Plans

Hey everyone,

My life for the past few days has been a little hectic. Well, to be precise, my parents' lives have been a little hectic. They have all of this planning to do for our trip back to the US. I still can't believe it whenever I write that out. Our trip back. It's really happening. I've already told all my friends over there and they're pretty psyched like I am. I wonder how much has changed? I've looked at my neighborhood in Google Earth a couple of times, but it looks the same. Wow, I must sound redundant. How many posts have I made like these? But I still can't help but think about it. It's like...it's like if you lived in a faraway country for a couple of years with barely any contact with your friends and family back home. Actually...that's exactly what it is. :P The contact stuff is mostly our area's fault. For the longest time we haven't had phone or internet access, but if you've been following this blog for a while you already know about that. And if not, trust me. I've mentioned those two problems a lot. Now that the internet is solved our phone reception is even worse than usual. Meh, whatevs. I'll get over it right? Until we find a solution there's no point in going on about it. Anyway, that's really what's been on my mind the most these days. Going back to Durham.

Signing off,
The Traveller

Connected Like Crazy

Best news ever!

We have broadband satellite internet access! One megabyte per second, 32 GB download limit for each month. It’s crazy! I’m still trying to adapt to using the internet anytime I want. I can surf YouTube. I can get that IDE I’ve been eyeing for the past few days. I can keep up to date with all of the blogs that I like (including this one). You really REALLY can’t appreciate the internet until you’ve been severed from it. But I think I’ve said that a hundred times before. J Now I’m able to go to Khan Academy, play online games…the list goes on. We’re using an Internet Service Provider called YahClick. It’s pretty good…most of the time. Like when we picked up the equipment for the dish—that was a hassle! We thought it would be a quick easy process. How we were so wrong. It took us more than an hour to get it, and that was after threatening the YahClick office that we won’t buy from them if they don’t bring the darn stuff. And right now is another annoying moment with this ISP. It claims that we’ve surpassed our daily bandwidth limit which is 1.2 GB. This is pretty much impossible. We haven’t come close to downloading a GB of data in one day. So we’re going to Lagos tomorrow anyway. We’re planning on telling them off. I’m sort of laughing right now. Isn’t it a little ridiculous? A few weeks ago, we were pretty much offline. Now, we have one of the fastest internet connections in town. Yeah, there are other broadband satellite setups about Ife, but they’re usually shared. That means that the download/upload speeds are unbearably slow. What do you have to say about that, Multilinks?! Satellite internet, for the win!

(now I can upload my harlem shake video now…>:D)

Signing off,

The Traveler (ONLINE)

Changes Time!

No, I'm not talking about my life,

I'm talking about the city of Lagos. We're actually there right now; I'm writing this from our hotel room. But I'm not here to talk about hotels. I'm here to talk about restaurants. I'll explain, but first, let me tell you this story. We went to Dominoes yesterday. While we were eating we also got some Coldstone ice cream as well. Today, we ate at Johnny Rockets. Of course, this might sound normal to most Americans. But only a year ago these restaurants did not exist in Nigeria. And that's the interesting part. All of these American franchises are moving in as fast as they can. I bet that give it a few years, Dominoes will be seen nationwide. To put it simply, foreign businesses are interested in the Nigerian market. What does that mean? Well, Lagos, and Nigeria in general might be going through major changes in the near future. We might be seeing Radioshacks, Wal-Marts, all of the shops and stores you see in America here. The question now is whether if that is a good thing or not. Well, I'll like it. But of course, I'm biased. I'm homesick, I like the familiar brand names and such. But what if these bigger companies come in and sweep all of the local businesses to the side? One good thing is that these Nigerian branches are actually owned and run by Nigerians. So, that means that foreigners won't be able to completely take over. Overall though, this is a huge sign of progress. It brings a lot of hope to this country, and with a rising middle-class worldwide, Nigeria doesn't have any choice but to upgrade. I mean, look up Eko Atlantic!

Signing off,
The Hopeful Traveller

Hello World

Yes, I’ve been learning C++.

But anyway, there is some big news that I have for everybody. Coming March (or April), we’ll be heading back to the States for a month. Then in August (or something like that) we’ll be going back for real. About 6 months. Then we’ll be going back in forth—six months here, six months in USA. So I’ve been wondering, should I continue this blog while in America? I mean, The Traveler is just about my travels in other places. If I’m gonna be home, what’ll my posts be like? Like this, maybe:

Sitting Down

Hey, I’m sitting down! I’ve been experiencing real crazy stuff like, yesterday, my Cheerios were not actually Cheerios! I thought they were Cheerios until I tasted them, and then I saw…they were actually Fruit Loops! I should’ve gotten a clue from the box but I was sorta out of it that day. Anyway, my dog chased this squirrel all around the yard and that was totally

Yeah, something like that.  I might as well become a Twitter addict if my posts become like that. But I thought of something. Maybe continuing the blog in America isn’t such a bad idea. I mean, I’ve been looking at the people who have been visiting my site, and a lot are from England, China, all kinds of places. I guess it would be cool for them to read about an American kid’s view on American life. I don’t know, I think it could work. Write about America in America for the world, write about Nigeria in Nigeria for Americans. It’s not the most unique thing in the world but for teens like me who are interested in different places it would be a useful guide. Even people in California might want to hear about my experience in North Carolina. So you get my drift. I think it could work.

Signing off,

The Traveler

A Little Philosophical Stuff

So I’ve been sick for a while,

A week or so to be exact. Obviously, it’s not been fun. The sickness is like a combination between a really, REALLY bad cold and malaria. The first day I had a sore throat. Second day, my sinuses were so messed up that if I bent down I felt as if my head would split open. Third to seventh day: migraines, and my chest was so constricted that if I walked from the living room to our gate, I’d have to stop and take a break for a couple of minutes before going back inside. And here’s where things get a little interesting; I learned something from this. Actually, I’m happy that my chest was so constricted I could barely breathe. Why? I learned a valuable lesson which takes most people years to learn. You have to take things slowly. I know you’re probably saying, “well duh. Of course.” But really, it was a big lesson for me. Your goal will still be there even if you take a while to get there. That doesn’t mean that you should procrastinate! I’m completely against that. But don’t kill yourself in the process of getting to wherever you’re trying to get to. Oh yeah, speaking of killing yourself, I was watching Inception with some friends a few days ago, and we paused it to go get something, don’t remember what. We were at that part with the crazy wife lady inside DiCaprio’s head. And she was talking about how she should kill herself so she can wake up, back to reality. Even though she already was in reality. And my friend said, “You know, I sometimes feel like that. I mean, reality could be one big dream that someone’s having.” So that’s the big problem that people have been battling with for centuries. Is reality real. Are we figments of someone’s imagination. Is there an afterlife. Blah blah blah. Well, if you’d ask me, “Hey Traveller, what do you think of this whole reality thing?” I’d say, “I dunno.” Because I don’t. And here’s the best part: to me, it doesn’t matter that much. If we’re in a dream or even a simulation like the Matrix, our fantasy world isn’t any less real than whatever lies beyond. This has been said over and over again, even scientifically. Look at it from a scientific point of view: whatever your senses report to your brain is pretty much your reality. I mean, you’re reading this using some sort of electronic device. Your eyes are reading these words, and because your eyes can see them you instantly believe that they’re a part of your reality. And your skin can feel your clothes. You believe that your clothes a part of your reality. If you perceive your world through your senses then that is your reality. Even your dreams are realities. I can feel and see things in dreams. Why should they be any less real than right here, right now? You could say that dreams don’t usually incorporate all five senses. So if I blindfold you, you can’t see. Does that mean that the world around you isn’t real anymore? The dream realities are weird, I have to admit. I mean, sometimes even the laws of physics don’t even apply. But all I’m trying to say is anything that sends information through your senses to your brain is a part of your reality. I guess what I’m trying to say is that even if this universe is a dream or a super advanced version of the Sims, that’s fine. It’s not going to make a difference to you or me. But that also means something else. If you believe in an afterlife or reincarnation, I don’t believe you should sitting around to die so you can move on to the next phase. Because if you think the way I was saying, you know about every reality is a reality, then this phase is just as important as the other. The grass is not greener on the other side. Even if it is, like I said earlier, take your time. If you don’t how will you be able to enjoy anything?

Signing off,

The Traveller

The Net Is DEAD

That's right. D-E-A to the D.

I have no idea what happened. Months ago, our Multilinks modem just went boop. Gone, kaput. 0.00 kbps. And ever since then we've scoured Nigeria, looking for a good internet connection. I'm not writing this in my house right now. I'm sitting in a parent's friend's office, using his connection to write this post. I'm sorry, I'm going to have to make this pretty short, so please it's not me. It's the crappy internet services. I've been doing fine, enjoying the dryness of Dry Season. And a lot of people are cheery right now, cuz of the Christmas season and stuff. But this is Dry Season though. Like hardcore people. It's super hot in the day, super cold in the night like a desert. Like a desert with a lot of people in it.

G2G,
The Traveller

P.S. I'm going to do whatever I can to post more. Don't worry, I'm back. :)

No Country for Young Kids

Yep, you heard right.

Nigeria isn’t exactly the most child-friendly place in the world. We drove past a preschool once. Most buildings have walls around their perimeters, this one wasn’t any different. But to make them look more festive, the preschool walls are painted with children things like the alphabet. So we drove past the wall, and I was looking at their rendition of the alphabet. A for apple, C for cow…G for gun. Yeah. Gun. They even had a picture of a handgun under G. If you can believe it this happens a lot. I’ve seen so many G for guns here it’s crazy. I’ve even heard sample sentences in 2^nd grade English books like, “the man stole from the woman and pointed his gun at her.” You might be saying, “but Nigeria even has it’s own version of Sesame Street! Doesn’t that count?” Sorta…nah. Not really. For one, Sesame Street Nigeria is on a channel hiding in a desolate corner of the satellite TV services. It only comes on at awkward times on awkward days. My Mother finally got the time right and my little sister was able to watch an episode. That was the first and last time she’s ever watched Sesame Street Nigeria. Sesame Street Nigeria is just a bunch of clips with Sesame Street America with Nigerian voice overs. It's super, super weird looking. Imagine Ernie speaking pidgin English! On the other hand Nigeria can be extremely children friendly. Here, Children's Day is a national holiday with parties and games at public venues, and every family can join! So Nigeria can be friendly and unfriendly to children.

Signing off,

The Traveller