The Nigerian Way

I had to post this picture of Happiness with Elizabeth on her back. Elizabeth loves it when Happiness puts her on her back and works in the kitchen. This is the way all the Nigerian women carry their babies around. Happiness is great!!

What a Pantry!

We have been really busy this week with running Jeremy to school and taking Elizabeth to playgroup. I found that this week i didn't have a good chance until now to sit down and write in my blog. Yesterday, the kids were really quiet and I couldn't hear them anywhere. i went into both of their bedrooms and could not find them. I called out their names,and i could hear some giggles coming from the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen and still didn't see them. Finally I went into the pantry and found both of them. They were just in there emptying out some plastic drawers we had food in, but they were having so much fun. i could help but post these pics of the two of them. It almost makes me want to be little again and see everything as an adventure.:) It really would have helped me out to think of shopping for food for a year was an adventure!

A Yoruban Birthday

Early last week, Jeremy came home with another backpack from school. I asked him whose backpack it was and he told me it was his. "Someone at school gave it to me." he said. I asked him again and he kept insisting it was his. I looked at it a little bit closer and did see his name was on it. I looked inside and saw a huge bundle of candies and snacks, a game, a bowl, a cup, a pencil and eraser, a pencil sharpener, etc. He told me it was a little girl's birthday at school that day. Of course, I immediately felt guilty. All I had done for Jeremy's birthday at school was send cupcakes. I went upstairs and showed Happiness what Jeremy had received from school. I asked her if this was normal to get for a birthday party from school. She asked me the name of the child. The little girl's name was printed on almost everything. Happiness smiled. She said," She is Yoruba. The people from the the Yoruba Tribe have very big celebrations for birthdays." Then it dawned on me that I didn't know what tribe Happiness was from. So, I asked her. She is from the Ibo tribe and they also have huge celebrations for birthdays and give elaborate gifts. After I talked to Happiness that day, I realized that I didn't even know that much about the ribes who were native to Nigeria. I felt a little badly since I live here now, and I really do not know much about the people who have always lived here. Both Happiness and Fatai told me there are three main tribal groups: the Ibo, Hausa and Yoruba. I found out that Fatai is from the Yoruba tribe. He told me you can tell what tribe a person is from by looking at their native dress. I also found out there are about 500 languages spoken in Nigeria alone! I couldn't believe it. I suddenly realized that I have been living in a bubble. Nigeria has a very interseting culture that I will definitely be learning more about!

Musings on Ozumba Drive

Last night, Guy and I went out with some people who also live on the same compound. We were driving down Ozumba Drive and talking when all of the sudden I saw it!!! One of the signs that I am definitely in Lagos. I guess it was a small miracle that it took six weeks for me to see this somewhat common occurrence...public urination!!! I was just looking out the window when an okada driver got off of his motorcycle and peed right in a puddle ..facing the street...there was absolutely no shame about it at all. People who have lived here for a while told me I would see it one day...and yesterday was the day. As I was just getting over what I had seen, I looked out the window on the other side of the car and a little ways down the road, another man was peeing on the side of the road. At least this man was a little modest...he faced away from the cars.:) I couldn't believe it...I hadn't seen this appearance for six weeks and in one night I saw it twice! I started thinking again about how crazy it is here in Lagos. Even my driver Fatai knows it is crazy here. He will see the people on the sides of the road and on the okadas and laugh at them, too. A few weeks ago, we saw a man, a woman , and what looked like no older than a 6 month old baby strapped to the woman's back on the okada. I was stunned, and I asked Fatai if he saw it. He said," Yes, madame. That is how they are doing. (His English isn't all that great.) You must have a brave soul to ride through the streets of Lagos." I can certainly see that is so. I kept thinking about how crazy it is here, and he said, "In Nigeria, everyone must find his own way." I am not sure if he was talking about finding a ride or if he was being more philosophical. But last night, all I could think was that those men who were peeing on the side of the road must not be able to find their own way...to the bathroom!

What Will the Day Bring???

I took Elizabeth to the clinic on our compound today. She has had a very runny nose for a little over a week , and I wanted to make sure that she was not getting an ear infection. Good news..she is fine. But, the bad news started when we got back to the flat. I have to go back to yesterday. We received an e-mail that power would be cut off to our compound for about 6-8 hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Apparently, maintenance was going to be doing some work on a transformer. So, back to today when I got back from the clinic. Elizabeth and I got on the elevator and when the doors shut, I realized that there was no light in the elevator. I was a little scared but it did take us up to the seventh floor. I was relieved that I didn't have to lug my 17 month old up seven flights of stairs. When we got into the apartment, I saw that all the power was out. The flat already started to feel like it was getting hot. Happiness went on her break, and I got lunch ready for Elizabeth and myself. It really brought back memories of life after Hurricane Ike in Houston. I had to light the stove with a match. I am already used to not having a dishwasher...so that was not a big deal. After I put Elizabeth down for a nap, I checked some e-mail ( our lap top was fully charged). I looked at the clock and realized that Happiness had not come back from her break yet. She is always on time. My cell phone started ringing. i answered it and it was Happiness. She was stuck on the elevator and had already called security to get her out. Apparently the generator that was running the elevators was not working. I was deciding whether or not to wake Elizabeth up from her nap to take her with me to pick Jeremy up from school when Happiness walked through the door of the flat. I was relieved that that problem was taken care of, but then Happiness saw another problem looming. "Madame, I must take Bernie out to go to the bathroom. She hasn't been out since earlier this morning." I then realized that Bernie couldn't walk back up seven flights of stairs. I wanted to call Fatai to carry her up the steps, but I couldn't because he is Muslim. Muslims will not touch dogs. Meanwhile , Happiness was outside on the balcony trying to get Bernice to go pee out there. I think we both knew that she wouldn't. I don't think I have ever seen a dog look so confused. So, I called Guy. He came home soon after that and carried Bernice up the seven flights of steps after she had gone to the bathroom. She never could have made it herself because her hind legs have arthritis in them. Thank goodness he was able to come home and help out. Thankfully, the power was back on by 5 o'clock p.m. so Guy didn't have to make another trek up seven flights with a 70 pound dog.:) I guess when you live in Nigeria, you never know what the day may bring. You just may have to carry a dog up seven flights of steps. I know Guy didn't expect that he would have to do that when he woke up this morning.:)

Just a suggestion

Yesterday, I was riding in the car with Fatai. We were waiting at a red stop light. As the light turned green, Fatai stepped on the gas. All of the sudden, an okada (motorcycle), barreled through the intersection right through a red light. Fatai immediately stepped on the brake and we were fine...but it was really close. I asked Fatai why that happened. He told me that the traffic lights are pretty new in Lagos, and not many people really follow them. I found that really interesting considering there are police at almost every major intersection...yet a lot of motorists don't really care what the signal is telling them to do (or the police for that matter). I started thinking about what would happen in Houston if we ran red lights.....yes....there are red light cameras! I started thinking about how much I hated red light cameras when we went right through an intersection at a red light. I looked at Fatai and his eyes were still on the road. I wasn't sure if he even noticed what he did. Then, I realized that maybe in Nigeria, traffic lights aren't really the law...they are just a suggestion.

Baligun Market

Last week a few of the expat wives here asked me to go to Baligun Market with them. From what I heard, Baligun Market is the place to go to get fabric for your Nigerian outfit for Nigerian culture day the end of September. I already got some fabric last week, but I thought it would be fun to go and look at the different fabrics that were at Baligun. Later in the week last week, I told some other ladies that I was going to Baligun. Their eyes looked really wide and they gave me a ton of tips like: don't take pictures of the vendors at Baligun..they may get very angry with me and tell me I stole their soul, don't carry a purse....put your money in various pockets in your clothes, don't look at anything when the vendor sees you because she will only want you to buy, etc. So, I really was not sure what to expect. I did know that we would have to bring security with us because Baligun is on the mainland. So, yesterday was the day we went to the market. We did have a security guard ride in the car with us. Also, one of the lady's stewardesses came with us also to guide us through the market and help insure that we would not get the "Oyibo" price. When we arrived at the market, I cannot tell you how much traffic and people there were. It was jammed packed. When the other two ladies, myself and Hannah, the stewardess, got out of the car, we were very closely followed by a security guard who was armed with a machine gun!!! Yes, we shopped all day with an armed guard following us everywhere we went just in case there was trouble. I wish I could have taken pictures while we were there because I don't think I can really put into words what I all saw while I was there. The only way I can think for anyone to picture in their heads what the market looked like is to think of pictures you have seen of the slums in New York City during the turn of the century and take it even a few notches below that. The streets were full of cars and women carrying various dry goods on their heads in baskets. There were so many babies tied onto the backs of the women carrying their goods. I never saw one of the babies crying, though. I think they like the feel of being close to their mothers. There were vendors on the side of the road everywhere we went. I must have heard, "Oyibo, Oyibo, come and buy!!!" about a thousand times yesterday. The noise on the street and in the market was so loud. You could hear the horns blaring and people yelling at each other if something wasn't right. While we were walking on the side of the road a small bus almost hit myself and one of the ladies with me. It was about 1 inch from us....God must have been watching us! After getting off the main street, Hannah,guided us into the fabric market of Baligun ( Baligun has several different markets...we only went to the fabric market part...which was huge). Thank God Hannah was there to direct us where to go. There are so many shacks and little passage ways, that it would be so simple to get lost in there. I had never in my life or maybe in 5 lives seen so much fabric as I saw yesterday at the market. There had to be hundreds of different fabrics ( sold in 6 yards) in every shack and there had to be at least 500-700 shacks selling fabric!!! Needless to say, we didn't go to every vendor there. It was unbelievable. It was a seamstresses dream. The fabric was being sold for about 25 dollars U.S. So, the deals were unbelievable. I couldn't help but think that here we were in tiny passage ways in this huge market and we were being followed by a guard armed with a machine gun in his hand and no one in the market even seemed to care that much. We stayed there for about four hours, and we all found some fabric we really liked. I ended up getting some more fabric for an outfit for Elizabeth. I think going to this market and seeing all this fabric from Nigeria, Ghana, Dubai and so many other places really made me stop and think. It made me appreciate all the wonderful things I have in my life just by seeing all the people there in the market who are just hoping to get enough money to buy their dinner that night. I know when I look at where my clothes are made...I will also be thinking..where did this fabric come from???