"I married a poor man!"

*****Nobody panic..we are okay...just read on!*****

Today was a good day, there were several things the kids did (and said) that made me laugh.:)

This morning, Lizzy told me that her milk was "Too told!!!" (translation: too cold!) So, she told me," That's otay mommy, I'll put it in the fridge to warm up!" ( the "k" sound is coming out as "t" sound) I looked at her and wanted to burst out laughing...but she was so serious I didn't have the heart to tell her she was wrong.:)

This afternoon, she was outside playing with some friends on the compound and she was running away from them and shouted," Nan nanny noo noo!!! You tan"t tatch me!" I guess that is the modern take on Nan nanny boo boo??? At least that was what it was when I was little.:)

Jeremy made me laugh today when he got off the bus today and ran over to me and showed me his "treasure". He said," Look mom, I found some gold!!!" He opened his hand and showed me a rock that had been spray painted gold. He told me that he had gone on a treasure hunt at school for Saint Patrick's day and found gold at the end of the rainbow. ( By the way, happy Saint Patrick's day to everyone in the U.S.!!) It was just so cute because he really believed that he had found gold. Then, tonight, after the kids had dinner, I told them they could have ice cream. I had made it for Lizzy's birthday and forgot to bring it downstairs for the party ( Yes, you are reading this correctly...I did make my own ice cream...another adventure I had in the kitchen!) Anyway, as Jeremy was eating his ice cream he said," This is the best ice cream ever! Mommy you are the best cook!!!" I did start laughing out loud....I don't think I have ever heard that from anyone in my whole life...not to mention making ice cream isn't really "cooking". But, if my little boy thinks I am the "best cook" Then, that's good enough for me!:)

After I put the kids to bed, I was getting money out to put in my wallet so I can make a quick stop at the grocery store tomorrow. As I looked at the money, I remembered something funny that Happiness said the other day. She was doing her laundry here on Friday, and she pulled out a pair of her husband's pants. She found a 5 naira bill in the dryer which had come out of Nathaniel's pants and said to me ," I married a poor man!" We both burst out laughing.:)

Looking at the money tonight made me realize that I don't think I have ever shown you what the money over here looks like. I know many of you will probably never even come here or ever really need to know what a naira looks like...but some of you may, so I thought I would share it with you.:) The picture below is the front of a one naira coin. Since it takes 150 naira to make 1 U.S. dollar...one naira is literally worth less than a penny...

Back of one naira coin...
An even smaller denomination of naira is kobo (kind of like dollars are broken down into cents). Here is a picture of the back of a 50 kobo coin. If one naira is less than a penny , then 50 kobo is literally a fraction of one naira...I am really not sure what 50 kobo will get you...
front of 50 kobo...
Here are the bills which Happiness claims are the sign of "a rich man". The 1000 naira bill is about $6.42 U.S. dollars and the 500 naira bill is about $3.21 U.S. dollars...
backs of the 1000 and 500 naira bills
The next denominations down are the 100 and 200 naira bills. 100 naira is about 64 U.S. cents and the 200 naira bill is about $1.28 ( U.S.)
backs of the 200 and 100 naira bills
The remaining bills are the 50 naira ( about $0.32), 20 naira ( about $0.13), 10 naira ( about $0.06), and 5 naira ( about $0.03)
Backs of bills...
I have to admit, after living here over a year and a half...I still feel like this money is like "Monopoly money". I really have to be conscious of how much I am paying when I do buy things here....the money just doesn't feel real to me....especially since everything is paid in cash and you have to use so much of it everyday. I hope I can keep track of the money I spend here well enough so I don't turn Guy into a poor man!:)