Happy HALLOWEEN!!

Okay, well, happy Halloween for everyone in the states and elsewhere. Halloween is not a Nigerian holiday, so we'd look pretty weird going from door to door with plastic fangs in out mouths, saying "trick or treat" and asking for candy. They'd probably think we went off the deep end, so none of that this year. But, if I was in the U.S.A. and I could celebrate, I know exactly what I'd be. I would be the three scariest things on earth: no internet connection, textured plastic, and The Lion King 2. Duh duh duh! Those three things are the scariest things in the world!!! Lemme explain:

No internet connection- No Google Buzz?! No YouTube?!?! No Google Earth?!?!?! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Textured plastic- The most annoying sensation to fingernails known to the human race. Totally irritating. It makes me flinch just thinking about it.

The Lion King 2- Corniest movie in existence. Sorry Kiara and Kovu fans; it is. A movie my sisters forced me into watching: DON'T WATCH IT. Only if you want to see lions kissing, and a monkey singing something about crazy moons and baboons swooning. Yeah, it's that bad. Leave it to Disney to make the most embarrassing romance scenes known to cartoons. And on top of all that, the animation was definitely not the best. And there was no story! Okay, well maybe there was, but it was so shallow, your ankles would be perfectly dry if you waded in it. Please, save yourself the pain and steer clear away from it, alright?

That's what I would be. The three scariest things in all of the world!!!

Mwahahahaha!
The Traveler (Dramatic!)

A Little Bit More About Birds

Guess what? Just after I had written yesterday about birds and stuff, I had another adventure with them! This is what happened:

I had finished my post and published it on my blog, and went to go eat my breakfast of Quaker's Oatmeal. I always put butter, milk, and sugar in mine. After that, I went about doing the usual: reading, doing schoolwork, when I heard a very strange bird call. I was in the back of the house, near the office room, when I heard a sound like somebody clicking their tongue on the roof of their mouth. They were fast, and they came one after the other rapidly. I heard the sound, and I walked into the office, since it was louder there. Through the window, I saw the bird. It had orange wings and back, a white chest, blue head and beak, and a wide wingspan. I mean, it was wide for it's size. It also moved differently; it would hop, and sort of fan out it's wings as it turned, and perked it's head up, as if it was trying to see something. I think it's a male, since he was the one calling, but I don't know jack about birds anyway. I know that's a pretty vague description, but are there any birdologists that know the name for this species? It lives in a subtropical climate (we are in Nigeria, after all), and the description is pretty much all I know about it. Thanks,

Signing off,
The Traveler

Rainy

It's really overcast as usual in the rainy season, and I'm just sitting inside, listening to the birds. Man, do those animals know how to sing! Their songs are very different than the ones we have in Durham. But, I've also heard some bird calls that sound exactly like what I heard back there! Weird. So, we aren't really doing anything. It's morning, I just woke up. That's really it for now,

Signing off,

The Traveler

RAIN! THUNDER! LIGHTNING! BOOM!

HEY! I'M GOING TO RIGHT EVERYTHING IN CAPITAL LETTERS AND END ALL MY SENTENCES WITH EXCLAMATION POINTS IN THIS POST (THERE WILL BE NO COMMAS) TO REPRESENT HOW STRONG IT JUST RAINED! WE WERE SITTING IN THE LIVING ROOM I WAS PLAYING ON MY WII (I WAS TRYING TO GET SOME MORE STARS SO I COULD ADVANCE IN SUPER MARIO GALAXY 2) WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN IT STARTED RAINING! INSTANTLY! THERE WAS NO WARNING IT JUST STARTED RAINING OUT OF NOWHERE! SINCE WE HAVE A METAL ROOF WHICH HELPS COOL THINGS DOWN THE DIN  WAS AMAZING! YOU COULD BARELY HEAR YOURSELF TALK! WHICH WAS TOTALLY AWESOME! AND THEN THE THUNDER AND LIGHTNING CAME ROLLING IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS THE LOUDEST THING EVER! MY TEXT DOESN'T DO IT JUSTICE! THERE WERE TWO THUNDER CRACKS THAT SOUNDED LIKE GUNSHOTS OUTSIDE OUR HOUSE! NO KIDDING! I EVEN FLINCHED IN MY SEAT THAT'S HOW LOUD IT WAS! IT WAS C-R-A-Z-Y TO THE MILLIONTH POWER!!! THEN IF YOU LOOK OUTSIDE YOU SAW A WALL OF RAIN! IT LOOKED LIKE AN ACTUAL WALL! WE COULD BARELY SEE THE BUILDING NEXT TO US! EVERYTHING LOOKED GRAY! AND THEN I WENT OUTSIDE AND THE GROUND WAS LIKE A LAKE! WATER WAS E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E! MY SANDALS GOT DAMP! GOOD THING THEY'RE WATERPROOF! OK I'M ENDING MY POST NOW! RIGHTING IN CAPITALS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS IS SO WICKED COOL!

SIGNING OFF!
THE TRAVELER!

A Piece of America(n Food)

We went to Glory 2 Glory again today and went on a shopping splurge! I picked out a cereal I wanted, my baby sister picked out hers, (we got Rice Krispies and Fruit n' Fiber), we got snickers, we even got real milk! I say real milk like this because in Nigeria, most of the milk is dehydrated. It tastes like real milk and everything, but I myself am lazy, and I like just pouring it from the carton into the bowl. Even though it's 6:58, all my and my two sibling each ate one bowl of cereal. In the night! We usually get Kellogs Cornflakes, but we wanted to switch it up a little, and it was worth it. Now I'm full with loud Rice Krispies!

Signing off,
The Traveler

More Riding

I'm pretty much biking everyday now on our awesome land. I like to go off-roading on a dirt path. Feeling the wheels skidding is really cool, and then some of the bumps energize you. We have a natural spring in the back, and my parents made a canal so it could flow again, since some bamboo blocked it's way. The stream is super clear like glass, and nice and cold on my hands. There's also a farm of corn in the back that some people put there 

(after we allowed them, that is). I've gone into it a few times. And then, the bamboo grows in clumps, and they spread out and look like giant mushrooms, which is really weird, and funny at the same time. There's also raw iron floating in the stream; it looks like little orange clouds. I've touched it before, and it flattens onto my fingers. It's also fun to jump from island to island in the stream as well, exploring everything that's there. Well, that's my land,

Signing off,

The Traveler

Biking Back and Forth

We were just cycling to and fro on our main road: my little sister, my mother, and myself. I went down a route I had never biked down before, and we said we'd stop at a sign for a church. There are churches everywhere in Nigeria: it's almost like Nigeria's infested with them. You'll see one around the corner, and you go down that street, and you'll see another church, and then you turn down another street and you see three more churches! They're everywhere! Now, I'm not saying that a church is a bad thing; I respect all kinds religions and people, and it's definitely not a bad thing to have a church you go to or anything like that. But there are churches EVERYWHERE. You might see one or two mosques, but then for each mosque there's a hundred churches. Maybe they should also invest some of the money from churches to other things like renovating buildings?

Signing off,
The Traveler

Dying Clothes

My grandparents wanted some Nigerian dresses and stuff before they left, but we couldn't get it on time....or something like that (I wasn't really concerned). We got the cloths before they left, though. They wanted it custom made, which also includes the designs, everything. I've gotten some stuff custom made, too. It's a pretty cool looking blue shirt. It's nice. So anyway, they told us what they wanted, and we got some people on campus (campus of the university that's down the street from us) to dye it. My Grandpa wanted an agbada. Or at least, I think he wanted one. An agbada is like a huge, flowing shirt that has sleeves, and doesn't at the same time...well, it's  kind of difficult to explain. You'd have to see it for yourself, because I don't know how to explain it. I don't know what my Grandma wants, but let me stop talking about them. Do you know that traditionally, women wear a wrap on their heads called a Gele? It usually matches the clothing that she has on, and it's always colorful. I've even seen some that have a sheen to it! Other than that...well, it's early in the morning, so I have nothing else to write about. My family's sleep.

Signing off,
The Traveler

Grinding

My parents are trying to grind some corn and stuff to make feed for some chicks that we bought. We're actually making a farm...a chicken farm, that is. So we've got like a thousand chickens (literally) in a chicken coop that we built on our plot of land. They're cute, like yellow tennis balls, and they like to huddle. Sometimes they're so up on each other, the floor looks like a yellow rug! Yeah, so anyway, they're trying to grind some feed for them, but there's a problem: NEPA. Of course, NEPA has to come...or is it go?...and ruin everything for us whenever the company wants to. They're pretty stupid. They've been flickering all day: It'll stay for hours, then, all of a sudden, it goes out, making the grinder shut down, which means we can't grind feed, and the feed can't be made,   and the chicks can't eat. Luckily, NEPA is on at the moment, in full force. We're doing fine other than that, though. My younger sister was quizzing me about the Power Puff Girls. She told me to name them, and here's what I put: BubbleBum, BigheadBlossom, Buttercuppy, Mrs. Tell a Bella, Mr. Mayher, and Mr. Plutonium. Obviously, I messed up their names on purpose; frankly, I'm sick of the TV series that my siblings have informed me about so much. You'd be too if you were a 12 year old boy that had passed his superhero kindergarten girl age years before too. Well, for all I know, you might be!

That's a rap,

Signing off,
The Traveler

Just got Civ V

We got it: the newest game in the turn-based strategy series, Civilization V. It's really REALLY good! They have this art-deco style that is soooo slick, and the graphics are amazing. Plus some of the new features, like moving units onto the sea without building any ships saves a lot of time! Also, the city bombardment is an awesome feature, so then if an enemy is near your city, you can actually destroy them. Also the new leaders TALK. They TALK!!! And on high settings in the graphics panel in options they look ultra real. I think the use Physx technology, so that's why their clothes move so realistically.

Well, I won't spoil anything else,

Signing off,

The Traveler

Ignorance (America and Nigeria)

On this blog, I've proved time and again that America is wrong about a lot of stereotypes about Nigeria and Africa in general, but don't feel too bad! Nigerians are as ignorant about America as Americans are about Nigeria. Here are a few examples:

My father, is a very smart and cultured person like my mother. But when he was young and living in Nigeria, he thought that this was a solid fact in America: At any time, anywhere, no matter the situation, Americans would break out in dance and song like in a musical! Seriously!!!! It sounds ridiculous, I know, but some of the things we say about Africa will make Nigerians weep with laughter. But, it's still funny to see their picture of America. Listen to this story, and if it doesn't make you laugh, I don't know what will:

We know this guy who comes sometimes to our house. You know, he's an acquaintance. Well, anyway, one time he came over, and started talking to my little sister. "Have you ever seen this?" He asked her, showing her a...well I'd spoil it if I say what it is, so keep on listening. "This is a real African thing. You haven't seen anything like this before overthere." "Overthere" is what some Nigerians refer to America as. "This is very African. Do you know what this is called?" He waved it at her. She looks at him as if he fell off the deep end. She said flatly, "It's called an umbrella." Okay, lemme let that sink in for a moment. The guy didn't know that we had umbrellas in America. He thought that the umbrella was native to Africa, and that it didn't rain in America!!!! Then my mother told him that it rains in America. "Eh?" She said it again. "Huh?" She tried one last time. "Hmm?" He couldn't even believe it! Now, I don't know about you, but even though I've been gone for a year now, I think I remember that there was rain in the states.

There are so many stories like this, like one where one guy thought that in America, trucks and cars transformed into robots to fight evil (I think he watched too much Transformers), another where (This one's common) America is made up of two cities: New York, and LA, and one where all black people rap. But if you think about it, we do the exact same things. Most people think that Africa is just a couple of huts on the savanna (My mother used to think that when she was young) and that Africans were still in little villages, running around with loincloths. So now you know that ignorance is an international disease, from Nigerians, to the Japanese, Italians, Americans...everyone.

So try to smarten up,

Signing off, 

The Traveler

Nothing Happening 2

All that's been really going on is that we just ate a delicious snack made of plantain that my dad made called Ipekere. It's really good, like potato chips! They're crunchy and round and...just absolutely delicious. Sorry! I don't want to make you angry, but it's to good not to mention. I'll send a picture of it soon. It's about to rain, I think, and it looks like a lot. It usually rains around in the afternoon. This is rare in the Rainy Season. Nothing else,

Signing off,

The Traveler

A Little History

Hey,

I've been reading an old book about Nigerian cultures in our library. The library is really old, so it has a layer of dust on everything. They have everything; The Odyssey, a really old edition of Ripley's Believe it or Not, and a really, REALLY old version of Oxford University's dictionary. So, anyway, my Dad found this book on Nigerian culture in there, and was reading, showing the rest of us how he remembered when the Nigerian National Theater didn't look as crappy as it does now, and how this was there and that was here. After a while, I went and looked at it myself. I was amazed at how much amazing stuff about the different cultures in Nigeria was in there. Like for example, the Yoruba used hieroglyphs to talk long distance with other towns. There was a lot of symbol work going on, like for example, if there is a shrine, and a road leads to it, the people put palm fronds across it. That means, "no trespassing." But if you wanted to talk to your friend down the street, you'd use the talking drum, a drum that sounds like a person speaking Yoruba! It was like a cell phone!!! Other cultures used hieroglyphs, too. It's really interesting to learn about my ancestry, since my Dad is socially and mostly ancestrally on my grandpa's side Yoruba. And they made delicious foods like a paste they made for a rite of passage with kolanut (a really bitter nut, after you eat it, though, it becomes sweet), honey, dried fish, spices, and everything! They also made a sweet called Adun; I'm going to research it after I write this, I wanna know what it is. That's pretty much all I remember right now,

Signing off,
The Traveler