Well, we've had a pretty good day today,
But we had a re
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Night in Nigeria
You believe how bright it is in the night in Ife,
Our house is on the edge of the border of Ife pretty much, so we don't live in town proper, as they say. That means there isn't as much pollution where we are, and on a clear night when there's a full moon, it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. So, my father and I went outside to turn off our little blue generator.
Like I've said before, N.E.P.A isn't stable. Well, technically, the real name for the electric company for Nigeria is P.H.C.N. Power Holder Company of Nigeria is what that stands for. But people still call it N.E.P.A.
Anyway, we were outside, and I looked around. The moon was so bright, the shadows of the roof, trees, and myself were all very sharp and distinct. I would almost compare the brightness to the intensity of a strobe light. Every blade of grass was distinct. The only difference between this moonlight and daylight is that this light bleached almost all the colors out of everything. Since Nigeria's at the equator, the moon and the sun and moon are sometimes exactly in the middle of the sky. It was awesome. And even though the moon was so bright, I could still see stars much more clearly than I could in Durham, NC. I think I even saw Mars. My father told me that when he was little, he would bring out a chair into his yard, and talk with a friend or lay there and relax and look at the stars.
There was also another beautiful event I shared with my father and my little sister who is 4 years younger than me. We were all looking up at the stars, when my father said, "look, look at the ground before the lights go out." I had no idea what he was talking about, so I looked at the ground, and saw, to my astonishment, a blur of complex flashing lights, blinking on and off. The only way I could describe how I felt was wow. It was really cool. The lights on the ground were fireflies. Well, that's enough for today...
Signing off,
The Traveler
Our house is on the edge of the border of Ife pretty much, so we don't live in town proper, as they say. That means there isn't as much pollution where we are, and on a clear night when there's a full moon, it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. So, my father and I went outside to turn off our little blue generator.
Like I've said before, N.E.P.A isn't stable. Well, technically, the real name for the electric company for Nigeria is P.H.C.N. Power Holder Company of Nigeria is what that stands for. But people still call it N.E.P.A.
Anyway, we were outside, and I looked around. The moon was so bright, the shadows of the roof, trees, and myself were all very sharp and distinct. I would almost compare the brightness to the intensity of a strobe light. Every blade of grass was distinct. The only difference between this moonlight and daylight is that this light bleached almost all the colors out of everything. Since Nigeria's at the equator, the moon and the sun and moon are sometimes exactly in the middle of the sky. It was awesome. And even though the moon was so bright, I could still see stars much more clearly than I could in Durham, NC. I think I even saw Mars. My father told me that when he was little, he would bring out a chair into his yard, and talk with a friend or lay there and relax and look at the stars.
There was also another beautiful event I shared with my father and my little sister who is 4 years younger than me. We were all looking up at the stars, when my father said, "look, look at the ground before the lights go out." I had no idea what he was talking about, so I looked at the ground, and saw, to my astonishment, a blur of complex flashing lights, blinking on and off. The only way I could describe how I felt was wow. It was really cool. The lights on the ground were fireflies. Well, that's enough for today...
Signing off,
The Traveler
Saturday, November 28, 2009
6 FOLLOWERS!
I'm so happy,
I've got 5 new followers, which gives me a total of six! Thanks to Danny21 who has stuck with this blog for almost two months now. We're about to drive to Lagos tommorow so then we can pick up our container that I talked about in an earlier post.
I really, really want to post some pictures, but I'm still using the Think Pad, which doesn't have an SD slot. Don't worry though, if we can find a cord that can connect the camera and the laptop, I'll post a whole treasure trove of pictures on the site.
I also have some great news; I met two new friends! One is 13, the other 11. They are also from America, and they are staying in Nigeria awhile too. This is really exciting for me, because even though we've been interacting with a lot of people, we hadn't met anyone close to my age.
Signing off happily
The Traveler
I've got 5 new followers, which gives me a total of six! Thanks to Danny21 who has stuck with this blog for almost two months now. We're about to drive to Lagos tommorow so then we can pick up our container that I talked about in an earlier post.
I really, really want to post some pictures, but I'm still using the Think Pad, which doesn't have an SD slot. Don't worry though, if we can find a cord that can connect the camera and the laptop, I'll post a whole treasure trove of pictures on the site.
I also have some great news; I met two new friends! One is 13, the other 11. They are also from America, and they are staying in Nigeria awhile too. This is really exciting for me, because even though we've been interacting with a lot of people, we hadn't met anyone close to my age.
Signing off happily
The Traveler
Friday, November 27, 2009
Runnig some errands
We're going to be going soon to the market,
We need some more supplies and stuff, so we're soon going to go get a taxi or something to go to the market. Nothing really eventful at the moment, I'll post something later on in the day. It's about 11:30 here.
Signing off,
The Traveler
We need some more supplies and stuff, so we're soon going to go get a taxi or something to go to the market. Nothing really eventful at the moment, I'll post something later on in the day. It's about 11:30 here.
Signing off,
The Traveler
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Is it just me?
Hey
Haven't written in a while because we've been having horrible internet connection with our mobile modem. Is it just this Mozilla Firefox messing up, or is blogger having a renovation? Right now I'm typing in plain text, with no pictures whatsoever. It looks like a site from the 80's or 90's.
Anyway, we've had some fun since I've last posted. We had this dish that called Eeshe Ewu. Well, at least that how the name sounds. Eeshe Ewu literally translates to goat head soup. It was definitely the best dishes I've had so far. Almost every part of the head was used, and was sitting in a really spicy sauce, topped with raw onions. It was delicious. The ear was one of the tastiest parts for me. It was chewy in some parts, and soft and flavorful in others. It was really good.
My sister absolutely loves this other snack/dessert/appetizer called pouf pouf (but don't rely on my spelling of it) and it's really good. They're like soft sweet balls of fried dough. They can be huge, too. We had some at a restaurant on O.A.U, and I had a pouf pouf that was almost bigger than my hand. And that's just some of the awesome food they have here.
Signing off,
The Traveler(with a busted modem)
Haven't written in a while because we've been having horrible internet connection with our mobile modem. Is it just this Mozilla Firefox messing up, or is blogger having a renovation? Right now I'm typing in plain text, with no pictures whatsoever. It looks like a site from the 80's or 90's.
Anyway, we've had some fun since I've last posted. We had this dish that called Eeshe Ewu. Well, at least that how the name sounds. Eeshe Ewu literally translates to goat head soup. It was definitely the best dishes I've had so far. Almost every part of the head was used, and was sitting in a really spicy sauce, topped with raw onions. It was delicious. The ear was one of the tastiest parts for me. It was chewy in some parts, and soft and flavorful in others. It was really good.
My sister absolutely loves this other snack/dessert/appetizer called pouf pouf (but don't rely on my spelling of it) and it's really good. They're like soft sweet balls of fried dough. They can be huge, too. We had some at a restaurant on O.A.U, and I had a pouf pouf that was almost bigger than my hand. And that's just some of the awesome food they have here.
Signing off,
The Traveler(with a busted modem)
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Soccer (or Football as they call it here)
Wow,
Nigerians really really like soccer. Well, let me explain what I mean by that. I started noticing this fact the minute we landed.
When we got of the plane and were in the baggage claim area, there were a whole bunch of signs everywhere. Each one had a yellow soccer ball on them and said, 'The world will be one in 2010'. So I guessed that these signs were reffering to a huge football event that was going to happen next year.
There were also similar signs that had a whole bunch of people screaming and waving Nigerian flags (the flag has three vertical stripes, two greens on either side and one white in the middle). Above them were the words 'We're so excited for 2010.' Now I knew something was up about Nigerians and football.
When we were in Lagos (read my previous posts for more info) I asked one of my friends what his most favorite thing to do in the world. He replied, 'football is my favorite thing to do. I play it all the time.' Now, I think he was reffering to the Nigerian football, which is soccer. Actually America is the only country that calls football soccer.
And when we were taking a tour of Lagos my pointed out the two ex-national football stadiums. 'That one is the newer one,' he said, pointing out an almost hidden building with abstract concrete blocks surrounding it's outer wall. 'And that's the older one,' he pointed at an abstract building that was pretty large. Now I was almost convinced that Nigerians are absolutely in love with the game.
And just today I've been totally convinced. We were eating at Mr. Banwills, a restaurant on O.A.U campus, when we decided to go outside. My family all sat down at the table, and my father told me to look down at another restaurant with a whole bunch of people huddled around it. They looked really excited about something. Students would start screaming and jumping up and down, looking through the door at whatever was going on inside there. Every once and a while, more people would join the group and get in on some of the action. I asked my father, 'what are they doing?' 'They're watching soccer,' he replied back. Then I knew that Nigerian are die-hard football fans.
Here's another interesting fact: Americe is probably the only country in the world that doesn't like football. The Nigerian, British, Kenyan, Ghanian, Brazzilian, South African, and many other countries love football. And what are the countries that like American Football? The only one that I know on is America.
Signing off,
The Traveler
Nigerians really really like soccer. Well, let me explain what I mean by that. I started noticing this fact the minute we landed.
When we got of the plane and were in the baggage claim area, there were a whole bunch of signs everywhere. Each one had a yellow soccer ball on them and said, 'The world will be one in 2010'. So I guessed that these signs were reffering to a huge football event that was going to happen next year.
There were also similar signs that had a whole bunch of people screaming and waving Nigerian flags (the flag has three vertical stripes, two greens on either side and one white in the middle). Above them were the words 'We're so excited for 2010.' Now I knew something was up about Nigerians and football.
When we were in Lagos (read my previous posts for more info) I asked one of my friends what his most favorite thing to do in the world. He replied, 'football is my favorite thing to do. I play it all the time.' Now, I think he was reffering to the Nigerian football, which is soccer. Actually America is the only country that calls football soccer.
And when we were taking a tour of Lagos my pointed out the two ex-national football stadiums. 'That one is the newer one,' he said, pointing out an almost hidden building with abstract concrete blocks surrounding it's outer wall. 'And that's the older one,' he pointed at an abstract building that was pretty large. Now I was almost convinced that Nigerians are absolutely in love with the game.
And just today I've been totally convinced. We were eating at Mr. Banwills, a restaurant on O.A.U campus, when we decided to go outside. My family all sat down at the table, and my father told me to look down at another restaurant with a whole bunch of people huddled around it. They looked really excited about something. Students would start screaming and jumping up and down, looking through the door at whatever was going on inside there. Every once and a while, more people would join the group and get in on some of the action. I asked my father, 'what are they doing?' 'They're watching soccer,' he replied back. Then I knew that Nigerian are die-hard football fans.
Here's another interesting fact: Americe is probably the only country in the world that doesn't like football. The Nigerian, British, Kenyan, Ghanian, Brazzilian, South African, and many other countries love football. And what are the countries that like American Football? The only one that I know on is America.
Signing off,
The Traveler
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Ibadan
We just went to Ibadan, a city close to Ife. Ibadan is much bigger than Ife, and Ife is bigger than Durham NC, the city we used to live in. Ibadan's streets are wider than the ones in Ife, but they really need them. We got in a huge traffic jam with all kinds of cars honking and everything. It was actually pretty fun, because then Igot to see the details of the city.
Ibadan doesn't really look like lagos (I'll post more pics of Lagos later on), but it feels almost as big and as bustling! The town we're living in is Ife, and it's really nice. Hundreds of shops are lined up, back to back, on the road. The shops are really cool, because you can find practically anything in one place. The only problems I see with Ife is that there seems to be no entertainment places like movie theaters and the like.
Lagos is much bigger than Ife and nothing like it. The buildings are much more solid and they have all kinds of entertainment. The only problem with Lagos is that it's too smoggy, too much traffic, too many people, and too much heat. Ibadan is a mix between the two. It's really big like Lagos (but not as big as it), but it looks a lot more like Ife.
Soon we're also going to be meeting the Vice Chancellor of OAU, so then we talk about business ideas. My mother and father wnat to start a movie theater in Ife so the students won't be dying of boredom.
So every thing is going along great, and for you Americans out there, if I say in my blog, for instance 'I'm eating chips,' I'm actually saying, 'I'm eating fries.' And if I say, 'I'm eating crisps tonight,' I actually mean, 'I'm eating chips tonight.' You see, Nigeria was influenced a lot by British culture, and those are how the british say fries and chips. Just something you might want to know!
Signing off,
The Traveler
Ibadan doesn't really look like lagos (I'll post more pics of Lagos later on), but it feels almost as big and as bustling! The town we're living in is Ife, and it's really nice. Hundreds of shops are lined up, back to back, on the road. The shops are really cool, because you can find practically anything in one place. The only problems I see with Ife is that there seems to be no entertainment places like movie theaters and the like.
Lagos is much bigger than Ife and nothing like it. The buildings are much more solid and they have all kinds of entertainment. The only problem with Lagos is that it's too smoggy, too much traffic, too many people, and too much heat. Ibadan is a mix between the two. It's really big like Lagos (but not as big as it), but it looks a lot more like Ife.
Soon we're also going to be meeting the Vice Chancellor of OAU, so then we talk about business ideas. My mother and father wnat to start a movie theater in Ife so the students won't be dying of boredom.
So every thing is going along great, and for you Americans out there, if I say in my blog, for instance 'I'm eating chips,' I'm actually saying, 'I'm eating fries.' And if I say, 'I'm eating crisps tonight,' I actually mean, 'I'm eating chips tonight.' You see, Nigeria was influenced a lot by British culture, and those are how the british say fries and chips. Just something you might want to know!
Signing off,
The Traveler
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Trapped in the House
That's right,
We're trapped in our own house. Since we don't have a car (because our minivan is still coming on the ship), we've been using friends cars, but our friend decides he doesn't want to arrive on time. So right now at this moment, we are trapped in this house. My father is at this moment about to get on a motorbike to go to OAU (Obafemi Awolowo University) to see if someone can help us. I've eaten two eggs and one fourth of a cup (I mean a small glass cup) of a watery soup. My father has it worse. He's only had a little bit of an EVA water bottle. EVA is a water company owned by The Coca-Cola Company of Nigeria. As you can tell, we are a little hungry. We also have a soldier ants problem. Here's some links to tell you more for the Army Ants: http://www.armyants.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_ant Well any way, they've invaded they yard which is not good at all, but we just got some ant killer stuff and we're about to take them down.
That's it for now,
The Traveler
P.S: my father just came back with food and we're stuffed.
We're trapped in our own house. Since we don't have a car (because our minivan is still coming on the ship), we've been using friends cars, but our friend decides he doesn't want to arrive on time. So right now at this moment, we are trapped in this house. My father is at this moment about to get on a motorbike to go to OAU (Obafemi Awolowo University) to see if someone can help us. I've eaten two eggs and one fourth of a cup (I mean a small glass cup) of a watery soup. My father has it worse. He's only had a little bit of an EVA water bottle. EVA is a water company owned by The Coca-Cola Company of Nigeria. As you can tell, we are a little hungry. We also have a soldier ants problem. Here's some links to tell you more for the Army Ants: http://www.armyants.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_ant Well any way, they've invaded they yard which is not good at all, but we just got some ant killer stuff and we're about to take them down.
That's it for now,
The Traveler
P.S: my father just came back with food and we're stuffed.
Monday, November 16, 2009
So Sorry Everyone
I'm really sorry everybody,
I've been so busy and so distracted by the many things that are happening to me I almost forgot about this blog. Plus the electricity and water Nigeria isn't stable. Well, anyway, let me fill everyone up on the events that have been happening. We've moved into our new house. Okay, well it's not really new, it was my grandpa's and no one's been in it to really clean for 9 years. It's definetly livable, and realy pleasant, just a little work is needed here and there. OAU (Obafemi Awolowo University) is practically right down the street from our house, and my father said it's the most beautiful university in not just all of Nigeria, maybe Africa. And it is really nice. Students walk around, pretty bored, I guess, cause I haven't seen anything to entertain them except for the universities dramatic arts theater. And sillouhetting everything on campus are these two large mountains. Anyway, most of the time we go to the campus to have fun or get work done and things. We also have two really nice helpers. The only reason we have house help is that one, even though my father is Nigerian, he's forgetten most of the Nigerian dishes, and two, this house is to dusty for only a family to do. Well, those two helpers cook awesomely. They've made all of these delicious (and some spicy) dishes like Jollof Rice, Egusi Soup, Ewedu Soup, and rice with stew. I'm having a pretty good time so far. I mean, I'm not having a blast, but I'm not absolutely bored either. I hope all of my friends are reading this, because I have to tell them something: I'm ahead of you still!!!
I've been so busy and so distracted by the many things that are happening to me I almost forgot about this blog. Plus the electricity and water Nigeria isn't stable. Well, anyway, let me fill everyone up on the events that have been happening. We've moved into our new house. Okay, well it's not really new, it was my grandpa's and no one's been in it to really clean for 9 years. It's definetly livable, and realy pleasant, just a little work is needed here and there. OAU (Obafemi Awolowo University) is practically right down the street from our house, and my father said it's the most beautiful university in not just all of Nigeria, maybe Africa. And it is really nice. Students walk around, pretty bored, I guess, cause I haven't seen anything to entertain them except for the universities dramatic arts theater. And sillouhetting everything on campus are these two large mountains. Anyway, most of the time we go to the campus to have fun or get work done and things. We also have two really nice helpers. The only reason we have house help is that one, even though my father is Nigerian, he's forgetten most of the Nigerian dishes, and two, this house is to dusty for only a family to do. Well, those two helpers cook awesomely. They've made all of these delicious (and some spicy) dishes like Jollof Rice, Egusi Soup, Ewedu Soup, and rice with stew. I'm having a pretty good time so far. I mean, I'm not having a blast, but I'm not absolutely bored either. I hope all of my friends are reading this, because I have to tell them something: I'm ahead of you still!!!
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