean and friendly, located in a quiet, mixed residential/commercial area, and you can easily walk to grocery stores, bakeries or a couple of eateries. The breakfast buffet was quite nice, if not as spectacular as that in the more expensive hotel.

We spent Tuesday afternoon wandering around the shopping areas, having a snack, and buying our supper: wonderful, dark German bread, Camembert cheese, fruit yogurt, apples, and sparkling water. We had a fun and satisfying meal for under $10 for the two of us.

Having caught up on sleep and overcome the main part of jet lag, we arrived in Abuja last night and in Jos this morning. Luke was so excited to see us, he couldn’t stop talking. Tonight we unpacked our luggage … maybe I’ll touch on that in my next post.

• Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger. It took us a while to get into it, but it’s a good book that we haven’t quite finished (****)
• The Curate of Glaston, by George MacDonald. A trilogy of MacDonald’s books with a young curate common to them all. Very good reading; the plots are ok but the main attraction is MacDonald’s thoughts on God and life. (****)
• Miracles, by C. S. Lewis (****)
• Apologizing to Dogs, by Joe Coomer. Picked it up on a whim, didn’t like it. Maybe I’m just too serious. Empty lives, dirty little secrets, didn’t seem like a great comedy to me. (**)
• Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion, Edward J. Larson, 1997. Fascinating, Pulitzer Prize winner. (*****)
• The Bookseller of Kabul, by Asne Seirstad (****)
• Iran–Desperate for God, available at www.vombooks.com. Autobiographical sketches by seven Iranians who left the main religion. Interesting, thought-provoking, and sincere. A side of Iran not portrayed by the media. (****)