Crazy Weekend!

This weekend seems like it was a whirlwind of things happening. Since Friday morning, things have been in a constant state of motion in our home. It started on Friday morning when we heard that there was a huge earthquake in Japan. Guy's sister lives about 20 minutes outside of Tokyo , so obviously we were worried about her. Guy immediately sent her an e-mail not knowing if she would even be able to receive it. She did respond pretty quickly, so we felt better. She was even able to Skype with Guy on Friday. she said the the initial earthquake was bad and that the after shocks lasted over three hours. She even had an after shock while Guy was talking to her on Skype. I am blown away by how small this huge world seems when we can talk to her in Japan all the way from Nigeria on our computer!:) Rachel, we are so glad you are okay! Our thoughts are with you and everyone in Japan who experienced this huge natural disaster...


It's a good thing we found out Guy's sister was okay since we had a very special occasion to celebrate this weekend...
Lizzy turned three on Sunday!!!!!:)
The celebrating started with a small party at school for her on Friday.

Guy and I were able to come and spend some time in her class with the birthday girl and her friends.:)

She got to share her poster with all of her pictures on it...

She was way too happy about that!:)

Then, of course there were cupcakes...pink ...of course!!!:)

On Saturday, another little girl in her class had a Princess birthday party. Lizzy was so happy to see Cinderella and we had to snap a picture.:) ( Do not ask me where this girl's mother was able to find an actual carriage here in Nigeria...I was blown away!!!!)

Birthday morning!!!! She got tons of presents and would barely sit still for me to take her picture...as you can see by the blurry picture above.:) (All gifts were brought in our annual shipment.:)

The birthday girl and her big brother.:)

Now, it was time for Lizzy's birthday party!:) It wouldn't have been possible without these two great ladies...Happiness and her friend Josephine.:) They are great helpers and of course, the food was edible because of them!:)

We had her party outside at the playground. The weather held up ..no rain...but thank goodness there isn't a temperature camera because you would feel the 90 degree heat with the 200 % humidity...

We had a Hello Kitty party ( Again, using things I brought in the shipment....glad she was still happy with that theme considering I did the shipment last June.:). She loved having her face painted with whiskers and her cat ears she made.:)

Her new bike for her birthday!:) She loved it! You can tell I live in Nigeria when every time I look at these pictures, I think to myself, "Yep...that was in the shipment , also!"

Craft table:)

Birthday cake time!:) The kids had fun decorating the cupcakes with sprinkles( yep...you guessed it!!! Brought in the shipment!:)

Quick family picture!:)

Lizzy and her buddy, Erik:)

Of course, we had more presents to open from Grammy and squire and other friends.:)

She loved the nightgown from a dear friend of mine!:) It's crazy how busy our weekend was! As I was thinking about writing this post, I realized how much fun we had this weekend. Sometimes I wish we could take a quick weekend trip out of the compound, but we really can't drive too far away from our compound without security.....

Here, we have to make our own fun. It just doesn't come that easily here. And somewhere in the middle of all the fun we had, my little girl turned three!:)

The Nigerian Woman

I bought this statue last year from a local artist named Reuben. When I first saw this statue, I thought to myself, "This statue is a perfect representation of Nigeria." I have tried and tried to get pictures of the women I see on the streets, but none of them could ever show so accurately the expressions on their faces as they are working so hard...
It is very typical here to see a woman working with her baby strapped to her back. The expression on the woman's face in the statue is a perfect replica of the expressions I see on the faces of the Nigerian women every day. She is doing her work...her expression doesn't show that she loves or hates it...she just knows that she has to get the work done or there will be no money or food for her children.
The baby sleeping on his mother's back is such a typical site. I really can't imagine ever working as hard as the women I see with Elizabeth strapped to my back...I don't think I could ever get anything done! But, somehow, these women manage to work, take care of their children, families, homes, etc. all the while by doing manual labor. In Nigeria, it is not uncommon for an able bodied man to be standing next to a Nigerian woman and expect her to carry the heavy load ...on her head...no less! It is not unusual for a poor Nigerian woman to give her earnings straight to her husband for him to keep.

Happiness, is an extremely hard- working Nigerian woman. We talk a lot about the differences in how she grew up and how I grew up in the U.S. She has been working at one thing or another since she was in grade 5. She did get to go back and finish high school while she was working, though. Her education is very important to her. She told me soon after I moved here that one thing she has learned in her life growing up in Nigeria is," Madame, You can never ever trust a Nigerian man. I don't even trust my own husband!" She actually makes her husband give her some of his salary so she can buy food instead of the other way around. I always tease her and tell her she is a very un -Nigerian Nigerian!:) She seems more American than Nigerian.:) I am sure there are some trustworthy Nigerian men out there, but when Happiness doesn't trust many of them..I think I'll take her advice.:)

When I look at this statue every day, I remind myself how lucky I am to have been born outside of Nigeria. I am so happy that my daughter will not have to have the life I see so many young girls and women have here. For all you women who are living in countries where you have equal rights as men it is so easy to forget that there are still so many women struggling to have a voice of their own. Please know how blessed you are to have your own voice, your own opinions, your own money. Living here and seeing the things I see here everyday is a very good reminder of how blessed my family and I really are.

Musings

Today was like most days here in Lagos. I was in my car armed with my camera looking for anything I may see that would be picture worthy...or at least what I would call picture worthy.:) it is always amazing to me how many things I see here every day which I haven't seen before. If any of you ever plan to come to Nigeria, you need to be prepared to see some of the strangest things. For instance, at a traffic light, ( yes, we stopped), I saw this huge truck loaded with soda ( minerals), water bottles and crates of other things just stacked on top of each other. Nothing was strapped down and it was a miracle that nothing rolled off as the driver turned the corner. I told Fatai that the things on the truck could fall off. He said, " No Madame, everything is on wood." I looked at him and then looked at the truck...so, just because things are stacked on wooden palates they won't tip out? I never heard that one before!!:)
Here's something just in case anyone was looking for a "Nany" a.k.a nanny:)
This was the real kicker I saw today after picking Elizabeth up from school driving across the Falomo bridge, I saw this truck which apparently was carrying Raid insect killer. I am not sure SC Johnson is aware that on the side of a truck advertising its insect killer there is a baby sitting there looking very confused!:) ( I guess if I was that baby, I would be really confused about why I was on the same advertisement as Raid, too!) It occurred to me that Lagos has things that you would see other places like signs and trucks...but they just aren't quite what you would expect.:)

Happy Mardi Gras!!!

Ekaale!!! I hope you are all enjoying a Happy Mardi Gras today. Today is really a day that I miss living in New Orleans! That, and the fact that I got three days off from teaching every Mardi Gras.:) The above picture is from a party we went to a few weeks earlier...lots of fun! Unfortunately, Mardi Gras isn't celebrated here in Lagos quite like it is in New Orleans....but we have lots of great times and great memories from our years in the Carnival city!:)

In the spirit of Mardi Gras, I thought I would share a little bit of Lagniappe ( something extra) with you about what the kids have said and been up to lately:

Elizabeth: "Oops, my mouth tooted!" (after she burped)

"Mama! Sing Yankin' Doodle again!" (Yankee Doodle)

The kids love the Shakira song, "Waka Waka" and we have the video downlaoded from You Tube. (Guy said he downlaoded it because the kids like it....I am sure he "likes" it a litle more than them.) When the video started the other night, Elizabeth ran into her room and said." Just a minute...I'll be right back!" she came back out in a tutu and said," Look, I look like chkeera ( Shakira)!" Guy and I had to laugh because Shakira was wearng a very short skirt in the video.....maybe we are promoting the wrong image???!!!:)

Jeremy: I was asking the kids what their favorite part of the day was at dinner and just as Elizabeth was going to tell me, Jeremy said," I know! She liked the drama queen." I had to laugh because he was talking about the "drama room" at her school. What can I say...Jeremy knows his drama queen sister loves the drama room.:)

I asked the kids to clean up before they went to bed the other night and Jeremy put one of his big trucks on his head as he walked back to his room and said," I can clean up like a Nigerian!"

When Jeremy got in the car, he said " Ekaaro! ( Good Morning!) " and Fatai said "Ekaaro!" Then, Fatai said ," Salaafia ni! ( How are you?) and Jeremy said, "Fine!" Apparently he is learning more Yoruba than I thought.:)

Robbery Money

Today, Happiness was leaving and told me she was going to stop at the market before she went home. She was gathering her things and put some money in her pockets. Then, she said, " I can't forget my robbery money!"as she put a little bit of money in her purse. It occurred to me that I hadn't really talked about that on a previous post. In Nigeria ( especially Lagos), it is a good idea to carry "robbery money" in case you are mugged for the assailant to take from you. You should never keep all your money in one place. It should be spread out in many pockets on the clothes you are wearing...but never, ever all in your purse or wallet.:) I had a friend who recently moved on to another assignment who actually had her driver tell her she should have another mobile phone in the car in case they were ever robbed while in the car. She showed him her phone that she actually used and he told her that no one who robbed their car would actually believe that she used that phone!!! He told her she should get another phone which was more believable! I don't think she ever did get another phone and I'm not sure about a decoy phone, but just the fact that you would have to think about something like that was crazy to me. Now, it is pretty much second nature to not carry all my money in one place...although, I don't have a decoy phone. Maybe I could use Elizabeth's princess phone if anyone ever tries to rob us in the car...do you think they'll believe that one is mine?:)

The Buzzing Hornets of Lagos

The okadas are like hornets buzzing around cars traveling in swarms. They literally weave in and out of traffic all around them and once in a while they'll sting you ( a.k.a. side swipe your car with a handle bar or an elbow). The okadas are crazy!!! Some say that to be an okada driver, one must not care for his life. I don't know if that is true, but if you watch the way they drive, you would think they thought they had 50 lives to use! It is amazing to me how an okada driver will pull out in front of traffic without looking and about 6 cars are blaring their horns...he won't even give a glance in the cars' direction. Just when you think you are in the clear, another okada will turn up. I don't know how Fatai drives in the crazy place.

The fact of the matter is, okada drivers have very hard lives. Many of them have families who are depending on the money they make to feed their families. I asked Fatai what the average cost of an okada ride from our compound out to Lekki market would be...he told me about 250 naira ( the ride is about 5 miles) and that is less than three dollars. No wonder they are constantly on the road not paying attention...only wanting to get their next paying customer...

Many places around Lagos, you'll see the "packs" of okada drivers waiting for customers to taxi to different places. Sometimes, you will even see them sleeping on their bikes. Many times, they don't have a home close by...so they will actually sleep on their bikes so they are not stolen. I know I get really annoyed with the okada drivers and the problems they cause for traffic in Lagos, but I guess everyone has to try to make a living somehow!:)

Who Knew???

Well, maybe those of you who really enjoy cooking and baking already knew...but for me it was one of those moments when a light bulb went off in my heard! I have been missing English muffins which are so readily available in any bread aisle in any grocery store in the States. But, you just can't find them anywhere here. I was talking to a friend of mine on the compound and she told me she had a recipe to make English muffins. At that moment I think the clouds opened up and the sun shown down on me with angels singing......... You can make English Muffins????? Holy cow, yes, you can make English muffins!!!!! ( FYI, most things you can have here if you can find or bring in the right ingredients...part of living in Nigeria is learning to make things from scratch. That was a hard transition for this girl who was used to making an entire dinner out of a box of something I could buy at a grocery store in Houston.)

So, she shared the recipe with me ,and as an added bonus...it turns out you can even make them semi healthy with ground flax seed and ground up oats ( which if you just grind them in the blender turn into oat flour......some may ask why not the food processor??? Guy decided we didn't need to bring it with us...so it is in storage in Houston. Anyway, a blender works great for this!)

I couldn't believe that we could make English Muffins!!!

Isn't it crazy the little things that can just make your day????

You didn't really think I made them, did you??? Yeah, if I tried, I probably would have burned the down the building. It was a good thing Happiness asked me if she was supposed to bake them in the oven or not...my immediate answer was"Yes." Then, she said, "It says something about a skillet in the recipe." I told her she needed to call my friend and find out.

Thank goodness we did call. As it turns out...you don't bake English Muffins...you fry them in the pan!!! ( Another reason I shouldn't make them myself...I would have just baked them in the oven...they're muffins right?:)) I am sure those of you who are avid cooks and bakers are just reading this post and thinking, " This girl is crazy getting so excited about this!" But, for me, these English muffins, are a little bit of "home" more of what I am used to, and it is comforting to have that when you are so far away from everyone.:) So, what can I say? I know how to bring home the recipes, and Happiness knows how to fry 'em up!!!:)

p.s. Just a side note...this is my 300th post!!!! I just want to say a special thank you to Carolanne for helping me get this blog thing started. And another thank you to everyone who takes the time to read it. It means alot to me to know that people take the time to see what is happening in our lives over here.:) I had no idea how much I would really enjoy it and get to share my experiences living overseas.:)