Dry Season?

FINALLY!

We think we might actually be getting into Dry Season. Global warming is really doing a number on the earth; My dad told me that when he was little, by this time, we would have been in the thick of Dry Season for a while. Sad. And even with this Dry Season, it's still not the full thing: it might rain every once and a while. Back in his day, it barely rained in November at all. I'm already to feel the effects slightly: I'm drinking a whole lot of water, and it's starting to get hot, the unbearable kind of hot that you kind escape and it feels like you're getting dried. Not roasted. Dried. It's really not that bad. Well, my Dad and I are going on another wild ride one-day trip to Lagos tomorrow. Again. It'll be pretty fun, since I've got Incarceron to read and The Hunger Games to re-read. Speaking of that, have you guys checked out our new group work blog, The Xplorer: Review Edition? It's really good, if I do say so myself, with all kinds of info on music, movies, books, and video games. Good thing is that there are no spoilers, whatsoever. So like I say on that blog, GO AWAY IF YOU WANT THAT KINDA STUFF. Alright?

Well, that it,

Signing off,
The Traveler

Black Sky

Have you ever heard of a black sky?


I don't mean thunder cloud black.

I don't mean night black.

I mean black. Black.
If you go to Obafemi Awolowo University around when the sun starts setting, or even at our house, the sky will become black for about an hour. Don't believe me? Well, I won't tell you what it is. You'll have to comment in your guesses. I'll give you the answer. No earlier.
P.S. We've passed the 200th chicken in chicken counting. Read Chicken Counting.
Signing off,
The Traveler with his lips sealed

Chicken Counting

It's been a few hours since we went chicken counting. You heard that right. I said chicken counting. My Dad told me earlier in the day to come with me to help him with the chicken farm in back. I was all ready to jump out of my seat and go there when he also informed me that it would be in the evening, so no need to rush. At the near end of the day, a brought a little table with a pen to write down. My father would go inside the chicken house, take one of the chickens, and put it on a little blue-green weigher. Most of them were 4 pounds, 4 pounds and 18 ounces, and 4 pounds and ten ounces. "2." "2.2" "2.1." (we were writing in kilograms, since every other country in the world except the US write down weights in that format) I wrote down all the weights. The farm is separated into three houses. The 1st house is only gonna be for the biggest; only 4 lbs and higher. Once we had a real big one; 5 pounds 12 ounces! That's pretty big for the chicken's that we're growing to sell for Christmas. Nigerians like to buy live or dead chickens for Christmas to eat. We'll be one of the sellers. It wasn't that boring. It only took half a lifetime. After I had written down the stats of 151 chickens we called it a night and went back home.

Signing off,
The Traveler

P.S.: Inconsistent writing cause the internet is so bad in our location.

Jammed

I haven't posted for six days.

Because of Multilinks.

You thought I was trying to hold back on you guys? No way! The internet connection is way too slow. It hasn't been acting right for a few days now. So, now that I've explained my absence, let me tell you about the longest trip to Osogbo we have ever been on.

My parents needed to get a tool from my friend's father, so we were on our way to Osogbo. I was really sleepy for some reason (the car does that to me) and I had a nap, though I was a little frustrated because Ife to Osogbo isn't that long a ride. I'd have to cut my nap short. I really wished that the ride would just be a little longer. Unfortunately, I got my wish. When I woke up, I was still pretty tired, and I really just wanted to fall back asleep, but I heard a lot of commotion going on, and there were people moving back and forth past the car. We must be in Osogbo already, I thought, waking myself up as I looked outside the car. We weren't in Osogbo. We were on the highway. And there were people walking on the highway. And the cars weren't moving. It was the slowest moving highway in history; people parked their cars and started walking outside and talking to people in buses out the window, running around...it was strange. "How long have we been driving?" I asked. "You mean how long have we been parked here," my mother corrected sarcastically. Well, I found out that we left Osogbo at about four o' clock. And it was five o' eight. Osogbo is a thirty minute drive. At least I got a good nap! It was really interesting to watch the people walk by, though. When the cars started moving, though, everyone would dash to the cars and rev them up. Finally, we did get to Osogbo, and we did come back (at like six or seven in the night!). But I'm not done. The night was as bright as day. The moon was almost completely full, and it was like a spotlight. It was daytime without all the colors. It was amazing! I wish I could have taken a picture of it, but my DSi didn't register the light. Which was annoying. I'll try next time.

Signing off,
The Traveler

Xplore My Blog!

Instead of me telling you guys about all of my Xploring, Xplore my blog yourself. Go ahead and look at where I've been, where I'm going, search my blog for interesting posts you might like, and vote on the random poll! Nothing has really happened today, so why don't you find a post that might be a bit more interesting?

Signing off,
The Traveler

The Rest of the Story

Let me finish this thing once and for all. So we drove down a side-road next to Glory 2 Glory. It was an uneven one, with houses on either side and people walking around. Finally, we drove into the parking lot of this automotive place. It was about two stories. Most automotive mechanic places in Nigeria don't have the right equipment. Actually, the mechanics do a trial and error thing to find out what's wrong with the car. Most of the time, they break it further! So we went inside, my dad saying he had to do something with someone about some car. Don't ask me what. I was just following along for the ride. We went to the lifts (these people had the right equipment) and looked at this '09 Infiniti. I don't know the exact build. A whole bunch of mechanics were swarming around it, trying to figure out what was wrong. Even though they had good tools, they did not get good training. They were as good as the regular mechanics, which is bad. They looked pretty confused, and they didn't seem very organized. I just stood and watched. My Dad jumped in and started looking at everything for about...mmm...I don't know....fifteen minutes?! It doesn't sound that long, but think about it; I'm not into fixing cars, there was nothing to do, and there was nothing to look at. It felt like a lifetime. So I went back inside for a minute, messing around with this HP tablet PC. It was interesting, but definitely not for me. Just by looking at it, I knew it graphics and CPU wasn't high enough for me to do some real gaming. It would probably be extremely choppy. Finally, my Dad came back with a few of the mechanics, and they took the laptop up the stairs. I followed. We went up to the second level, which could only be accessed by some really freaky stairs. They were outside, and since the building wasn't completely finished yet, there were no rails! I really didn't want to fall from that height. It would hurt. But, we went up to the top, and they were on the computer, pointing at the "miscombotulator" and "finisher clamp," or something strange like that. And they stayed there for what felt like two lifetimes. I just looked out the windows, waiting. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. And finally getting up, and going back downstairs. Then, they went back to the car, and worked on it some more! Which took three lifetimes! And they took it off the lift, and started using a device called the scanner. Which took four lifetimes! I thought I'd stay there till I turned 80, but finally, we said good-bye, and went. Happily. But I'm not done yet! Far from it! I suggested that we should get some more Rice Krispies from Glory 2 Glory; we were running out. So we got that since it was only just next door, and got back in the car. We drove over to "town" (main part of Ife), and got some bulbs. Our house's old bulbs had started to die out. Then we were about to drive home (happily) when my Dad remembered inconveniently that we had to go all the way back to town and get some shovels. So we did that, which took five lifetimes, and finally came back home. Thank goodness!

Signing off,
The Traveler

I Opened a Coconut!

I opened a coconut! Okay, doesn't sound that amazing, but it is. You see stereotypical coconuts on TV; you know: a brown roundish thing with three dark spots on the top. The TV character will usually take a straw and poke it right through one of the dark spots, and start drinking a white liquid called "coconut milk." It ain't true. Listen: coconuts do not look like brown roundish things. With the husk on, they are green or yellow, smooth, and oval shaped. Not small and brown. After you take this off of the tree, you take a machete (or any kind of really sharp knife) and rip the husk off. The inside is dry, and very course and fabricie (not a real word), like a rough carpet. It's tan in color. In the middle of this thick husk is the iconic coconut that most people who live in non-tropical climates are familiar with. No need to describe that. But you can't just put a straw through the dark circles! If you try that, you'll have a crumpled piece of plastic. The little sphere is crazy hard. It's so hard to get through, you have to use a hammer to crack the shell and pry it open. But you've got another problem when you crack it open. What about the juice? You have to get a cup and let it all drain out. And the juice itself tastes nothing and looks nothing like milk. It's clear, like water, and tastes slightly sweet. It is extremely refreshing. The white hard inside is another obstacle in eating your snack. I tried to use a knife to cut off the hard shell, but got cut and stabbed a couple of times. Don't try that technique. But the drink and the white insides is a great reward for all of the trouble. If you haven't tried real coconut (not the one in Whole Foods) then you haven't lived. SO GOOD!

Signing off,
The Traveler

P.S. I'll have to continue my story tomorrow. My Mom is kicking me off again.

Wait a Little Longer

 

I couldn’t write today because I was super busy downloading updates for the computer so it won’t crash like two days ago. It’s really late here, and I just finished the dishes. I started late. So, I can’t really write a lot or I’ll get in trouble.

Signing off,

The Traveler

Long Day Yesterday

I didn't sleep that much the other night. I was pretty much tossing and turning and everything. It's one of those night's when it seems like there isn't one comfortable spot on your mattress to rest on. It's very irritating. Unfortunately, I really needed that sleep for the day that was in store for me.

I woke up to the sound of my mother telling me that there was something wrong with the laptop. I checked it out, and Microsoft was claiming that our Windows 7 Ultimate operating system wasn't genuine. There was a black screen, and the words, "Windows is not Genuine" at the bottom right corner of the laptop screen. Now, it is; we put in the corret product key and everything when installing it. It was genuine! I looked up on the internet what to do, and found out that it was a common problem among Windows 7 users. Anyway, long story short (so I don't bore to death the non-techies) I fixed the genuine problem today. But we're talking about yesterday, right? So, we were freaking over that then, and my Dad said that we need to run some errands. I got dressed into my day clothes, and we went. We drove really close to the street that Glory 2 Glory's on, and....wait, my Mother is prying my fingers off the keyboard; she says I gotta get off. It's too late in the night to write a long blog. I'll continue tommorow, I guess.

Signing off,
The Traveler

Our Car Broke Down. Again.

Yes, it did. We were driving to Osogbo, the capital of Osun state (our own) to visit some friends. My friend's father owns a car wash, and we visited it and everything to say high and to ask if his children and spouse were at the home. The car wash is only a few streets away, mind. He said yes, and made sure he would call them to open the gate for us to their house. Most houses here have gates, like this:

As you can see, the wall surrounds the house, protecting it. Talk about a picket fence! So we asked him to make sure his children would open the gate, and we went on our way. We drove about two streets away from the house, when everyone noticed the car's hood was smoking blue, foul smoke. Then, it stopped moving. Luckily, we were so close. It would have been pretty messed up if we were on the main road! We went to go check it out. My Dad phrased as, "a pipe popped," or something. A pipe fell out of it's hole, and oil was running through it. I think. I really don't know. My Mom had to steer while my Dad had to push from behind most of the way to the house. We had two great advantages, though: 1- the road was downhill. It made for a pretty fun ride. And 2- We were so close to the house, we didn't have to push for long. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot 3- The fix was supposed to be pretty easy, so we weren't grounded there. Good thing my parents owned an AAMCO! My Dad really knows how to fix cars. He asked my friend's Dad if he could bring transmission fluid (or something like that) over the phone, and I went to go sit down and talk with the kids we came to meet with in the first place. My younger sister had a playmate who was around her age, and they played (can you guess?) The PowerBluff Girls. Oops, did I write that incorrectly? ;) Good thing is that we got the car fixed and we rode home, but I don't think the fix is permanent. There's still some blue smoke coming out of it. I think it'll get fixed tomorrow.

Signing off,

The Blossom-Bubble-Buttercup-hater Traveler

P.S.  NEPA has been gone for a month now. We've been running off of the inverter and the generator. The NEPA HQ for Ife said it would definitely be fixed in the night or today. By yesterday, I mean two days ago.

Seriously signing off this time,

The Traveler

Some Pictures of Old Buka

There's this place on campus (Obafemi Awolowo University) called old buka. It's like an all-in-one strip mall. It has everything, from lights, to roasting fish, to fish pepper soup. Fish pepper soup is (for Americans like me and others) the spiciest thing in the whole universe. It consists of a fish, like Tilapia, and a peppery broth. It's delicious and horrifying at the same time. Here are a few pictures if old buka and fish pepper soup. Note: Old Buka is named Old Buka because it's old. Don't assume that the buildings in the place are the common thing everywhere in Nigeria.

My mom and I eating fish pepper soup.

A back alley in old buka.

A strange metal box hanging over everything in old buka.

 The hill the old buka is on. One of the many hills on campus. Campus is HUGE! Actually, my dad says that it has the largest campus size in the whole world. Go ahead, look it up, because I haven't!

Outside of the fish pepper soup joint. My dad was sitting out here, eating.

 Artistic view of a Sprite bottle that I was drinking (random, but cool).

 Myself, laid back in the shop

My mom's half-eaten soup. Don't try to eat the screen. 

My mom and I eating. My sister's are on the other bench.

I asked this Okada man to pose with his bike. Okada is one of the most common transport in Nigeria. They swarm like bees in the streets. I'll write more about them in another post.

A picture of the Department of Dramatic Arts on campus.

Inside the theater of the Department of Dramatic Arts.

A picture of the parking lot outside of the department. See the Okadas riding around?

I don't really know what this part of the department's for.

The statues that have been here since my father lived here.

A statue of Ola Rotimi.

Murals on the outside walls of the theater.

Those are enough pictures for all of you to look at at the moment. More pictures later,

Signing off,

The Traveler

Flooding

Oh, I almost forgot: It rained all over the house! It poured last night so hard, and some of the windows were open in my parent's bedroom. And they were open! Water was flooding in, completely drenching my baby sister's bed and making the floor look like a giant puddle. We had to put newspaper all over the ground to soak up the water before it made an even bigger mess. It looked really cool; the water droplets on the ground made interesting designs. We took some towels and put it right under the windows so the water would fall on them instead of the floor. Fortunately, we got the place dry. Unfortunately, we missed a daily issue of The Gaurdian.

Signing off,
The Traveler

Tired

I'm a little tired right now. I don't know why. I slept for a while, I ate breakfast and everything, so I guess I'm just tired for tired's sake. It's early morning, so there's nothing to post at the moment. It's overcast and temperature is warm. That's it.

Signing off,
The Traveler

The Perfect Mud

I couldn't write yesterday cause stupid internet wasn't working. Well, now I'm back on; hurray for multilinks! Yesterday, I found this mud; it was the perfect kind. I know, sounds weird, but it was. I mean, it was extreeemely smooth, and felt almost like clay. So anyway, I was digging a hole, and that was where I found the mud. I kept digging, feeling bad that I had to destroy the perfect smooth mud, when I made even better mud! It was mixed with the clay enriched dirt to make the best, most smooth mud in the world! I showed my sisters, and they were like, "whoa" and "cool." Then, I went back inside. Later in the day, the mud stiffened until it was soft enough to be molded into balls. I threw it at our cement wall, just to see what would happen....and it just stuck there. I peeled it off, and balled it back into a ball; eco-friendly reusable mud! It was really fun to play with. Then, I put some tap water over the stiffened mud in the hole and...bam, back to the watery mud! It's the coolest mud recipe ever; I better patent the concoction!

Chicken's Stretch

I know, sounds weird, but they do. If they're really tired or something, you'll see them fan out their wings. Their wingspan is surprisingly wide. Not that impressive sounding yet? Well listen to this: Nigerian chickens fly! The ones in our yard actually fly up into the trees and sleep there like regular birds! They even fly over our cement wall! Their really loud flyers, though: whenever they flap their wings as they fly, you can hear loud whoosh, whoosh, swoosh in succession. And usually, the cockerels will fly up someplace high, and then, when they get up there, they'll start cock-a-doodle-dooing. What I think is pretty stupid on human's part, is the name cock-a-doodle-doo for the sound the roosters make. They don't even sound like that! It's hard to explain what they really sound like. Or maybe just chickens outside of America sound different? Well, I didn't hang out with many chickens back in the states, so I don't know. Anyone on a farm with chickens, do they really sound like that?

Signing off,
The Traveler